CONTENTS
                                 HELP CONTENTS

click one of the underlined headings with the left mouse button

          INTRODUCTION

how to use the programme,

getting to know the layout,

speedy ways to answer the dialogue boxes,

          OVERVIEW FAST PLANS

drawing house plans the fast & easy way

changing the default settings

printing

         OVERVIEW EASY LAYOUT

a quick & very easy way to get your floor plan

         OVERVIEW NORMAL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

how to draw and alter lines etc.,

a short tutorial - EXAMPLES

HOW TO....

a quick way to solve your queries


Screen Layout & Hints
                                    INTRODUCTION

     This programme will enable you to quickly & easily produce House Plan Designs

in both metric & feet & inches

Help System

Context Help is available by pressing the F1 key

The Guide Line (directly below the icons) shows what to do after you have selected a function

Dialogue Boxes include help buttons, for advice on input and on the function being used.

How To…is available for some functions. - click HOW TO....

Examples are also available,

Once you start the programme and select new from file on the menu bar, two options are shown :-.

Using Easy Layout - if you select this you go into a sub programme that lets you place some rooms on screen, move them around with the mouse, (the rooms can self align with other rooms or boundaries, or be rotated or resized, click EASY LAYOUT for more details) until you like the layout, input the external wall type, mark the corners, and the plan is drawn for you, complete with your external wall & room sizes, and dimensions - ready to return to the main Fast Plans programme to finish off by adding  doors, windows, library items, alter partitions etc.

Using Fast Plans - if  you know all your house design details, this programme will automate most of the drawing process, click FAST PLANS to view the automated functions available

Technical Programme Details

Both programmes have a maximum drawing size of 30 metres (approx. 100 feet) width, the other measurement depends on your monitor pixel ratio but is normally about 19.5 metres (approx. 63 feet)

Scrolling speed is adjustable.

Initial screen scaling is 25 m.m per pixel in metric, or 1 inch per  pixel - select your own scales for printing.

Metric input is in millimetres only,

Feet and inches input measurements can normally be down to fractions of eighths of an inch.

click one of the following or press >> browse button

                                                     THE SCREEN LAYOUT

                                                     DIALOGUE BOXES

                                                     HINTS & REMINDERS

                                                     HOW TO....


Basic Drawing Technique
                    NORMAL DRAWING TECHNIQUES

     Either Browse with the >> button or click the left mouse button on any underlined coloured text

          ARCS

          CENTREING

          CIRCLES

          COLOUR

          COPY

          DATUM

          ELLIPSE

          ERASE

          GRID

          LINES

          LINESTYLES & WIDTH

          MOVE

          MULTILINES

          PASTE

          RECTANGLES

          ROTATE

          TEXT

          TEXT FONTS

          UNDO

          ZOOM


Lines
                                         LINES & LINE + TEXT

Select Line from Tools on the menu bar, or click the Line icon

Select Line + Text from Tools on the menu bar

     If you select Line + Text, draw as below, then a dialogue box will appear for the text - you have a maximum of 20 letters, numbers & spaces. The text will be place above or below the line, as your selection in the dialogue box.

     There are a number of ways to draw lines, but the main one is as follows :-

     Look in the Guide Line (beneath the icons) to check for the name and width of the current tool - if this is not line, either click the tool menu and select line from the drop down menu, or click  the  line icon (this draws lines of current style & width - see the right side of the guide line for 1 - thin or 2 thick line, also the style).

     To change the line width or style (dotted, dashes etc.,) click LINESTYLE

     Move the cursor to your start point and press Enter.

     Press the Arrow key in the direction to go, screenwise ,and type in the distance, then press enter  (or click the dialogue box OK  button) to clear the box away. If you wish to continue from the new endpoint, just press the Arrow key and continue drawing horizontal & vertical lines.

NOTE    You only need to press enter to mark the start point if the start point is NOT the same as the last endpoint - to start a fresh series of lines re select tool/line.

     You can also draw lines by locating the  starting point, then holding the left mouse button down, and dragging to the endpoint, the line will appear to be dotted until you release the left mouse button, it will then change according to your selected line style & width.

      Lines can also be drawn by pressing Enter on the starting point then moving the cursor to the endpoint and press Enter again.

HINT  Use arrow keys to finetune the position of the cursor, an easy way to get on the exact endpoint of the line..

NOTE    Angle input increases clockwise from top ( 0  degrees) of screen,  45 degrees is towards top right hand corner,  225 degrees is towards bottom left of your screen, etc.,

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MULTILINE

LINESTYLE

COLOUR


                           DRAWING MULTILINES

Select multiline from Tools on the menu bar, or click  the multiline icon

Just select the number of lines required and clear the input box.

    If the first line will be horizontal or vertical, press enter on the first point then  use the arrow  key for the direction of the second point and input the length of the line, but for angled lines, enter the first point and move the cursor to the other end point of the first line and press enter.

    Now move the cursor to the position of the last line required (at approximately the same level, horizontally or vertically - depending on the direction you want the rest of the lines to go, as the first point of the first line), and press enter.

NOTE    The array of lines will only be drawn in a horizontal or a vertical direction from the first line.(depending on the position you select for the last line.


Drawing Arcs & Arches
                                        DRAWING  ARCS

Select Arc from Tools on the menu bar

     The endpoints of the arc must be either inline horizontal or inline vertical (use the cursor location box in the middle of the toolbar to make sure the second endpoint is inline with the first endpoint).

     Move the cursor to one endpoint of the arc, press Enter, then move to the other endpoint and again press Enter, a dialogue box will now appear, input the amount of arc  required -

if your endpoints are horizontal. A minus figure will show an arc below the endpoints but a normal figure will show the arc above

if your endpoints are vertical. A minus figure will show an arc to the right side of the endpoints but a normal figure will show the arc on the left side

NOTE  If no arc appears, you must get the endpoints exactly horizontal or vertical.

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ELLIPSE

CIRCLE

COLOUR

LINESTYLE


                                    DRAWING ELLIPSES

Select Ellipse from Tools on the menu bar

     Move cursor to position of one end of the ellipse then hold down the left mouse button and drag to shape.  The line will appear dotted only until you release the left mouse button.

also try

ELLIPSE

CIRCLE

COLOUR

LINESTYLE


                           DRAWING CIRCLES

Select Circle from Tools on the menu bar

     Press Enter on Centre Point of new circle and enter radius  in millimetres in the dialogue box.

     You can also draw Circles by holding down the left mouse button and dragging to size.

also try

ELLIPSE

COLOUR

LINESTYLE


Drawing Rectangles
      DRAWING RECTANGLES & ROUNDED RECTANGLES

Select Rectangle or RndRect from Tools on the menu bar

RECTANGLES

      Press enter on one corner of the new rectangle, then press the arrow key for one direction of the rectangle, and input the size in the dialogue box,. repeat the process for the other direction.

ROUNDED CORNER RECTANGLES

      For rounded rectangles  input radius of corner rounds then click the OK  button on the dialogue box ( or just press enter to clear the box away) then press enter  on one corner, as though it was an ordinary rectangle, that is, where the sides would meet, if squared off. and as for rectangles above, press arrow key in one direction of the new rectangle, input size, press arrow key for other direction of the rectangle and input that size.

NOTE Normally these two functions are used to help create library files - Remember both functions  only rotate in 90 degree increments.


                                      TEXT

Select Text from Tools on the menu bar

     If you need to change the way text is inserted, just click the correct diamonds in the dialogue box.

     Centred text is normally used to place text in the middle of an area, while Text Right is for normal writing. When using Text Right, press Enter to start a new line below the existing line, and press Enter twice to finish

       To use lines with associated text click LINES

       To change the Text Font click TEXTFONTS

       To change the Start-up Text click CONFIGURE TEXT FONT


                                 TEXT FONTS

Select Font from  Change on the menu bar

     Just make your selections from those available  in the Font dialogue box, also this is where you can change the text size and weight.

     Font Style  is the weight or boldness of the text.

     Point Size is the size of the text - generally between a range of 6 to 12 points are used for plan drawing.

NOTE     Not all fonts are treated the same, some sizes are not universally available, and your printer may not support all text font types.

WARNING     Some font types expand if used vertically or while rotating, test before using - Helsinki is a good font type


                                   COLOURS

Select Colours from Change on the menu bar, or click the Colour icon

      Pick your new colour from the dialogue box. This will affect all objects drawn from this point.


                           LINESTYLE & WIDTH

Select Tool Drawing Style from Tools on the menu bar or click the Tool Drawing Style

 icon.

This brings  up a dialogue boxes where you can change the current style and width. All new work will then be in the style selected.

NOTE  The minimum line width is one, and you would normally only use this and the thicker line width of 2. Dotted and dash lines are always in the minimum thickness

HINT  You can check the current line width, by looking in the right hand top corner, which shows the drawing tool in use, and if applicable the line width.


                                           CENTREING

Select Centre or Centre/Centre from the icons

     Centre is used for finding the centre point of two marks - usually used to position a window on an external wall.  Centre will work on angled lines.

     Centre/Centre finds the centre point of a rectangle - usually used to place text centrally in a box.

     First make sure you are in the tool  you want to use from the centrepoint ( both centre & centre/centre work inside other tools - there is no point in finding the centrepoint if you have then to move the cursor to select the tool you need).

     Secondly click the left mouse button on the first point then on click on the second point, if using centre the cursor will now move to the centrepoint. If using centre/centre you now have to click a third time (third point of a rectangle) before the cursor centres.

     Centre is very useful when drawing windows on the plan view, to place windows in the centre of a room on the external wall, just click the width points of the room and use the correct arrow key to move the cursor into the area between the external wall lines and press Enter.

also try.

DATUM


                                     DATUM

                              For Measuring distances between two points

Select Datum from the icons

     In Fast Plans click the left mouse button on the point to reference,

      For Easy Layout press Enter on the point to reference.

then watch the cursor position box which will give the cursor distance from the reference point. If at any time the cursor position  box shows a minus figure, the datum is definitely on, just re click the datum icon to bring back the real screen cursor position

NOTE    The Datum icon toggles on & off, so you need to click the icon again to return to showing the normal cursor position, unless you change views.

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CENTREING


                   COPY,  PASTE , MOVE or ROTATE

Select from  Edit on the menu bar

     Place the cursor slightly away from one corner of the objects wanted, hold down the left mouse button and drag the dotted box over the group of objects, release the button when  satisfied.

     Move the cursor to a suitable reference point in the dotted box, (this point will be the locating point when the cursor is moved to new objects position so pick a corner or centre point) and click the left mouse button again,  now move to new position, and again click the left mouse button, you can finetune the new position of the group of objects  with the Arrow direction keys, or press the right mouse button to rotate the objects, when correct make sure you press Enter to finish. You can fine rotate (in 5 degree increments) by pressing the + and - keys, but see note below.

NOTE  Objects drawn using the RndRect & Rectangle functions can only be rotated in 90 degree increments.

While you can paste to the plan view, you cannot copy the plan view and paste it elsewhere.

Multiple text lines should be rotated one at a time.

Do not rotate circles about the centre point.


                                                 ZOOM

Select  the zoomup icon

     Using the scrollbars, bring the area to enlarge into the centre of the screen and press the zoom icon. Further enlargement can be made by pressing the zoom icon again.

     To return to normal size, just press the zoomback icon, or if you want the drawing centred on screen at normal size click view/the current plan.


