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The text in this section was derived from the v2.5 CAD manual, and has been updated somewhat, but differences between different releases of v2.5, v2.6 and v2.7 may mean that some of the information may not apply to the version you are using. Some adjustment may be required for versions prior or subsequent to v2.7A.

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You can make your own custom "Alias" symbol file sets to help you draw the type of drawings you need to make. Drawing symbol data file's filenames are grouped into an "Alias" index file where different letter or number keys on the keyboard are assigned to represent the filenames and file types of up to 36 drawing symbol files.

After the "Alias" index file is prepared the index file can be installed by using the main menu [C]hange defaults command. After the Alias index file is installed with the main menu Change command the symbol files can be loaded automatically at the drawing cursor position, while you are drawing, by pressing the desired [Alt] and [SomeKey] combination.

Alias symbol files are normally kept in the sub-directory \ALIAS\ off of the DANCAD3D (tm) sub-directory. Since each Alias index file can have reference to 36 symbol files, and you can install up to 10 index files at one time (in v2.6) you can have up to 360 symbol files available when you press [PgUp] while drawing to activate the Alias symbol feature. You could set up the symbol files to be in your CD-R drive, and by using the same filenames on all your CD-R symbol disks, swap CD-Rs to get more symbols without altering the Change command set-up.

The "symbols" whose filenames you use can be any type of 2D or 3D drawing element, and are not limited to small drawing parts. The Drag option can be turned off if you are going to load complex elements.

In this lesson you will learn how to make some symbol files and an alias index file to reference them. An alias index file lets you refer an [Alt][SomeKey] pair to load a file of a particular file type at the position of the drawing cursor. Loading options include, scaling, rotations, and drag. 36 files can be referenced by each alias index file, and 10 alias index files can be installed at once. The main advantage of using the alias files is the improved speed with which you can draw, since there are no prompts. Simply move the cursor to the desired location for the symbol or element, press [Alt][SomeKey] and it appears. With the drag option on you can touch up the positioning and drop the symbol with the [Escape] key. Since the symbols are all elements in the workspace, you can erase or move the symbols at any later point in time (provided that you save the drawing workspace as a set of elements.)

Start from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. If there is something important in the workspace you should save it to disk before you start this lesson.

If you have done this lesson before, or run a macro that make files with the same filenames as used in this lesson, the program may put up some extra prompts asking you if you want to overwrite the files with the same name already on your disk. To avoid the extra prompts coming up, you should rename, copy to another directory, or erase any files with the same filenames as are used in this lesson.

SELECT:  Command [O]utput (press [O]) from DANCAD3D v2.7 (tm)'s main menu.

SELECT:  Command [N]ew from automatic output macro sub-menu.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear filename prompt.)

ENTER:   MYL7.MAC  (So you do not overwrite L7.MAC from L7.ZIP.)

SELECT:  Command [I]nitialize from DANCAD3D v2.7 (tm)'s main menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Y]  (Yes, clear the workspace.)

SELECT:  Command [D]raw the main menu.

If there where any elements in the workspace the program would ask you if you want to turn the display of any on or off at this point through the screen update element number list.

SELECT:  Command [F]ront view from the view menu.

If you had not turned on the automatic output macro the program would ask you if you want to turn it on at this point.

SELECT:  Command [D]raw from the drawing editor root menu.

For compatibility with the programs that use a different numeric format for the 3D-Quick file type you can also index files saved in the ASCII file type. 2D-Real file type can also be indexed, but only offers the advantage of smaller disk files. The 3D-Quick format might load faster than the ASCII or 2D-Real file types depending of the number of line segments in the symbol. In this lesson the ASCII format is used to save the symbol files so that both DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm) will be able to read the symbol files. If you are just using one of the CAD programs then you could use the other file types. The file type of the file to load is specified in the index file. The index reference has three parts, the key that stands for the symbol, the file type of the symbol, and the symbol file's drive, path, and name. For example: F,3=D:\SUB\HOUSE.3D instructs the program that when the [Alt] & [F] keys are pressed a 3D-Quick type file named HOUSE.3D would be loaded. Another example: K,A=ALIAS\SYMBOL.75 indexes [Alt] & [K] to an ASCII type file in the ALIAS sub- directory named SYMBOL.75, and so on. Each reference in the index file needs to be on its own line of text, starting on the left margin, and at the top of the file. Generally you would list the keys in order of 0-9 and A-Z. Do not skip lines of text, insert comments, or add blank lines at the bottom of the *.ALI alias index file

SELECT: Command [S]cale from the drawing sub-menu.

