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Quasi curves are made up of short line segments. The group of line segments that make up a quasi curve are collected into a drawing element. You can modify any element, including quasi curves, by using the [O]ffset, [M]agnify, or [R]otate commands, as well as many of the other commands that act on elements.
To draw a quasi curve that is like a curve made using a french curve or other template follow these steps:
In the [D]raw sub-menu of the drawing editor draw a series of line segments that roughly resemble the quasi curve you are trying to get. Try making the rough quasi curve from about 10 line segments whose end-points are exactly on the desired quasi curve. Keep the line segments in the rough quasi curve all about the same length for best results. Remember to use the [B]egin new element command to begin a new element just before you draw the rough quasi curve.
Use the [F]it-curve command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor to make the rough quasi curve into a smooth quasi curve. To start with, try 2 iterations and damping factor of 0.2. Increasing the damping factor will make the quasi curve turn more sharply around the points of the rough quasi curve. Using more iterations will increase the number of line segments in the final quasi curve. To speed re- drawing of the screen you should use the smallest value of iterations that will give satisfactory smoothness to the final quasi curve.
A set of quasi curve elements might be converted into a contoured surface made of triangles by using the Weave or Assemble commands in the drawing editor's Hidden line sub-menu. The contoured surface can then be used as part of an element for display using the hidden line display modes, or be converted into a 3D tool path with the Fill tri path command in the drawing editor's NC sub-menu. For the 3D radius compensation to be effective when using the Fill tri path command in the drawing editor's NC sub-menu the triangles in the surface need to be smaller than the surface error tolerance, so the Fit curve, Divide, and Betweens commands or the Assemble command would probably need to be used to reduce the surface triangle size, or reduce the line segment length, before the Weave command is used to make the surface triangles.
The Lathe command can also convert a line segment quasi curve element into a 3D triangle surface element that is rounded.
The [P]olygon command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor is used to produce quasi circles. Basically the idea is to make polygons with enough sides that the eye cannot see that the sides are straight. The number of sides needed to make the polygon look like a quasi circle increase as the radius of the polygon is increased. The following table will give you some starting values. DANCAD3D (tm) cannot automatically pick the polygon values for you since the program has no idea how large you will be printing your drawing and or how much you will be zooming in on a particular quasi circle in your animation.
Some example values for the [P]olygon command:
RADIUS ON PRINT-OUT SIDES TOTAL SIDES DRAWN MAXIMUM RADIUS UNITS 0 to 0.25 inch 90 1 to 90 0.25 at scale of 240 0.25 to 0.5 inch 180 1 to 180 0.5 at scale of 240 0.5 to 1.0 inch 360 1 to 360 1.0 at scale of 240 1 to 2 inches 720 1 to 720 2 at scale of 240 2 to 4 inches 1440 1 to 1440 4 at scale of 240 4 to 8 inches 2880 1 to 2880 8 at scale of 240
The exact number of sides total entered is not absolutely critical, and if you find smaller values acceptable by all means use smaller values. Note that the maximum radius for a given number of total sides depends of the display scale used for printing (additional scaling factors can also effect the quasi curve smoothness so keep the compound of all scales and magnifications in mind), i.e. if 36 sides total is all right for a 0.5 unit quasi circle at a scale of 240 then a 36 sides total polygon with a radius of 1.0 units might be all right at a display scale of 120, and so on.
See also the Arc and Fit curve commands in the drawing editor.
You noticed that the [P]olygon command mentioned in the above section lets you enter the number of sides to draw as well as the number of sides total around the polygon. It is very simple to make a half quasi circle if you choose a number of sides total that has a factor of 2 in it (divisible by 2), and the number of sides to draw as half the number of sides total. Similarly any fraction of a quasi circle can be drawn by making sure that the number of sides total contains the factors of the denominator of the required fraction. These examples should clarify the point.
VALUES FOR FRACTIONS THAT GO INTO 360 DEGREES: 1/2 quasi circle = 180/360 degrees (/10) = 18 sides drawn / 36 sides total 1/3 quasi circle = 120/360 degrees (/10) = 12 sides drawn / 36 sides total 1/4 quasi circle = 90/360 degrees (/5) = 18 sides drawn / 72 sides total 1/5 quasi circle = 72/360 degrees (/6) = 12 sides drawn / 60 sides total 1/6 quasi circle = 60/360 degrees (/5) = 12 sides drawn / 72 sides total
Sometimes you need to draw a arc that does not come out even to a degree, and so you find the sides total from the fraction.
VALUES FOR OTHER TYPES OF FRACTIONS OF QUASI CIRCLES: 1/7 quasi circle = (n*1)/(n*7) = if n=10, 10 sides drawn / 70 sides total 7/11 quasi circle = (n*7)/(n*11) = if n=2, 14 sides drawn / 22 sides total 26/29 quasi circle = (n*26)/(n*29) = if n=1, 26 sides drawn / 29 sides total 52/58 quasi circle = (52/n)/(58/n) = if n=2, 26 sides drawn / 29 sides total
As you can see the factors you multiply or divide by depend on the need to make the numerator larger or smaller. The sides total is then worked out according to the proper ratio to the sides drawn. You probably also noticed that the Polygon command only accepts integers for the number of sides in a polygon, if you are working in radians rather than degrees you will need to convert the radians to degrees and factor the numerator and denominator (or just round off the values to the nearest degree in non-critical applications.)
If you need to make a very small adjustment to a part of a quasi circle that has an odd arc angle you can use the Pull-point command in the Lines sub-menu of the drawing editor to stretch the end point of the starting or ending line segment in the polygon element. The Link command in the drawing editor's NC sub-menu can connect small gaps between elements.
The Arc command in the NC sub-menu of the drawing editor can make parts of quasi circles by marking the start of the arc, the center point for the arc, and the end point for the arc. This works something like the CNC commands G02 and G03.
Ovals can obviously be made by drawing two half quasi circles and connecting the ends of the half quasi circles with line segments. Ellipses and similar shapes can be made by using the [M]agnify and [R]otate commands in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus of the drawing editor. By entering different values for the x, y, and z magnification factors you can stretch, distort, and squash quasi circles and other shapes into new forms. The Slope command in the drawing editor can also distort quasi curve shapes. Quasi curves can be distorted by rotating them when being saved as a 2D-Real file, since the perspective values can be used to "bend" the quasi curve element.
