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This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 22 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please read "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before trying to contact "The Author."

The text in this section has been revised to include some of the developments for a revision of version v2.7B, program versions, updates, or revisions prior or subsequent may work differently and so what is stated here may not apply to the particular version, update, or revision you might have, i.e. those other versions. The documentation is only generally descriptive of the programs, you should check the operation of each particular program that you will be "Beta Testing" since operation of the programs is subject to change without notice.

This HTML documentation section has documentation mostly about my CAD programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm). Most the discussion about DANCAD3D.COM (tm) also applies to "Beta Testing" DANCAD87.COM (tm), the math co- processor version, as well, except for some differences in some of the files saved and the need for a math co-processor. See also the other documentation in this Web site for additional information, particularly the CAM program documentation and the supplemental documentation, tutorials, and appendices. The disclaimer, and most of the other legal text is currently located in SECTION: 0, therefore you must read the disclaimer, End User License Agreement (EULA), legal text and other text in SECTION: 0 before you read any of the other documentation or use any part of this HTML document, this section, or associated files and programs.

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DANCAD3D (tm) uses several different types of data file for storing drawing information. In the course of using DANCAD3D (tm) you will probably need to use most of these filetypes to accomplish your desired results. Be sure you know the filetype of each file you have saved to your harddisk so each file can be loaded properly later by selecting the command that loads that same filetype.

A distinction between filetypes is made between filetypes that are unique and proprietary to my programs, and file types that are also used by other programs. Filetypes that are used by other programs are sometimes referred to as "industry" filetypes, and might be used to import or export files so that data can be shared, processed, or exchanged with other programs to achieve results in addition to what could be obtained just by using my programs, or to avoid duplication of effort in entering the same data more than once. Some of the industry file types supported in some respect are: BMP, HPGL, HPGL/2, PostScript (tm), DXF, STL, PCB Drill, NC G code, and TXT. See the Files Load Industry and Files Save Industry sub-menus as well as the main menu Preview command, the Files Utilities, and Hardcopy sub- menus.

My proprietary filetypes can be divided into two groups, the file types that are used directly for saving drawing elements, and animation frames of drawing elements, that load into the drawing workspace or the video screen, and my other filetypes that are used in the program to control or store the various internal workings of the program.

The group of proprietary filetypes described immediately below are used for saving drawing elements and animation frames, the other proprietary file types are described at the bottom of this section. Between them are the a group of industry filetypes which also save and load drawing elements or screen images, but may also be compatible with programs other than just mine.

DANCAD3D (tm) has three main proprietary filetypes that it stores drawing elements in: 3D-Quick, 2D-Real, and ASCII. The Elements filetype is an automated way of saving a set of 3D-Quick elements that represent all the individual elements in the workspace, with the addition of saving the element center point information in a extra file as part of the Elements set. It is important that you do not mistakenly try to load a file of one file type into the program by asking the program to load a file that was saved as a different file type. Sub- directories, a.k.a. folders, that may have been created by INSTALL.BAT for you are for you to use to segregate the files of different filetypes. Below is a detailed more explanation of these filetypes and how they might be best used.

In addition to the three main element filetypes used for saving elements, the Pixel filetype, which is really just a snapshot of the screen and not a drawing data filetype, can be used for saving views of a drawing so that the drawing can be displayed quickly for animated display. If you save a Pixel file of a drawing you should also save the drawing in one or more of the element filetypes so that the drawing elements can be edited or re-used later.

The ASCII file format is the primary filetype used for saving elements and tool path files. The ASCII or *.ASC filetype saves the 3D data for end points of line segments or lines used to describe triangles that are part of elements drawn in the drawing workspace. If you are making a flat 2D drawing the z axis values for the end points saved will just be all zeros. The name ASCII comes from the data standard for common text files on personal computers, my ASCII filetype is actually a specially formatted text file containing special words and numeric values arranged in a defined format.

DANCAD3D (tm)'s file type 3D-Quick 3D drawing data file format is Binary so it cannot be edited in a text editor. The ASCII drawing file type uses the seven bit ASCII text characters, so it can be edited in a text editor. Having a drawing file type that can be edited in a text editor lets you make changes to the drawing data easier than trying to use the drawing commands sometimes. A drawing element can be saved with the Save ASCII command and then opened with the Write command and edited, then saved back to disk and loaded into the drawing workspace using the Load ASCII command.

Because of the need to be able to exchange 3D element files between various programs the ASCII data file uses text characters that are universally able to be exchanged. The ASCII data files take the form of a text document without page brakes. The ASCII drawing files can be loaded with the main menu [F]iles [L]oad [A]SCII command.

If the ASCII drawing file starts with the VERSION macro command it can be Run in the macro interpreter, i.e. the Run command, as a macro, since the macro ENTER command uses the same formatting for the data. *.ASC files saved from the Files Save ASCII command usually have the macro CENTER command saved at the bottom end of the ASCII file to set the elements center point when the file is Run in the macro interpreter. When the element's center point is not set automatically by loading with the Files Load ASCII command, you can use the [S]et center command in the drawing editors [E]lements sub-menu to set the loaded element's center point location. If your ASCII file does not start with the VERSION macro command you can use the DOS COPY command to add it to the file by using the file ADDV27A.MAC file that may be in the latest revision of the DANCAD3D.ZIP file, see the instructions in ADDV27A.MAC's comments.

You can look at the ASCII data in files, enter and save ASCII data yourself, or edit ASCII saved in files using the DANCAD3D (tm) ASCII 3D data file format with a text editor. A text editor is located in command [W]rite from the main menu. You might also write programs in Basic or other languages to create or translate your own DANCAD3D (tm) type ASCII data files into filetypes required by other application programs. DANCAD3D (tm)'s hardcopy commands can be used to print drawings made by programs you have written in some other language if you write your program to produce a DANCAD3D (tm) type ASCII data file as an intermediate step.

DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) both read DANCAD3D (tm) type ASCII data files. If you want to save a tool path drawn with DANCAD3D (tm) for use with DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) you should use the ASCII 3D data filetype.

DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) can both create ASCII files through the use of their teach modes. DANCAM.EXE (tm) can create ASCII files through scanning with a probe. DANPLOT.EXE (tm) can also scan and produce a *.RAW raw data file that can be converted into a *.NOR normalized raw data file that can be converted into a *.BMP raster file that can be converted into a *.ASC type ASCII drawing file. Files made by the CAM programs can be loaded into the CAD programs for editing, inspection, and conversion.

