Copyright (C) 1986-2008 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

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To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

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.

I may expand or revise the documentation someday, so check back from time to time to see if any new or revised files have been up-loaded to the Web site.

You may not distribute, sell, rent, share, or give away these HTML documentation files or printed copies of them. You may not extract text from these HTML documentation files for distribution, sale, rent, sharing, or giving away. You can use the [Print] option in your browser to make one copy for yourself to mark up in order to help me proofread the text for mistakes.

Documents may be available to download from time to time, you can check SECTION: 9 to see what the current situation with regard to downloadable files is. The names of these documentation files may change, and they may be edited, combined, or eliminated in the future, without notice.

You may need to adjust your browser for best viewing of the pre- formatted text by changing the "font" size using the commands in your browser (see the help in your browser, or use the pull-down menus in your HTML browser.) If some letters in words on the screen appear to be missing or scrambled try changing the font size in your browser as this sometimes happens even though the words are spelled correctly in the HTML code.

Use the "Edit, Find in page Ctrl+F" or "Edit, Find (in this page)... Ctrl+F" command in your browser to search for keywords within the documentation text in this HTML page. You will need to search over again in the other pages in this HTML document for the same keyword since your browser may not search for a keyword beyond the current page that is loaded.

DANCAD3D (tm) and DANCAD87 (tm), like any other tools designed for technically minded craftsmen, are easier to use once you catch on to the gimmicks that let you get the results you are after. This section discusses some tricks that you might apply to make your use of my CAD programs more efficient, once you have become familiar with the programs' basic structure.

The most important tip I can give you is to make sure that DANCAD3D (tm) is installed properly on your harddisk. You should use the batch file INSTALL.BAT that should come as part of the updated distribution. If the program will not run after being installed the reason is probably that you did not install the program properly or you have a bad copy of the distribution. If you can, download two copies of the latest DANCAD3D.ZIP (tm) distribution archive into separate sub-directories, then use the DOS FC, i.e. File Compare, command to check that the two downloaded files are the same, if they are not then you are probably getting corrupted downloads.

While installing my programs, if you see the DOS message "Abort, Retry, Ignore" never press any key other than [R] for Retry. If Retry will not work you might need to replace something before you can finish installing the programs and associated files.

If you get the DOS or Windows (tm) error message "Data reading error Drive C," or something like that, your harddisk probably needs to be checked, so run the OS SCANDISK (tm) utility to check your harddisk before you resume installing the programs.

The DANCAD3D (tm) error message "Run time error F0" means that DANCAD3D (tm) is not properly installed or you forgot to use the DOS CD command to change to the DC27, DC27B, or whatever directory the program is in, i.e. use CD DC27 or CD DC27B and such on the DOS command line before you enter DANCAD3D (tm) to run the program.

Under Windows 95 (tm) if you do not have a DOS icon to click on on your desktop, you can open a DOS window by left clicking on the Start button at the lower left of the windows desktop screen, and then selecting the Run command in the small menu that comes up. In the Windows 95 (tm) run prompt enter COMMAND as the name of the program to run, and a DOS window should open, then make the window go into full screen mode and then use the DOS MD and CD commands to make and change to the program directory so that you can install the programs. After the programs are installed properly, you will need to use the DOS CD command to change to the program directory each time before you run the programs.

When you reboot, i.e. turn on, your computer DOS will probably set the directory of your harddisk to its root directory, or Windows (tm) will set the sub-directory to the windows sub- directory. In order to run DANCAD3D (tm) you will need to use the DOS CD command to change the current sub-directory to the one DANCAD3D (tm) was installed in, i.e. DC27 or DC27B and so on.