                                                ERASE

Select Erase from  Edit on the menu bar

      Place the cursor just outside the area to erase, press the left mouse button, hold down and drag over the full area to erase.

NOTE  Only erases certain items fully contained within the rectangular area. Other items have their own erasing method

 Windows and internal and external doors will not be erased by this method because when they are delete the walls they were placed in have to be redrawn. You must use DELETE WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS or DELETE INTERNAL DOORS

To erase Rooms use DELETE ROOM

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UNDO


                                      UNDO

Select Undo from the Icon bar

      This function will undo the last action - providing the last action was not to draw a window or door or any item that altered a wall.

NOTE   Windows are deleted by selecting Delete/Windows & External Doors from the menu bar and pressing enter when the cursor is on the windows glazing bar,  for doors press enter on an actual door

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DELETE WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

DELETE INTERNAL DOORS


                                      GRID

Select either the Grid icon or press the Insert key

     Grid is a drawing aid, it consists of spaced dotted lines, the grid is  normally aligned to the left and top external wall of a plan type view and left side and base of an elevation view.

     You  switch the grid off by clicking the Grid icon or pressing the Insert key again.

The grid spacing and colour can be changed - click DEFAULT GRID


Layout Overview
                     EASY LAYOUT  -  OVERVIEW

click BASIC EXAMPLE for a hands on run through most of the following

Easy Layout is a sub programme of Fast Plans to assist in designing your interior room layout and calculate your external walls sizes - it is accessible only through Fast Plans.

For Instant help at any time press the F1 key (or help button if a dialogue box is showing)

Easy Layout Functions :-

AUTODIMENSIONS

DELETE ROOM

EXPAND ROOM

EXTERNAL WALL MARKING - EASY LAYOUT

LAYOUT GRID

LAYOUT VIEW

MAXIMUM ROOM

NEW FILE

NEW ROOM

OPEN EXISTING FILE

PLAN VIEW

ROOM MOVE

ROOM MOVING METHODS

ROTATE ROOM

SAVE AS

SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS

SHRINK ROOM

SIZES & BOUNDARY RECTANGLE

WALLS

Defaults- Customise (changeable drawing options) :-

LAYOUT GRID

MERGE (AUTO ALIGN) DISTANCE

ROOM COLOURS

While in the Easy Layout Programme you can also change the following:-

Colours, Dimension Offsets & text size & position, Text Style (Font) & Scrolling Speed

Easy Layout allows you to nominate sizes & create rooms, move them around - they can be automatically aligned with other rooms or the boundaries of the house, you can alter their size, rotate, and check the size of any vacant area. When ready, Easy Layout will draw your plan view, complete with external walls drawn & show external dimensions - just as Fast Plans does from  external wall lines, you then exit to Fast Plans to add windows, doors, more rooms, etc., and print.

 Remember Fast Plans works by cutting doors into partitions, cutting windows into external walls, altering partitions, putting openings in partitions walls etc., Easy Layout draws room partitions and room details and external walls ready to be finished by Fast Plans.

Easy Layout will automate :-

     up to two different external wall types on the ground floor

     ground, first & second floor plans - providing all the floors have the same external

                                                                                                                         dimensions

     first & second floor external wall types can be different to the ground floor.

     double line room partitions, showing the room dimensions according to the option you

     selected

     external dimensions

As with Fast Plans you can press the F1 key for context help at any time, unless a Dialogue box is showing, in which case use the Help button on the dialogue.

USING EASY LAYOUT

Start up Fast Plans and select the Easy Layout option

Click File/New and input your client name and measurement type.

The programme will automatically start off as a  Layout view (file extension .LYT).

In the  next dialogue box input the internal partition width, and also the number of storeys - leave this at one unless all the floors have the same external dimensions.

The Room dialogue will now appear.

Input your room name and sizes - you can either put wardrobes & cupboards as separate rooms, or allow for them in your main room sizes - all room partitions can be altered later in the Fast Plans programme. You can also use the New Room dialogue to put spaces in the layout, click NEW ROOM for more information.

Nominate a colour type if you want - e.g. for plumbing economics, wet areas are sometimes grouped together, this is easier to see if those rooms are all of the same colour. ( colours do not show on the final plan drawing)

Nominate which room dimensions will show on the PLAN view that goes back to Fast Plans, for convenience all sizes are shown. Note that dimensions are shown near the room name only on this Layout view  - they will appear as normal, later, on PLAN views.

Press Enter and the room will appear in the bottom left corner, move the cursor into the room ,hold down the left mouse button and move the room and let go of the mouse button. IMPORTANT  click ROOM MOVING METHODS for all the different ways to move and align rooms.

To add another room select the New Room icon or Room/New Room from the menu bar

Finish by changing the room layout to a plan view

External Walls

Unlike the main Fast Plans programme, in Easy Layout you mark the inside line of the external walls - clockwise, in most cases this is usually the very corner lines of a room.

External walls can be drawn regardless of how many rooms are on the layout view, providing the rooms are totally contained within the external wall marks

When you are satisfied with you room layout, click the external walls icon

Select your main ground floor external wall width

Now the cursor will be full width.

Move to one corner of your house, always use the arrow keys to finetune the cursor position (if this is corner of a room , ensure the cursor changes style in both directions ), to show you are exactly on the corner, press Enter, then work your way around the house base, distance from the last mark will show in the cursor position box, also the angle from that mark moving the cursor to each corner working CLOCKWISE, accurately, and pressing Enter, you must finish by moving back to your first corner point and pressing Enter.

If you make an error while marking the walls, just click view/layout and then re click the External walls icon

If you have correctly finished back at the start point corner, a dialogue box will appear regarding secondary external walls, and (if you have more than one storey) the external walls for upper storeys, click SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS.

Messages will appear, asking you to check the Plan (the drawing  now has a  .PLN file extension) & dimensions. You should check to see if everything is correct and if it is, exit back to Fast Plans, and add doors, windows etc.,.

If your Plan view is not correct (your marking may not have been accurate enough) just click view/layout then the External Walls icon and re mark the building corners ( the inside line of the external walls) clockwise.

NOTE: Only plans (.PLN file extension) generated in Easy Layout can be finished of in the

            main Fast Plans programme - Room Layouts (.LYT file extension ) are used only in

            Easy Layout

HINT:- The cursor position box shows the horizontal & vertical distance from the last mark,

            also the angle, using the top of the screen as 0 degrees, increasing clockwise ( directly

            left of the last mark will be 90 degrees ) For horizontal or vertical marks, one of the

           cursor distances should be 0 - do not rely just on the angle being at 0, 90, 180 or 270

HINT:- When you need bay windows, put the room in as a normal rectangular room

            (leaving out the bay part) and mark the bay as external wall marks outside the room

            (the cursor position box shows the angle from the previous external wall mark -

            angles are 0 degrees at top of  screen,  increasing clockwise)

also try

BASIC EXAMPLE

WALLS

EXTERNAL WALL MARKING - EASY LAYOUT

SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS


                       ROOM MOVING METHODS

Methods of moving rooms around in Easy Layout

MANUAL MOVING - move cursor to centre of text in room, press down left mouse button,              release when positioned

AUTO ALIGN with ANOTHER ROOM - move cursor into room - anywhere but  over text - press down left button, move to near another room, release button, the room will align with the other room if within the merging distance, see DEFAULT MERGING DISTANCE

AUTO ALIGN with BOUNDARY RECTANGLE - identify the room , pressing down the right button, move the room near to the boundary extents, release the button, the room will align with the boundary rectangle if it is within the merging distance.  For information on boundary rectangles click SIZES & BOUNDARY RECTANGLE and LAYOUT GRID

When you have two or more rooms in a layout, Easy Layout continually updates overall sizes and area (excluding the external wall widths) based on a boundary rectangle (if you have layout grid toggled on, that is the rectangle size) encompassing the outer extents of your rooms - at this stage you have no real house shape to calculate these sizes any other way .

For the following, click the appropriate icon, moving the cursor into the room then click with the left button, then:-

EXPAND or SHRINK ROOM icon  press the arrow key for the direction to alter and input the amount.

ROTATE icon  - just identifying the room causes it to rotate

ROOM MOVE icon -

   either move a set distance :-

 select the room move icon, identify the room by placing the cursor in it and clicking the left mouse button, press the arrow key in the direction you wish

to move, an input box will appear, type in your distance to move and press Enter.

  or finetune the room position :-

 select the room move icon, identify the room by clicking with the right mouse button, and use the arrow keys to move the room.

See also

BASIC EXAMPLE

SIZES & BOUNDARY RECTANGLE


                                 LAYOUT GRID

To change the Layout Grid size or line colour select Customise/Layout Grid from the menu bar

To use the Layout Grid select either the Layout Grid icon ,

                                                               View/Grid from the menu bar

Both methods toggle the grid on/off

The layout grid forms a rectangle of the extents of your rooms ( the boundary rectangle )

in all directions, it changes as rooms affect these extents.

NOTE  Layout grid does not include any new room still in the bottom left corner that has not been moved.


                     DEFAULT MERGING DISTANCE

Select Customise/Merge from the menu bar

Alter the maximum distance that a room can be from another room, in order for it to align, at the partition spacing, with that room , this distance also governs  aligning  with the boundary rectangle when the right button is used to move the room


                      DEFAULT ROOM COLOURS

Select Customise/Room Colours from the menu bar

Pick room colours from the dialogue box, the room to be changed shows below the box on  the text line, sequencing through the three types - starting with  Wet Area , then to  Bedroom  then  Other .  The current colour is highlighted with a small rectangle - just press enter for any type that  you do not want to change.

HINT Light colours may be better when marking the room corners accurately for the external walls


                     MAXIMUM ROOM SIZE LEFT

Select the Max Room icon or Rooms/Maxroom from the menu bar

Click the left mouse button in the vacant area, to find the maximum room size that can fit in that vacant area, you must click within the boundary rectangle (see below) formed by the furthest room extents.

The resulting sizes  will appear in the Room Dialogue box, these can be decreased to suit your need, and a new room shown in the left bottom corner if you press Enter or click the Dialogue OK button

BOUNDARY RECTANGLE is a rectangle formed from the outer limits of your rooms, it constantly changes as rooms are added, it is a rectangle as no external walls have yet been defined - also see LAYOUT GRID

HINT This function is useful for information on vacant space in the boundary rectangle, make a note of the sizes the Dialogue box shows, then just click the Cancel button.

See also

NEW ROOM DIALOGUE


                               ROTATE ROOM

Select the Rotate icon or select Room/Rotate from the menu bar

Move the cursor into the room to rotate, then click the left mouse button to identify the room to rotate.


Room Moving by Keyboard
                  ROOM MOVING by the  KEYBOARD

Select Room Move icon or Rooms/Room Move from the menu bar

For measured room movement, identify the room by placing the cursor in it and clicking the left mouse button, press the arrow key in the direction you wish

to move, an input box will appear, type in your distance to move and press Enter.

For fine-tuning the room position, identify the room by clicking with the right mouse button, and use the arrow keys to move the room step by step.


Expand / Shrink Room
                 EXPAND or SHRINK ROOM SIZES

Select the Expand Room or Shrink Room icon or Room/Expand or Room/Shrink from the menu bar,

Identify the room by moving the cursor into it and pressing the left mouse button, then press the arrow key of the direction of the side you wish to alter and input the size that you want to change it by.