ENTER:  240 (DANCAD3D (tm) uses 240 units per inch as the default scale.)

PRESS:  [Z]  (Zero drawing cursor.)

PRESS:  [*] or [PrtSc]  (Redraw screen so it will be at new scale.)

SELECT: Command [M]ove from the drawing sub-menu.

ENTER:  0.25  (Set cursor movement to 1/4 Inch [drawing unit].)

CURSOR: -0.25:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseRight] or [.] or [Del]  (Mark start of line segment.)

CURSOR: -0.25:X  -0.75:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line segment.)

At this point the program puts up a message telling you that since there are no elements in the workspace the program will begin a new element and append the line you just drew to element number 1, to get past the message you will need to press [Return] see the next command.

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [Return]  (Exit pop-up message.)

CURSOR: 0.25:X  -0.75:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: 0.25:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: 0.75:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: 0.75:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: 0.25:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: 0.25:X  0.75:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: -0.25:X  0.75:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: -0.25:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: -0.75:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: -0.75:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR: -0.25:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:  [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]   (Mark end of line.)

That should be the outline of a cross. In this lesson you will keep making elements and save them all at once. To do that each element must be separate. The [B]egin command starts a new element. If you do not use the [B]egin command new lines would be appended to the element in the workspace with the highest number.

Next to the letter L at the bottom of the drawing editor screen you should see "12:L" this tells you that twelve drawing lines have been entered into the workspace so far. To the right of this you see "1, 998:E" this tells you that one elements has been created and 998 elements are free to be used. Some commands use elements for temporary storage so you should leave a few elements free unless you are not going to use any of the editing commands or hidden line display modes.

SELECT:  Command [B]egin element from the drawing sub-menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Y]  (Yes you want to set the element center.)

PRESS:   [Return]  (Enter the cursor move menu.)

PRESS:   [Z]  (To zero the graphics cursor.)

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Exit the cursor move menu.)

CURSOR:  0.5:X  -0.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [.] or [Del]  (Mark start of line.)

CURSOR:  1.0:X  0:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  0.5:X  0.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  0.5:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  -1.0:X  0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  -1.0:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  0.5:X  -0.25:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  0.5:X  -0.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

Some commands like [P]olygon start a new element each time you use them. Any lines drawn, after one of the commands that makes a new element is used, are appended to the element that was just created, unless you use the [B]egin command in the [E]lements sub-menu to start a new element.

The display at the bottom of the drawing editor screen should now read "19:L" (nineteen lines) and "2, 997:E" (two elements) if you did the drawing correctly so far.

PRESS:   [Z]  (To zero the graphics cursor.)

SELECT:  Command [Escape] to exit back to drawing editor root menu.

SELECT:  Command [3]D shapes from drawing editor root menu.

SELECT:  Command [P]olygon from the 3D shapes menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Return]  (Go on to move cursor menu.)

The cursor would normally need to be moved, but we will not need to since the polygon is to be centered in the workspace.

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [Escape]  (Exit cursor move menu.)

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [N]  (Use line color and width of one.)

ENTER:   36  (Total number of sides in the polygon.)

ENTER:   36  (Number of sides to actually draw.)

ENTER:   0.5  (Radius of polygon.)

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] of [Return]  (Accept values entered.)

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [N]  (Do not magnify or rotate.)

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [N]  (Do not use automatic drag.)

SELECT:  Command [Escape] to go back to drawing editor root menu.

SELECT:  Command [D]raw from the drawing editor root menu.

CURSOR:  0:X  -1.0:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [.] or [Del]  (Mark start of line.)

CURSOR:  0:X  1:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

CURSOR:  -1:X  0:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [.] or [Del]  (Mark start of line.)