The Window and Hole commands can be used to "cut" parts of quasi curve elements out, that can then be joined, copied, or flipped, and such.
Macro programs can be used to create any quasi curve, and especially quasi curves that follow mathematical formulas. See Appendix C in the supplemental documentation section.
The Lathe and Assemble commands can be used to make round 3D triangle elements for use with the hidden line display modes.
If you draw a line segment in the wrong location while drawing you can press [U] for "Undo last line segment" to erase the last line segment drawn. If you need to change or erase a line segment that is embedded in an element you will need to use the commands in the [L]ines sub-menu from the root menu of the drawing editor. The [P]ull point command lets you adjust the end point where one or more line segments terminate. If you have difficulty getting the [D]elete command to delete a line segment, make sure that what you see as one line segment is really one line segment and not two or more line segments end to end. When drawing if you need to lengthen a line segment you should use the [P]ull-point command rather than drawing another line segment as an extension to the one already drawn.
The [P]ull-point command can be used to move the end-points of any line segment that you cannot get to delete because the line segment is really more than one line segment. You pull one end of the line you are trying to delete to the side of the line, then use Delete on that part. Then you pull the other end, and Delete that part in its new orientation. You keep pulling and deleting until you have deleted all of the parts or overlapping lines that you thought where just one line.
Also check that the drawing cursor is over the desired line segment end point by changing [V]iews from Front, to Side, to Top.
The [F]ind-points command in the drawing editor [L]ines sub-menu can be used to see where end points are that belong to particular line segments, and what order line segments have in the workspace. Find-points can help you see where any "overlapping" or end-to-end line segments are.
If you wish to [E]rase, [R]otate, or move around ([O]ffset, and [D]rag) whole elements (made from line segments) use the [E]lements sub-menu of the drawing editor root menu. The [O]n-screen sub-menu from the drawing editors root menu lets you: [R]otate, [M]agnify, and [D]rag around, elements, that have fewer than several hundred line segments, in such a way that you can see how the element will appear on the screen while you change the elements shape or position (rather than only entering a specific value and seeing the result of the change.) Since the [+] and [-] keys are used to rotate or magnify elements in the On-screen sub-menu commands, the [<] and [>] keys control the display zoom scale in the [O]n-screen sub-menu commands.
The commands in the [J]ocky sub-menu of the drawing editor let you manipulate or center elements or drawings. The [J]ocky commands should only be used to center whole drawings after the editing of the individual drawing elements has been completed.
Many of the other commands in the drawing editor edit or alter elements, such as the Window and Hole commands. Commands in the main menu's Numeric menu can also edit elements. You can also save an element as an ASCII file and load that file into the Write command to edit the drawing data manually.
When working with elements in the drawing editor you can pick the element to work with by two methods: touching the drawing cursor to one of the end points of a line segment in the desired element, or by entering the sequential number of the element. Entering element number 0 will cause the command to act on all the elements currently in the workspace. The element center options C and Z cause the commands to act relative to the elements current center, or the center zero point of the workspace.
If you have difficulty getting the find element selection option to work it may be that the point you are using to seek the element number with is a point shared by two or more elements. Try to pick a point that can only be part of the element you want to select. The element number seek only works on the end point of a line in the element, so do not put the cursor on the middle of a line segment and expect it to find anything. The cursor must match the element's end point in all three dimensions within the seek tolerance, so if your element or cursor are not in the same z axis, or other axis, plane you will not get a successful find of the element you are trying to select, therefore you should use the Front, Side, and Top display modes of the View command to make sure that the cursor is lined up on the end point of a line segment in the element you want to select.
If you use several thickened line segments in your drawing and you have the "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get," a.k.a. WYSIWYG turned on you will notice that the thickened line segments take somewhat longer to draw on the screen than the lines of thickness 1. The WYSIWYG display in DANCAD3D (tm) is nearly accurate only when the global world scale has been set properly with the main menu [C]hange and or [P]review command, or by turning the WYSIWYG off in the drawing editor Set-up sub-menu, than turning the WYSIWYG back on in the drawing editor Set-up sub-menu and entering the right value for the world scale. The world scale is not the same as the display scale in the drawing editor, although they effect the drawing on the screen in somewhat similar ways, in the drawing editor the width of the lines gets bigger and smaller as you change the drawing editor display scale so that you can zoom in and out to see the drawing close up, but when printed the width of the lines is regulated by the printer driver and other factors to fix the line width numbers to the size of the page and not the magnification of the elements. But normally you do not need the WYSIWYG on all the time, so you can toggle the WYSIWYG on and off with the [W]YSIWYG command in the drawing editor [S]et-up sub-menu from the drawing editor root menu. In other words, turning the WYSIWYG off will speed up the screen redraw if you have thickened lines in your drawing. The scale that shows in the main menu preview command is the same as the scale used in the [H]ardcopy commands, and it is the [H]ardcopy scale (not the drawing editor scale) that sets the actual thickness of the thickened lines in the print out and in the drawing editor's display.
In addition to turning off the WYSIWYG you might speed up the re-drawing of the screen by having the elements that do not need to be displayed not be displayed. The Screen [U]pdate list that controls which elements are to be displayed on the drawing editor screen when it redraws is accessed with the [U]pdate command in the drawing editor's root menu. You can turn on or off the display of any elements you wish, the elements themselves remain in the workspace and are mostly uneffected by being on or off. The screen update list can be used to figure out which elements displayed on the screen go with the various element numbers shown on the update list by setting all but one of the elements listed on the update list to the "off" do not display mode.
The [N]umber command in the [E]lements sub-menu can also be used to figure out what numbers go with what element on the screen by seeking the element after locating the drawing cursor on one of the elements unique points.
The re-drawing of the drawing editor screen can be interrupted by pressing [SpaceBar] while the screen is re-drawing. When you interrupt the re-drawing of the screen you can have the option of having the re-drawing of the screen continue faster by skipping some lines, e.g. by just re-drawing every other line in place of re-drawing all of the lines.