External Walls - Marking
          EXTERNAL WALLS - MARKING  Easy Layout

Select the External Walls icon

WALLS DIALOGUE BOXES

Select from the list, if you select custom wall, another dialogue will appear

input the total number of lines required - solid wall will be 2, cavity walls will be 4 lines

press the tab key and input the total width of the external wall

you only need to complete the rest if you  selected more than two lines above,

input the distance of the outer skin (from the outside line of the external wall to the next line inwards)

lastly input the cavity width (distance from the second to third line)

Feet & inch users can input fractions of an inch down to eighths.

External Walls

External walls can be drawn regardless of how many rooms are on the layout view, providing the rooms are totally contained within the external wall marks

Unlike the main Fast Plans programme, in Easy Layout you mark the inside line of the external walls, in most cases this is usually the very corner lines of a room.

When you are satisfied with your room layout, click the External Walls icon

Select your main ground floor external wall width (if you will be having multi external walls on the ground floor, select the widest wall width as the main external wall).click WALLS

Now the cursor will be full width

Move to one corner of your house, always use the arrow keys to finetune the cursor position (if this is corner of a room , ensure the cursor changes style in both directions ), to show you are exactly on the corner, press Enter, then work your way around the house base, the distance from the last mark will show in the cursor position box, also the angle from that mark moving the cursor to each corner working CLOCKWISE, accurately, and pressing Enter, you must finish by moving back to your first corner point and pressing Enter.

If you make an error while marking the walls, just click view/layout and then re click the External walls icon

If you have correctly finished back at the start point corner, a dialogue box will appear regarding secondary external walls, and (if you earlier entered more than one for the number of storeys) the external walls for upper storeys, click .SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS

Messages will appear, asking you to check the Plan (the drawing  now has a  .PLN file extension) & dimensions. You should check to see if everything is correct and if it is, exit back to Fast Plans, and add doors, windows etc.,.

If your Plan view is not correct (your marking may not have been accurate enough) just click view/layout then the External Walls icon and re mark the building corners ( the inside line of the external walls) clockwise.

NOTE: Only plans (.PLN file extension) generated in Easy Layout can be finished of in the

            main Fast Plans programme - Room Layouts (.LYT file extension ) are used only in

            Easy Layout

HINT:- The cursor position box shows the horizontal & vertical distance from the last mark,

            also the angle, using the top of the screen as 0 degrees, increasing clockwise ( directly

            left of the last mark will be 90 degrees ) For horizontal or vertical marks, one of the

           cursor distances should be 0 - do not rely just on the angle being at 0, 90, 180 or 270

HINTS:-

 When you need bay windows, put the room in as a normal rectangular room(leaving out the bay ) and mark the bay part as external wall marks outside the room  (the cursor position box shows the angle from the previous external wall mark - angles are 0 degrees at top of  screen,  increasing clockwise)

You can mark the walls on or outside rooms (you could show one room 3m x 3m (10 x 10) and still mark out an L shaped house, say 20m x 15m (67 x 50 if you really wanted to!), always going clockwise, you must have at least one room showing before marking the external walls, you could add more rooms in the main Fast Plans programme as required - providing your external wall marks make the house large enough for them to fit in.

To be sure of returning to the start point, start on a room corner.

If you are using multi external walls, say a secondary external wall for a garage, if you show the garage as a room, do not allow for the main to secondary wall difference, the programme will alter the garage size to suit.

NOTE:- The programme allows for up to 6 wall faces per side - 24 wall faces maximum

TROUBLESHOOTING External Wall Marking

To draw horizontal or vertical external wall lines, one figure in the cursor position box MUST be a 0.

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish by pressing enter on the original start mark ( showing 0 h 0 v on the guide line ) - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls

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SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS

BASIC EXAMPLE


                   SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS

This dialogue box appears after you have marked all the external wall corners back to the starting point.

Select from the four options.

Follow any messages that appear after closing the box.

If you have selected either of the options involving multiple external wall types on the ground floor, (where perhaps the main external wall is to be brick veneer, but a built in garage will have 110. mm single brick secondary external wall), first press Enter on the position where a wall changes from the main wall size to the secondary size, then press Enter anywhere on the part that will be the secondary wall (to identify which side of the first mark the secondary wall will be). If the entire wall is of a secondary type, first press Enter on either corner, then press Enter on any part of the line.

If you select a different external wall type for upper floors, just follow the series of messages & boxes

When the group of dialogue boxes are finished, the ground floor plan view of the building will appear, centred on screen with the full external walls drawn.

You can then view the other floors - if you selected more than one storey earlier in the Partitions & Storeys box, you can also now add the external dimensions to each plan view, these have already been generated and can be added to each floor individually by showing the floor view and clicking on AutoPlan/Auto Dimensions.

NOTES:-

Angled walls can be changed to secondary external wall types - but only the full wall NOT parts of the angled wall.

When printing the drawings, you have the option leaving off the external dimensions - even if they are showing on screen

EASY LAYOUT ONLY

If you are using multiple external walls, say a secondary external wall for a garage, if you show the garage as a room, do not allow for the main to secondary wall difference, the programme will alter the garage size to suit.

.

Also try

BASIC EXAMPLE


                           DELETING A ROOM

Select the Delete Room icon or Room/Delete from the menu bar

Identify the room to delete with the left mouse button.


                         STARTING A NEW FILE

Select File/New from the menu bar

Enter up to 24 letters for the client or drawing name

Indicate the type of measurements you require


Opening EXISTING File
               OPENING AN EXISTING LAYOUT FILE

Select File/Open from the menu bar

Select from the available files - note these will all have an .LYT - to view an old Plan file formed from a layout file open the appropriate .LYT file and click view/plan on the menu bar


                               LAYOUT VIEW

Select View/Layout from the menu bar

This is the standard layout file (.LYT) where you add rooms and move them around to form the basis of your floor plan. When you are satisfied with the room layout, click the External Walls icon, to start the process of making a Plan file (.PLN) ready to finish all drawings in the Fast Plans programme.

See also

PLAN VIEW

EXTERNAL WALLS


                                  PLAN VIEW

Select View/Plan from the menu bar

This is the Plan file (.PLN) that is made after marking the external walls on your layout room file (.LYT).

You should check to see if everything is correct. You will probably want to add the external dimensions to check the sizes, just click AutoPlan/AutoDimensions and they will appear.

If your Plan view is not correct (your marking may not have been accurate enough) just click view/layout then the External Walls icon and re mark.

See also

LAYOUT VIEW

EXTERNAL WALLS


     LAYOUT DIMENSIONS & BOUNDARY RECTANGLE

Providing you have at least two rooms created AND moved on the screen, whenever you click on a room, the overall dimensions based on  a bounding rectangle will show on the top Guide Bar  - the Layout grid is based on the boundary rectangle (if you want to see this rectangle, toggle on the layout grid).

When you have two or more rooms in a layout, Easy Layout continually updates overall sizes and area based on a boundary rectangle encompassing the outer extents of your rooms placement - at this stage you have no real house shape to calculate these sizes any other way.

These dimensions, show the inside dimensions, and also the square area inside the external walls, of a house if it was the size & shape of  the boundary rectangle.

See also

LAYOUT GRID


                         NEW ROOM DIALOGUE

Select the New Room icon or click Room/New Room from the menu bar

The first input is for the room name, if you just want a room as a spacer, type space

here, this will show on the room layout, but when you get the Plan view, it will just be a vacant area - useful for passageways and for keeping rooms always a specific distance apart.

The next two input boxes are the dimensions of the room, in millimetres, if possible, incorporate the sizes of any wardrobes or cupboards in these sizes, as it saves continually moving them when moving the room, when you get back to the main programme, Fast Plans,

you can draw or alter any partitions and add the doors.

The next part is for selecting Room Colour, if wanted. Nominate a colour type if you want - e.g. for plumbing economics, wet areas are sometimes grouped together, this is easier to see if those rooms are all of the same colour.

The two checkbox at the bottom are for which room dimensions will show on the PLAN view that goes back to Fast Plans, for convenience all sizes are shown on the layout view. Note that dimensions are shown near the room name only on this Layout view  - they will appear as normal, later, on PLAN views.

Press Enter and the room will appear in the bottom left corner, move the cursor into the room,

click ROOM MOVING METHODS  for all the various ways of moving and auto aligning your room


                                       EXAMPLES

Using Fast Plans + Easy Layout

           BASIC EXAMPLE

Using Fast Plans Direct

           EXAMPLE


Basic Example - Easy Layout
                  BASIC EXAMPLE 1 - EASY LAYOUT

A basic example of most of the techniques & functions available

 To print out this example - click File/Print Topic

HINTS.  This programme uses Windows dialogue boxes to get your drawing instructions,

*You can  type input directly to the first input part of a dialogue box - it will be highlighted in blue

*Use the tab key to move the cursor down a series of inputs

*You can also move the mouse cursor to the input you want to change and click the left  button

*If the warning bell rings, check your input number - it may be too large.

*To finish, if the button you want to use has a dark surround - just press the enter key

*Click means using the left mouse button

*Take the time to read the dialogue boxes - most of them contain alternatives that we may not use in  this simple example.

*Normally the Enter key is used where accurate positioning is required, the left mouse button is only used where some movement or mouse wobble is allowable.

If your NUMLOCK is off, number input will be with the MAIN keyboard only, but the  num pad can be used for the arrow keys & fine tuning the cursor.

BASIC EXAMPLE 1 - EASY LAYOUT

*** If at any stage you go wrong***

just click File/New and start again using the same drawing name to overwrite your previous work.

Start the Fast Plans programme and select file/new, then select the Easy Layout option form the box that appears, the screen will switch to Easy Layout, select file/new,  Input test as the drawing name and select your preferred measuring system. Close that and another dialogue will then appear, with details of partition wall widths & the number of storeys with the same external dimensions, just close this for now.

    ADDING ROOMS Now the  New Room dialogue for your measuring system will appear,

for room name input main bed

press the tab key and input the following :-

if using the metric system - input 4000, then press tab and input 3600

otherwise input 13(feet) then press tab and input 2(inches), press tab twice to bypass the

fractions of an inch and input 11 (feet), press tab and input 8 (inches)

now click (with the left button) on Bedroom, in the Show Room in Colour section and click

your own selection regarding showing the room dimensions, and the press Enter or click the

OK button.

     The room will appear in the bottom left corner. Move the cursor into the room - not on the room name - and press down the left button and drag the room  to somewhere near the screen centre and left go of the button.

    Select rooms/new room, or click the new room icon, create another room (call it room 2 but use the same sizes as main bed) and drag, with the left button again, to the right side of the first room, place it roughly inline with the top of main bed and close to it and let go of the button, if it is within the merging distance it will join the original room with only the space of a partition between them, if not, select it with the left button down and drag closer to the original. This is called room aligning and is done by selecting anywhere in the room except near the room name, with the left button and dragging - if you select on the room name (manual dragging), you can drag the room but it will not align, even if within the merging distance.

