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ProCAD+

This web page is taken from a small booklet which is designed to get the ProCAD+ demonstration copy up and running and provide some simple step-by-step exercises to build confidence in its use. Once the basic principles have been mastered the manual (supplied with the full version) should be used as the main source of information. Throughout this page and in the main manual the three mouse buttons are referred to as SEL, MENU and ADJ as shown here.

Installation

The ProCAD+ demo kit comes ready to use. Simply open the archive file and drag the CADdemo directory to your hard disc. Double click on the CADdemo directory and you are ready to go.

Starting up

Once installed, simply double-click SEL on the !ProCAD+ icon in the new directory and the program will start up, showing you the version number and your serial number while it loads all its files. When this is complete the icon will appear on the iconbar. If you click MENU over the iconbar icon a menu will appear. The top entry, called Info, will lead you to a dialogue box that also shows the version number and serial number. This information will be requested if you need software support. The last item in the menu is Quit, which is the normal way to terminate a drawing session (though don't do it now). Click SEL on the iconbar icon and a blank drawing page will appear, surrounded by an assortment of buttons and icons.

Your new drawing window should look much like the one above, except there will be no rulers. To turn these on, click MENU over the white drawing area then choose Prompts > Rulers. Either click on 'Rulers' to have centimetres or choose a different setting from the sub-menus. As the mouse pointer is moved over the drawing area the coordinates of the position are shown in the end of the Snap bar. You may be bewildered at first by the number of buttons available but if you pass the pointer over them without clicking on them you will notice that the name of each button appears in the message bar.

Exercises

The remainder of this booklet consists of simple exercises for you to try out. Each exercise demonstrates particular features of ProCAD+, but only covers a small number of possibilities and only one way of doing them. For most jobs there will be many ways of doing it. The only way to find out all the possibilities is to read the full manual. The operations shown here are limited to get you off to a quick start.

1. Zooming, Panning, New Views & Auto-pan

For this exercise an existing drawing will be used so start by closing the blank drawing window opened in the previous section. (Click on its × quit icon, not on the quit icon on the message bar.) Next locate the directory called 'Samples' that was copied from the discs and double click SEL on it to open it, then double click on the file called 'BandStand'. The drawing will be opened at 1:1 scale. You can pan across it in the usual way by dragging the scroll bars. When you have spotted an area you would like to examine in closer detail hold the Shift key down while dragging a rectangle over the area with SEL. When the mouse button is released the view will be scaled so the chosen rectangle fills the screen up to a maximum scale factor of 32 times. You can pan in the same way at this scale. Now hold Shift down again while you do a single SEL click and the scale will go back to 1:1. Shift-SEL again will produce an overview so the whole picture is visible. Now try holding Shift down while you do a single MENU click. This time the zoom menu will appear rather than the main menu. In general, all operations on a drawing window that use Shift imply a zoom or similar operation. When the Zoom menu is visible on the screen, click on the Scale view entry. This will bring up the Zoom dialogue box from which the scale factor may be controlled. Experiment with different factors. For the next stage you will need to set the scale factor to 1:1 and then click on the drawing window's 'toggle' icon at the right-hand end on the title bar so that the drawing fills the screen, but does not cover the toolbox. Next, click MENU over the drawing and go to Misc. > New view > Overview. When you choose this a small window will be opened that shows the whole drawing. This new drawing has the 'input focus' because its title is cream coloured. Now click with SEL somewhere on the previous drawing window so that the input focus returns to that window. Once you have done that, press the Tab key on your keyboard. This will enable auto-pan for this window. Move the pointer over the other window and you will see that the 1:1 view now follows the pointer as it passes over the overview. Tab turns auto-pan on and off, but only in the window that has the input focus. Auto-pan can also be switched through the Zoom menu.

2. Shapes and Snaps

Before starting on this exercise, close any open drawing windows, discarding them rather than saving any changes. This example introduces the tool dialogue boxes and the use of snaps. It also shows how to draw simple shapes and combine them into a symbol. Follow the instructions, step-by-step and you will be surprised how quickly you can make an accurate shape.