CURSOR:  1:X  0:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [0] or [Ins]  (Mark end of line.)

PRESS:   [Z]  (To zero the graphics cursor.)

SELECT:  Command [Escape] to exit back to drawing editor root menu.

Now you can save the drawing symbol elements separately.

SELECT:  Command [F]iles from the drawing root menu.

SELECT:  Command [S]ave from the drawing editor files sub-menu.

SELECT:  Command [O]ne element from screen.

SELECT:  Command [E]nter element number.

ENTER:   1

SELECT:  Command [S]et point.  (Set the re-load point.)

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Return]  (Enter move cursor.)

If you wanted to re-position the cursor you would do so here, but for now leave the cursor at the workspace zero point.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Exit move cursor.)

SELECT:  Command [A]SCII type of drawing file.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear the filename prompt.)

ENTER:   MYL7.1

SELECT:  Command [S]ave from the drawing editor files sub-menu.

SELECT:  Command [O]ne element from screen.

SELECT:  Command [E]nter element number.

ENTER:   2

SELECT:  Command [S]et point.  (Set the re-load point.)

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Return]  (Enter move cursor.)

If you wanted to re-position the cursor you would do so here, but for now leave the cursor at the workspace zero point.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Exit move cursor.)

SELECT:  Command [A]SCII type of drawing file.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear the filename prompt.)

ENTER:   MYL7.2

SELECT:  Command [S]ave from the drawing editor files sub-menu.

SELECT:  Command [O]ne element from screen.

SELECT:  Command [E]nter element number.

ENTER:   3

SELECT:  Command [S]et point.  (Set the re-load point.)

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Return]  (Enter move cursor.)

If you wanted to re-position the cursor you would do so here, but for now leave the cursor at the workspace zero point.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Exit move cursor.)

SELECT:  [A]SCII type of drawing file.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear the filename prompt.)

If you press the [UpArrow] key you should get the last entry, or you can also press the [=] key. You can then type 3 over MYL7.2 rather than retype the whole filename again. The program stores the last used filenames, and you can bring them back with the up and down arrow keys. This same trick works with entering numbers, or the string in the lettering command. To clear something at a prompt press [Escape].

ENTER:   MYL7.3

SELECT:  Command [Q]uit to quit the drawing editor.

The alias index file that will reference the element files you just made consists of an ASCII text file. This ASCII text file lists the [Alt][Key]'s letter or number, its filetype, and its full DOS filename.

SELECT:  Command [I]nitialize from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Y]  (Yes to clear the workspace.)

If any elements are in the workspace when you enter Write they will be restored when you quit Write. Since you just used Initialize there are no elements to restore.

SELECT:  Command [W]rite from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu.

Wait a few moments for the text editor to fully load. Make sure that the text in the alias index file is against the left margin, starting on text line 1.

TYPE:    Type in this alias index file text starting at the top left.

1,A=MYL7.1
2,A=MYL7.2
3,A=MYL7.3

The above says "Let [Alt] & [1] stand for Load a ASCII type file named MYL7.1, Let [Alt] & [2] stand for Load a ASCII type file named MYL7.2, and Let [Alt] & [3] stand for a ASCII type file named MYL7.3". So when you are drawing and you press [Alt] and [1] at the same time the symbol in MYL7.1 will be loaded according to the scaling and rotations designated with the [PgUp] prompts, at the present location of the cursor. There is an optional drag for symbols (elements) with less than a large number of line segments. If you want to reposition elements with a large number of line segments, use the Offset command in the Elements sub-menu. The optional drag in [PgUp] lets you move the symbol around on the screen before you "drop it" in its final position. If you want to move a symbol after it have been dropped you can use the [D]rag or [O]ffset commands in the drawing editor [E]lements sub menu.

PRESS:   [MouseCenter] or [MouseLeft] or [F1]  (Menu.)

SELECT:  Command [W]rite file from the text editor pop-up menu.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear the filename prompt.)

ENTER:   MYL7.ALI

PRESS:   [MouseCenter] or [MouseLeft] or [F1]  (Menu.)

SELECT:  Command [Q]uit from the text editor pop-up menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Y]  (Yes to exit Write command.)