EXAMPLE: C:\WINDOWS>CD C:\DC27
         C:\DC27>DANCAD3D

         or

         C:\>CD C:\DC27B
         C:\DC27B>DANCAD3D

         or

         C:\WINDOWS>D:
         D:\>CD D:\DC27
         D:\DC27>DANCAD3D

Before you can print out drawings made with DANCAD3D (tm) you will need to use the main menu [C]hange command to install the names of the printer drivers. You can get a listing of the drivers installed in the sub-directory DC27\DRIVERS or DC27B\DRIVERS by entering a filename with the same "wild card" characters, i.e. * and ?, that you use with the DOS commands, e.g. DRIVERS\*.PRN, DRIVERS\*.PLT, DRIVERS\*.JET. Be sure that you use the proper driver for your particular hardware. If you have your printer or plotter on some port other than the one the driver has selected, i.e. not the default port, you will need to use the [I]nstall command in the [D]ot, [P]lot, or [J]et sub-menus of the [H]ardcopy sub- menu to install another port name for the output to go to. The PostScript (tm) drivers, i.e. *.LZR drivers, are [I]nstalled in the [P]lot sub-menu since the PostScript (tm) output comes from the plotter portion of the program.

If you want to print hidden line drawings using my programs on printers other than those supported by the DOT and JET commands you need to use the Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu to make a new element that will be a 2D image of the elements that will be compatible with the display modes supported by those printers and plotters, you can not print or plot the 3D elements in the workspace directly on the plotter type hardware, i.e. PostScript (tm) or HPGL/2 laser printers and such.

For color printers you should save your drawing, from your color video board, by using the save BMP file command in the CAD program main menu Preview command to make a color *.BMP file. You can then use some Windows (tm) graphics program that supports color printing, like MSPAINT (tm), to print the drawing on your color printer. The quality of the printing will probably be best if you use the SVGA video modes to save the BMP file, i.e. S1280C256 and such.

If you use the serial ports you will need to use the DOS MODE command before you run DANCAD3D (tm) to set up your serial port to match your plotter or printer. The printer or plotter using the serial port is probably set to 9600 baud, but you should check its DIP switches to see what it is actually set to. You might put the DOS MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file by using the [W]rite command from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. Remember to save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file back to your harddisk, usually the root directory of the boot disk, before you Quit DANCAD3D (tm) back to the DOS prompt, and reboot your computer so that the new settings in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file will take effect. The new modified AUTOEXEC.BAT file will then automatically set-up your serial port(s) every time you turn your computer on. Make sure that you have two serial ports on your computer if you use a mouse since you cannot generally share a serial port with the mouse and printer or plotter. Under Windows 95 (tm) you may need to set the serial port up after you open the DOS window, but before you run my programs.

Some serial port printers or plotters use a "Nul Modem" type cable, and others use a "Straight" pin to pin cable, if your printer or plotter is not working you can check to see if you are using the right kind of cable.

EXAMPLE: C:\>MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

From its inception DANCAD3D (tm) has been designed to help produce tangible products, i.e. drawings, computer animated films, or manufactured parts. When working with DANCAD3D (tm) you should look past DANCAD3D (tm) to what the end product needs to be. What DANCAD3D (tm) looks like as a program on the computer screen is not so important since you are not normally showing DANCAD3D (tm) to people, you, rather, are showing your drawings, films, and manufactured goods that you designed. The quality of the finished goods produced with DANCAD3D (tm), DANCAD87 (tm), DANCAM.EXE (tm), and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) are therefore largely dependent on your skills in drawing or preparing your tool path.

DANCAD3D (tm), DANCAD87 (tm), DANMOVIE (tm), DANCAM.EXE (tm), and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) can all accept the name of a file to use from the DOS command line, or a DOS batch file. DANCAD3D (tm) accepts the name of a macro file from the DOS command line. DANMOVIE (tm) (now replaced mostly by the Animate command in DANCAD3D (tm)) accepted the name of a set of Pixel frame files from the DOS command line. DANCAM.EXE (tm) and DANPLOT.EXE (tm) can accept the name of an ASCII tool path file, that holds the motions that you want your machine tool to carry out, from the DOS command line, see the current documentation for your version of the programs for the current command line options. Because the programs will accept actuating instructions in the form of data or macro files you can write DOS batch files that will run DANCAD3D (tm) or DANCAD87 (tm), and DANCAM.EXE (tm) or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) sequentially and automatically. In the next example the prompt reads C:\DC27> if you are using the DOS PROMPT $P$G command otherwise the DOS prompt would be C> or C:\>.

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>DANCAD3D SOMEFILE.MAC
         C:\DC27>DANCAD87 SOMEFILE.MAC
         C:\DC27>DANCAM SOMEFILE.ASC
         C:\DC27>DANPLOT SOMEFILE.ASC
         C:\DC27>DANMOVIE SOMEFILE

The CAD programs can also load an ASCII file in this way if the ASCII file was saved using v2.7B or later, or was converted to a macro.