DANCAD3D (tm) lets you have a layout grid appear superimposed on the drawing editor screen while you work on your drawings. The layout grid consists of a grid work of points (dots) that are spaced as the corners of squares. The spacing of the grid points, and the point from which the grid points measure from can both be set with the [G]rid command found in the drawing editors [S]et-up sub-menu. You should set the drawing editor scale to the amount you will be using and redraw the screen before you turn the layout grid on since the grid spacing limits the amount you can zoom out (reduce scale.) If you are drawing in inches (scale of 240) you might set the layout grid spacing to 0.25 and put the center of the layout grid at 0:x 0:y 0:z.
Another grid, the "font grid," is available for drawing individual characters that will be made into a font file. The drawing editor scale would be set to about 7 to 14 when working on font characters since the width of the em unit (width of capital M in an ideal font) in DANCAD3D (tm) is 96 drawing units. Fonts are automatically scaled from their em unit size to any decimal value size when drawn into the drawing with the calligraphy lettering commands. If you see a dot in the center of the drawing editor screen the dot may be there because you have turned the font grid on by mistake, I have received several letters from users that complained of a dot that would not go away, if they had zoomed out they would have seen the rest of the font grid and known that they turned the font grid on without realizing at the time that the font grid has a dot at its center. Be sure to turn the font grid off when you are not using it for editing font characters.
DANCAD3D (tm) has several commands that make the drawing of shapes easier than the manual insertion of line segments with the mouse or cursor keys, some of these commands are described below. See also the program menus, particularly in the drawing editor. If there is not a command for the shape you need you may be able to write a macro to make that shape. When making shapes such as a gear that repeat part of the shape several times, you can use the [C]opy and [R]otate, or [C]opy and [O]ffset, commands to repeat the part of the shape after you draw the first shape element. Be sure you use the [B]egin new element command before you start drawing the part of the shape you want to repeat so that you can [C]opy that part of the shape separate from the rest of the drawing elements in the workspace.
The Polygon command was described above in regard to making quasi circles. You should keep in mind that the Polygon command can also make free line segment triangles and squares by setting the sides total and sides drawn to 3 or 4.
The Polygon command can be used with the Drill points command to make a "drill circle" for drilling pipe flanges and such. After the Drill points have been extracted from the Polygon the Dot cyclize command can be used to load the drill cycle motions, from a ASCII tool path cycle file you have previously saved, at each of the hole dot points. For instance, if you want to drill eight holes in a "circle" you would use the Polygon command to make an octagon, i.e. 8 sides total and 8 sides drawn, then use Drill points to make a dot for each of the polygon's sides, then use Dot cyclize to load the drilling cycle file at each of those points, then you would use Join to make one element from the loaded cycle elements, but not the polygon and dots, then you would use the Link and Save ASCII commands to save the joined drill cycles as a tool path file. You could also use the Erase command to erase the polygon and dots elements, rather than use the Join command, depending on the method you prefer to use when drawing.
When drawing it is common to draw rectangular boxes around parts of drawings, as well as outlining the whole drawing. The [R]ectangle command in the drawing editors [2]D-Shapes sub-menu lets you mark one corner point of the rectangle you want and then move to the opposite corner of the rectangle with the mouse, tablet, or cursor keys while you see the rectangle change shape on the computer screen. The ability to have an "elastic" rectangle might be called "rubber banding" in CAD lingo, because the appearance on the screen is like a rubber band being stretched between four movable pins.
The rectangle command can also make a rectangle "a filled surface" by making it from two or four hidden line triangles, and in this way be used for drawing elements for the hidden line display modes. Pay attention to the plane the rectangle is drawn in and the direction of the triangles normals, so that the normals point to the outside of the shape element. If you only want an outline with four line segments select the "Wire-frame" mode of the Rectangle command.
The three-dimensional equivalent of the Rectangle command is the [C]ube command found in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu. When using the cube command remember to position the first corner of the cube in all three dimensions, and then move the drawing cursor in all three dimensions to position the second corner. For example, set the drawing editor view to front and set the first corner point, move the cursor in the x and y axis for the opposite corner, then change the view to side, or oblique to move the cursor in the z axis (so you can see the movement of the cursor and cube outline.)
Be sure that the Cube made has some thickness on all three axis, or you may not get it to display properly with the hidden line display modes.
The Cube command can create sides made of triangles for the hidden line display modes, or just a "Wire-Frame" outline of the edges made of "free" line segments.
The [H]idden [T]riangle command is for drawing a single triangle in an element of triangles intended for hidden line display, and some kinds of surface work with tool path files. When a triangle is drawn there are three kinds you can make, EDGE, JUNCTION, and SURFACE. EDGE must have the p1 to p2 line along the outer or inner edge of a surface, since EDGE is used by thicken to find the edges that need to have "depth" triangles added. JUNCTION is like EDGE, except you use JUNCTION where you do not want [T]hicken to add "depth" triangles, such as a hole that will have something cover it up later. Triangle type SURFACE is for triangles that have no side line shown as a line in some of the hidden line display modes, but are part of a surface that needs to hide the lines behind it.
When you draw EDGE or JUNCTION triangles be sure that you put the first and second points of the triangle along one of the outside or inside edges, so that when the display modes that display the "edges" are used the correct lines have been "marked" for display to produce a nice drawing like you would draw by hand. If you draw the triangle edges the wrong way around you will see lines on the faces of the elements that do not look correct, when the display modes are used that show the edges, and the Thicken command if used will not put the depth faces on the outer edges correctly.
Lettering is one of the aspects of drawing that most needs automation. The [L]ettering command in the [C]alligraphy sub-menu of the drawing editor will transform words and numbers you type in from your keyboard into line segments and elements in the drawing you have in the workspace. DANCAD3D (tm)'s lettering command gives you control over the size of the individual characters and the spacing and size of whole words. You can use the DANCAD3D (tm) type font files with the extension *.FON with the lettering commands, see Section: 9 for any that might be available for download. The font files are generally stored in the \FONTS\ sub-directory. If you create your own fonts to meet any special needs you may have, you should place them in the \FONTS\ sub-directory as well.