1. Click SEL on the iconbar icon to open a new blank drawing.
2. Click ADJ on the Polygon tool icon on the Tool bar, so that the dialogue box opens. Ensure that Cen Vertex is selected and 6 sides show in the writable at the bottom and click OK.
3. Click SEL on the Orthogonal snap on the Snap bar.
4. Move to a position in the middle of the drawing area and click SEL. This is position 1. Now move out to the right and the hexagon will grow. When the shape is large enough click SEL for position 2.
5. Click SEL on the Centre snap and ADJ on the Mid point snap so they are both selected.
6. Click ADJ on the Circle tool icon, so that the dialogue box opens. Ensure that Centre Point is selected and click OK.
7. Move to position 1. You will feel the snap lock on to the position and hear a snap sound. Click SEL to fix the centre of the circle.
8. Move down to position 3 and the circle will grow and snap on to the mid-point of the hexagon edge. Click SEL when it snaps and the inscribed circle will be accurately drawn.
9. Repeat step 8 to draw another circle from position 1 to position 4, but there will be no snap at 4.
10. Click ADJ on the Circular arc tool icon, so that the dialogue box opens. Ensure that Centre 2 Pt is selected and click OK.
11. Click SEL on positions 1, 5 and 6 to draw the arc. Only position 1 will snap. Note that the arc is drawn anti-clockwise, so the order of 5 and 6 is significant.

You have just created the plan view of a nut. Keep this for the next exercise.

3. Groups and Symbols

This exercise takes the separate shapes drawn in exercise 2 and turns them first into a Group and then into a Symbol.

1. First press F5 and all the items will be selected with a dotted box round them.
2. Press F4, noting the message in the Message bar. Ensure Centre snap is on and then click SEL on position 1. This now turns the four pieces of drawing into a single group with a reference point at its centre.
3. Click MENU over the main drawing area and the main menu will appear. Follow Select > Convert > Group to Symbol > Add and click on Add. You have just created your first symbol.
4. Click ADJ on the Symbol tool icon, so that the dialogue box opens and you will see your symbol there. Click SEL in the writable icon headed Current symbol and change the name to Nut Plan and press Return to register the change.
5. Click on the Shape button in the Symbol dialogue and then click on OK.
6. As you move the pointer over the drawing area you will see that your symbol is being dragged and will be placed each time you click SEL.
7. Experiment with different values in the writables of the Symbol dialogue box to rotate and scale your symbol. The scale entries may take negative values, but don't forget to click on OK to register each change.

NOTE: Only one copy of the symbol is actually stored. The others are copies of it, thus saving memory.

4. Colours and Line types.

This exercise needs a fresh page so close any open drawing windows then click SEL on the iconbar icon for a new drawing. We will use a collection of circles and rectangles to demonstrate the use of colours lines styles. When the drawing is first opened Pen 1 will be selected and a continuous line will be shown in the Status bar. For the start of the exercise these should be left as they are.

1. Click ADJ on the Circle tool icon to open the box. Choose Centre Point then click on OK. Draw four or five black circles.
2. Click ADJ on the Rectangle tool icon to open the box. Choose Two vertices then click on OK. Draw four or five black rectangles.
3. At the far left end of the Status bar there is a tool icon that will be showing the Rectangle tool. Click SEL on it. It will now show the Select tool and the last rectangle to be drawn will be selected. (This has a similar effect to clicking on the Select tool on the tool bar.)
4. Now click MENU over Pen 1 in the Status bar and a colour menu will appear. Choose a new colour for your rectangle. When you click on the colour only the selected rectangle changes colour. Click with SEL on another rectangle so that it becomes selected. Note that the colour on the status bar reverts to Pen 1. This means that in Select tool mode the colour entry shows the colour of the selected item.
5. Click SEL on the tool icon (Select) at the left end of the Status bar and notice that it reverts to Rectangle, the last used tool. Click MENU on Pen 1 and choose a new colour. This is now the current colour for drawing with. Draw one or two new rectangles to see that they are drawn in this colour.
6. Now go back to select mode and click SEL on some rectangles to see that their colour is shown in the Status bar. In this case the Status bar is not showing the 'current' colour but the colour of the selected item. The 'current' colour is shown when any tool except Select is active.
7. Before continuing, steps 4 to 6 may be repeated for circles so that the principles are fully understood.
8. Now select one of the coloured rectangles and click SEL successively on the colour icon on the Status bar. The colours will change and the Pen numbers will increase. Similarly, successive ADJ clicks will decrease the numbers. This demonstrates yet another way to change colours. The same mechanism may also be used to change the 'current' colour when another tool is active.
9. For the next stage you will need to have a rectangle or circle selected. Now try clicking successive SEL and ADJ clicks on the continuous line icon to the right of the colour icon and watch the line type change.
10. Click MENU over this icon to see a new menu called Style type. The Line type sub-menu shows the patterns you can use (though it may be as well to ignore the !Draw set for the sake of this exercise). The maximum line width for a thick or parallel line is 36mm.
11. Once you are able to change the line style of existing objects try creating a circle and a rectangle in a new line style. The principles are the same as for colours, with a 'current' style existing for all tools except Select.