If you create a Windows 95 (tm) short cut to my programs, then you can drag and drop the appropriate file type, i.e. Macro, ASCII, or Pixel, from a folder directory, onto the program shortcut icon, and the program will start automatically and load the file dropped on it. You can copy the shortcut icon onto your windows desktop, so you do not need to open the program folder each time to find the shortcut.

Always remember that DANCAD3D (tm) and the other programs are designed to run themselves automatically. You do not need to be present for your computer to print dozens of different drawings on your dot matrix or laser printer. If the program is going to print ten drawings overnight it does not matter that each drawing takes half an hour to print since the printer would be idle all night anyway. Just make sure that someone is around, in case of a fire starting, or other problem like a paper jam.

You might be able to reduce your power bill by "printing" your drawings to a DOT or JET page file by using the ADD commands, then once all of your page files have been completed, print from the page files. Printing from the page files can be much faster than printing directly to the printer using the DOT WORKSPACE or JET WORKSPACE commands, particularly in drawings with thickened lines, or when hidden line removal display modes are selected to display triangle elements.

Likewise if you are machining parts with my CAM programs, the time required to automatically manufacture each part is only important if the machine has no idle time. Manually operated devices may sit idle some of the day, but automating the devices lets you set them up and then make parts while you do other things. I should warn you that letting equipment run unattended carries a risk of fire or other types of damage, so set up a smoke detector, video camera, and microphone that will let you keep an eye on what the machine is doing.

If you plan your computer's time for tasks that will take several hours for when you are not sitting in front of the computer doing other things the time required to do the tasks might as well be instantaneous since you personally spent no time getting the tasks done, except for perhaps the small amount of time writing the macro or batch file to execute the task.

At the prompts in the programs that ask for a file name you can enter the name and full file path, or you can enter part of a name and a wild card character * or ?, e.g. C:\*.ASC, or you can enter the name of a directory such that the name of the directory ends with the backslash character, e.g. C:\SUMSUB\.

When you use the FILES MAKE sub-directory command, the sub- directory name you enter must end with a period, or the program will think you are asking for a directory listing. Likewise you need to end any filenames that do not have an extension with a period. When you enter the name of a sub-directory with the [F]iles [M]ake sub-directory command you need to end the name of the sub- directory with a period, otherwise the program will look for a directory with that name, and you will get stuck and not be able to get out of the prompt.

The file directory option remembers the recently used filenames which you can recall by using the up and down arrows at a file name prompt. You can recall the last filename entered by pressing = key at the file name prompt.

After you go into the file directory you need to highlight the filename you want by using the mouse or cursor keys. After you have highlighted the filename you want you press the [Return] key or click the left mouse button. The filename selected is then copied back to the filename prompt. You then can accept the file name by pressing [Return] or [MouseLeft] a second time, edit the filename at the filename prompt, or press [Esc] or [MouseRight] to erase the filename.

If you do not want to select a filename and you select the first listing in the file directory you will be brought to a prompt screen where you can change a the file search mask. If you do not want to select any filename, you need to select one, then press [Esc] or [MouseRight] once you get back to the filename prompt to erase the filename you selected to get out of the directory listing but did not want to actually use.

When you click on a directory name in a file directory the program will now bring up a directory of that sub-directory in place of reporting that the "file" entered is not found.

When entering the name of a file you always need to enter a filename with its extension, or end the filename with a period if there is no extension used. A filename not ending with a period or extension at the prompts is considered to be the name of a sub-directory.

One question I have been asked several times is how to visualize the edge of the paper when working in DANCAD3D (tm)'s drawing workspace. The simplest way is just to divide the width and height of the paper by two and watch the reading of the x, y, and z values at the top of the drawing screen. An example of centering a drawing on the final print out for an 8 1/2 by 11 inch page would be to keep the x values between -4 and +4, and the y values between -5.25 and +5.25. Note that most printers do not print all the way to the edge of the paper, so you will have to allow for the "printable region" that your printer supports. The printable region may not be symmetrical around the center of the piece of paper, in which case you might need to have your drawing off center if it will use the full area the printer can print on. In the "real world" your drawing for 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper would be about +/- 3.95 by +/- 5.2 inches.