DANCAD3D (tm)'s lettering command has some of the required letter spacing options, i.e. Monospaced, Justified, Proportional, and Kerning. DANCAD3D (tm)'s lettering command has provision for international character sets, using 8 bit character codes 32 through 255, and can display corresponding characters on screen as you enter the text if some special corresponding screen font files, i.e. type *.808 and *.814, have been installed in the same directory as the *.FON file.
When used with DANPLOT.EXE (tm), DANCAD3D (tm)'s font files and lettering commands might allow you to engrave letters, symbols, numbers, and other lines such as scale rulings on parts and manufactured goods.
The Mutate command can be used to mutate a lettering element made of line segments into an element made of narrow triangles that can be used with triangle elements for display using the hidden line display modes. To avoid sorting problems you should leave a space between the mutated lettering element and a surface made of triangles. If the triangles in the surface or the mutated lettering element are larger than the spacing between them, you can use the Divide command to reduce the triangle size so that the triangles in both elements are smaller than the gap between them, this may help with triangle sorting order issues.
The [C]alligraphy [S]creen font command sub-menu is used to edit the "screen font" that appears when you are typing text into the [L]ettering, [D]imension, and [E]dit block text commands. These [S]creen font commands can be used to automatically create a screen font file from a DANCAD3D (tm) type *.FON drawing font file. Since the conversion to a 8 by 8 or 8 by 14 pixel screen font can make some characters to not look their best, there are commands to convert the *.808 to *.814 binary screen font file to a *.F08 and *.F14 ASCII version of the screen font file that you can edit in the [W]rite command, and then convert back into the binary form for use. The screen font file needs to be in the same sub-directory as its corresponding *.FON file for the program to find it. In v2.7 there where some changes made to this sub-menu in order to edit the screen font file better, and export the screen font files. Most of these changes will not matter to you unless you need to edit the screen fonts files *.F08 and *.F14. See also the tutorial lesson on making font files.
In mechanical drawing you will frequently need to have dimensions lettered and marked out with arrows. The [D]imension command in the [C]alligraphy sub-menu will automatically measure and letter dimensions for you. Dimensions not parallel to the major axis can be drawn by rotating the whole drawing by the required amount before the dimensions are drawn. Specify element number 0, i.e. select all elements, with the [R]otate command in the [E]lements sub-menu and use the workspace Zero point as the center of rotation. You would then rotate all the elements, now with the off-axis dimensions included, back to the original orientation by using the inverse angle of rotation value, e.g. rotate x=0 y=y z=45, dimension from front view, then rotate x=0 y=0 z =-45, and such.
It might be common practice in mechanical drawing to have all dimensions parallel to the major axis, if you need some other orientation you can use the Rotate command to rotate the dimension element.
The Mutate command can be used to mutate a dimension element made of line segments into an element made of triangles for use with the hidden line display modes. See the discussion of this use of the Mutate command above in the Lettering command discussion.
ASCII text files, of a page or so in length, can be automatically made into lettering with the [B]lock command in the [C]alligraphy sub-menu of the drawing editor. How much text can be loaded into a drawing depends on the amount of disk space free for the workspace file to expand, but should not be an issue if you have lots of disk space free.
A special [E]ditor is provided, in the [C]alligraphy sub-menu, that might let you edit the block of text ASCII files. If a "on screen" font that corresponds to the DANCAD3D (tm) calligraphy font is found, the special "on screen" font will be automatically loaded, otherwise the default screen font will be displayed. Foreign language symbols can be displayed in the block text editor screen and in the lettering and dimension text entry prompts, when a *.808 or *.814 "on screen" font file is available.
You can freely mix text with drawings on a single page and control the placement of the text and drawings to extremely precise positions. If you use a LINOTRONIC 300 for the final print out the layout might be accurate to better that 0.001 inch.
The Block text command can be used to make a tool path to engrave a plaque, name plate, or tag when used with DANPLOT.EXE (tm).
The Mutate command can be used to mutate a block lettering element made of line segments into an element made of triangles for use with the hidden line display modes. See the discussion of this use of the Mutate command above in the Lettering command discussion.
DANCAD3D (tm) has several commands in the drawing editor that use simply drawn elements to make more complex elements. Some commands that make elements more complex are, Fit-curve, Thicken, Lathe, Fan, Betweens, Weave, and Assemble. Some other commands make derivative elements from a source element, e.g. Fill tri path, Drill points, Dot cyclize, Radius comp, Mutate, and Link lines.
The [F]it-curve command lets you make smooth quasi curves from roughly drawn "quasi curves" made from line segments of convenient to draw length. The [F]it-curve command will work in all three dimensions, so quasi curves in the form of helix type shapes can be made if you have such a need, a helix tool path might be required to mill threads with DANCAM.EXE (tm) and such. [F]it-curve is useful for smoothing lines in graphs and other 2D drawings.
To use the [F]it-curve command follow these steps:
Enter the [D]raw sub-menu of the drawing editor.
Press [B] to Begin a new element if any elements are in the workspace. Do not begin a new element if the workspace is empty since element 1 is begun automatically when you start drawing line segments.
Draw a series of (abutting) line segments whose end points fall on the quasi curve you want to have. The last point of each line segment (except the last line segment) should fall on the same point as the first point of the next line segment (except for the first line segment.) For best results use 8 or more line segments for every 360 degrees of turn in the quasi curve you want. If the quasi curve is less than 360 degrees and does not turn back on itself the rough quasi curve should have about 10 line segments, if the quasi curve is to have several bends then the source element should have more line segments. Air foils and ship hulls, and other symmetrical quasi curves that have a pointed corner should be drawn in halves with the sharp corner at the end of the quasi curve. You might use the [C]opy and [F]lip commands in the [E]lements sub-menu to make the full symmetrical pattern. Try to make all the line segments in the rough quasi curve about the same length to avoid over shoot problems where long line segments are followed by short line segments.
Press [Escape] to exit the Draw sub-menu.
Enter the [3]D-shapes sub-menu.
Press [F] to select [F]it-curve. Answer the prompts. The number of iterations controls the number of line segments in the quasi curve element created. The number of line segments in the "fit-curve" doubles with each iteration. The damping factor controls how "roundly" the new quasi curve element will go through the end points of the rough quasi curve you drew. To begin with try 2 iterations, and a damping factor of 0.2. The quasi curve element made by the [F]it-curve command can itself be fit again if needed. You want to use the smallest number of iterations that will give an acceptably smooth result.