Other file types, such as HPGL, NC G code, or PCB Drill, can be loaded into DANCAD3D (tm)'s workspace, edited and inspected, then saved as ASCII type files for use in manufacturing by the CAM programs.

VERSION v2.7A { FILE ORIGIN } ENTER
x1a y1a z1a  x1b y1b z1b  color1 width1 shape1 style1
x2a y2a z2a  x2b y2b z2b  color2 width2 shape2 style2
x3a y3a z3a  x3b y3b z3b  color3 width3 shape3 style3
0 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 0 0

VERSION v2.7A { FILE ORIGIN } ENTER
 0.2500  1.0000  0        0.7500  1.3333  0          1    1    0    0
-0.2500  1.0000  0       -0.7500  1.0000  0        127  255   16    0
-0.2500  1.0000  1.0000  -0.2500  2.0000  1.1250     3    6    0    0
-0.2500  2.0000 -1.0000   0.2500  2.0000 -1.7500     3    6    0    0
0 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 0 0

As you see the first line of text of the ASCII data file has the macro commands VERSION and ENTER on it. The following lines of text each have the end point data for individual line segments, grouped, first end point x, y, and z, second end point x, y, and z, then the four numbers at the end are the line segment's attributes. The default attributes would always be 1 1 0 0 (color=1, width=1, shape=0, style=0). The numbers must be separated by spaces (ASCII code number #32.) The last line of text in the data group is ten spaced zeros and marks the end of 3D data entry. Each line of text in the ASCII data file should end with an ASCII #13 (carriage return) and ASCII #10 (line feed.) Double spacing within the ASCII data file is not permitted, nor is additional text at the ends of the lines of text. The number of line segment data text lines between the ENTER command and ten zeros allowable depends on the amount of free space on your harddisk for the workspace file to expand, and might be more than 12 million lines. DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) should read ASCII data files of "any" length up to about 2.1GB. The file origin comment using the brace characters { and } must come between the VERSION and ENTER commands, not before or after them, and must be separated by a space character on each side.

For use under Windows 95 (tm) the *.ASC files can be named or renamed *.TXT if needed so long as you keep the ASCII files in a separate folder and remember what type of file they really are. You might want to rename the *.ASC files as *.TXT so that you can use a windows text editor like Notepad (tm) or Wordpad (tm) to edit the ASCII drawing data file. If you use another text editor or word processor always save the ASCII data file to disk as a DOS text file and not some other type! Be careful that you do not get any Control Z characters stuck in the middle of your ASCII file or you will probably get an error or incomplete loading of the data when you try to load the file.

The ASCII file type corresponds to the macro ENTER command, see the information about the macro ENTER command in Appendix B. See also the related macro commands APPEND, BEGIN, INSERT, and DELETE. See also Appendix N for information about the line and triangle attributes used in the ASCII file type.

The 3D-Quick file format was developed as a drawing element file format that would load symbol files and other element drawings quickly. The 3D-Quick file type replaced the function of earlier Real-3D file type used in previous versions. Since the 3D-Quick filetype uses a Binary file format you cannot edit the 3D-Quick file type with a text editor, use the ASCII file type if you need to edit the drawing file in a text editor.

The Binary numeric format used in the 3D-Quick filetype is different for DANCAD3D (tm) and DANCAD87 (tm), so if you need to exchange files between those programs you should use the ASCII file type. The CAM programs do not read the 3D-Quick filetype, they read the ASCII file type.

The 3D-Quick file type can load drawing elements faster than the ASCII filetype under some circumstances, but on fast computers the difference might not be noticeable.

Whether you are drawing 2D or 3D drawings you can use the 3D- Quick file type for saving all of a drawing's elements and the finished drawing as well. The 3D-Quick file format does not portray the objects you draw from any particular view point, (see 2D-Real below for a file type that does make a perspective portrayal) but rather saves all the drawing line segments just as you drew them using their absolute line segment end point positions in the workspace. 3D-Quick is the filetype that generally loads elements fastest, so might be favored for saving temporary files from a macro file. When 3D-Quick files are saved to the disk you should use (unless you need numbered file extensions (i.e. .1, .2) for a macro to read) the file extension *.3D to avoid accidentally forgetting what filetype the file is.

Under Windows 95 (tm) you could use the file extension *.BIN for this file type so long as you only keep the 3D-Quick files in a separate folder to avoid confusion as to what file type the files actually are. 3D-Quick files are a Binary file, and the extension *.BIN is a sort of "catch all" extension for a variety of Binary files that are not computer programs themselves.

Since complex drawings can contain hundreds of drawing elements saving each one manually would not be practical. The Elements filetype automates the saving of all the elements in the workspace. Additionally the Elements filetype preserves the rotational centers of the elements, and automatically restores the element's centers when the Elements set is reloaded into the workspace. When DANCAD3D (tm) saves sets of elements the last three characters of the filename are used for the digits of the elements number (therefore the filename can only be five characters rather than the normal eight.) The filename extension would normally be given *.3DE unless you wanted to create a set of numbered sets of elements (for complex animation purposes.) So if you have five elements in the workspace, and you save them as a set of elements under the name MYDR1.3DE these file names would appear in the disk's directory:

EXAMPLE: MYDR1001.3DE
         MYDR1002.3DE
         MYDR1003.3DE
         MYDR1004.3DE
         MYDR1005.3DE
         MYDR1SET.3DE

The sixth file with SET in its name is a non-drawing data file that holds the center information for the set of elements. Individual drawing elements from an elements file set can be loaded into the drawing workspace by selecting the 3D-Quick file format and entering the full numbered element filename, i.e. to load the third element from the MYDR1.3DE element set you would ask for the file by its name MYDR1003.3DE.

Each set of elements can hold as many elements as the drawing workspace can, i.e. 999. If you try to save a set of elements to a floppy disk you will notice that each element file takes at least 1024 bytes from the free disk space. The 1024 bite size of small files is a result of the way some versions of DOS store data on floppy disks and is not what DANCAD3D (tm) asks DOS to do. The importance of this short coming in DOS is that you will need to use an empty disk for each workspace if you use floppies and if you have hundreds of elements in the Elements file set. When saving hundreds of files to a floppy disk you should make a sub- directory first on the floppy disk and save the set of files into the sub-directory, or else you may get a disk full error when DOS runs out of spaces for filenames in the root directory of the floppy disk (DOS generally allows only 255 or 511 files in the root directory of the disk, where as a sub-directory can hold many more files.)