Keep your collection of multi-coloured, multi-patterned circles and rectangles for the next exercise.

5. Layers

At its simplest level, the concept of layers can be considered like a filing cabinet; a convenient way of separating and classifying objects in some way. The ProCAD+ layers mechanism offers much more and this exercise demonstrates some of the other advantages of using layers. When a new drawing is created it is given one layer, Layer 0. This layer always exists in all drawings and may not be deleted. Layers are controlled by the Layers dialogue box which is opened by choosing Layers from the main menu, by typing ^L or by clicking MENU on the Layer icon on the Status bar. This box controls the layers of the drawing for which it was opened. Only one Layers box may be open at a time.

1. Open the Layers dialogue box and click on the yellow 'pin' icon so the box does not go away when OK is clicked.
2. Click MENU over the central grey area of the box and with the Create to option, enter 2 in the writable and press Return. You should now have three layers as shown here, except the switches under Sel and Vis will be set as for Layer 0.
3. As with colours and line types there is the concept of a 'current' layer. This is the layer highlighted in the dialogue box. Clicking SEL on the layer's name or number will make it the current layer. The Status bar also behaves as for colours and line types. Make Layer 1 the current layer. Its name will appear in the writable and may be changed. Press return to register the change. The other layers may have their names changed if you wish.
4. Make sure that layer 0 is the current layer and that all the Sel and Vis switches are on and click on OK.
5. Click MENU over the drawing area and choose Select > Clear then Select > Select all > Item type > Line > Rectangle to select all the rectangles, then Select > Move to layer > Layer 1. This will move all the rectangles on to layer 1 (your new name will appear in the menu instead of 'Layer 1').
6. A similar process can be used to move all the circles to layer 2. Don't forget to Select > Clear first, otherwise the circles will be selected as well as the rectangles, which means that they would all be moved to the new layer.
7. Now set the switches in the layer dialogue box to match those shown above and click on OK. All the circles will disappear as layer 2 is no longer visible and you will not be able to select the rectangles by clicking on them or by other means as items on layer 1 are not selectable.

Layers offer a convenient means of hiding certain parts of a drawing as well as a means of protecting items from being accidentally selected. Composite drawings may be made and then viewed by switching on certain layers to show just the required amount of information. All the services for a building could be put on a single drawing but only the ones of interest at the time need be shown.

6. Lines, Breaking and Undo.

This exercise shows how to draw a line, break it into pieces and then remove some of the pieces. Before starting on this exercise, you should close any open drawing windows then click SEL on the iconbar icon to start on a fresh page.

1. Click ADJ on the Line tool icon and the Line dialogue box will open. Ensure all the switches are off (except for Angle which should be greyed out and can be ignored), then click SEL on OK.
2. Now click with SEL on the drawing area in several places and you will see a line being drawn much as it is in !Draw. Double click SEL to end the line.
3. Click SEL on the Select tool towards the bottom of the toolbox. The Line should now be selected with a dotted box round it. If it is not then click SEL on it so that it is.
4. Next click MENU over the main drawing area and choose Select > Break > Repeat. Now you can click SEL at positions along the line to cause it to be broken at those points. Click ADJ to stop this process.
5. Now, with all the pieces still selected, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys together and, at the same time, click on pieces of the line with SEL. Each one that is clicked on will be removed, without altering the rest of the selection.
6. You can now press the F8 'undo' key to reverse the process, one press for each stage, or F9 'redo' to reverse the effect of F8.