You can erase the rough quasi curve, or leave the rough quasi curve in the workspace in case you want to try fitting the quasi curve again with other values for the iterations and damping entered. The rough quasi curve can always be erased later by using the [E]race command in the [E]lements sub-menu. You should note that when an element is erased all the elements with numbers above the element that is erased will have their element number decreased by one, i.e. if you have three elements in the workspace and you erase element 2, element 3 will have its number changed to element 2. If the rough quasi curve drawn is the element with the highest number, the fit curve element created will have the same element number as the rough quasi curve element had after the rough quasi curve element is erased.
The Fit-curve command can be useful in smoothing the source element for use with the Lathe command. The Fit-curve command can also be useful to smooth the source "chains" in an element that will be converted into a triangle surface with the Weave command.
When representing 3D objects, a frequent form of representation is to have two identical parallel faces with lines connecting to end points of the line segments in each face. Since one face of the final form and the thickness (or distance between the parallel faces) is all the information needed to construct such forms an automatic command to Thicken a drawing of one face would be a possible convenience. The Thicken command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu of DANCAD3D (tm)'s drawing editor will automatically thicken the outline or plan of a face of the element you want. Thickening takes place along one of the major axis. The [M]agnify command in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus will let you change the thickness of the element along any axis after the element is thickened. Examples of shapes that can be made with thicken are: stamped parts like gears and plates with holes, extrusions, and rows of studs or columns.
The Thicken command can accept a source element that is made of "free" line segments, or one that is made of hidden line triangles. If the source element is made of "free" line segments, then only the "wire-frame" thickening mode can be used. If the source element is made of triangles then the result can be wire-frame or triangle as you select.
If you request a triangle element as the result, and you enter a thicken direction that is the same direction as the normals in the source element, then the triangles in the result element will probably be the wrong way around. To try to correct this problem use the HIDDEN REVERT BOTH command in the drawing editor to turn the triangles the other way around. For example, if you where drawing triangles for the source element from the front view, the normals would be pointing out at you, so you would use a negative z value to thicken that source element.
The steps involved in the use of [T]hicken are:
Enter the [D]raw sub-menu of the drawing editor. You may need to go back and forth between the [H]idden line and [D]raw sub-menus if you are using the [F]an and [T]riangle commands to draw triangles in the source element for [T]hicken.
Select Begin new element if any elements are in the workspace. Do not begin a new element if the workspace is empty since element 1 is begun automatically when you start drawing line segments. Thicken may work faster if there are no other elements in the workspace, or the element to thicken is the element with the highest element number.
Draw an outline or plan view of one face of the 3D element you wish to make. The [P]olygon command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu can be used to make quasi circles that the thicken command will make into cylinders to represent posts or holes. If you use commands such as [P]olygon that make new elements you will need to use the [J]oin command in the [E]lements sub-menu to join the polygon elements to the other line segments in the outline you are drawing (so all the line segments to thicken are in one single element.) When drawing an element to be thickened you would ordinarily make the plane of the element parallel to the major axis, i.e. if you are drawing from the front view and the cursor reads -3:z when you draw the first line segment or triangle all the other line segments or triangles would be drawn without changing the z axis value of the drawing cursor. It may be possible to incline the plane of the outline element to be thickened to have the edge of the produced thick element beveled or slanted. When drawing the source element of triangles the triangles along the outside edges you want to make new surfaces must be Edge type triangles, the triangles along edges you do not want thickened would need to be Junction type triangles, and the gaps between the Edge and Junction triangles would need to be filled in with Surface type triangles. The Fan and Triangle commands can be a help in drawing the source element for use with the Thicken command when you want to make an element for display using the hidden line display modes.
Press [Escape] to exit the Draw or Hidden line sub-menu, i.e. go to the root menu of the drawing editor.
Enter the [3]D-shapes sub-menu.
Press [T] to select the [T]hicken command. Answer the prompts. If you select the "Wire-frame" option the thickened element produced will be made only of free line segments and will not display as shaded in the hidden line display modes. The Cross and Diagonal options use a triangle source element and make a result element composed of triangles so that the thickened element can be displayed using the hidden line display modes. The Cross option may make an element that has fewer problems with triangle sorting order, the Diagonal option element may sort faster.
Rotate the thickened element into its proper position with the [R]otate command in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus as needed. When you rotate elements always keep in mind where the center of the element is, and use the [S]et-center command when needed to be sure of the center's position.
The Thicken command may take some time to finish, depending on the speed of your computer and the number of lines or triangles in the source element. Generally the thicken command is used very infrequently while drawing, and so its contribution to the total time spent on the drawing is insignificant. Thicken is more often used in macros, and macros are normally run while you are away from the computer so the time it takes a macro to run does not matter so much either.
The orientation of the triangles in the source element effects the direction of the normals in the thickened element. Also the direction of thickening effects whether the normals will be pointing inside or outside of the thickened element. Generally you want the direction of thickening going the opposite direction of the p3 to p4 normal lines of the triangles in the source element. You may need to use the Revert or Correct commands on the source element before you use Thicken to get the normals going the right way around. You should have the automatic Output macro on while you are drawing the source element for thicken, so that you can correct the orientation of the triangles individually if needed later.
Another area where automation is useful in the drawing of 3D elements is in the production of round shapes like those that are turned on a lathe or potters wheel. The unique aspect of shapes produced on a lathe is the cross section of the shape. Additionally the shape produced by a lathe has symmetry around the axis of the work piece's rotation. Because of the symmetry of the profile of shapes made on a lathe only half of the profile is needed. The profile in the source element bisected by the axis of rotation, which is the y axis, i.e. a vertical line up the center of the front view screen passing through the workspace center point. In DANCAD3D (tm) you can draw a half profile of a shape that is to look like it was made on a lathe (be turned) and have the [L]athe command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor complete the 3D outline as a wire-frame or "solid" element made of triangles. The Lathe command may work faster when the source element to be lathed is the only element in the workspace.