It is possible to load a set of elements into the workspace when the workspace already has some elements in it. If the workspace has for instance 50 elements in it then when you load a set of 10 elements on top of the 50 currently in the workspace the first of the elements loaded from the set of ten would be element number 51 and so on. If you already have 500 elements in the workspace and you try to load a set that has 600 elements in it, you will get an error message since 500 plus 600 is more that the maximum of 999 elements.

Under Windows 95 (tm) you could use the file extension *.BIN for this file type so long as you only keep the Elements files in a separate folder to avoid confusion as to what file type the files actually are. Element files are saved using the 3D-Quick type Binary file type.

The Binary numeric format used in the 3D-Quick filetype is different for DANCAD3D (tm) and DANCAD87 (tm), so if you need to exchange files between those programs you should use the ASCII file type. The CAM programs do not read the Elements filetype, they read the ASCII file type.

Oddly enough, the 2D-Real file type is not meant to be used for saving 2D drawings, but rather to make 2D perspective projections of 3D elements in the workspace. One set of Elements of any workspace will preserve the actual location of all of the lines in the drawing, but does not save any information of how the 3D shapes should be presented on the 2D screen or print out. The 2D-Real filetype does just the opposite, it only saves the way 3D objects look on a 2D surface (something like a shadow of a sculpture) and saves no direct information about the actual depth of objects. By making 2D projections of the points in the 3D workspace you can gain an understanding of the 3D shape of the elements through perspective and parallax.

When making 2D blue prints and other numerically scaled drawings you should save the elements with the 3D-Quick file type since the 3D-Quick file format is very accurate. The 2D-Real file format is intended to preserve perspective views of the elements in the workspace as they appear in the main menu preview screen.

Frequently when working with three dimensional objects you will have the scale, used in the main menu Preview, set to many different values. It would be hard to remember all those different scale values at some later time. To avoid remembering what perspective scale value looked good with a given set of elements the 2D-Real file type "Normalizes" all 2D-Real files to print out with the scale set to 1 (or some number close to 1 depending on the size of paper you wish to fill.) To avoid normalization you can set the preview scale to 1 when you save the 2D-Real file. When saving all the elements into 2D- Real files you would select element number 0 as the element to save and thereby have all the elements in the workspace visible in the perspective projection.

As a normal practice in using DANCAD3D (tm) you would save all the elements as one set of Elements filetype, and also save many different perspective views of the elements in normalized 2D- Real filetype files. The normalized 2D-Real files would then be later viewed or printed with the scale set to 1, and rotations set to 0. Saving finished drawings in the 2D-Real filetype takes less disk space than saving the finished drawing in the 3D- Quick filetype (you should always save an automatic output macro or set of elements for any drawing you are working on in case you have to edit the drawing at a later date, because the 2D-Real filetype limits the amount of editing you can do since the third dimension is squashed and therefore unalterable.)

Use the main menu Preview command to try out different values for the perspective rotation, scale, and distance, before saving the 2D-Real file.

When trying to save a 2D-Real file of triangle elements you will first need to use the Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu to convert the triangle elements into perspective projections of the triangles as line segments in a raster to vector converted element. The perspective distance used with the 2D-Real command would then be set to 1E18 and the rotations would normally be x=0, y=0, z=0, or x=0, y=0, z=90. Triangles elements can be saved directly as 2D-Real by using display mode 10, but you will not get a hidden line display. In order to get a hidden line display you need to use the Ready command before you use the Save 2D-Real command, select the element that Ready made, and use display mode one with Save 2D-Real since you used the hidden line mode you want already with the Ready command. The Ready command makes half tones for the shading the hidden line display modes with small dots, like when drawings are printed with the JET laser printer commands.

Saving 2D projections of color or gray scale hidden line drawings might be better accomplished by using the SVGA display modes, and saving a BMP file from the main menu Preview command. The BMP file of the 2D perspective of the elements might then be printed by using the Windows 95 (tm) program MSPaint (tm), or some other graphics program, through the windows printer driver for your color printer.

The Real-3D drawing element filetype is mostly obsolete, and is a largely a carry over from earlier versions. Some users might have old drawings in this file type that they want to load, so the command has been kept up to this point. In the future the Real-3D filetype may get dropped, so it might be best to convert your old Real-3D drawings to the current ASCII filetype.

The Table command in the Files Load sub-menu is an automated way of loading a set of specially drawn ASCII drawings of characters into the programs font table so that the font table can be saved as a *.FON font file.

The Table command only works with drawings of letters, numbers, and marks used in a lettering font that have been drawn to correspond to the lettering grid in the drawing editor, see the [S]et-up [G]rid command in the drawing editor (you may need to zoom back to see all of the grid.)

See the tutorial lesson about making font files in the supplemental documentation tutorial lesson section. See also the SAVE TABLE and LOAD TABLE macro commands in Appendix B.

Do not try to load other kinds of drawings into the font table, since the font table stores the letter drawings in byte values and other drawings made to the wrong scale will not load properly.

The Workspace filetype is an automated way of loading and saving a set of ASCII drawings of letters, numbers, and marks used to make a font file into and out of the drawing workspace so that the drawings of the letters, numbers, and marks can be edited or altered all at once, e.g. to use MAGNIFY, ROTATE, or FLIP on the whole font. Each of the letters, numbers, and marks, is loaded into it's own drawing element, and saved to it's own separate numbered file.

If you want to save a set of drawing elements other than those used in a font use the Elements command.

See the tutorial lesson about making font files in the supplemental documentation tutorial lesson section. See also the SAVE WORKSPACE and LOAD WORKSPACE macro commands in Appendix B.

