DesignCAD Productivity Tips

Move Items Behind or in Front

è Step

You can trim multiple lines against each other using the Trim Multiple Lines command (in the Edit menu > Trim Extend submenu).

Small Steps

Use the Shift key with the arrow keys to move the cursor smaller distances (known as small steps). Set those distances in the Small Cursor Step Size field in Options.

Workspace Configuration

The Workspace Configuration in DesignCAD's File menu can be used to set up and save your favorite options so that they will automatically be applied to all new drawings.

Tangent Snap

Try the Tangent Snap tool (at the bottom of the Snap toolbox) to snap lines tangent to an existing line.
 

Position Toolboxes Where You Want Them

The DesignCAD toolboxes can be moved, docked, enabled and disabled.

You can even specify where dialog boxes appear while evoking drawing commands. For instance, if you select the Array command, the Array dialog box will appear. You can leave it to float in the window or set up DesignCAD so it's anchored to the top toolbox. Options menu > Options command > General tab, turn on the option to Use Single Line Command Dialog.

Rotate Images

Images can be rotated. Just select any inserted image and press R to start the Rotate command. You can rotate to any angle.

DesignCAD Tile

In 3D drawing, DesignCAD Tile automatically shows the front, top and side view next to the main view. This makes it easy to follow the cursor in 3D space.

Register Your Version of DesignCAD!  

You can register at www.Upperspace.com/register, by calling -, by mailing your registration card or faxing it to 918/825-6359. Here's why you should …

#1 All registered software gets free technical support. Even when new versions are released, you can still take advantage of free technical support.

#2 When you register it gives us a copy of your serial number. If you should lose your serial number sometime in the future, you can call us and we’ll read it back to you. This can be a real lifesaver when upgrading to a new computer or if you’re forced to reformat your hard drive. It can save you from having to buy another package of the software!

Get Started with 3D Solid Modeling

Extrude Along a Curve

Instructions are described based on DesignCAD 3D Max PLUS. Older versions may vary slightly. Feel free to call tech support if you want help trying this: 918/824-1159 or email support@upperspace.com.

Here are the steps to reproduce the shape you see in this image. You can create any shape you need using these instructions.

Step 1. Draw a Plane

1. Use the plane command from the Draw Menu and set the points to create a cross section of the shape you want to extrude. I drew an H shaped plane using 12 points.

2. The points of the plane must all be in one Axial plane either XY, YZ, XZ.

3. If you use line segments or curves to create the shape instead of using a plane, then you must select all the lines and combine them (Edit menu > Selection Edit > Combine Lines) and then Make it a Plane (Edit menu > Selection Edit > Convert Make Plane).

If you aren't already in 3D mode, click the 2D toggle button now. While in 3D, rotate the shape if necessary. This H shape will need rotated on the X axis 90 degrees if it was created on the XY axis.

Step 2. Draw a curve

1. Use the Curve command from the Draw menu > Lines to create the path you want to use to extrude along. The path doesn't need to be attached to the object you're extruding.

If there's a specific arc or radius you need to follow, draw it as an arc, then vector convert the arc. With the arc vector converted select it and go to the Edit menu > Selection Edit > Convert menu and use the Line to Curve command. This will make it a curve so that you can use it for the extrude command. It's best to hold down Ctrl+Shift when making the curve for the extrusion path so the path can be moved along the Z dimension.

Step 3. Extrude along a curve

1. Select the cross section (the plane). Pay close attention to the placement of your selection handle. It will define the part of the plane that is centered on the curve.

2. When you activate the extrude command choose the option to Extrude Along a Curve, then just set your point on the curve and the extrusion of the plane will follow the curve from start to end.

To Enter Measurements in Bearings (surveyors coordinates)…

1. First activate the drawing command you wish to use (i.e. Line, Box, etc.…)

2. Once you have chosen the appropriate drawing command, set a point using either the insert key or the left hand mouse button.

3. Activate the POINT POLAR command by either pushing the semicolon key on the keyboard or by opening the Point menu and selecting the POINT POLAR command.

4. The Point Polar dialog box will appear asking which point you want to be relative from, in most cases it will be either the last point set or some pre-existing point of another line. Choose one. 

In the distance field, type in how long you need the line. In the angle field, enter in the bearing such as: N10d6m3sE.

Here's a broken down equation for surveyor's format ...