To install the alias index file select Change from the main menu.

SELECT:  Command [C]hange defaults form the main menu.

SELECT:  Command [A]lias files from the Change defaults menu.

PRESS:   [Escape]  (Clear the filename prompt.)

ENTER:   MYL7.ALI

After you have pressed [Return] to enter the name of the first Alias index file, press [Escape] then [Return] nine (9) (or so) times until you get to the default sub-directory prompt (i.e. enter blank names for the remaining nine index files of the ten total). Then just press [Return] another five (5) times (or so) to keep the default file paths names. Be careful to stop pressing [Return] when you get back to the Change menu or else you will have to go around again!

SELECT:  Command [Escape] to exit from the Change default menu.

PRESS:   [MouseLeft] or [Y]  (Yes keep changes.)

Now try it out.

SELECT:  Command [D]raw the main menu.

At this point the workspace should be empty since you selected Initialize before the Write command.

SELECT:  Command [F]ront view from the view menu.

SELECT:  Command [D]raw from the drawing editor root menu.

PRESS:   [PgUp] or [9] key on the keyboard.

This alias menu lets you set how the symbols should be loaded.

ENTER:   0  (Use the alias index file named MYL7.ALI.)

ENTER:   1  (Do not magnify when loading, i.e. n*1=n.)

ENTER:   0  (Do not rotate x axis when loading.)

ENTER:   0  (Do not rotate y axis when loading.)

ENTER:   0  (Do not rotate z axis when loading.)

PRESS:   [MouseRight] or [N] (Do not use automatic drag.)

Now position the cursor and use the alias index file selected.

CURSOR:  -1.5:X  -1.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [Alt] & [1] Key  (Hold the [Alt] key and press [1].)

CURSOR:   1.5:X  -1.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [Alt] & [2] Key  (Hold the [Alt] key and press [2].)

CURSOR:   0:X   1.5:Y  0:Z

PRESS:   [Alt] & [3] Key  (Hold the [Alt] key and press [3].)

PRESS:   [Z]  (Zero the cursor.)

That should have been faster than using the load command in the Files sub-menu. Study the example alias files and their indexes, *.ALI. You can make 3D trees and bushes to prepare landscaping, or 3D molecules to build new compounds, or any other "Cookie Cutter", "Rubber Stamp", and "Boiler Plate" type of drawing. If you have a RAM disk above the DOS 640KB you might think of writing a batch file to install the symbol and index files on the RAM disk so the symbol files will load faster, but remember that the path in the Alias index file's filename references needs to be the specific location (directory) of the indexed symbol files, e.g. you would need to change ALIAS\ELE4.1 to E:\ALIAS\ELE4.1 and so on if you move the symbol file named ELE4.1 to the E: drive. So that you do not run out of filenames in the root directory of your RAM disk you should make a sub-directory named ALIAS\ to hold your symbol files.

SELECT:  Quit  (Exit the drawing editor back to main menu.)

PRESS:   [O]  (Select [O]utput for automatic output macro set-up.)

SELECT:  Stop  (Stop current automatic output macro output.)

If you have trouble getting this lesson to come out right check to see if a file called L7.ZIP file is still available from the download section. L7.ZIP contains files made while I worked through the lesson, plus a macro I made using the automatic output macro feature to capture all of the commands used. If L7.ZIP is not available, and you had the output macro feature on while you worked through steps in this lesson you made own copy of L7.MAC called MYL7.MAC and the other files used in this lesson, if the files do not look right you can use the [W]rite command to read over the macro commands in MYL7.MAC to try to find where you went wrong.

See file D3000007.GIF for an illustration of what you should end up with.

If you are using DANCAD87.COM v2.7A (tm) and DANCAD3D.COM v2.7A (tm) you should only use the ASCII file type for symbols that are going to be part of an Alias symbol set, that way the symbol set will work with both programs. If you are just using one of the CAD programs you can also use the 3D- Quick or 2D-Real file type for symbol files since you will not need to be concerned about the incompatibility of the numeric format used by the two CAD programs. This lesson was revised for v2.7A to save the symbols in ASCII file type so that you could use the symbols drawn with both CAD programs.