The Lathe command in v2.7 was revised so that points left of the y = 0 workspace bisector, i.e. point values with -x values, will probably report an error. If you rotate the source element small rounding errors can get introduced to the point values, such that points that you would think are x = 0 may be very slightly negative values. To fix this problem you can try to use the Window command on the source half profile element to clip the element at the x = 0 workspace bisector. The menu version of Lathe may offer you the use of the Window command when this error is detected.
How to use the [L]athe command:
Enter the [D]raw sub-menu of the drawing editor.
Press [B] to Begin a new element if any elements are in the workspace. Do not begin a new element if the workspace is empty since element 1 is begun automatically when you start drawing line segments. Lathe works fastest if there are no other elements in the workspace, or the element to Lathe is the element with the highest element number. The [B]ackup and [R]estore elements commands in the [F]iles sub-menu can be used (along with [I]nitialize in the root menu) to temporarily empty the workspace.
Draw a half profile of the 3D element you wish to make such that the half outline lies in the 0:z plane and is right of 0:x on the screen. The [P]olygon command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu can be used to make quasi circles that will become ring shapes when lathed. Drawing a square or rectangle right of 0:x will make a washer shaped element when lathed. When using the lathe command you should try to keep the number of line segments in the element you want to lathe to the smallest number that will represent the desired shape. In general the element to be lathed should have less than 1000 line segments, with 10 being a more desirable number. If you want to make a sphere you can put a half polygon with about 20 sides total, 10 sides drawn so that the open part of the half quasi circle is at 0:x. The [J]oin command in the [E]lements sub-menu can be used if needed to combine elements into the half profile to be lathed (lathe acts on one element at a time, so you will need to [J]oin all the elements you want to be part of the profile element that you are going to [L]athe.) The source element for [L]athe is always made of free line segments for all three conversion modes, unlike [T]hicken where the source element is line for wire-frame and triangle for cross or diagonal triangles. All of the line segments should go in the same direction along the source element chain of line segments, since the line direction in the source element controls the orientation of the triangle's normals in the result element.
Press [Escape] to exit the Draw sub-menu (or just go to the root menu of the drawing editor).
Enter the [3]D-shapes sub-menu.
Press [L] to select the [L]athe command. Answer the prompts. The Sides total, and Sides drawn work just as in the [P]olygon command. If you want to make a half or quarter round then you would enter values like: 20 sides total 10 drawn, or 40 sides total 10 drawn. The conversion mode selects whether the lathed element will be made of free lines or triangles, the Wire-frame mode make a free line result, and the Cross and Diagonal modes make a result element that can be used with the hidden line display modes. The direction of the lines in the source element determines the orientation of the triangles and normals, so you may need to use the [R]everse command on the source element if the triangles come out backwards, or use the [R]evert and [C]orrect commands on the result element to fix triangle orientation problems.
Rotate the lathed element into its proper orientation with the [R]otate command in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus as needed. Position the element with the [O]ffset command in the [E]lements sub- menu or the [D]rag command in the [O]n-screen sub-menu (the drag command may be to slow because of the large number of line segments in the lathed element, the [O]ffset command requires that you work "blind" but is much faster.) When you rotate elements always keep in mind where the center of the element is, and use the [S]et-center command when needed to be sure of the center's position.
The Lathe command may take a few moments to act. Generally the lathe command is used very infrequently while drawing, so its contribution to the total time spent on the drawing is insignificant. Lathe is more often used in macros. When using the Lathe command you should always keep the number of line segments in the profile element, and the sides drawn value, to the smallest values that will give an acceptable representation of the 3D shape you need to draw.
The lighter colors 9 through 15 generally look better for lathed elements that will be displayed using the shaded hidden line display modes.
If the triangle normals seem to be going in the wrong direction after you lathe the element, try using the Revert or Correct commands to reverse the triangle's orientation.
The FAN command is a short cut command that makes triangles from an element you draw that has lines going one after another along an edge of your element, and to a point on the surface you are trying to make. FAN works will with elements made using the POLYGON command. You need to be careful that the triangles made do not cross over into areas you do not want them too, because the angles from the fan point to the source element are wrong.
To use FAN you first use BEGIN to make a new element, you then draw one or more line segments, normally going clockwise, around the edge of your surface, then you select FAN, enter the type of triangles to make, EDGE, JUNCTION, or SURFACE, and pick the point the new triangles will fan out from. The EDGE and JUNCTION triangles will display in display modes that show the edges as outlines, the SURFACE triangles will not show outlines in some display modes. The difference between EDGE and JUNCTION effects the use of THICKEN later, EDGE is for outer or inner surface edges, JUNCTION is for parts that you do not want THICKEN to connect the "front" and "back" faces.
The edge lines that will show in the display modes that display the edges "marked" edge or junction are taken from the source element line segments, the other edges of the fanned triangles are like surface triangle edges.
If you use the Polygon command to make the source element, you do not need to use Begin to make a new element, since Polygon automatically begins a new element.
This BETWEENS command is a revised version of the macro BETWEENS command that works within the workspace to make intermediates. The BETWEENS command can be used to fill in between contour lines used in a tool path, or to interpolate between shapes used for an animation.
"Any" type of element can be interpolated, but each of the portions must have the same number of line segments, as the BETWEENS command needs to find points between the points in the source lines, therefore the number of points in the interpolated element must be equal to the points in the source elements.
The source set must at least have three elements or chains to find betweens between. The iteration and damping work like in the [3]D shapes [F]it curve command.
The source set can be a set of elements, or a single element made of chains of line segments that get partitioned into a set of elements. The number of elements in the source set needs to be less than half the maximum number of elements free.
When making a tool path using Betweens you may also need to use the Plotterize command to have the tool rise up and clear the work-piece while the tool moves to the start of the next contour line.
See also PLOTTERIZE, LINK, WEAVE, FIT_CURVE, and ASSEMBLE.
The WEAVE command connects contour lines, and can be used for making a surface shape. WEAVE is relatively automatic, but the contour lines must all go continuously in the same "direction" and must all have the same number of line segments. The contour lines are called "chains" since the line segments must be linked last point to first point of the next line. Where the linked lines are broken by an amount about larger than the tolerance the chains are "partitioned" for WEAVE to connect them together. If the chains do not have the same number of line segments in each of them, the partitioning will fail and the command will not finish properly. The chains can be "quasi circles" (polygons) or other shapes, so long as they all have the same number of line segments, and are separated enough for the partitioning to operate properly.