Since the writing of the shaded hidden line perspective views to the screen may take a few hours or more, a quicker way of displaying screens of perspective views is built into DANCAD3D (tm). After you display a perspective projection of the elements in the workspace onto the computer's screen, what is displayed on the computers graphics screen can be saved to a Pixel file on your harddisk. By saving a series of screens to your harddisk as Pixel type files you will be able to reload the series of Pixel type files fast enough to simulate motion through the animation technique (animation technique means that series of slightly different still drawings shown in rapid succession are perceived by humans to appear to move continuously rather than jump from one to the next, that is the mind of the viewer connects the series of drawings and believes them to be one changing drawing rather than hundreds of non-changing drawings as the drawings really are.) The [A]nimate command in the [F]iles sub-menu from the main menu will read Pixel files in from your harddisk (or better yet from a RAM disk) and animate them for you. If your system has more than 640KB RAM you may be able to install a RAM disk in the unused high memory for animating frames more smoothly than taking them off of the harddisk.

When you use the Animate command, in the [F]iles sub- menu, you can press [B] to set the display to "Back-'n-Forth" mode, or press [Return] for a menu of various keyboard commands.

To make a set of perspective pixel files automatically, set the [F]actors in the main menu [P]review command, then select [A]nimate from inside the main menu [P]review command (if your RAM disk is drive D: you would start the filename for the pixel file set with D:\.) If you have a large enough RAM disk above your DOS system memory you can smoothly animate up to 999 frames with the [F]iles sub-menu [A]nimate command (or you can save the frames to your harddisk).

Pixel frame files (unlike the drawing data files) are only able to be displayed if you have DANCAD3D (tm) set to the same video board type that DANCAD3D (tm) was set to when the Pixel files were saved. Most people will not be changing video modes since their computer only supports one video board type. If you use several computers, or have a video board that changes graphics modes, you should use some method of marking your pixel files by the video board type used to make the files (perhaps use different sub-directories for each pixel file type, i.e. \C640M2, \C320C4, \E640C16, \H720M2, and so on.)

When you are using the macro DISPLAY command to display elements from the workspace to the video screen, you can initialize the workspace without erasing what is on the video screen thereby allowing you to reload the workspace with different elements and use the macro DISPLAY command repeatedly to write more elements to the video screen. Therefore there is no limit to the number of line segments a Pixel file can hold. In other words the macro INITIALIZE command clears the workspace, but not the graphics screen. The graphics screen can be cleared with the GRAPH_MODE command, to start a new screen to be saved as a Pixel file.

If you save a large Pixel file set into a RAM disk you should create a sub-directory, within the RAM disk, and save the pixel files into the sub-directory. Pixel files are numbered *.1, *.2, through *.999. The main menu Preview command can create sets of Pixel files, where the display changes from frame to frame by the values entered into the "factors" value screen that comes after the perspective values screen.

Under Windows 95 (tm) the Pixel file's extension could be changed from *.PIX to *.BIN, for Binary, so long as you make a separate folder for the Pixel files and remember that they are Pixel files. If the extension needs to be *.BIN for some reason, the LONG_NAME macro command could be used with the LOAD PIXEL macro command to display the frame files, since the numbered part would be the filename and not the extension.

Another filetype similar to the Pixel filetype is the BMP file type, they are both Binary images of the computers video board memory, i.e. screen shots. My Pixel file format is just for use in my programs and leaves out some of the extra information that the BMP files include, and for some video modes makes a smaller file that may load faster, useful for displaying computer animation frames. The macro commands LOAD PIXEL and SAVE BMP can be used to convert a set of Pixel files into a set of BMP files for use with some other programs, e.g. for conversion to animated GIF and such.

BMP files of the right size and type can also be converted into Pixel or ASCII files for use and display in my programs, but palette conversion is required for some display modes so monochrome BMP files might convert better than color ones. See the Files Utilities, Files Load Industry, and Hardcopy sub-menus.

DANPLOT.EXE (tm) can now be used to scan using various kinds of sensor, for example, contact, heat, sound, light, magnetism, radiation, and so forth. Most users would probably use a light sensor for the probe. When DANPLOT.EXE (tm) is scanning it makes a file with the extension *.RAW. The "raw" file is then processed with the commands in DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to make a normalized file with the extension *.NOR.

The *.NOR file can be further processed in DANCAD3D (tm) using the commands in the Files Utilities sub-menu to convert the *.NOR file into a *.BMP file.

The *.BMP file, made from the *.NOR file, can then be edited or processed in some other graphics program, or by using DANCAD3D (tm) be converted into an ASCII file and then loaded into the drawing workspace. The edited ASCII file could then be saved and loaded into DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to manufacture something.

The *.RAW and *.NOR files contain point intensity values taken from the computers reading of the probe. The processing of the raw file is needed since the eye does not see brightness in linear proportion to its value, less separation is seen in bright values and more separation is seen in low values, this helps us see better. The corrections the program makes are to compress the one end of the range and expand the other. If you want just black and white in the normalized file you can further process the *.NOR file to increase the contrast with the commands in DANPLOT.EXE (tm).

DANCAM.EXE (tm) can also scan using a probe, but it saves the scan as a 3D contour of lines in an ASCII drawing file.

The DOT and JET page files are like the Pixel or BMP files in that they are raster images of pixels set to fixed values. They are normally used to compose a page for printing, but now are also used for file type conversion and image processing.

The DOT page files are created according to the *.PRN driver installed with the main menu Change command, and images are added to the DOT page file with the ADD command in the Hardcopy Dot sub-menu.

The JET page files are created according to the *.JET driver installed with the main menu Change command, and images are added to the JET page file mostly with the ADD command in the Hardcopy Dot sub-menu, although some other commands like Ready and Outline in the Hardcopy and Files Utilities sub-menus also use JET page files for file type conversion and image processing.

The page files are really a set of files, each composing a strip of the full page. The strip files are numbered using the right most characters of the filename, so you cannot use an eight letter filename, only a five or perhaps six letter one.

There are View commands in the DOT and JET page sub-menus of the Hardcopy sub-menu that let you look at the image in the page file before you print it out. Some narrow lines may not show up in the View display since the monitor screen has only about one third of the pixels used in the page file, and some information is omitted to shrink the image to fit on the screen.

If you output your drawings to page files by using DOT ADD or JET ADD commands, rather than directly to the printer by using the DOT WORKSPACE or JET WORKSPACE commands, you can save having to have the printer on for hours or days while your pages are composed, rather, after the page files are made you can then turn on the printer and print the page files, using the DOT PRINT or JET PRINT commands, in "rapid" succession.