     MARKING EXTERNAL WALLS For this basic example, now click the external walls icon and choose your main external wall type. Move the cursor up to the top left corner of main bed, use the arrow keys to position the cursor EXACTLY on the corner (the cursor will change where it covers the room walls) and press Enter. Now move the cursor to the right side of room 2, finetune with the arrow keys until it is exactly over the top right corner (check the cursor position box, if the line is horizontal to your first mark the H figure will show a zero) and press Enter. Continue clockwise Entering the other two room corners, then return to your original start point, the top left of main bed ( the figures on the guide line should now show as 0 h 0 v) and press Enter (that tells the programme you have completed all the walls). A dialogue box will then appear concerning multi external walls and upper floors, just close it as is for this example. EXTERNAL WALL MARKING - EASY LAYOUT

     FINISHING After some messages , the plan view will appear, notice the colours have gone but the room dimensions are now as you specified in each new room dialogue box, if you want to add the external dimensions click AutoPlan/Auto Dimensions, you could also at this stage go back to Fast Plans (click file/exit to fast plans, or click the return to fast plans icon) to add windows, doors, more rooms, library items etc., and print out the plan, but for now click view/layout to return to the rooms layout so we can change it.

     USING THE ROOM FUNCTIONS Most room functions work the same way, click the icon, and then click the room for that icons action to take place.

      Toggle on the grid by clicking the layout grid icon. Now move room 2 about  3 metres (10) downwards and 3 metres (10) to the right, the grid expands to form a rectangle of the perimeter of the rooms (the boundary rectangle). Create a new room (room 3, 2400 x 2400 (8 x 8), when it appears in the bottom left corner, move the cursor into it but hold down the right button, and drag into the vacant area of the bottom left corner of the grid, let go when it is inside but one edge is fairly close to the boundary side and it will align to the boundary (boundary align with the right button, room align with the left button)

    If you want to know the size available for a room between room2 & room3, select rooms/max room size or click the Max Room Size icon, then click somewhere between the two rooms and a dialogue box (just like the new room box) will appear showing the maximum room size available, taking into account the partition thickness, if you want that or a smaller room, change the dialogue around and accept, or if for information only, cancel the box.

     ABOUT MARKING THE EXTERNAL WALLS

You can mark the walls on or outside rooms (you could show one room 3m x 3m (10 x 10) and still mark out an L shaped house, say 20m x 15m (67 x 50 if you really wanted to!), always going clockwise, you must have at least one room showing before marking the external walls, you could add more rooms in the main Fast Plans programme as required - providing your external wall marks make the house large enough for them to fit in.

To be sure of returning to the start point, start on a room corner.

If you need a bay window, do not allow the size of the bay in the room size - just mark the bay when you mark the external walls, the programme will allow for the bay area. Angles are based on 0 degrees at the top increasing clockwise, and show in the cursor position box, as the angle from the last mark.

If you are using multi external walls, say a secondary external wall for a garage, if you show the garage as a room, do not allow for the main to secondary wall difference, the programme will alter the garage size to suit.

The programme allows for up to 6 wall faces per side - 24 wall faces maximum

TROUBLESHOOTING External Wall Marking

To draw horizontal or vertical external wall lines, one figure in the cursor position box MUST be a 0.

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish by pressing enter on the original start mark ( showing 0 h 0 v on the guide line ) - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls


Example 1 - Fast Plans
                    EXAMPLE 1 - FAST PLANS - DIRECT DRAW

A really basic example of most of the techniques & some of the functions available

  To print out this example - click File/Print Topic

HINTS.  This programme uses Windows dialogue boxes to get your drawing instructions,

*You can  type input directly to the first input part of a dialogue box - it will be highlighted in blue

*Use the tab key to move the cursor down a series of inputs

*You can also move the mouse cursor to the input you want to change and click the left  button

*If the warning bell rings, check your input number - it may be too large.

*To finish, if the button you want to use has a dark surround - just press the enter key

*Click means using the left mouse button

*Take the time to read the dialogue boxes - most of them contain alternatives that we may not use in  this simple example.

*Normally the Enter key is used where accurate positioning is required, the left mouse button is only used where some movement or mouse wobble is allowable.

If your NUMLOCK is off, number input will be with the MAIN keyboard only, but the  num pad can be used for the arrow keys & fine tuning the cursor.

BASIC EXAMPLE - FAST PLANS - DIRECT

*** If at any stage you go wrong***

just click File/New and start again using the same drawing name to overwrite your previous work.

     Start the Fast Plans programme and select file/new, then select the Fast Plans option form the box that appears, Input test as the drawing name and select your preferred measuring system. Close that and another dialogue will then appear, with details of partition wall widths & the number of storeys with the same external dimensions, just close this for now.

There are now 2 different methods to draw the outline

1/  If all your external walls are at 90 degrees (square) to each other - normal - you can use keyboard input and the arrow keys for wall direction, this is much faster than method 2

2/  If you require any angled external walls ( say for a bay window etc., )

In the WALLS dialogue box input your main ground floor wall.    If you have angled walls - method 2 only - click on  the check box, and press Enter to clear the box

***METHOD 1 -  WALLS SQUARE***

The cursor will appear near the top left of the drawing area, press Enter to mark the start of the first line.( the drawing will be automatically centred, later)

Mark the walls in a CLOCKWISE direction as follows :-

Press the arrow key of the direction you want the first wall to go {if you left the cursor in the top left corner, to keep a CLOCKWISE direction you will probably use the right arrow key, input the distance if using  metric input 14000 or in feet & inches use 45 0 and press Enter to clear the input box

Press the down arrow and input 8000 or 26 3, and press Enter

Press the left arrow and input 14000 or 45 0, and press Enter

Press the up arrow and input 8000 or 26 3, and press Enter

TROUBLESHOOTING External Wall Marking - Walls Square

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

***End of method 1.*** now go down to  ***Finish The Drawing***

***METHOD 2 - WALLS ANGLED***

The full line cursor will appear near the top left of the drawing area, press Enter to mark the start of the first line.( the drawing will be automatically centred, later)

Mark the walls in a CLOCKWISE direction as follows :-

Move the cursor to the right until the cursor position box shows about 14000 h  0 v  metric or 45 9 h  0 v using ft/inches, take your hand off the mouse, so there is no accidental movement, and use the arrow keys to fine tune the cursor position until it is exactly on 14000 h  0 v metric, or 45 0 h  0 v if ft/inches,  and press Enter.

Now move the cursor downwards to 0 h  - 8000 v  metric or 0 h  - 26 3 v if ft/inches, showing in the cursor position box and press Enter

Move the cursor left and press Enter when the cursor position box shows - 14000 h  0 v metric, or - 45 9 h  0 v, if ft/inches.

On the guide line ( below the icons) you will see 0 h - 8000 v, metric, or 0 h - 26 3, ft/inches - this is the distance back to the original starting point - so move the cursor upwards until the guide line shows 0 h  0 v and press the Enter key

Because in the Demo you are limited to six external walls, we did not draw and angled walls, but this is the method to use for them.

TROUBLESHOOTING External Wall Marking

To draw horizontal or vertical external wall lines, one figure in the cursor position box MUST be a 0.

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish by pressing enter on the original start mark ( showing 0 h 0 v on the guide line ) - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls

***End of Method 2***

***Finish The Drawing***

You should now have a rectangle house layout showing you selected external wall type, centred on screen.

Thats the real basics over

Run your cursor slowly along the icons at the top of the screen - and look at the guide line

     ROOMS -  Click on the Room icon - check the  hint line again, it gives hints on using functions

     Put the cursor near the top left of the plan drawing (keep it inside the house! )  and click it

Room dialogue box appears - type bed 1 then press tab to go down to the next input box, ignore the

figure showing, just type 3600 then tab again and input 3600 and click the OK button - or press Enter

and the room appears, press the F1 button, this gives context help, for other help use the help icon.

exit from the help screen by selecting Exit from File on the help screen menu bar.

     Draw another room by placing the cursor just to the right of bed 1 right side wall and clicking the left button. Input bathroom, tab down and input 3300, tab down, input 3000, press Enter.

     Now draw another room next to the bathroom (move cursor to just to the right of the right/top of the

bathroom  and click the left button ) - call this room bed 2, tab down and input 3000, tab down and

input 3300, then clear the box.

NOTE The figures shown each time the Room dialogue box appears are the maximum distances

available in both directions, the function takes into account all partitions at the Partition width

nominated in the Wall dialogue box.

      WARDROBES & CUPBOARDS   - Put a cupboard in the bathroom right hand corner.

     Select the Partition icon, then select the Datum icon, move the cursor to the junction of the bottom bathroom wall and the left side partition of bed 2, and click the left mouse button - this is the datum point to measure from, now move the cursor to the left until the first figure in the cursor position box (in the middle of the icon toolbar), shows the closest figure to -2000 (probably it will be around -2010, this is because of scaling & screen resolution factors) and press Enter, press the  up arrow key,

input 600, press Enter to clear, now  press the right arrow key and accept the figure shown ( this is the distance to nearest wall in arrow direction ) by pressing Enter. Re click the Datum icon to toggle back to show the normal cursor position

    We will add cupboard (miscellaneous) doors in the next section.

NOTE Normally you use the mouse to shift  doors, windows, baths etc., roughly into position,

then use the arrow keys to fine tune the cursor position and finally (because it gives more accurate positioning than a mouse click) use the Enter key to lock the item in place - so if a bath chases your cursor around, it is because you did not press Enter to lock it in position!

      INTERNAL DOORS -  Click on the Internal Door icon (check the hint line at the bottom of the screen ).

     Doors are always cut in to existing walls.

     From  the selection of doors, select the third diamond on the top line, leave the door width as it is, and clear the dialogue box.

     Move the cursor (this now represents the hinge position - check the guideline) onto the bottom partition of bed 1 and press Enter The partition is cut out and your door appears.

     Now select the Miscellaneous Doors icon, input a width (say 1200 ) select from the number of doors & either sliding or hanging type, leave the selected button opening to top of screen,  then position on the cupboard partition in the bathroom and press Enter.  Put a door on the bathroom then

we will put a bath in.

      PLUMBING LIBRARY -  From Libraries on the menu bar select  Plumbing Library, and

highlight a line of text by  clicking on it once - the selection will now appear in the top corner of the drawing screen - if this is the bath type you want press enter to accept it, move the cursor on to the bath and click on some point of reference ( a corner , the drain, centre of the bath, etc.,) -  move the cursor into the bathroom and click again,  and the bath will appear there - for more accuracy select the Zoom icon.  Bring the cursor to just above the bathroom top left corner, press and hold the left button down and  drag diagonally  to the bathroom bottom right corner and release the button  ( clicking  the Zoomback icon  brings you

back to normal size ).- if you need to rotate the bath just click the Right Button then input your rotation in degrees and  position the bath with the arrow keys and when correct press Enter to  lock the bath in position If you locked the bath in the top corner of the screen by error, you can either use the Edit/Move function or click the Undo last line icon until the bath disappears completely and start the bathroom library again..

      WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

      Windows are drawn by marking the centre position of the window on the plan view, it will be drawn automatically on both the plan and correct elevation, to make life easier the cursor appears showing the length of the window (so that the same cursor can be used on any horizontal or vertical plan view external wall, it shows the length of the window in both directions).

      Click on the Window & External Door icon and from the dialogue select a window type & size and clear the box.

      Move the cursor until the cross of the cursor  is somewhere between the external wall inner & outer lines, above the bed 1 room, position the centre of the window (the width of your window show as the cursor endpoints)  If you want you can use the arrow keys to fine tune the cursor position and press Enter. Now press Enter again to clear the Do you want another Window? message box .