The ASSEMBLE command combines WEAVE with BETWEENS and FIT_CURVE to help make a smoother surface. Making a surface with many small triangles can be useful, but you should keep in mind that the smaller you make the triangles, the more time the display or plotting will take. Very small triangles can extend the display or plotting time to excessive amounts.
This command is for making a tool path from a surface made from triangles. Obviously all the triangle's normals must face the tool, and you cannot undercut normally since the tool must be able to move up and down freely to cut the surface material away on triangles whose order may be randomly arranged, or at least not in an organized order.
The Finish option tries to make a tool path that will stroke out fine cuts to give a smooth surface across each surface triangle. To get good curves the triangles need to be small to start with, so marking out the triangles with lots of small movements can make for a large tool path file.
The Rough option tries to make a tool path that would be used with a larger tool to rough out material before a finish tool path would be used to clear away the final bits of material.
The Both option tries to make a tool path that contains both Rough and Finish tool paths.
The Drill option makes a different kind of roughing tool path that mostly moves up and down while cutting.
In order for the 3D radius compensation to work the triangles in the surface need to be smaller than half the surface tolerance, e.g. if you need the surface to about +/- 0.002 then you would need the longest line in or near the parts of the surface that bend to be shorter than 0.001. Some triangles in the middle of flat parts might be able to be larger, it depends on what your surface looks like, and where the inclined, curved and flat parts are. Also the normals of the surface triangles need to be pointing the right way around, since the normals directions are used to find the radius offset direction.
See also the BETWEENS, ASSEMBLE, FIT_CURVE, DIVIDE, and HIDDEN UPDATE NORMALS commands.
The DRILL POINTS command extracts points, "dots", from lines in an element, and can be used to find the "centers" of symbols in a drawing such as PCB pads or other symbols. If the symbols are odd shaped and the points come out of center, you may be able to shift all the found points to center with the OFFSET command. The DOT CYCLIZE command or the PLOTTERIZE command might be used on the points found to make a tool path.
DRILL POINTS can also find the first point of each line, as a "dot", in a polygon if the tolerance is set to less than the shortest line segment, and the consecutive detection mode is used. This way a hexagon or other polygon can be used to get points for a "bolt circle" and the DOT CYCLIZE command can then be used to load the tool path cycle for making each hole.
See also LINK, PLOTTERIZE, and DOT CYCLIZE.
The DOT CYCLIZE command can be used to load a tool cycle, or other element file, at locations in the workspace marked by "dots" drawn or derived using the JOCKEY DRILL POINTS command.
The DOT CYCLIZE command is in some ways like the ALIAS symbol feature used in combination with the RECORD POINT command, but is an automated way of putting symbols at marked points.
If you need to make holes in a plate that needs a recess for a bolt head around each hole you can draw the tool cycle that cuts a hole with a recess and has some lines to return to a point above the work- piece where the tool is clear to move to the next start of the cycle, then draw a polygon to act as a template of the points and order to do the drill cycles in, then use JOCKEY DRILL POINTS to extract the points, from the polygon element, for the cycle center, then use DOT CYCLIZE to replace the template points with the full tool cycle motions, and then use the LINK command to connect the cycles top points over the work-piece.
The DOT CYCLIZE command can also find points on a polygon without using JOCKEY DRILL POINTS, and locate the loading of the cycle file at those points. When you save the tool path cycle file the center of the workspace x=0, y=0, z=0, is the loading reference point, so draw the cycle relative to that point. The tool path cycle is in my *.ASC file format.
You might use the LOAD GCODE command and the SAVE ASCII command to convert tool cycles from G code to ASCII for use with the DOT CYCLIZE command.
See also JOCKEY CLEAN command, and the LINK command.
The RADIUS COMP command works like the G code commands G40, G41, and G42 but with some differences. Normally in G code files you turn on the radius compensation, either right or left, and then mark out some movements and then turn off the radius compensation. To make a command that would work with the way most other DANCAD3D (tm) type commands work I have the RADIUS COMP command act on a drawing element that is already drawn.
My RADIUS COMP command has some improvements that allow it to operate on curves made of short line segments without some of the undercutting problems that might arise. Outside corners are rounded off with a polygon to avoid extension beyond the radius of the compensation.
If the compensated path is given an impossible path, such as going down a groove narrower than twice the width of the cutter radius, the path will probably be clipped short of the bottom of the groove. While it is your obligation to make sure that the path you are trying to produce makes sense, the program will try to have the compensated path follow along side the path set up by the source element. In those instances where you have requested an impossible path the path may end midway or be otherwise unusable. Some errors may not be detected, so look closely at the compensated path to be sure that it is correct.
When you enter radius compensation in a G code file, e.g. using the Write command, to be loaded by the Files Load Industry G- code command, you would put the start command G41 or G42 before the compensated part, and put G40 at the end of the compensated part. Using the drawing editor version you use the BEGIN command to begin a new element, draw the lines at the cutter's edge, then select that element as the element to make the compensated path from, RADIUS COMP then makes a new element that runs along side the path drawn out in the source element you drew.
RADIUS COMP only compensates in one of the major 2D planes, i.e. Front XY, Side ZY, and Top XZ, see also the FILL_TRIANGLES, a.k.a. NC Fill tri path, command to try to compensate for 3D surfaces.
Note that RADIUS COMP acts on a "free" line element, whereas the NC Fill Tri Path, a.k.a. FILL_TRIANGLES, command acts on an element of surface triangles.
The MUTATE command lets you turn line elements, like some lettering, into a triangle element that could be included with other elements in a hidden line display. The relationships between large and small triangles apply to elements that have been mutated, so you may need to apply the DIVIDE command to get the triangles to sort in the proper order. MUTATE might also convert a triangle element into just "free" wire-frame lines for more rapid hidden line display, which might be useful for certain uses while working on an animation.
LINK connects the last line of chains of lines to the first point of the next chains of lines. It is something like PLOTTERIZE, but does not add the up and down lines, it is for connecting tool cycles that already have the starting and ending lines sticking up above the working part of the tool cycle.