DANCAD3D (tm) can load or save several industry filetypes that you see mentioned in the menu prompts, they are described below. My programs only read or write a sub-set the range of commands or instructions for each of these industry filetypes, so conversion may not be satisfactory if the files contain commands or instructions that are not supported, therefore you should always inspect the elements loaded into my program or the other program you are using to see that all of the parts of the elements are there and have converted properly. In DANCAD3D (tm) you can use the drawing editor and the Preview commands to inspect elements loaded. If the files do not load properly you may be able to edit the file types that are text type with the Write command or some other text editor to correct the problems manually, the search and replace feature of the text editor might be a help fixing things or removing unsupported commands and instructions.

DANCAD3D (tm) can save line segments to a PostScript (tm) drawing file, see the Files Save Industry sub-menu. The Laser command in the Hardcopy sub-menu can also output directly to the printer using PostScript (tm) when the *.LZR drivers are used, or it can output HPGL/2 when the LJIII???.PLT drivers drivers are used. To exit the *.LZR or *.PLT drivers use the Install command in the Plot sub-menu of the Hardcopy sub-menu.

The PostScript (tm) files may be saved with the file extension *.PS.

Since the PostScript (tm) files are made using the plotter plotting portion of the program, if you want to print a shaded hidden line drawing to a PostScript (tm) laser printer you first need to use the Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu. You can then select just the element made by Ready as the element to plot. The plot command cannot be used with the display modes that display triangles as filled or shaded, that is why you need to use the Ready command to convert the triangles to lines that can be plotted with the plot command.

DANCAD3D (tm) can read some sub-set HPGL files, and write sub-set HPGL files, see the Files Load Industry and Files Save Industry sub-menus. You might be able to use other programs that make HPGL files that contain only HPGL commands IN, VS, PA, PR, PU, PD, and SP, to make drawings that DANCAD3D (tm) may be able to load. Try using a plotter driver for HP74XX or HP75XX type HP plotters, and have the plotter data go to a disk file, rather than the plotter port.

Some PCB layout programs may let you make a HPGL plot of just the pads in the drawing, if so that might be able to be loaded and processed with the commands in the drawing editor to extract the drill hole locations to make a hole drilling tool path. If the whole PCB foil pattern is loaded, the Outlines command in the Hardcopy sub-menu might be able to be used to make a tool path that could be used in DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to cut around the traces to make a circuit board without having to etch the foil off with chemicals.

Scanned drawings may be able to be converted to HPGL data by using a third-party "Raster-to-Vector" program. Since DANCAD3D (tm) can now convert BMP files into drawing elements several ways you may be able to incorporate scanned images without going through the HPGL file type, see the commands in the Files Load Industry, Hardcopy Outlines, Hardcopy Jet, and Files Utilities sub-menus.

For the loading of a HPGL drawing file, options are given for the centering of the loaded data. You can also use the commands in the drawing editor's Jockey sub-menu to adjust the centering of the loaded elements.

Since the HPGL files are made using the plotter plotting portion of the program, if you want to plot a shaded hidden line drawing to a HPGL file or plotter you first need to use the Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu. You can then select just the element made by Ready as the element to plot. The plot command cannot be used with the display modes that display triangles as filled or shaded, that is why you need to use the Ready command to convert the triangles to lines that can be plotted with the plot command.

DANCAD3D (tm) can write line segments or triangles in a sub- set of DXF type data to a file, see the Files Save Industry sub-menu. Options for saving the line data in 2D perspective using the DXF LINE entity or 3D wire-frame data format by using the DXF 3DLINE entity are given, as well as the ability to save triangle elements by use of the DXF 3DFACE entity. The DXF file made in this way has only a sub-set of the DXF data format and may not work with the program you want to use. If you are trying to export triangle data the STL filetype might be another choice.

The Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu might be used to prepare triangle elements for saving in 2D DXF files, if you need to use DXF to get a perspective projection of your 3D triangle drawing elements into another graphics program that reads DXF file type. Otherwise you might try saving the drawing as a BMP file if you want a color perspective projection.

The Files Load Industry AutoCAD (tm) command and the macro command LOAD DXF might read DXF file entities LINE, 3DLINE, and 3DFACE. 3D triangle elements can be loaded by using the 3DFACE loading modes, so that the 3D elements are converted for use with the triangle commands and display modes for hidden-line and shaded display.

The STL file type describes triangles, and would not be used for saving elements made of lines. The STL file contains actual 3D triangle data, and not a perspective view, so the STL file can save elements that could theoretically be rendered in some other 3D graphics program, or be used for making 3D tool path files.

The support for STL uses what is apparently the ASCII version of the STL file type, and not the Binary type of STL file. These commands are experimental, and I make no claim that they will read any file you have, or that files made will work in some particular program you have.

There are two loading modes, try to convert the STL data into a triangle element for hidden line display modes, or convert the STL data into a wire-frame element only able to be displayed as wire-frame lines.

There are two saving options, either the normals from the triangles can be saved, or they can be nulled. If you need to reverse the triangle orientation before saving see the HIDDEN REVERT BOTH command in the drawing editor.

If the triangles you save or load seem to have their normals pointing in the wrong direction you may be able to use the commands in the Hidden sub-menu in the drawing editor to reverse their orientation.

The BMP option in the Files Save Industry sub-menu saves a 1 BPP or "Line Art" (B&W) BMP file using the JET PAGE file commands. This is a good way to export drawings for use with other graphic programs. For display on the internet drawings saved as BMP might be converted to JPG or GIF with the software that came with your scanner. The JET driver used, DRIVERS\*.JET, effects the pixel size of the BMP file produced. The JET INSTALL command can be used to adjust the JET drivers. The main menu CHANGE command selects the default JET driver to use.

The BMP option in the Files Load Industry sub-menu loads a 1 BPP or "Line Art" (B&W) BMP file through conversion to line segments. The size of the BMP file needs to be cropped to the exact pixel size that the JET driver has been set up for. You can find the right size to save the BMP file at by first saving a "Line Art" BMP file from DANCAD3D.COM (tm) using the driver you want to use for loading, the look at the "properties" of the BMP file you made, then crop the BMP file you want to load using the software that came with your scanner to that same size. Sometimes you may need to enter a pixel size one pixel smaller or larger, in your scanner's graphics editing software, to get the size to come out right.

Color drawings can also be saved, but you need to use the save BMP command in the main menu Preview command while displaying in one of the color display modes, which work best on SVGA video cards. Pixel files can be converted to BMP files, see the FILES UTILITIES sub-menu.