AUTO DIMENSIONS  -  Select AutoPlan/AutoDimensions on the menu bar  to show the external measurements.

you can customise the Auto Dimensions (also Door Angles, Text, etc.,) offsets to suit your style.,

PRINT  -  To print out select File/Print, the dialogue will show your named drawing with a .PLN file extension, select it and clear the dialogue box, then press F1 for help on Landscape/Portrait etc.,)

select the groups from which you want to print, then on the individual views select the number of

copies and the scale to print out at. Do not select Electrical, as you have no Electrical drawing on this basic example.

EXIT -  Click File/Exit to come out of the programme.

The programme allows for up to 6 wall faces per side - 24 wall faces maximum

.


                       FAST PLANS - OVERVIEW

for a short tutorial - EXAMPLES

Starting

     Select NEW from the File menu,

     Select drawing with Fast Plans and clear the dialogue box,  This option is only useful if you already know the outer dimensions and layout of the design to draw, otherwise click EASY LAYOUT OVERVIEW for details of the other option - Easy Layout

     Enter just your client drawing name (you can use up to 24 letters - do not add any  file extension),  and select your measuring system, clear with either Enter or click OK with left mouse button,  a dialogue box will appear asking for number of floors, partition width and then another box for the main external wall type and width.

Then you draw the base outline, click BASE OUTLINE for more details

Select from  the secondary & upper level walls dialogue box that follows. You will then have the ground floor  plan view centred with all external walls showing. Normally at this stage you would fill in the ROOMS  followed by the WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS both of which are  automated drawing functions.    There are plenty of automated functions - most functions allow individual options especially on  text placement & size

click EASY LAYOUT OVERVIEW for another  very easy method of laying out the rooms and drawing the basic plan.

     We have split the functions into three parts

1.	Fast Plans functions

2.	Changing the Default Settings, or Customising the Programme.

 Either Browse with the >> button or click the left mouse button on any underlined coloured text

FAST PLANS FUNCTIONS :-

AUTODIMENSIONS draws all external dimensions automatically

BASE OUTLINE draw the external walls

FILE OPEN

FILE NEW

INTERNAL DOORS cuts a partition wall and draws a single door

INTERNAL STAIRS/STAIRWELLS

MISCELLANEOUS DOORS cuts partition & draws French or 2/4 sliding doors

ROOMS draws a complete room - including name & dimensions (many options)

PARTITIONS & OPENINGS draws double line partition - any angle & continuous

PLAN VIEW

SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS for secondary external walls & upper level external types

SAVE AS  save a copy of  the current named files to a new client name

WALLS  draws external walls up to five lines at any wall thickness - any angle

WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS alters external wall and draws window

DELETE INTERNAL DOORS deletes door and repairs partition

DELETE PARTITIONS & OPENINGS delete a partition or delete an opening in a partition

DELETE ROOM DETAILS delete room information

DELETE WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS deletes window and repairs wall

NOTE   All door types & windows can be drawn on angled walls

CUSTOMISING - CHANGING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS :-

DEFAULT COLOURS

DEFAULT DIMENSIONS   set the dimension text & offsets

DEFAULT DOORS  set the door open angle & door thickness

DEFAULT GRID

DEFAULT STAIR DETAILS   set storey heights, riser & tread sizes

DEFAULT TEXTFONT

OTHER DRAWINGS & PRINTING :-

ELECTRICAL PLANS   draws a separate electrical plan for each floor

PRINTING  includes options on print density & leaving off external dimensions

GENERAL NOTES

 Co-ordinates increase from the bottom left corner

 Angles are based on zero degrees at top of screen increasing in a clockwise.direction. Angles and cursor positions co-ordinates for external walls and internal partitions are based on the endpoint of the last mark (every new endpoint becomes a new datum point).

 Maximum Drawing Sizes -   the maximum horizontal drawing size is either 104 feet   or  30000 m.m  the amount of scrolling depends on your monitor width and resolution used, the vertical maximum drawing size is dependant on your screen aspect ratio ( to keep a square looking square), but would normally be about  61 feet or 17500 m.m.


                                   NEW FILE

Select New from File on the menu bar

Type in the name for the drawing, you can use a maximum of twenty four letters - but do NOT add any file extension (.DOC,  .PLN etc., ) to the name

HINT     As with any dialogue box which needs typed input, the cursor is prepositioned at the first place to start typing - (though you lose this advantage if you click elsewhere before typing)

.


File Open
                                             OPEN FILE

Select Open from File on the menu bar

     Select from the dialogue box file list, which will show a file extension of  .PLN, the selected file will always show the ground floor view of that filename first - to view the other drawings of that filename (if there are any) file click View  on the menu bar and select your view.


Save As
                                   SAVE AS…

Select Save As from File on the menu bar

Fast Plans generates a group of files for each client name

Save As…   Accessed from Fast Plans

This function will save a copy of  the current named group of files to a new client name, while retaining and staying with the original group.  To access the newly named files use File/Open.

NOTE: If the original work was carried out in Easy Layout, the room layout drawing of type .LYT (the rooms without any external walls) can only be changed in that programme. ALL other files are changed in the main Fast Plans programme

Save As…   Accessed from Easy Layout

You must be in a layout view, to use this function in Easy Layout, which will then save that drawing only (.LYT) to a new client name - once you place external walls around the new layout file, all files generated will have the new name.

After using the save as function, you then have independent file groups to work with.

NOTE: If your new name is already in use, the earlier one will be replaced,

HINT  Useful if you have one basic design but need possible variations, for someone to choose from.

You should also read HARD DRIVE MANAGEMENT in HINTS & REMINDERS


                                 SELECT DRAWING TYPE

Select New from File on the menu bar      This is the first dialogue box to appear

      You have a choice of  :-

Drawing House Plans using Easy Layout then Fast Plans

Easy Layout is a sub programme of Fast Plans, with its own icons, functions & screen layout .

Move some rooms around to work out your layout and outer dimensions, Easy Layout draws your plan complete with outside dimensions, and  switches back to Fast Plans to add doors, windows, more partitions, library items etc., and other final touches. If you select this option, the screen will change over automatically to Easy Layout.

Drawing House Plans using Fast Plans

 this is the main drawing programme, use it when you know the outside dimensions of the house.


                        PARTITION & STOREY DIALOGUE

Select New from File on the menu bar      This dialogue box appears after New Drawing box

   Input the width of the standard internal partition - this width will be used to draw double line partitions in the room function, as well as any other partitions you draw. Click ROOMS

   Number of Storeys (maximum of 3 storeys) should only be altered if all storeys have the same OUTER dimensions - the external wall types can vary, floor to floor, but for the programme to draw up to 3 storeys automatically, the outer dimensions overall the external walls must be constant. You select the external wall types for upper floors in a  dialogue box,  that appears later, only if the Number of Storeys is greater than one.


                                               WALLS

Select New from File on the menu bar

When this dialogue box appears after the  Partition Width box :-

     Select your MAIN external wall type for the ground floor from the list. If your choice is Customise another box will appear - just input details of the wall & number of lines you want drawn.

     Only click the checkbox if you will be drawing any angled external walls. If the checkbox is left unchecked, you can use the keyboard to draw the outline, using the arrow keys, see method 1 in  EXAMPLE 1

NOTE Secondary external walls, if required on the ground floor, are selected, later, after drawing the base external wall

This dialogue box will appear again to choose the upper floor external walls, providing you previously selected more than one storey in the Partition Width & Storeys dialogue.

Also try

BASE OUTLINE

SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS


                               BASE OUTLINE

      The base outline is the outside line of the external walls of the building (the complete external walls are drawn & centred automatically later).

     You must start a new file before drawing the  base outline, and the cursor will move to the top left hand corner, preloaded with solid line of  the minimum thickness (width 1), which is the only line style & width that should be used  .

      In most cases, this is the only actual line drawing you will have to do.

     The cursor is prepositioned in the top left hand corner as this  is usually a suitable starting point for drawing the outer external wall,

     Draw the outside line of the external walls in a CLOCKWISE direction. Do this in one   continuous operation, if you mess it up go back to FILE/NEW and start again.

     Press Enter to mark the start point of the first wall  (you only need to Enter the first start point)

There are now 2 different methods to draw the outline

1/  If all your external walls are at 90 degrees (square) to each other - normal - you can use keyboard input and the arrow keys for wall direction, this is much faster than method 2

Press Enter on start point of first wall, press arrow key in direction of wall to draw, now input the distance, and press Enter to clear the input box,

Continue by just pressing arrow key for the direction required and inputting the distance, until you return to the original start point..

2/  If you require any angled external walls ( say for a bay window etc., )

    Move the cursor to the endpoint of the first wall - check the cursor position box for distance AND any variation from the horizontal or vertical (one figure should be 0 for true horizontal or vertical lines) - do not rely on the angle shown in the box unless you require an angled wall - press Enter when endpoint is correct

    Just continue to the next endpoint, press Enter, - now two numbers will appear on the guide line - this is the distance back to your original start point, just continue marking the walls in a clockwise direction

     You must finish by pressing Enter with the cursor back at the start point (check that the  guide line figures  are both at zero ).

NOTE   The outline you have drawn will be centred automatically.

NOTE   Remember to draw in a clockwise direction. You must only Enter the very first start point if drawing continuous lines ( end of one line is automatically the start of next line. see LINES

TROUBLESHOOTING - METHOD 1

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

You must finish exactly at the original start point, otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls

TROUBLESHOOTING - METHOD 2  External Wall Marking

To draw horizontal or vertical external wall lines, one figure in the cursor position box MUST be a 0.

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish by pressing enter on the original start mark ( showing 0 h 0 v on the guide line ) - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls


                                  PLAN VIEW

Select Plan from View on the menu bar

     If you have more than one floor, a dialogue box will appear asking which floor plan you require.

    This is the view use to draw rooms, windows, add library objects, stairwells etc.,

  To show the  external dimensions click AutoPlan/ AUTODIMENSIONS, usually leave this until last, as it may slow the redrawing rate slightly.


                                     ROOMS

Select the room icon                                   to delete an entire room see DELETE ROOM

     Rooms function draws the room, extending if necessary the adjacent partitions, places the name centrally and shows both dimensions if required. INTERNAL DOORS of all types and openings are  cut in the partition walls afterwards.

     Once you have selected the rooms icon, move the cursor into the corner area where you want the room to come from (read the NOTE below) and click the left mouse button and the rooms dialogue box will appear with two numbers showing the maximum amount of space  left for the room. ( rooms are limited to a maximum of 10 metres in either direction)

NOTE  Unlike most functions, when you click the Room icon very little happens (only Room will show as the drawing tool in use, in the bottom right corner of the screen), until you place the cursor in  the area of the new Room and click the left mouse button. The Room Dialogue Box will then appear.

NOTE  The sizes that appear in the Dialogue Box take in to account the partition wall sizes - your nominated partition thickness was made in the Walls Dialogue Box and are calculated from the nearest horizontal & vertical partitions (or inner line of the external wall), so when you select the area for the room make sure you place the cursor towards the corner of the new room position but not horizontally or vertically in line with a doorway

WARNING  If using the Room function where you have any angled partitions or external walls, always mark near a horizontal or vertical (on screen ) wall . The function will not work correctly, if marked near an angled wall

NOTE  This function will continue, after having drawn one room  - just by placing the cursor in the next proposed room and left clicking - until you select another function.