N for north or S for south, the number of degrees, a D for degrees, the number of minutes, a M for minutes, the number of seconds, an S for seconds and either an E for east or a W for west.

Viewing 3D Models

Set View

Ever been swinging your 3D drawing around, only to find yourself humming the theme song for Lost in Space? ... Lost in 3D space, that is. It's easy to swing it off the screen. 

DesignCAD’s Set View command is commonly used to “swing the drawing around in 3D space” to let you view  your model at different angles. When you use the Set View command to rotate your model, you are not really rotating the drawing itself; you are changing the horizontal and vertical angle at which the 3D object is being viewed. When this rotation takes place, it does so around the view center, which is a single, invisible point, usually located at the origin.

The Origin

Let’s back up and say a few words about the Origin before going on. The origin itself is also an invisible point, where the X and Y and Z-axis meet at coordinates of 0. When you start a line at X 0, Y 0, Z 0 in DesignCAD, you’ve started it at the origin point, which is the numeric reference point for the drawing coordinate system. In 2D Drafting Mode the origin is located at the lower left corner of the screen, so all positive X and Y values are to the right and above the origin point. DesignCAD’s Origin command lets users move this reference point to anywhere on the screen, or to any point in 3D space. Users of DesignCAD’s 3D mode may remember that when in 3D, the origin point’s default location is at the center of the screen.

Because the view center is located along with the origin point, at the screen’s center, it’s fairly easy to “swing your drawing off the screen” when you’re not really trying to.

For Practice

Let’s illustrate this situation with a simple example. First open a new DesignCAD drawing. Make sure you’re in 3D Mode. Then choose the Box command from the Solid’s menu. Next, choose the Point XYZ command from the Point menu and when the Point XYZ dialog box appears, press Enter to start the box at the origin point, which in this case is the middle of the screen.

Notice that your cursor has jumped to the center of the screen and set the first point of the box, which in this case is the lower left corner point. Move the cursor up about an inch, and then move it to the right edge of the screen, just to the left of the scroll bar or screen edge. Notice as you move the green rubber band box moves with the cursor’s position. Click the left mouse button one time to complete the command.

You should now have a rectangle shape drawn on the right side of the screen.

Before looking at the “problem”, let’s see how Set View command works. Locate the cursor near the center of the screen and press the “Y” key on the keyboard to start the Set View command. Notice your cursor’s icon has changed to a camera. Press and hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to the left. Notice you appear to be swinging the box by a pivot point on its left side. So moving the cursor to the left rotates the box around so that its pointing in the opposite direction. Press the Escape key to cancel the view change.

Now let’s see the “problem”. Press the Ctrl+W keys on the keyboard to fit the box to the window, then move the  cursor near the center of the screen and again press the “Y” key to start the Set View command. Drag the cursor to the left and notice how doing so swings the box off the screen! This happens because of having used Ctrl+W to fit the box to the screen. It zoomed to the upper right quadrant of the screen (where the box was) and now the origin point and view center are both to the left. Remember that although the origin and view center start out at the same place they are defiantly separate points which are used for different purposes. Press the Escape key to cancel this view change.

Set View by Drawing Center

So you see, this situation is not a problem at all, once you understand that the Set View command always rotates the current view around the view center, which just happens to have a default location of the center of the screen. To avoid this situation, just set the view center in the middle of the screen before rotating.

Many times 3D modeling users need to see their creations from different angles as they draw. A simple way to rotate the object on the screen without loosing it is important. For this simple example, users of DesignCAD 3D Max or DesignCAD 3D Max Plus can use the Set View by Drawing Center command.

Here's how it works. If you don’t have the View Toolbar visible, just press Ctrl+Alt+V on the keyboard (this toggles this toolbar on and off). The right most icon on the View Toolbar shows a bright orange camera surrounded by four arrows. Click this icon now, then locate the cursor near the center of the screen. Press and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the left.

You’ll see that the box smoothly rotates around its center, allowing it to be viewed from any angle without it swinging off screen. This works because the Set View by Drawing Center command moves the view center to the center of the screen before letting you swing the drawing around, so you couldn’t loose the box even if you tried. Press Escape to cancel the view change.

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Although this command works for most simple examples, it’s not an ideal solution for a complex 3D drawing. With different 3D parts on the screen and working at multiple zoom factors, sometimes you need to change the location that the Set View command rotates around, so that you can swing the drawing around when zoomed in or when you’ve scrolled or panned over to look at a specific part. For situations like this, users of DesignCAD 2000 or later can use the Set Viewer Points command.