There are several ways that BMP files can be saved and loaded with macro commands:

UTILITY BMP256_TO_ASCII, can be used to load a 8 bpp (256 palette mode color or gray tone) *.BMP image file and convert it into an ASCII file that can be loaded into the drawing workspace using the LOAD ASCII command. Various modes, see Appendix B, can convert the BMP image into 2D or 3D lines or triangles for use with different display modes or for use as a tool path for use with the CAM programs. In BMP files saved from some graphics programs it may be best to crop the image in the BMP file to have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32.

UTILITY BMP256OIL, works a little like the UTILITY BMP256_TO_ASCII and also converts BMP 8 bpp file to an ASCII file, but has the ability to select just one of the 256 palette mode's colors or gray tones. By selecting just one of the colors or gray tones you may be able to make a tool path file to apply just one color of paint or the equivalent at a time. UTILITY BMP256OIL can add the motions to move the brush in and out of the "paint pot" so that the brush picks up paint before drawing each pixel, or stroke of pixels. In BMP files saved from some graphics programs it may be best to crop the image in the BMP file to have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32. UTILITY BMP256OIL might be used for similar applications such as applying glaze to ceramic, or enamel to metal.

CONVERT can convert a 1 bpp "Line Art" BMP file into a JET page file, or convert a JET page file into a 1 bpp "Line Art" BMP file. To make your BMP file this way you first make a JET page file, then use JET ADD to copy your drawing lines from the workspace into the JET page file, then CONVERT can read the JET page file and save a *.BMP file of the JET page. To load a BMP 1 bpp "Line Art" file into the workspace you would first use JET MAKE to make a JET page file, then use CONVERT to copy the BMP image into that JET page file, then use the JET TRACE and possibly some of the other JET commands to make an ASCII trace of the image in the JET page file, then use the LOAD ASCII file to load the drawing lines in the ASCII file into the drawing workspace. The BMP file to be loaded must match the pixel size given in the JET driver file used to make the JET page file exactly.

The SAVE BMP command can save the graphics screen as a 8 bpp or 24 bpp BMP file. How many colors or gray tones, the BMP file type i.e. 8 bpp or 24 bpp, and the image size saved depends on the graphics mode set when SAVE BMP is called. Color images made using the hidden line modes can be saved using SAVE BMP, and possibly loaded into other graphics programs for printing on color printers. In order to save the higher resolution SVGA color graphics modes your computer must have a compatible SVGA video card with enough memory to display those modes. On computers with or without SVGA the GRAPH_MODE BMP mode can be used with the DISPLAY command to save 24 bpp BMP files in color and of larger sizes if needed.

The LOAD BMP command can load an 8 bpp or 24 bpp BMP file into the graphics screen. Because the color palette used for the DISPLAY command can be different from the palette in the BMP file, files not saved from DANCAD3D.COM (tm) will probably require palette conversion when being loaded. Because of mismatch in the colors after palette conversion, better results will probably be obtained converting gray scale monochrome images from BMP files. Color images that undergo palette conversion may look somewhat "posterized" depending on the color content in the original 8 bpp BMP file. The BMP file to be loaded must match the pixel size of the graphics mode selected exactly. 24 bpp BMP files that load into 24 or 32 bpp video screens do not require palette conversion, and so look about the same as when displayed elsewhere.

FILES CONVERT can be used to convert a *.NOR file made by using DANPLOT.EXE (tm)'s scanning probe mode into a *.BMP file. This could make a BMP 256 palette mode gray tone file, but you may be able to convert that to a 1 bpp "Line Art" file with some other graphics program you probably have on your computer. It may be best to select the image scanning dimensions that have a number of horizontal pixels that is an even multiple of 8, and total pixels that are an even multiple of 32 for compatibility with some programs.

You can try to use the software that came with your scanner to edit the *.BMP files, and crop them to the right size. Some programs have problems actually making the image the correct number of horizontal and vertical pixels, you may need to enter a number one larger or smaller to actually get the size you want. You may also be able to use the software that came with your scanner to convert images from 8 bpp (256 palette mode color or gray) to 1 bpp "Line Art" for conversion into my programs. You may also be able to use the software that came with your scanner to convert files saved as BMP from my programs into JPG or GIF for other applications such as display on the internet.

The menu commands that save and load BMP files can be combined with the automatic output feature to code the macro commands into a macro file. In the FILES SAVE INDUSTRY BMP command sub- menu you can save 2 color, i.e. 1 bpp, black and white, "line art" BMP files at up to 300 dpi and 2400 pixels horizontally by about 4050 pixels vertically, which is about 4050h x 2400v if you rotate the drawing 90 degrees around the z axis. Color drawings and hidden line drawings with shading can be saved using the save BMP command in the main menu [P]review command, or the equivalent macro commands. The main menu preview command is designed to allow up to 1600h x 1200v resolution, although some SVGA video boards may not support that resolution in the VESA modes, and so will not work up to that resolution. SVGA video boards with 4MB of memory should work up to 1280h x 1024v resolution if their VESA BIOS is compatible. If your video monitor does not sync at the higher resolutions, but your video board will display them properly, you may be able to turn off your monitor and run a macro to display and save the screen as a BMP file "blind" from a macro, just be sure that your macro sets a mode that your monitor will sync to before it ends or you will not be able to see anything when the monitor is turned on. Although some monitors are not rapidly damaged by being out of sync, you should probably not leave the monitor on for long periods in the out of sync state since the monitor may overheat or suffer other damage.

To generate the macro codes needed to save BMP files you should turn on the automatic macro feature by pressing [O] from the CAD program main menu, then use the commands in the program menus. You can then copy and edit those commands from the output macro file as needed for inclusion in your other macros.

The color BMP files are saved in 8 bit, or 256 palette mode color mode. You can also load BMP files in several ways, from 1 bit line art, from 8 bit color or gray to display or convert to Pixel files, or to convert 8 bit gray to lines for making tool paths or surface triangles hidden line. When loading BMP files the file must be the exact size required, e.g. if you are converting to a SVGA 640h x 480v pixel *.PIX file you need to crop the BMP file to that exact size before you save it in your photo or graphics editing software. Some times your photo or graphics editing software may not produce the exact size that you are asking it to, and you will need to clip to slightly larger or smaller numbers to get the file saved to come out to the correct dimensions. Check the "properties" of your BMP file in your photo or graphics editing software to make sure that the file has the exact dimensions required. For loading the line art BMP files the dimensions need to match those entered in the JET driver, which you can check with the JET INSTALL command.