HINT   Best if you work your way round the house putting all the rooms in, in some sort of order, say clockwise.

     ROOMS DIALOGUE BOX

     Type in the name of the room and tab down to Size Horizontal, which shows the maximum size left for a room, input your sizes, tab and repeat for Vertical Size - if you leave the sizes as shown, you will still get a room - handy for the corner room of a row of rooms.

     The Show Dimensions part has two checkbox and it is up to you if you want to show either, neither or both dimensions of the room.

HINT   Think before you close the dialogue box, whether you want the dimensions to show, as it is far easier to do it correctly now, than change later.

NOTE  Partition thickness are rounded up to an even number, and  are based on the figure you inputted in the  wall dialogue box Partition Walls Thickness, this size can be changed permanently as can the dimension offset distance (internal offset) and the text size in CONFIGURE DIMENSIONS

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PARTITIONS & OPENINGS

INTERNAL DOORS


                     WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

Select Windows & External Doors from the icon bar

     This function is used to draw windows or external door, making alterations to the external wall as necessary

     After selecting the icon, the Window & External Doors dialogue box appears. Input the sizes and select the correct window or external door type, if you are drawing windows you can have the sizes shown on the plan drawing (together with FV for fixed vent, if needed) in a choice of text sizes - just adjust the settings on the left side of the dialogue box.

clear the dialogue box away, move the cursor (the cursor cross is the centre point, and the extent of the cursor is your nominated window width) to the centre position of the window or double doors (see NOTE for single external doors),  make sure you are well within the external wall boundaries and press Enter.  If you have another of exactly the same size and type answer yes to the message box, and move the cursor and press Enter, otherwise to input other window types or sizes re click the icon.

NOTE  To move a window, you must delete it draw one at the new position

NOTE  If you select single external door, another dialogue box will appear with all the alternative single door selections. Click your selection, (if you will be placing the door on an angled wall , just select the most appropriate door type) , clear the box and move the cursor to the HINGED position of the door on the external wall (again anywhere between the width boundaries of the external wall will do).

NOTE  Main Entry allows you to place external door(s) with glazing panel(s) on either or both sides, doors selected must open inwards and the function only works on screen horizontal or vertical walls (not on angled external walls)..

HINT  Single doors both external & internal ones are placed by pressing Enter on  their hinge position - all others use the centre position.

HINT  use CENTRE to help position the cursor when windows are centrally place in external walls of a room. When using centre on single external doors the hinge position is centred.

also try

INTERNAL DOORS

MISCELLANEOUS DOORS

DELETING WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS


                             INTERNAL DOORS

         SINGLE HANGING DOORS ONLY

Select the Internal Door icon

                                      to delete an internal door see DELETE INTERNAL DOOR

This function draws the plan view of internal doors .  It cuts an opening in a partition wall and places the door there. The door in plan view can be shown in a number of ways, see CONFIGURE DOORS for the selection of angles and thickness of door, you can have.

     Having selected the Internal Door icon a dialogue box will appear. Change the door size if necessary and select the appropriate door view - if going on an angle partition, just select either of the most appropriate door view. Clear this box and move the cursor onto the partition wall at the hinge position (on, or close to, the correct partition line for the hinge) and press enter. Providing the cursor was on a partition wall, the opening will be cut and the door drawn.

NOTE just like a real house, there must be a partition wall to put the door on!

NOTE the CENTRE function will centre the hinge of the door

also try

MISCELLANEOUS DOORS

WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

DELETING INTERNAL DOORS


                       MISCELLANEOUS DOORS

Select the Miscellaneous Doors icon from the Icon bar

                                          to delete miscellaneous doors see DELETE INTERNAL DOOR

    Select single sliding door or multiple doors from the first dialogue box

Single Sliding Door

    Input size of door, select the checkbox if you want the sliding door to open into the partition frame, and select the button next to the door position required - NOTE if the door will open into the frame, or you are placing a door in an angled partition, you have alternative position choices, just select the nearest. NOTE The dotted cursor is the size of the door, place the cross on the partition line where you want the sliding side jamb to be (NOT the latch jamb).

Multiple Doors

    Used to draw double hanging doors and sliding doors inside the house. Normally used for cupboards, wardrobes etc.,

    Input the total width of the doors in the dialogue box, select the door type required and the screen direction the (hinged) doors open to. Sliding doors are drawn between the wall thickness flush with the screen direction. Then clear the box, place the cursor on the centre point of the width of the doors, but on the partition line that you indicated as the screen direction, and press Enter.

NOTE just like a real house, there must be a partition wall to put the doors on!

NOTE when placing doors on angled partition walls, just select the most appropriate options in the dialogue box

also try

INTERNAL DOORS

WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

DELETING INTERNAL DOORS


                         PARTITIONS & OPENINGS

Select  the Partitions or Openings Icons from the icon bar

NOTE Always use the partition drawing tool for cupboards and room alterations, do not use the normal line drawing tool.

NOTE The partition drawing tool continues to draw consecutively until a partition you draw butts to either another partition or the external wall inside face. When this happens, or if you do not want to finish a partition butting to another, you should re select the icon to start another series of partitions.

     PARTITIONS - HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL on Screen

     From the dialogue box select which side of your first mark the second partition line is to appear

     Press Enter on the starting point of the partition (Finetune the cursor position with  the arrow keys first) and use the Arrow key for the direction you want the partition to go ( the direction input box will appear with the distance to the nearest partition in that direction - providing there is no door directly inline), change as required (the shown figure is good for closing off to), if you are continuing from the endpoint of the first line, just press the Arrow key of the new direction. Use for drawing cupboards and for altering rooms, for most other purposes the function ROOMS  is better to use.

NOTE After you have Entered the start point finetune is no longer available

     PARTITIONS - ANGLED

     Starting a new series of partitions with an angled partition.

 Press Enter on the starting point of the partition (Finetune the cursor position with  the arrow keys first)

     Or if continuing on from a horizontal or vertical partition as above, to draw an angled partition,

     Then just move the cursor to the new endpoint (the cursor position box will give the angle from the last partition endpoint) and press Enter - but if you need to Finetune the cursor to the new endpoint, press the A key then use the arrow keys to finetune it, if the next partition will be horizontal or vertical, press the A key again to toggle the arrow keys back to function as the partition direction input box used for horizontal & vertical partitions..

NOTE The A key is used to toggle the arrow keys function between Finetune and Partition Direction/Input dialogue box.

 Press Enter on the starting point of the partition (Finetune the cursor position with  the arrow keys first)

     OPENINGS

     Press Enter on one point of the partition wall to cut, press the Arrow key in the direction of the second point, input the distance in the box that appears and press Enter.

DELETE PARTITIONS & OPENINGS


                                 STAIRWELLS & STAIRS

Select the Stairwells function from AutoPlan on the menu bar

     This function is for drawing plan views of stairs and stairwells only.

When the dialogue box appears, input your tread (stairs) width, then select from the two types of stairs :-

halfway landings - these are automatically drawn on all floors, the landing depth is the same as the tread width, do not alter either the well length or the checkbox for halfway landings.

straight flights - these are drawn automatically on the ground and first floor ( the first floor view will show differently if a well length is nominated). As any flight to the second floor may be in a different part of the house, these are drawn by re-selecting Stairwells and this time checking the first/second floor box, this time the full flight will show on the first floor and the same on the second, unless you nominate a well length. Only change the well length from 0 if the well is to be less than the full run of the flight of stairs - say for a bulkhead, etc.,

     The four radiobuttons control the orientation of the stairs, if the TOP tread is to the left of the stairs, that is its orientation

     When the cursor appears in dotted outline, notice the cross, in halfway landings it is positioned between the up & down flights at the top tread position, but in straight flights it is placed centrally across the top tread. Move into position and press Enter to lock into position.

Move through your plan views to check the drawings. If you selected straight flight and have three floors, go to either first or second floor and click Stairwells and this time check the checkbox. When the Stairwell function finishes, the screen will show either ground floor or, if the checkbox was used, the first floor - these may not be the view you started with.

HINT  If you want to add up or down to clarify the stairways, use Tools/Text, click  TEXT

WARNING  This function uses the details provided in DEFAULT STAIR DETAILS

 to work out the number of stairs, should your storey heights be considerably higher, alter the Default Stair Detail dialogue box.

NOTE  Stairs are drawn from the ground floor upwards - start off with the Ground Floor showing on screen


                                DIMENSIONS

   To show AUTODIMENSIONS  select Autodimensions from  AutoPlan on the menu bar

For manual extra dimensions ( Fast Plans only ) select ManualDimension from  AutoPlan  on the menu bar

    Autodimensions draws all the external dimensions automatically onto the plan drawing, in accordance with the CONFIGURE DIMENSIONS layout.

HINT  Leave using this function until you have nearly finished all drawings as it adds a lot more - and slows down - any redrawing.

     Combined with the ROOMS function you should be able to have all your dimensions show automatically, but there is another function for manually drawing dimensions.

     To use ManualDimension align the cursor (use the Arrow keys to Finetune the cursor position) the first arrow point, then press Enter. Now press Enter on the  second point,     (this arrows offset is automatically based on the first arrow, so accuracy is only need in the measuring distance,  not the offset). Change the figures in the text box as necessary.

HINT  If you are working on a vertical dimension, check Customise\ DEFAULT DIMENSIONS to ensure the correct radio button is active in the Dimensions area of the dialogue box.

NOTE  When printing plans there is an option in the print dialogue box to leave off the external dimensions


               DELETE WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

Select Delete from the menu bar then Delete Window & External door

Move the cursor to the central glazing bar (where the glass would be) of the window for removal - or on a door,  and press Enter. As usual there is a little flexibility with cursor positioning, and removal will still occur if the cursor is  close to the correct position. If it has worked the plan view will show corrected, although until  a redraw occurs (by changing view, or by zooming, etc.), the area could appear slightly messy.

NOTE  Deletion only occurs if you press Enter on the correct part of the window or door (that is the bar that joins one end of the window to the other end). Or on a door

HINT  use the arrow keys to finetune the cursor position

HINT  zoom up a small  area containing the window or door to delete, in order to position the cursor on the central bar.


                     DELETE INTERNAL DOORS

Select Delete from the menu bar  then Delete Internal Door

     Place the cursor on the internal door to remove, and press Enter. The plan view will then redraw the partition.


Delete Room
                        DELETE ROOM DETAILS

 Select Delete from the menu bar  then Delete Room

     This function will delete the room details only (text and any arrows), it will not remove any partitions, as they may form part of another room.

      Place the cursor over the centre of the room text and press Enter.

To delete partitions, select Delete/Partition from the menu bar, place the cursor on one line of the partition and press Enter.


Delete Partition or Opening
                        DELETE PARTITION & OPENINGS

        PARTITIONS                      Select Delete from the menu bar  then Delete Partition

Move the cursor onto one line of the partition to delete and press enter

        OPENINGS in Partitions   Select Delete from the menu bar  then Delete Internal Door

Move the cursor on to one jamb of the opening to delete and press enter and the partition will be made good.

HINT It may help to zoom up before trying to select an opening jamb


                            SUNTRAK

Select the Suntrak icon on the Fast Plans screen

also try WHY USE A SUN PLOTTER?