The Break mechanism may also be used on curves and arcs. There are other, more sophisticated methods of breaking objects described in the manual, where one object may be used to cut another.

7. Grid, Copying, Text and Enumeration

This next example illustrates several features while creating a diary page. You will need a new drawing page to start.

1. Press F1 to show the grid (centimetres and half centimetres) and click SEL on the Grid snap icon on the Snap bar.
2. Click ADJ on the Rectangle tool icon and ensure Two vertices is selected then click on OK.
3. As you move the pointer the coordinates are shown at the end of the snap bar. Move to 40.00, 80.00mm and click SEL, then move to 100.00, 10.00mm and click SEL again to make a rectangle.
4. Click SEL on the Line tool icon, move to 40.00, 70.00mm and click SEL then to 100.00, 70.00mm and double click SEL.
5. Click on the Select tool so that the last line becomes selected then click MENU over the drawing area and then choose Select > Copy > Repeat single which leads to a writable. In the writable type 0,-10,5 and press Return. This will complete the horizontal ruling in the box. To complete the vertical ruling re-select the line tool and draw a line from 50.00, 80.00mm to 50.00, 10.00mm.
6. Click on the Text tool icon and its dialogue box will open. Type three question marks into the top writable '???', click on Centre and on the Enumerate switch.
7. Click on the menu icon to the right of Enumerate and choose Days, then repeatedly click ADJ on the qty. writable until it shows 7.
8. Click on OK in the Text box then move to 45.00, 75.00mm and click SEL. Move to 45.00, 65.00mm and click SEL again and all the remaining days will be filled in.

The qty. was advanced with ADJ. Holding shift down while clicking ADJ would make it count down. The from writable could have been advanced to Monday or some other day by using ADJ clicks on it.

This little example shows just one way of making multiple copies. ProCAD+ has a special tool for more complicated copying.

8. Multiple copy tool - Circular copy

There are two exercises to illustrate just two ways this tool can be used. There are many others. The tool is always used to copy a selected item, so before each example can be done an item must be created and selected for copying.

1. Start on a fresh page. Click ADJ on the Line tool to open the box and ensure Fixed length and Angle are both ticked. Fixed length should be 10mm. Keep clicking ADJ on the Angle writable until it shows 90°.
2. Click on OK, move to the drawing and click once to draw a 10mm upright line. Click on the Select tool so the line becomes selected.
3. Click MENU on the line style icon in the Status bar so the Style type menu appears and use it to choose a parallel line of width 8mm. (The dotted line in the middle of the parallel line is called an extension line and can, if necessary, be turned off using the Prompts menu.) In the white space to the left of the parallel line in the Status bar, click ADJ. This should cause a line to be drawn across the bottom of the parallel. Next click SEL in the other white space to put an arrow head on the other end. The resultant arrow should look like a little house (shown above).
4. With your arrow still selected, click ADJ on the Multiple copy tool. Choose Circular, set Qty to 16 and click on OK. The first SEL click on the drawing will be the centre of the circle to copy around. The second SEL click will indicate where the first copy is to be placed.

The original arrow is shown on the left with extension lines turned off.

As only Qty was selected the circle was divided into 16, but if Angle and/or Spacing are used then less than the full circle's worth of copies may be generated.

9. Multiple copy tool - Follow item

On some maps a canal is shown as a long wavy line with short marks drawn along one side. This example shows how you can create such a line. Start on a new drawing.

1. Click SEL on the Curve tool then click on four or five points on the drawing to create a curved line to represent the course of the canal. Double click on the last point to end the series.
2. Click ADJ on the line tool as for the previous exercise. Fixed length should be ticked and 2mm entered in its writable. Angle should be ticked and show 90°.
3. Click on OK then place the 2mm upright line somewhere on the drawing with a single SEL click.
4. Click on the Select tool so the line becomes selected then click ADJ on the Multiple copy tool to open its box. Choose Follow item. Spacing should be turned on and set to 2mm. Turn Qty off.
5. Click on OK then click somewhere on the curved line and all the 2mm lines will be drawn along the length of the curve.