This little known command has two different uses depending on how many points you set to satisfy the command. If you set two points with the command, the two points become the angle at which you view the drawing, with the first point being used as the viewer’s position and the second point acting as the new view center or where the viewer is looking. If you set one point with the command, then press Enter, the point you set becomes the new view center for the Set View command.

It's high time to learn how to use the Set Viewer Points command. From the File menu, choose Open, then browse to the Tutorial Drawings folder and open the 3D Table sample file. Next press Ctrl+W to fit the drawing to the main window.

Because the view center can be set separately for each file, confirm that the same situation happens with this sample by locating the cursor near the screen center and pressing the “Y” key. Then click and drag the mouse to the left and see the 3D Table swing up and out of view to the left. Looks like this table was drawn in a similar position to the previous box example given the way it’s swinging out of view in the same manner. Press Escape to cancel this command.

The Set Viewer Points command icon can be found in the View Toolbar just to the left of the Set View icon. Its icon has a picture of a camera with an arrow pointing diagonally down and to the right. Click this icon and set a point on the right side of the table, then press the Enter key to end the command. Notice the table’s right side has jumped to the center of the screen, this indicates that the view center has changed.

Now to see the difference in Set View.  Press Ctrl+W to fit the table to the screen, then locate the cursor near the screen center and press the “Y” key. Click and drag the mouse to the left again and see that this time the 3D Table is swinging down and out of the view to the right. This is because the view center has been moved from the left side of the table to the right. Press Escape to cancel this command.

You can use the Set Viewer Points command as many times as you need to, constantly changing the view center around which the Set View command rotates the drawing. You can even use the Set Viewer Points command multiple times while inside the Set View command, making it easy to rotate around several different objects one after the other. This also makes it easy to use the Set View command while zoomed-in to a part you want to rotate around without having to consider the rest of the objects in the drawing. In fact, you can even select a 3D object, use the Zoom to Selection command to center that selected item to all four 3D windows, then use Set Viewer Points and Set View commands together to see that single selected part from any angle, completely ignoring the fact that the drawing contains any other objects at all.

Now a Warning

We’ll close with a simple word of warning to users of the Set Viewer Points command. Once moved, it’s up to the user to remember where the view center’s new position is and if you close down a drawing, then open it up again after a few days, you may not remember changing the view center’s position. Also because the view center is an invisible point, if you move the object you were referencing it with, you may not know where you’ve placed the view center later.

One method to avoid this confusion would be to use the Pointmark command to place a pointmark at the pivot point around which you wish to rotate the view, then snap to that pointmark with the right mouse button, (gravity) when you’re using the Set Viewer Points command.

Or you could just move the view center back to its original position when you’re finished. To return the view center to its default location, the origin, use this simple method.

• Click on the Set Viewer Points command icon.
• Click the Point XYZ command from the Point menu.
• When the Point XYZ dialog box appears, press Enter to accept the 0,0,0
• Press the Enter key again to end the Set Viewer Points command.

Be advised that the above method may not always work for every drawing. First of all not everyone draws around the origin point and secondly, many users move the origin point to different locations while drawing. If this is the case and you need to return the view center to the center of the drawing, just use this simple method instead.

• First press Ctrl+W to fit the drawing to the screen.
• Press Ctrl+A to select the entire drawing with the Select All command. The Select All command places the blue bull’s eye selection handle at the exact center of the selected group of objects, which in this case is our entire drawing.
• Next just choose the Set Viewer Points command.
• Gravity snap to the blue bull’s eye with the right mouse button.
• Press Enter to end the command.

This will reset your view center to the middle of the drawing.

If you've been following the macros included in each month's newsletter, you'll recognize the name Herbert Jackson who has shared a great number of macros in the DesignCAD Newsletter.

Track the Time Spent on a Project!

This program will track the time spent on any job. Any company or self employed person can be benefited by using it to track time on a job.

Click here to download the timer.

Find the Tangent Between 3 Circles:

Here is a macro that attempts to find a circle that is externally tangent to three other circles. To use the macro, select the three circles of interest before running the macro (but it will allow you to select them afterwards).

Note that it is not possible to find such a circle for all possible cases.

This macro is written to take advantage of a new macro feature of 3DMax Plus, but can be easily modified to skip that feature.
 

Click here to download this macro

click the small thumbnail image above to see a larger view