SUNTRAK shows the effect on your house design, of the sun, on the longest (Summer) and shortest (Winter) day of the year, at hourly intervals, from the first hour after sunrise to the hour before sunset.

WARNING - FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS THIS PROGRAMME MAY BE INACCURATE, IT MUST BE TAKEN AS A GUIDE ONLY,  YOU MUST CHECK RESULTS ON SITE

After clicking the Suntrak icon, the screen changes to Suntrak.

You must have previously drawn a design in Fast Plans or, from Easy Layout, you must have added the external walls and obtained a plan view.

Select File/Open on the menu bar, then the file you want to track.

Input your latitude in the dialogue box ( this can be to 1 decimal place e.g.  36.6 ) and if in the Southern Hemisphere put a minus sign directly before the latitude, e.g. -17.7 LATITUDE

Below that input is a track bar to control the animation speed - this is adjusted by clicking on the marker and dragging it to another graduation, Animation speed is dependant on your processor.

Clear the dialogue and move the True North point, by click the left button on the new position .

Now rotate the True North point, relative to your designs position on your land, and use either the right button to rotate the North with an input box, or the + & - keys, for small rotation

NOTE: True North is used as the sun ray angles are always calculated from true north - NOT magnetic North   To verify on site you would have to convert your readings (taken by compass) back to True North, adding or deducting the current magnetic deviation.

If the selected drawing covers most of the screen, click the ZoomDOWN icon - you can click Zoomback at any time to return to the larger size

Now select from the icons covering Summer/Winter ( that will lock the North Point, should you wish to change the North Point later, you must select the Reset icon ) some message boxes will appear, after reading and clearing them, press Enter to start off the sun ray drawings - if you are using the non animated icons, use the plus & minus keys to move the time by an hour.

Try SUN PLOT  for more on these icons.

Use the Reset icon if you want to adjust your North point at a later time.

Definitions;  Mean Time does not include any local Summer time  or other add on

                      Noon is the highest point in the sky that the sun reaches that day

                      North means True North as against magnetic North.

                      The sun ray angle as show, is from True North

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               CUSTOMISE

               PRINTING SUNTRAK


                 WHY USE A SUN PLOTTER?

Imagine two houses with exactly the same room layout, placed side by side - but with one house rotated 180 degrees. On a cold winter morning, the kitchen of one house was bright, sunny & cheerful (it faced the winter morning sun), slip into the other house, the kitchen environment would be completely different - dismal and dark.

List out your rooms and how you would their environment to be - bright early, take late sun, need winter sun, have sun most of the day, shielded from summer sun - whatever - then add the priority of the room (your design  or land may not allow all rooms to be perfectly placed).

Now draw a design using Easy Layout, and include the external walls. Exit to Fast Plans and click the SUNTRAK icon.  Select FILE/OPEN and run the program, print out any useful sun ray drawings as they appear on screen.  Study them to check your list of room preferences, then return to Easy Layout to move any rooms around.

Also try

              SUNTRAK

               CUSTOMISE

               PRINTING SUNTRAK


                             SUN PLOT - SUNTRAK

Select one of the four Sun Plot icons

All these functions show the sun ray position from the hour after sunrise to the hour before sunset and are quoted in mean time (i.e. no allowance for summer or any other added on time factor)

After the message boxes are clear, press Enter to start the sun ray drawing.

Summer - manual or Winter - manual

Use the + key to advance one hour and the - key to go back - note the range is daylight hours

Summer - auto & Winter - auto

The animation speed is controlled by the latitude dialogue box and your processor.


customise SunTrak
                            CUSTOMISE - SUNTRAK

Select Customise on the SunTrak menu bar

   then either Ray Colours or Ray Spacing

Here you can change the colour of the sun rays, or the spacing of them

The Ray Spacing dialogue covers both measuring systems, you only need to alter the input of  the system you are using


                              LATITUDE - SUNTRAK

The programme will accept a latitude to one decimal place,, using a - sign for the Southern Hemisphere, latitude must be within the range 64.9 to -64.9

Your latitude  can be found on various sites on the Internet - try searching  latitude - longitude, or your local meteorological station will know


Printing - SunTrak
                        PRINTING _ SUNTRAK

Select File/Print on the SunTrak menu bar

You must be using either the manual Summer or Winter sun ray function, and the screen at the time you select print, will be printed.

Using the print dialogue box, you can print at your selected scale and line thickness, with or without the external dimensions showing.


Ordering this program
                             HOW TO ORDER

A file named order.txt will be in the same folder you nominated when installing the  program

(normally this is a folder called Fast Plans ), together with a readme.txt file.

Using Windows Explorer, open the correct folder and double click on order.txt, this will open it using Notepad, where you can fill the form in and print it out.


                          ELECTRICAL LAYOUT

Select Electrical from View on the menu bar

Use only when all partitions, rooms, windows and doors have been drawn.

A dialogue box will appear asking whether you want a new electrical plan or re show an existing one. If you choose new, any previous plan will be wiped out. Electrical plans are available for each floor. For legibility, electrical plans omit some items shown on the normal plans. You can have an electrical plan for each storey.

HINT     Either use the  symbols from AutoPlan/Electrical library or just print copies for your client & electrician to use.


Feet & Inches
                    FEET & INCHES DIALOGUES

Input number of feet, press tab to bring focus to inches, input inches, press tab to fraction and input any fraction up to seven eighths - if no fraction is wanted, leave fractions inputs at zero.


                            DEFAULT COLOURS

Select Default Colours from Customise on the menu bar

CAUTION altering these colours may affect you printing

     Use this function to permanently change the background (screen) & drawing colour

Select your new background colour from the colour dialogue box and press Enter, then select your new drawing colour and press Enter. Colours may not change immediately.

NOTE   The colours shown in the dialogue box may not all be available to you;

NOTE   If you just want to change a drawing colour temporarily click COLOUR


                               DEFAULT DOORS

Select Default Doors/Partitions from Customise on the menu bar

     This function allows you to permanently change the way all future plan views of doors are drawn. You can also change the size that appears in the door dialogue box, to your standard door size.  Just change the dialogue box to suit your style.

HINT  Select this function a few times and try various set-ups in one of the Example programmes, but remember your last set-up changes are saved and that is how the doors will appear in future. Will not alter previously drawn doors.


                        DEFAULT DIMENSIONS

Select Default Dimensions from Customise on the menu bar

 This function allows you to permanently change the way all future plan views of dimensions are drawn. Just change the dialogue box to suit your style. The offset distance is the distance from a wall to the arrow shaft.

HINT  Select this function a few times and try various set-ups in one of the Example programmes, but remember your last set-up changes are saved and that is how the dimensions will  appear  next time you used the programme.

NOTE  ROOMS & AUTODIMENSIONS functions both use the default dimensions for their text and arrow offsets.


Default Text
                               DEFAULT FONT

Select Default Font from Customise on the menu bar

     This function allows you to permanently change the way all text is written. Just change the dialogue box to the font, size and density you want.

HINT  Select this function a few times and try various set-ups in one of the Example programmes, but remember your last set-up changes are saved and that is how the text will  appear  next time you used the programme.

NOTE  ROOMS & AUTODIMENSIONS functions both use the default text.


                                        DEFAULT GRID

Select Default Grid from Customise on the menu bar

     This function changes the grid appearance.

In the first dialogue box that appears, input the new line spacing for the grid, press Enter

and the Colour Selection dialogue box will appear, the present grid colour will be marked with a rectangle, either re select by clicking a new colour or press Enter to keep the marked colour.

also try

GRID


                             DEFAULT STAIR DETAILS

Select  Stairs from Customise on the menu bar

Here you can adjust the specifications used to draw your internal stairs.

The Ground floor storey height means the finished floor level (F.F.L) on the ground floor to the F.F.L. on the first floor.

Tread is really the going of one tread (distance from one riser to next riser).

There are rules & regulations governing stair design - if you have little knowledge of them, leave the rise & tread sizes alone.

Original Settings:-

Lower Storey  Height  -  8 ft   6 inches   2550 m.m.

Upper Storeys  -  8 ft  6 inches  2550 m.m.

Risers - 7 inches  180 m.m.

Tread - 11 inches 280 m.m.


                SCROLLING SPEED ADJUSTMENT

Select  Scroll Speed from Customise on the menu bar

     Use the sliders to adjust the horizontal & vertical scrolling to a speed that suits you


                               LIBRARY FILES

Using the existing libraries:-

Select Libraries/any file from the menu bar, and from the library list scroll to a possible drawing and click on it with the left button - it will now appear in the bottom left hand corner of your screen, if it is not the correct drawing click on another possible drawing from the library list. When you have the correct library drawing in the corner of the screen press Enter to close the library list, with the left button click on some part of the library drawing as a reference, then move the drawing to a new position, by re clicking the button, you can finetune the position with the arrow keys and rotate it with the right mouse button - press Enter when positioned correctly, to lock the drawing in its final position.

Adding to libraries:-

Draw the item in a normal Fast Plans house, select Add To Lib from Libraries on the menu bar, drag a dotted rectangle over the item with the left mouse button, and select which library you want to add to, finally type in a description that will identify the drawing easily.(you have a maximum of 30 letters)..

HINTS Adding To Libraries

Zoom up an area to draw the library item to add

Use the Rounded Rectangle, Arc, Circle and other drawing tools .

NOTES:- When reusing your new library item, the text font will be the current Fast Plans font.

     Rotation of some drawing tools, e.g. Round Rectangle, can only be rotated in 90 degree increments - click COPY, MOVE & ROTATE


Screen Layout
                        THE SCREEN LAYOUT

   Just to familiarise you with the screen layout - the EXAMPLES  will help you understand as you work through them.

    Title

    The top of the screen will show the title of the drawing with a file extension .PLN, if you use the Auto features to draw houses, this will change as you select different views of the house plans. On the side of this are standard Windows minimise, maximise buttons.

    Menu Bar

     The menu bar headings all conceal drop down lists of functions. Just click on one with the left mouse button, and a list will drop down - with the first option banded in blue, should that be the function you want, you can just press Enter or click again with the same mouse button, to  select a different function in the list, click it (the blue band will appear on your selection) press Enter or click it again to use it

     Grouping of functions are as follows :-

FILE               contains standard Windows file, print & exit functions.

VIEW              view any of the drawings generated by the programme

TOOLS           contains your basic drawing tools - line, circle, text etc.,

                       also changing colours, line thickness & line style

EDIT               has copy, paste, move/rotate & delete functions

AUTOPLAN    has all the automated functions such as stairwells, doors, windows, complete

                        rooms, auto dimensions etc.,.

CUSTOMISE  by altering the default (as used on programme start up). Door opening angle,

                       door thickness, size & colour of the layout grid, scrolling speed, text font, offsets

                       & text size for dimensions & rooms and more

DELETE         deleting doors, windows, openings and returning walls to previous state

LIBRARIES    libraries of bath & kitchen fixtures, furniture, electrical, and adding to libraries

HELP              contents, context help (help on the part of the programme you are working on

                        at that time ( you can also use the F1 key for context help ), hints & reminders

                        and examples.

     Icon Bar

     The row of icons are in groups of similar functions. Run your cursor along the icon bar and look at the bottom line of the screen. You will see the Icon  name and what it does.

     Cursor Position

     In the middle of the icon bar is the cursor position box, which updates the cursor position.