If the tick marks were wanted on the other side of the line, the original line should be drawn at 270° instead of 90°.

If Qty had been turned on then only that quantity of ticks would have been drawn, starting from the beginning of the curve.

10. Dimensioning

This exercise demonstrates the use of the Dimension tool.

1. Start on a fresh page. Click ADJ on the Line tool to open the box. Turn on Closed and everything else off (Angle will be greyed and can be ignored). Then click on OK.
2. Press F1 to show the centimetre grid and select the grid snap.
3. Click SEL on positions 1 to 6 with a double click on 6 to end.
4. Click on the Select tool so the shape is selected then click MENU on the line style icon on the Status bar. Go down to the Fillet entry and enter 2mm. This will give the shape rounded corners or fillets. The dotted lines to the corners are extension lines, mentioned in exercise 8.
5. Click ADJ on the Dimension tool and pin the box down.
6. Click on position 1, then 2, then somewhere 5mm to the left of that, and then OK on the small text dialogue box.
7. Repeat the process for positions 2 and 3 and somewhere 5mm above that. ProCAD+ will automatically change from vertical to horizontal dimensioning by deducing the direction.
8. Click MENU over the picture icon headed Type in the Dimension box and choose the third type. Click OK, then click on positions 5 and 6 and then 5mm to the right. This makes the 10mm dimension with the arrows pointing in.
9. The last dimension between positions 3 and 5 would be deduced by the automatic process to be a vertical dimension where a horizontal one is required so click MENU over the picture icon headed Type and choose the fourth type then click MENU over the picture icon headed Direction and choose the second, horizontal type. Turn off Leader 2 and click on OK. Click SEL on positions 5 then 3, then 5mm above 3, to create the last dimension.

This example has been dimensioned quickly and accurately by using the grid but other snaps may be used in other cases.

11. Area Fill

The Area fill tool works in two ways. It either fills an area with ruled lines, trimmed to the shape, or it fills the shape with a tiled pattern of symbols. In either case the shape to be filled must be closed and unambiguous; that is that it should not be crossed by other lines or by itself.

1. On a new page, create two rectangles and two circles as shown above. (See exercise 4 if you can't remember how to do this.)
2. Press F5 to select all four shapes. Click ADJ on the Area fill tool icon to open its box and click on Fill. The ruled lines created not only correctly fill the shapes but also line up, so that if the two rectangles were meant to represent two parts of the same object their shading would match. All areas filled with the same shade pattern line up.
3. Press F8 (undo) until the fill lines are removed but the shapes are still selected, then from the Area fill tool box scroll down and click on Wood grain horizontal. Click on Fill. This time you will see that the lines do not fit as well. This is because the pattern has been applied as a series of tiles.
4. Problem tiles may be removed by selecting the area fill, ungrouping it using Select > Ungroup or by pressing Shift-F4 and then use Select > Break to delete each unwanted bit. Any bits that are deleted by mistake may be restored by pressing F8 (undo).

Not only are there 54 fill patterns in the list but it is possible to alter the spacings and angles to change the appearance of the fills. The Current symbol fill (the last in the list) means that an area may be tile-filled with one of your own symbols.

Where now?

These few simple exercises are intended to give you the confidence to go on and create your own exercises. In the same way as an artist tries experimental sketches, it is worth spending some time reading the full manual and trying out your own examples. You will find that there are usually many ways of achieving the same result; some more satisfactory than others. By experimenting in this way you will soon learn which are the most suitable for your own particular requirements. ProCAD+ offers you all these means to do the job. It is up to you to discover which is the best way for you. So that you may also benefit from the experience of others, pages have been set aside on the author's web site. Here you will find frequently asked questions (FAQ's) as well as Hints and Tips. If you are unable to solve a problem and have read the manual, it is always worth looking at these pages and the news pages on the web site before calling for Technical Support, in case your question has already been answered.

The web site also offers software and symbol libraries that other users wish to share. Once you have become proficient in the use of ProCAD+ you may also wish to contribute to these.