My CAM programs generally automatically add connecting motions to parts of a tool path that do not connect. The LINK command lets you add such connecting motions to the tool path elements. This lets you see the connecting motions as line segments.
For CNC controllers that need connecting lines linking all of the motion elements in the tool path, you can use LINK to add connecting motions, then save the tool path.
LINK can also be used to connect dots, provided the dots are in an order that makes the pattern you want.
See also PLOTTERIZE, WINDOW, DRILL POINTS, and DOT CYCLIZE.
The [W]indow command in the [3]D-shapes sub-menu lets you select a rectangular prism shaped portion of a drawing and make a new element that contains only the line segments or parts of line segments that fall within the indicated prism (box shaped volume.) When working with 2D drawings [W]indow can be used to enlarge a detail of the drawing for emphasis, or to cut out parts of the drawing that you want to use as elements that you can add to other drawings. Since [W]indow creates a new element the workspace will need to have sufficient disk space free to allow for the number of line segments to be created for the new windowed element. The [W]indow command has an option that lets you have a border automatically drawn around the windowed element so as to make the windowed section look like an outlined cut out. The window command is useful to clip (limit) tool path elements that will be used with DANCAM.EXE (tm) so that the tool will not be as prone to move out of the useful range of tool positions (and possibly damage the work-piece or tool.)
How to use the [W]indow command:
Load the elements or drawing that you want to window.
Select [W]indow from the [3]D-shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor.
Move the cursor to the first point that will define the volume to the extracted. If you are extracting line segments from a 2D drawing the cursor can be in the z=0 plane for both corners of the volume, i.e. just like using the [R]ectangle command in the [2]D- shapes sub-menu.
Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangular prism volume that contains the line segments you want to extract (duplicate.) If you are making a 3D window try changing from the front view to the side view, or use the oblique view, so you can see that the cursor is positioned properly in all three dimensions.
Answer the prompt that asks if you want to make a border around the new element.
The new element will be in the same position as the line segments you took the new element from, so you will need to move the new windowed element with the [O]ffset or [D]rag commands (in the [E]lements sub-menu) before you can see the new element. You can also [E]rase the element that the windowed element was taken from to make the windowed element visible.
Use the commands [M]agnify and [R]otate in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus to alter the windowed element.
Use the [S]ave command in the [F]iles sub-menu to save the windowed element if the windowed element will be needed for other drawings (Use the [3]D filetype for drawings, and [A]SCII for tool paths that will feed DANCAM.EXE (tm).)
It is possible to split a drawing in half in order to spread the drawing so as to put more lines between the halves.
To split a drawing with the [W]indow command try these steps:
Load the drawing to split into the workspace.
Window one half of the drawing. You would probably not want a border added. You can use the [R]ecord point command to save the window corner points to [J]ump to later.
Save the new windowed element (the number of latest element in the workspace is indicated at the bottom of the drawing editor screen next to the :e.) Be sure to press [Z] to zero the cursor before saving the element (to make loading the element less confusing later.)
Erase the new windowed element.
Window the other half of the drawing. The second rectangular window should have one side or plane in common with the rectangular window used to make the first rectangular window. If you recorded the corner points in step 2., you can use the [J]ump command to relocate the drawing cursor.
Erase the drawing that was loaded (element 1 if the drawing was one element.) The half of the drawing left in step 5. should not be erased in this step.
Load the element of the first half of the drawing that was saved in step 3. above.
Use the [O]ffset or [D]rag commands in the [E]lements sub-menu as needed to spread the halves of the drawing apart.
If you need to have one of the sides of the rectangular windowing volume an some angle to the major axis you can rotate the element, or drawing the windowed element is to be extracted from, to the desired angle (with the [R]otate command in the [E]lements sub- menu) before the windowing is done. After the new windowed element has been created the new element and the source element, or drawing, can be rotated back to their original orientations (when you use the [R]otate command for rotating drawings pick the [Z]ero option for the element center to use and pick element number 0 so all the elements will rotate together around the workspace center.)
If the Window command in the version of the program you have will not work with triangle elements, you may be able to convert the triangle elements into "free" line elements that the Window command will work with by using the Hardcopy Ready command.
The [H]ole command in the [2]D-shapes sub-menu lets you select a rectangular shaped portion of a 2D element or drawing and make a new element that contains only the line segments or the parts of line segments that fall outside the indicated rectangle. The [H]ole command does the opposite of the [W]indow command. If you need to make a hole in a 3D perspective, save the elements to a disk file in the 2D file format (with the perspective scale set to 1) and reload the "flattened" element to make a hole in the "flattened" projection of the element(s). Since [H]ole creates a new element, the workspace will need to have sufficient line segments free to allow for the number of line segments to be created for the new holed element. The [H]ole command has an option that lets you have a border automatically drawn around the holed element so as to make the holed section look like an outlined cut out. The hole command is useful to make open areas in drawings so that you can get the effect of having pasted a small drawing or block of text over a larger drawing.
How to use the [H]ole command:
Load the 2D elements or 2D drawing that you want to make a hole in.
Select [H]ole from the [2]D-shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor.
Move the cursor to the first point that will define the rectangle to the extracted. The cursor should be in the z=0 plane for both corners of the rectangular hole, i.e. just like using the [R]ectangle command in the [2]D-shapes sub-menu.
Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangular area that contains the line segments you want to remove.
Answer the prompt that asks if you want to make a border around the new element.
The new element will be in the same position as the line segments you took it from, so you will need to move the new holed element with the [O]ffset or [D]rag commands (in the [E]lements sub- menu) before you can see the new element. You can also [E]rase the element that the holed element was taken from to make the rectangular hole element visible.
Use the commands [M]agnify and [R]otate in the [E]lements or [O]n-screen sub-menus to alter the holed element.
Use the [S]ave command in the [F]iles sub-menu to save the holed element if the holed element will be needed for other drawings (Use the [3]D filetype for saving drawings (even though the element is 2D, you should save elements in the 3D-Quick file type, the 2D filetype is mostly for use in making perspective projections of 3D elements), and use [A]SCII filetype for tool paths that will be read by DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm).)
If the Hole command in the version of the program you have will not work with triangle elements, you may be able to convert the triangle elements into "free" line elements that the Hole command will work with by using the Harcopy Ready command.