ASHLAR INCORPORATED 1290 Oakmead Parkway, Suite 218 Sunnyvale, California 94086 Technical Support: (800)877-2745 CompuServe: GO CADDVEN (ID: 71333,1060) Internet: 71333.1060@compuserve.com Apple Link: GOVELLUM Documentation Addendum (Vellum 2.12 Windows Version) Vars / Technical Support / Registered Users This literature is for your own information based upon design and documentation issues pertaining to Windows 2.12. Hopefully these issues will clarify some of the questions Vars, Technical Support, and Registered Users may be asking. These findings have been gathered by Ashlar's Development team to communicate a better understanding of this exciting new product! ___________________________________________________ --Angular Dimensions-- Angular dimensions will display all angles properly if you keep the angles larger than 3 degrees. For angles smaller then that, you should build the dimensions manually using lines and text objects. --Arrow at End/Arrow at Start-- To update arrowheads when you change the text size, the next time you "click" on the screen the change will automatically be updated. You also can change arrowhead size in Edit Objects. --Arc Length Dimensions-- The Arc Length dimension tool does not put the witness lines perpendicular to the arc for angles less then 180 degrees. --Arc Length Values-- To specify the diameter for an arc created with the connected line tool, press and drag the arc to its approximate position. Then select the arc and use Edit>Edit Objects to enter and apply a diameter value. --Ashlar Plotter Driver-- To install the Ashlar Plotter Driver you must bring up the Control Panel's Printers Dialog. If you have "Ashlar Vellum Plotter" on your list of installed printers, select it and click the "remove" button. Then click "yes" when is asks if you are sure. Then click the "Add" button. A "list of printers" list box will come up. Select the line that says: "Install Unlisted or Updated Printer". Click the "Install" button. A new dialog titled "Install Driver" will come up. Insert disk #1 in your floppy drive. If your install drive is B:, type "B:" in the dialog in place of the "A:\". Hit the "OK" button. You can then set it to the default printer if you want. Hit the "close" button to dismiss the dialog. --Ashlar Plot Settings-- The following are the recommended settings for Ashlar Plot: [Control Panel/Printers - Ashlar Plot on COM1 (or the port to which your plotter is attached) - Use Print Manager [Control Panel/Printers/"CONNECT" Button - Transmission Retry set to 600 - Turn on Fast Printing Direct To Port [Control Panel/Printer/"CONNECT"/"SETTINGS" Button - Baud Rate = 9600 - Data Bits = 8 - Parity = None - Stop Bits = 1 - Flow Control = XON/XOFF --Bitmaps-- Keep the scale of Bitmaps at 1:1 to generate good visual imagery. Expanding or shrinking Bitmaps will distort geometry. --Crosshair Points-- Double clicking on the same point with a geometry creation tool (such as the line or circle tool) will create a zero-length object. These zero-length objects are represented by small crosshairs. You can select and delete them if desired. NOTE: These crosshairs will print/plot as single dots. --Detail Views-- a) When exporting to DXF, IGS, etc., only the currently selected view will be exported. If no views are active (the sheet is active), only the sheet and geometry on it will be exported--no geometry in any of the detail views will be exported. If one of the views is selected, only the geometry in it will be exported--none of the geometry in other views or on the sheet will show up. (DXF, IGS, etc., cannot understand "views") b) Text, dimensions and crosshatching will not associate between detail views. They will only appear in the view in which they were created. This is by design, and also very necessary. --Edit Objects for Layers-- To move an object to a different layer, use edit objects. Select the geometry, choose Edit>Edit Objects, and use the Layer pull-down menu to make the change. Then use "apply" to make the change take effect on the geometry. --Ellipses-- Ellipses do not have center points by design. If you draw lines between opposite "vertex" points on the ellipse, then the intersection of the two lines will be the center of the ellipse. For a two-point ellipse (inscribed in a rectangle) the drafting assistant's horizontal and vertical temporary construction lines will cross at the center point once you have touched two vertex points. --Fillet-- The fillet tool puts a tangent arc between any two objects. Smart walls must be "un-grouped" before fillet trimming can occur. --Flatten Views-- Overlapping or identical co-linear lines of the same weight and color will be converted to a single line as a result of the flatten view command. Overlapping identical arcs, circles, ellipses, and splines will not. --Fonts-- Ashlar Plot can accurately plot any Windows stroke font. Other fonts use the plotter's built-in hardware font. --Grid-- Setting Grid preferences will cause a show grid automatically. --Grouping-- The color of a group can be changed. This change has no effect on the included geometry. When the geometry is ungrouped, each piece will become its original color again. --Interrupting a long Operation-- Long operations such as a redraw or linear or polar duplicate can be interrupted by hitting the ESC or BREAK key. If the operation was initiated by a control key command (such as Ctrl-R for redraw) the ESC key is read by MS-Windows and it brings up a task list at the end of the operation. For this reason the BREAK key is the recommended way to interrupt a long operation. --Locked Endpoints on Splines-- "Locked points" on a spline only work for control points other than endpoints. Endpoints will unlock themselves after any changes are made to the spline. --Locked Objects-- To edit a locked object, you will need to unlock it. Select the object, then choose Arrange>Unlock. You are then free to edit the object. --Multiple Sheets-- When importing documents with multiple sheets, all geometry from the imported document is put in the current view (usually the current sheet). --Ordinate Tools-- To use ordinate vertical and horizontal dimension tools, select the beginning reference point at .000 and then click each additional dimension location. To get the origin (.000) dimension, you must first click a different dimension point, then come back and click a second time at the origin. --Parametrics/Resolve-- The Edit>Resolve dialog box will always have five entry boxes, even when fewer or no parameters are defined. If there are more than five entries, the box will have a scroll bar to allow access to the rest. Also, in the Resolve dialog the Enter key moves the cursor through the boxes, so you must choose OK with the mouse. --Polygons-- Use the entry boxes marked "D" and "Sides" at the bottom of your screen to change any polygon when first creating it. After that, it becomes a series of separate line objects. --Preferences/Selection-- If you want your selection to be blinking and Windows is set for 16 (or more) colors, you must change it each time you start Vellum. To do so, choose Layout>Preferences>Selection... and select "blinking" as your choice for indicating selected objects. --Selection Mask-- After it has been closed, the selection mask will be reset by changing or re-selecting any tool or changing sheets. --Smart Walls-- Geometry trimmed to both sides of a smart wall will leave a segment in the wall. --Splines-- You cannot move both endpoints of the same spline at the same time. You must select and move the endpoints individually. --Spline Intersections-- If you create a spline that crosses over itself, the drafting assistant will not be able to find that intersection. This is by design. --Symbols-- If moving symbols onto a smart wall, be sure to grab the symbol's "wall" line endpoint and snap to top or bottom of the smart wall; then the symbol will mask properly. --Width & Height-- You cannot change the Width and Height of a rectangle in Edit Objects. You must edit each line individually, because rectangles become 4 line objects after you deselect the rectangle. --Precision Display-- In a Vellum document, all values (dimension, length, and tolerances) will be displayed based on the current precision settings. For example: the tolerance value .027 will be displayed as follows: Precision Settings Displayed Value .1 .0 .01 .03 .001 .027 .0001 .0270 --Layout>Preferences>Units-- This precision setting will be reflected in all data fields within Vellum (in edit objects, the status line, and all dialog boxes). This precision setting does not affect the display of digits in dimension objects. The precision of dimensions can be set in Dimension>Linear. --Tolerance in 2D Analysis-- For 2D Analysis, the tolerance field is used only during calculations, not for output. Copyright 1993 Ashlar Incorporated.