The commands in the [J]ocky sub-menu of the drawing editor can be used to center drawings, see the [M]edian command.

Another trick to center drawings is to use the [R]ectangle command in the [2]D-Shapes sub-menu of the drawing editor to draw a wire-frame rectangle element the size of the paper with the corners of the rectangle at the appropriate +/- x and y values for the printable area of your printer. After using the [R]ectangle command be sure to use the [B]egin command in the [E]lements sub-menu before you start drawing line segments. When you use the [B]egin command the line segments in the drawing will belong to element #2 and higher, enabling you to use the [E]rase element command in the [E]lements sub-menu of the drawing editor to erase the rectangular outline, element #1, before you save or print out your drawing.

If your drawing will be a perspective projection of three- dimensional elements, in the workspace, the centering of the drawing may need to be altered for best composition experimentally. The x_shift and y_shift parameters of the main menu [P]review command let you slide the drawing around to center the drawing as needed. You can set all the factors in the [F]actors option from the [P]review command pop-up menu to the inactive value except one of the shift factors so you can slide the drawing by pressing the [+] or [-] keys (if you see that the screen is re-drawing off center hit the [SpaceBar], and answer the prompt by pressing [Return] to abort the screen redraw (yes to abort can be answered with [Return] or [Escape] in some video modes, so see the prompt on the screen), then press [P], [F], or [+] or [-] again as needed.) In other words, set all the factors that add to 0, and the ones that multiply to 1, except the factor you want to alter, in this case the shift_x and shift_y add so you might enter 0.1 to see the drawing move 1/10 inch each time you press [+] or [-] after the drawing draws in the [P]review screen. You can bring up the Factors value screen in the Preview command from the pop-up menu in the Preview command graphics screen, to change from coarse to fine values to speed up finding the right shift values.

If you are trying to center the display of triangle elements in the Preview command using the method described above, try using the preview display mode 10, rather than the display modes that sort triangles in order to speed up the display so you can see a rough impression of the position of the perspective display quickly.

Another way to center drawings is to use the [O]ffset command from the main menu's [N]umerical sub-menu or the drawing editors [E]lements sub-menu. To move all the elements in the drawing at once select element number 0, and offset the elements from their current position. You can use the main menu [P]review command to find x and y shift values and then use the x and y shift values you found in the [O]ffset command to center drawings if the drawings will be printed with the x and y rotation perspective parameters set to 0. Offsetting elements in the workspace changes where the line of sight passes through the elements but this change is only visible if x and y rotations are used in the printout, you can avoid making the change in the line of sight visible by saving the workspace as a 2D-Real file, initializing the workspace, loading the 2D-Real file back in and then Offsetting the now 2D perspective of the 3D elements that were in the workspace.

If you want to adjust the centering of triangle element hidden line displays, or make composite page layouts with more than hidden line view of the triangle elements, you can try using the HARDCOPY READY command to make an element that can be saved as a 2D element, then arrange the 2D elements as was described above. The size of the 2D elements might be cropped by using the WINDOW or HOLE commands in the drawing editor.

Three features of the drawing editor that should be kept in mind while drawing are: the Up-date list for the screen redraw, the WYSIWYG toggle, and the interrupt screen up-date pop-up menu. The [U]p-date list command in the drawing editors root menu lets you turn off elements so that they are not re-drawn when the screen re-draws. You should turn off all the elements that are not in the part of the drawing you are working on so the screen will redraw just the needed elements as fast as possible. The [W]YSIWYG toggle, in the drawing editors [S]et-up sub- menu, should be toggled off normally and only turned on when you really need to see exactly how thickened line segments and lettering will look in the final print out. When the WYSIWYG is off thickened lines are drawn as thickness 1 and therefore redraw faster. When you need to move around to another part of your drawing you can set the [S]cale to 120, or whatever will show the area you want, then press [Z] then press [*]. If you hit the [SpaceBar] while the screen is re-drawing a menu pops up that will let you have every other line skipped while the screen re-draws. Usually skipping every other line segment during the screen redraw will still allow you to see enough of the elements to tell where to put the cursor so you can zoom in. In the drawing editor you zoom in by pressing the [+] key repeatedly and then you press the [*] key when the dotted border shows the desired area to fill the screen. Using the skip line feature of the redraw might save a lot of time over the course of a days drawing since the screen will redraw twice or more times as fast. You can also completely abort the redraw from the pop-up menu that comes up when you press the [SpaceBar] while the drawing editor screen is re- drawing, if you have seen enough of the elements display, or do not want to wait for the screen to finish re-drawing. You may need to wait after pressing the [SpaceBar] for a few moments, or hold down the [SpaceBar] depending on what the program is displaying and how fast your computer is.