The Ready and Outline commands in the Hardcopy sub-menu might be useful in converting line or triangle elements for use in making or loading images for or from BMP files.

The Drill command might load drill pattern files used for drilling. This Drill command loads the *.TXT ASCII type drill file, not any of the binary type drill pattern files, such as *.DRL. When you make the drill pattern file be sure to save it as the *.TXT type file. The loaded element could then be saved as my *.ASC ASCII file for use with the CAM programs. See also the LINK and PLOTTERIZE commands in the drawing editor. The default driver for the Load Industry Drill command is DRIVERS\DPCBDFLT.CFG, you can use the FILES COPY command to copy that driver so you can use the options in the Load Drill sub-menu to alter how the files are loaded. If you cannot get this command to work with your files you may be able to make a HPGL plot to disk of the pads, and use the Drill points command in the drawing editor to extract the drill points, then use the Plotterize command on the extracted points to make a tool path for DANCAM.EXE (tm) or just use the extracted points with DANPLOT.EXE (tm).

DANCAD3D (tm) can save a tool path made of line segments to a G code file for making CNC tool path files, see the Files Save Industry sub-menu. M codes can also be installed to be included in the file made. The feed rate setting can be configured to correspond to different line colors found in the drawing element being saved as G codes.

The SAVE GCODE and LOAD GCODE commands can work NC files with ISO, ASCII, EIA, EBCDIC, RS-244-A, RS-358-B, and user definable codes. Commands are in the programs for converting from one code type to the other.

DANCAD3D (tm) can now also save G codes directly to a file while you are using some of the commands in the drawing editor. Commands G00, G01, G02, G03, G14, and G15 can be output while using a special output file activated from the NC sub-menu of the drawing editor. When more advanced 3D tool paths with free form 3D surface contours are to be saved, the Files Save Industry G code command, would be used to save motions as short G01 movements, or in a combination of G00, G01, G02, and G03 codes. This G code output file option is more for making straight forward simpler G code files using the drawing editor to see one movement at a time while you draw them. The radius compensation commands, G40, G41, and G42, could be edited into the G output file manually using the Write command, and then the saved G code file could be loaded into the workspace as an element to see how the radius compensation commands inserted into the G output file effect the drawn lines of the tool path.

DANCAD3D (tm) can now also load some G codes and convert them into a tool path element in the drawing workspace, that could be inspected, edited, and then saved as an ASCII file for use with my CAM programs DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm). Support for lines, arcs, helix, arc plane, and radius compensation have been included, check the version and revision of the program you are using and "Beta testing" for file compatibility and configuration options. See the Files Load Industry G code sub- menu. The operation of the Load G code command is evolving and may vary from one update or revision to another, so always check the loaded lines using the drawing editor and the main menu Preview command to see if the loaded tool path line segments are correct and what you require.

G code files, as mentioned above, can be saved in two ways, you can draw lines in the usual way in DANCAD3D (tm)'s workspace and the use the SAVE GCODE command to make a G code file, or you can use the G code teach output file that can be turned on in the drawing editor [N]C sub-menu. When you use the SAVE GCODE command shapes, including "curves" and "arcs" can be saved as segmented linear movements, or as G02 and G03 depending if you used the "stick arcs" in your drawn elements. The G code output file can save rapid, linear, helix, and arc movements with the G codes G00, G01, G02, G03, G14 and G15 but cannot easily save odd shapes or shapes drawn with many of the commands in the drawing editor that are normally used in drawing. You can use the [W]rite command to combine files saved by both methods in order to gain the benefits of both methods, i.e. SAVE GCODE and single step output G code.

G code files can be loaded, the basic commands G00, G01, G02, G03 G14, G15 will probably work with G code files that you write with the [W]rite command. Radius compensation using G40, G41, and G42 may not produce the same path as other controllers produce, but might offer some improvements if you adjust your G code file to take into account the fact that the radius compensation will work on lines that make up some "arcs" or concave and convex "free form" curves drawn with G01. You should experiment with how my Load G code command works before trying to convert a tool path for machining. G code source files that contain codes that are not supported should not be loaded, since the tool path converted may contain gross errors.

The Load G code command loads some G and M codes and makes an element in the workspace. The element loaded could then be edited and saved as an ASCII or G code file for use with CAM programs. The default driver for the Load Industry G code command is DRIVERS\GCODDFLT.CFG, you can use the FILES COPY command to copy that driver so you can use the options in the Load G code sub-menu to alter how the files are loaded. The driver DRIVERS\GCODTEMP.CFG is used by the CAD programs to execute some of its internal commands, so you should probably not modify that driver unless you are sure that the changes you make will be for the better and not cause problems later.

See also the information about using G codes with my programs in Section: 3.1.35.0, Section: 3.1.50.0, and Section: 7.10.20.0.

DANCAD3D (tm) has several filetypes that you see mentioned in the menu prompts. The configuration filetypes do not load elements into the workspace, they load into their own places in the program to control aspects of how the program operates, so you will not see elements in the workspace after loading these types of files. Some of the more important other filetypes are described below.

DANCAD3D (tm)'s macro command files can be used as drawing storage files, and also as a way to program DANCAD3D (tm) to make drawings, tool path files, and computer animation.

DANCAD3D (tm) can save many of the macro commands necessary to reconstruct a finished drawing, if while the drawing is being created the automatic macro output feature is turned on. The automatic [O]utput macro prompt from the main menu lets you turn on the output macro so that the output macro is built (appended to) as you make a drawing. Since the output macro is a sequential record of the making of a drawing, you can remove the last appended commands to correct for mistakes (then rerun the macro and continue as if the mistake did not happen.) (When you rerun the edited macro the output macro should be off, then when the elements in the workspace are restored the output macro would be turned back on.)

If the output macro does not start with the workspace being empty, i.e. start with the INITIALIZE command (after the VERSION command), whatever was in the workspace when the output macro was started would need to be restored to its original configuration before the output macro was run in order to have the same result regenerate.

