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- **************** CURVES (PARABOLIC CURVES ******************
-
- CURVES ARE DIFFERENT FROM ARCS IN THAT, ARCS ARE A PART OF A
- CIRCLE AND CURVES ARE DRAWN BETWEEN POINTS AS PARABOLA.
- SELECT "CURVES" FROM THE MENU OF THE CONSTRUCTION AREA.
- <end>
- PARABOLIC CURVES ARE DRAWN BETWEEN UP TO 300 POINT ON THE
- SCREEN. DEPENDING ON THE SUBMENU OPTION SELECTED, A
- PARABOLIC CURVE CAN BE AN OPEN OR A CLOSED CURVE.
- LET US FIRST DEMONSTRATE THE OPEN CURVE CONCEPT.
- <end>
- THE OPTION "OPEN" IS THE DEFAULT. LET US ACTIVATE THE CURSOR
- ON THE SCREEN AND ESTABLISH SEVERAL POINTS. NOTICE HOW
- CURVES ARE AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED BETWEEN POINTS.
- <end>
- THE LAST CURVE IS NOT YET DRAWN SINCE ITS CURVATURE DEPENDS
- ON THE LOCATION OF THE NEXT POINT. TO AUTOMATICALLY DRAW
- THE LAST SEGMENT PRESS THE "0" KEY.
- <end>
- THE LAST CURVE SEGMENT BECAME A CONTINUATION OF THE NEXT TO
- THE LAST CURVE SEGMENT.
- <end>
- CURVE SEGMENTS CAN BE ERASED ONE AT A TIME IN THE REVERSE
- ORDER DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CURVE BY PRESSING THE
- "." KEY.
-
- TO DEMONSTRATE THIS LET US DRAW SOME PARABOLIC CURVES.
- <end>
- TO ERASE THE LAST CURVE PRESS THE KEY "." KEY.
- <end>
- PRESSING KEY "." ERASES THE PREVIOUS CURVE SEGMENT.
-
- LET US PRESS "." ONE MORE TIME.
- <end>
- NOW LET US SELECT NEW POINTS TO CONTINUE THE CURVE PERHAPSE
- IN A NEW DIRECTION.
- <end>
- PRESS "0" TO AUTOMATICALLY CREATE THE LAST CURVE SEGMENT.
- <end>
- TO DRAW CLOSED CURVES, THE SUBMENU OPTION "CLOSD" MUST FIRST
- BE SELECTED.
- <end>
- NOW PICK A FEW POINTS ON THE SCREEN TO GENERATE MULIPLE
- CURVES.
- <end>
- NOTICE THAT THE CURVE SEGMENT BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE
- SECOND POINT IS MISSING. THE CURVATURE OF THAT CURVE WILL
- BE AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINED AT THE CLOSURE OF THE CURVE.
-
- LET US CONTINUE.
- <end>
- TO CLOSE THE CURVE PRESS THE "0" KEY.
- <end>
- THE OPTION "UNDO" ERASES THE LAST CURVE.
- <end>
- THE OPTION "FACTR" (FACTOR) DRAWS SMOOTHER OR ROUGHER
- CURVES. LET US SELECT "FACTR".
- <end>
- NOTICE ABOVE THAT THE RANGE OF SMOOTHNESS OF A CURVE IS
- ENTERED AS A NUMBER BETWEEN 1 (ROUGHEST) AND 9 (SMOOTHEST).
- THE DEFAULT IS 9. THIS MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN LARGE TERRAIN
- MAPPING AND SOME VERY LARGE CIVIL ENGINEERING DRAWINGS WHERE
- YOU MAY WISH TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF LINES WITH WHICH EACH
- CURVE IS DRAWN.
- <end>
- ************************ END OF LESSON *********************
- <end>