If you are using the automatic output macro file feature while drawing you can put notes to yourself in the output macro file by pressing the [;] key. The [;] key command works from most of DANCAD3D (tm)'s menus even though it is not listed in them as a command option, it is one of the few un-listed commands. If you want to mark a spot, i.e. text line, in the output macro that you will want to edit later with the Write command text editor you might enter a comment that has some special character or word in it thereby giving the "search and replace" option something unique to search for, e.g. enter a macro comment like the following.

{ @$$ Change font above to INTRNAT1.FON }

In this example above the @$$ would be what you enter when the search and replace option asks you what to search for. Search and replace is activated in the Write command text editor with ^[Q]^[A] or [Alt][F1] and stopped by pressing ^[U] or [Alt][F2]. The ^ character in the key-pressing instructions means to hold down the [Esc] key like you would use the [Shift] key and press the keys to the right one at a time while holding down the [Esc] key.

If you need to come back to a particular x, y, and z point located somewhere in the drawing workspace you can use the [R]ecord and [J]ump commands. The [R]ecord command should be used to record a location in the workspace if you need to zoom in to get a very precise position for the drawing cursor and then zoom out and use the cursor for some other task, then return to the precise location you first went to and [R]ecorded. The [J]ump command will return you to the [R]ecorded precise location much faster than fumbling around with the mouse and [M]ove command a second time. The [R]ecord and [J]ump commands are also useful for centering the cursor at different points in the drawing so you can divide up the drawing into equal sections like tiles that allow you to redraw close-up views of sub-divisions of the drawing without thinking about where the cursor should, go before re-drawing the screen, all the time.

DANCAD3D (tm) can hold a maximum of about 50,000,000 line segments, or 25,000,000 triangles, in its workspace at one time if you have 2.1GB partition free on your harddisk for the workspace file. DANCAD87 (tm) has a limit of about 40,000,000 line segments or 20,000,000 triangles. Since most drawings only use 5000 to 50000 line segments DANCAD3D (tm)'s maximum workspace is more than enough for many tasks. Should you require the preparation of a drawing that needs more line segments you can use the page files featured in the [D]ot and [J]et sub-menus of the [H]ardcopy sub- menu. The page files are raster type files, like the video screen, so you can repeatedly add line segments to page files to build up any number of line segments you desire. You can also build up lines in a PostScript (tm) laser printer by using the special drivers included that allow plotting without ejecting the page. When you will need to print a drawing on several occasions the time required for printing will generally be less if your print from a page file rather than printing directly from the workspace because when you print from a page file the time required to add the line segments only needs to occur once, where as each time you print from the workspace the lines need to be re-plotted.

Since the programs need to make temporary files for some commands, you may only be able to use half, a quarter, or less, of the maximum capacity of the workspace, depending on how much space you have free in each of the partitions on your harddisk. All specifications are subject to change with out notice.

To make a complex drawing that will be printed from a composite of several workspaces full of elements added to a page file you will need to divide the drawing into sections that can be held in the workspace. Dividing the drawing into sections that can be held in the workspace requires that the "largest" element have fewer line segments than the maximum number of line segments the workspace can hold at one time. One simple way to divide your drawing is to start the drawing by drawing the basic skeleton, the skeleton can be the drawing made up only to the point that curves and lettering are to be added, that is made of mostly long straight line segments, and then saving the skeleton to disk. You can load the skeleton element and draw over it until the workspace is full then save the workspace as a set of elements, initialize, load the skeleton element again and draw some more until the workspace is full and repeat the process until the drawing is finished. Although this method takes some thought it allows the program to work much faster since only the lines currently loaded in the workspace, making up part of the whole drawing, need to be drawn to the screen. Remember to use the [U]pdate list in the drawing editor to only display the essential elements while drawing. After you have built up a collection of sets of Elements files on your harddisk that all belong to one drawing, you can several times: initialize the workspace, load each set of elements into the workspace, and use the DOT ADD or JET ADD commands to add all of the lines to a page file, then after all of the lines have been added to the page file you can print the page file.