The output macros also let you correct the spelling of the text in lettering commands and make other changes to the drawing that are not done as easily with the other ways to save the drawings. The reason that the macros are not the standard way to save drawings is that the macros take longer to "load" (run) than the other data file formats, because all the commands used to make the drawing need to be executed over again, rather than just loading the finished data from a file.

Look at the example *.MAC files supplied with the programs. Some important applications of macro programs would be: printing several drawings while you are away from your computer, simulation of the motion of several parts in a dynamic system, computer animation including the use of a stop motion cine film or video recorder, the operation of changes on several drawing files in batch form, and producing a macro program application that prompts the user from menus of your own creation and then produces a drawing element in response to the answers entered. DANCAD3D (tm) can accept user input in both string, or words, and number types.

Under Windows 95 (tm) you may want to rename the macro files so that they have the extension *.TXT to avoid file association issues. If you edit a macro in a windows text editor such as NotePad (tm) or WordPad (tm) be sure to save the macro file only as DOS Text *.TXT type. If you use the TXT extension for macro files, be sure to segregate the macro files to a separate folder so that they do not get confused with other text files (be sure to adjust the file paths used in the macro to take the folder locations into account).

See Appendix B in the supplemental documentation section for information about the various macro commands.

DANCAD3D (tm) has built in facilities for the user to create fonts for the Lettering, Block text, and Dimensioning commands. The process involves drawing each character for the font and saving the character as an ASCII file. The commands in the [F]iles sub-menu from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu can then transform the drawings of the characters into a *.FON file for use with DANCAD3D (tm)'s lettering commands. DANCAD3D (tm) has the ability to automatically create *.808 and *.814 screen font files that match the drawing command font files so that the characters displayed on the screen will match the characters that will appear in the drawing (i.e. for creating and using foreign language fonts.) If a *.808 or *.814 screen font is not found with the same name as the *.FON file the default screen font is used. The *.FON and its corresponding *.808 and *.814 files must be in the same sub-directory.

For editing the screen font files some special files with the extensions *.F08 and *.F14 are created, they are text versions of the *.808 and *.814 Binary screen font files, and can be loaded into the Write command to edit the pixel values to change the shape of the characters as they are displayed when you type text into the lettering commands. Only the *.FON file effects the look of the lettering in the drawing element located in the drawing workspace.

There may be some example Font files that you can download in Section: 9.

See also the tutorial lesson about making your own Font files in the supplemental documentation section.

To make loading frequently used element files (e.g. symbols of any type) DANCAD3D (tm) has the provision to allow for the construction of an index file that lets an [Alt] and [SomeKey] combination to stand for the name of some drawing element file. For instance, while drawing you might press [Alt] and [F] to have a symbol file named SYM12345.ASC loaded, and then press [Alt] and [2] to have a symbol file named XYZ123.3D loaded where the cursor is. You of course decide what key will load what symbol when you make the alias index file. Up to 360 symbols can be referenced through the alias index files (alias refers to the fact that the [Alt] & [SomeKey] becomes the alias for the symbol files true name.) The main menu [C]hange command is where you enter the names of the alias index files, the index files then tell the program where to find the symbol file on your harddisk. Press [PgUp] when drawing to select the index file to use while drawing.

There may be some example Alias symbol sets that you can download in Section: 9.

See also the tutorial lesson about making your own Alias symbol file sets files in the supplemental documentation section.

To be able to convert Binary files into something that can be included in the body of a Macro file some commands have been added that can convert Binary files into HEX or hexadecimal numbers in a text file. Since the Macro file is also a text file the HEX file can be block copied into the Macro and arranged with some special macro commands that can export the HEX values as a Binary file.

The FILES UTILITIES HEX menu command makes a HEX or hexadecimal (base 16) coded in ASCII text file from a Binary or other disk file, primarily for use later in the EXPORTFILE B macro command to make a copy of a Binary file from data included in a macro file.

The HEX digits in ASCII are represented this way:

00 = 0
01 = 1
02 = 2
03 = 3
04 = 4
05 = 5
06 = 6
07 = 7
08 = 8
09 = 9
0A = 10
0B = 11
0C = 12
0D = 13
0E = 14
0F = 15

10 = 16 or (16 * 1) + 0
11 = 17 or (16 * 1) + 1
12 = 18 or (16 * 1) + 2

A4 = 164 or (16 * 10) + 4
ED = 237 or (16 * 14) + 13
FF = 255 or (16 * 15) + 15

Each set of two HEX digits stands for one Binary "byte" of data, the sets of HEX digits are separated with an ASCII space.

The FILES UTILITIES BIN menu command reverses the FILES UTILITIES HEX command, it converts a HEX file in the DANCAD3D.COM (tm) format into a Binary file. You can create the HEX information with the Write command if you duplicate the format that FILES UTILITIES HEX uses.

The FILES UTILITIES FIND menu command finds a checksum value for a file. The checksum value can then be used later with the FILES UTILITIES COMPARE command to see if any bytes in the file have changed. This command is probably intended for use on DOS files that are 2.1GB or smaller.

The FILES UTILITIES COMPARE menu command uses the checksum found with FILES UTILITIES FIND to check a file to see if it matches that checksum. If the checksum does not match the file has probably been altered, corrupted, infected, damaged, or otherwise changed.

See also the macro equivalent of these commands for use in a macro, i.e. CHECK_SUM, EXPORTFILE, and FILES CONVERT, in Appendix B.

When you quit DANCAD3D (tm) the program automatically saves the responses you entered at many of the programs important prompts. Since this environment of most recent answers is usually associated with a current drawing you may want to save a status file along with the set of elements file for each drawing you make. The status file save and load are found in the main menu's [F]iles [L]oad and [S]ave sub-menus.

DANCAD3D (tm)'s configuration file is loaded automatically every time you run DANCAD3D (tm). To alter the contents of DANCAD3D (tm)'s configuration file you might use the main menu [C]hange command. Things that are saved in the configuration file are those that if incorrectly entered would seriously disrupt DANCAD3D (tm)'s operation, such as: the mouse sensitivity, the printer and plotter driver names, the alias index file filenames, the default scale to be used to set the line width in printed drawings, and so on. If you get the configuration file messed up you should erase DANCAD3D (tm) from your harddisk and reinstall it from your original distribution (of course you would need to back up any drawings or important files you wanted to keep before you erase any files.) If you do not understand the prompts in the [C]hange sub-menu leave the values at their default value.