If you have a large harddisk you will not need to break up your drawing unless you need more than 999 individual elements, since you should not exceed the lines capacity of the workspace if you have plenty of free disk space. Remember that you can turn off the display of un-needed elements in the Drawing editor with the [U]p-date list, in order to speed up the drawing editor screen re-draw while you are working on your drawing.

The PostScript (tm) printers do not use page files, but you can in some of the PostScript (tm) drivers write several times to their internal memory before having the printer print the page. So the PostScript (tm) printer's internal memory takes the place of the page file used with a Jet or Dot printer. In the case of the Pen plotter, the paper acts as the memory to hold the line segments, while more are added.

I should mention that you should not use thickened lines in drawings that will be plotted on a mechanical pen plotter since the pen tends to poke holes in the drawing! It is better to control the line width in pen plotters by selecting different width pens by using the line color line attribute. The pens in your plotter can be any color or width you want since the color numbers of the line color attribute in DANCAD3D (tm) are only code numbers between 1 and 127 and can stand for any type of pen you want to use since the color number is just passed to your plotters pen changer.

To get the Loaded Font File sub-menu you need to press [L] from the main menu. In this Loaded Font File sub- menu you can see a display of the characters in the currently loaded font. This display can display all of the characters one after another, or you can press a key on the keyboard and see each character one at a time. There are also some values you can enter to adjust settings relating to the font file that is loaded.

Since the font table for the *.FON files is separate from the workspace this commands acts as a viewing tool for the contents of the font table. These special commands can be useful when you are designing or editing your own fonts, or to see what a font's characters look like when you do not have a printout or graphic display for the font file.

The commands to Load and Save the font table are the Table, Workspace, and Font commands in the Files Load and Files Save sub-menus. See the tutorial lesson in the supplemental documentation section on making your own fonts for information about these commands.

The commands to make and edit the screen fonts files, i.e. *.808, *.814, *.F08, *.F14, that go with the *.FON drawing font files are in the drawing editor's Calligraphy Screen font sub-menu.

The Statistics command in the Loaded Font sub-menu tells you about the loaded font. This can be a help to you when you are creating your own font files, since you can know if you are getting close to filling up the font table. The font table is of limited size, so you can only use so many line segments total for the total of all the characters in the font.

Letters with curves take up many of the line segments places in the font table. In v2.7 the size available in the font table was increased to allow fonts with smoother curves to be created.

Fonts saved with v2.7 will probably not load into previous versions, so do not try to make bigger fonts with the current version and use those files in older versions.

As a closing comment I would like to say that I hope you enjoy using DANCAD3D (tm) or DANCAD87 (tm) and are able to get some practical work accomplished with it.

My CAD, CAM, and Utility programs have been designed to work together and complement each other's capabilities. Be sure to review the documentation about the CAM and Utility programs so that you can see how the programs might be used together, particularly when operated from a batch file.

Please remember the dangers involved with using the CAM equipment and programs, always inspect your tool path files closely in the CAD programs drawing editor and Preview command before you try to operate your machine from the tool path file. Inspection of the tool path files is particularly important for files that have been converted from an Industry filetype into my ASCII file type, since some line segments may not be converted as you might like. Use the Find points command in the CAD program's drawing editor's Lines sub-menu to check the p1 to p2 direction for each line segment in the tool path, as well as checking the x, y, and z location of the line segments end points.

Always keep a back-up copy of your drawings in a safe place to avoid loss of data and labor. Remember to back-up your drawings and tool paths every hour, or so, as a set of Elements while you work on the drawing or tool path, and also to use the output macro feature as a second level of back-up.

Best wishes for success in your projects, and hope you enjoy helping "Beta Test" my other programs and the rest of this Web site.