 The cursor box shows either metric or feet & inches,  screen measurements increase from the bottom left corner, and angles to 2 decimal places - based on zero degrees above, increasing clockwise..

     Below this is the drawing screen, generally the cursor will change to a cross hair in this area.

    Guide Bar

      Immediately below the icon bar -  guides, hints & messages are shown, usually current drawing tool hints, what the icon function is, or telling you that pressing F1 key gives context help. At the right end of the guide bar is a small area which shows which drawing tool function is in use and in some cases the line thickness.

HINT  Pressing Help on the menu bar drops down various ways to obtain help on all subjects, pressing the F1 function key gives you help on what you are doing at the time (context help)

The Screen is purposely left uncluttered, and the drawing area as large as possible, all helping to make this extremely powerful programme  very easy to use, and, although it contains a large number of complex functions, these are highly automated.


                            DIALOGUE BOXES

Read this it will save you time later.

TYPED INPUT BOXES

     All dialogue boxes are laid out so that any required typed input is completed first, the cursor is preset, ready to type in the first input box, if you input in descending order, there is no need to move the cursor, just press the tab key to go to the  box below, if you do move the cursor with the mouse, make sure the cursor is at the very start (left side) of the input box

     If the box is filled in blue, just type your input in, anything already in the box will disappear automatically, if the box is white, with something in it, delete (with the delete key) anything in the box, and type in your answer.

     Some boxes have validators (to ensure your input is in the acceptable range). If say you input too large a size, a bell will ring and an exclamation may appear when you attempt to clear the dialogue box.

     Do not leave any input box blank, some boxes come with a 0, if you not need to change it, leave as 0.

     Some boxes come up with a preset figure, some of which can be customised, so that a figure you normally use can become the start up figure - click DEFAULT DIMENSIONS

     Guide figures appear in some boxes -

RADIO BUTTONS

     Diamond shaped , with a black dot in one diamond, always in a group, if changing, just click your new selection, only one of the group may be chosen..

CHECK BOXES

     Square boxes, unlike radio buttons, can be checked or unchecked, individually, and one or more checked in a group.

HINT You can just press the Enter key  to accept the default answer button (i.e. the button that has a darker outline), instead of moving the cursor over the OK button and clicking the left mouse button, on all dialogue or message boxes in this programme


Hints
                           HINTS & REMINDERS

GENERAL

*This programme uses Windows dialogue boxes to get your drawing instructions,

*Press the enter key instead of clicking the default button (the button with a darker outline) - standard on all these dialogue boxes

*Fill the input parts of the boxes first - the cursor is preset on the first input

*You can  type input directly to the first input part of a dialogue box - it will be highlighted in blue

*Use the tab key to move the cursor down a series of inputs,

*You can also move the mouse cursor to the input you want to change and click the left  button -  the cursor MUST be at the extreme left of the input box.

*If the warning bell rings, check your input number - it may be too large.

*To finish, if the button you would use has a darker surround - just press the enter key

*Click means using the left mouse button

*Take the time to read the dialogue boxes - most of them contain alternatives that we may not use in  this simple example.

*Normally the Enter key is used where accurate positioning is required, the left mouse button is only used where some movement or mouse wobble is allowable.

If your NUMLOCK is off, number input will be with the MAIN keyboard only, but the  num pad can be used for the arrow keys & fine tuning the cursor.

*** If at any stage you go wrong***

just click File/New and start again using the same drawing name to overwrite your previous work.

HARD DRIVE MANAGEMENT

     As each drawing generates a large number of files, it is advisable to clear the FASTPLANS/EX5/DWGS subdirectory frequently, either through Windows Explorer, deleting or copying to floppy discs, or going to the DOS prompt, then type cd\fastplans (or whatever main directory name you designated during the installation)
\ex5\dwgs, then press enter, then type dir/w, then press enter, this gives you a list of all current files in the dwgs subdirectory, accurately type  del drawingname.*  to delete all files under that name, or put a formatted disc in the A drive and type copy drawingname.* A:  exactly - do not forget the colon on the end! The asterisk is called a wildcard, and goes through all the file extensions for that filename. To check if you have copied to the disc, now type A:dir . Anytime, when the Fast Plans programme is running, you can place the disc back in the A: drive, go to file\open, click A: drive in the dialogue box, and type or click the filename to re show those drawings,

or copy from the A disk back to the harddrive A: copy *.* c:\fastplans\ex5\dwgs.

FAST PLANS DRAWING

     Have a rough pencil sketch of your plan layout - complete with external measurements

or use the Easy Layout option from File/New

     Input external wall lines CLOCKWISE and finish back exactly on your starting point

TUTORIAL :-

EXAMPLES

OVERVIEWS :-

FAST PLANS

EASY LAYOUT

SUNTRAK


                                  PRINTING

Select Print from File on the menu bar

The first dialogue box to appear show the list of available drawings (ignore the pln extension). After selecting the client you want, the Printsetup box appears.

     This is where you can alter your default printer, print drawings either Portrait ( longest paper side vertical) or Landscape, where the longest paper side is horizontal, which is more normal for this type of work.

     You can also click the Options button to alter more of your printer defaults.

     Next a dialogue box of the filegroups options will appear. All this dialogue box really does is determine which dialogue boxes  to show on screen

     Then a printfile dialogue box will appear. Enter the number of copies against each of the listed printfiles that you require and also the scale required.

     SCALES shown are the normal ones for house drawings, just remember (METRIC) that a 20000m.m. house wall at 100:1 will print 200 m.m. on your paper but at 50:1 the same wall will print 400 m.m. long - if your paper is wide enough!

Printer  Calibration

    Some printers may not print accurately at scale, to help overcome this, draw a line 15000 m.m or 52 ft horizontally on a drawing you have made, print it out and check the printed out size with a scale rule. Use 96:1 (1/8tj ft) or for metric 100:1 and note the result

 Select Customise/Printer Calibration  - metric or ft - depending on your selected measuring system, and input the size you scaled.

Printing Options

External Dimensions may be left off if wanted & the print thickness can be selected

NOTE Your selected scale is automatically printed on drawings.

NOTE All Landscape mode drawings can be printed in one batch, then if any are required in portrait mode, these can be printed in another batch. This is so the Printsetup box  (the one that shows the portrait & landscape modes) does not have to be shown for each file to print.


                                        PRINT SETUP

Select PrintSetup from File on the menu bar

     This is where you can alter your default printer, print drawings either Portrait ( longest paper side vertical) or Landscape, where the longest paper side is horizontal, which is more normal for this type of work.

     You can also click the Options button to alter more of your printer defaults.

NOTE The Printsetup dialogue box comes up under the Print function anyway, Printsetup is only included really for viewing the set-up and options without printing anything.


How To...
                                HOW TO.....:-

                             for more information click the underlined function

Order the Program                                       ORDER

draw Cupboards 	PARTITIONS & OPENINGS

add Dimensions - External & Manual         AUTODIMENSIONS

draw External Walls -

 two types (main & secondary) on one plan   BASE OUTLINE  draw the external walls

or different types on different floors 	         SECONDARY EXTERNAL WALLS

draw Lines with Text                                   LINES.

Add Complete Rooms                                 ROOM

Add Stairwells & Internal Stairs                 INTERNAL STAIRS/STAIRWELLS

Add to Libraries                                           LIBRARIES

                                          HOW TO…..customise your drawings

                                                  Changing the Default ( start up ) settings

Change Back & Foreground Colour           DEFAULT COLOURS

Arrow Offsets & Dimension Text                 DEFAULT DIMENSIONS

Door Opening Angle & Thickness              DEFAULT DOORS

Spacing & Colour of Grid                             DEFAULT GRID

Riser, Tread sizes & Storey Height            DEFAULT STAIR DETAILS

Set the Typeface                                           DEFAULT TEXTFONT

Change sun ray spacing & colours           CUSTOMISE SUNTRAK

                                          HOW TO…..save & access drawings

Drawings are automatically saved, whenever you finish using a function

To access previously drawn files, select File/File Open when in the correct programme

     for room layouts previously drawn you must access them in Easy Layouts File/File Open

     and for  plan views (those with external walls drawn, use Fast Plans File/File Open

To change the file name                     click  SAVE AS

                                          HOW TO .....delete

Undo & Erase will not delete windows or doors as walls must be redrawn when windows & doors are deleted.

from Plan views 	DELETE INTERNAL DOORS

                                                           or  	 DELETE ROOM

                                                           or  	DELETE WINDOWS & EXTERNAL DOORS

last item - if line, text etc., 	 UNDO

earlier lines, text  	ERASE


                                     QUICK START

 To print out this  - click File/Print Topic        click anything underlined for more information

A sample drawing is included if you want to see how easy it is to add doors, rooms, windows etc., to a drawing - run Fast Plans and select File/Open and either Feetdemo.pln or the metric version Metdemo.pln. After that follow both of the EXAMPLES

 NOTE The  EXAMPLES contain a number of hints and are more detailed than quick start - you may find it easier and faster  to run through both examples.

This version includes the SunTrak sun plotting sub programme WHY USE A SUN PLOTTER? - it needs a design drawn with Fast Plans or Easy Layout (including the external walls) to work. When you have a drawing, just click on the SunTrak icon in the main Fast Plans drawing and then select File/File Open, to return to Fast Plans just click File/Exit to Fast Plans in the SunTrak programme.

In the Demonstration Programme some functions are cut out and others are limited to the number of times they can be used - for example, you will only be able to draw a house with up to six external walls - in the FULL programme you can draw up to 24 external walls ( six per elevation )

 Basics

When you left button click file/new two options appear - use Easy Layout or Fast Plans.

Select Easy Layout if you are unsure of the design or finished size. The screen will change to  the Easy Layout sub programme. Click file/new and create some rooms, these can be moved and aligned in several ways (for details click ROOM MOVING METHODS) rotated, shrunk, or expanded as you want. When satisfied click the external walls icon, select your main external wall size and - using the arrow direction keys to fine tune the cursor position, mark the corners of the inside line of the external walls CLOCKWISE finishing back at your start point (mostly this mark will coincide with a corner of a room - but it does not have to, as long as the mark is not inside a room !). EXTERNAL WALL MARKING - EASY LAYOUT

The basic house plan drawing will appear, click AutoPlan/AutoDimensions to add the external dimensions and click file/Exit to Fast Plans to return to Fast Plans to add windows, doors, library items, etc.

Or select  Fast Plans if you know all your external dimensions, you can then nominate the main  external wall thickness on the ground floor and then…..

1/ If your design has no angle walls, bay windows, etc., you can press Enter on the start point of the outer line of the first wall, work CLOCKWISE by pressing  the arrow key in the direction of the wall, input the length, clear the box, press the arrow key for the new wall direction, input the distance etc, until you return to the original start point of the first wall.( BASE OUTLINE )

2/ If your design will have angle walls, bay windows, etc.,

 by marking the corners of the outer line of the external wall - CLOCKWISE, using the arrow direction keys to fine tune the cursor position, and finishing back at your start point ( BASE OUTLINE ). Then just add external dimensions, rooms, partitions and place windows & doors in walls you have drawn (windows & doors will not draw if there is no wall to go in !)

TROUBLESHOOTING External Wall Marking

Both Methods are explained in EXAMPLE 1

Method 1

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish back at the original start point - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls

Method 2

To draw horizontal or vertical external wall lines, one figure in the cursor position box MUST be a 0.

You must mark the external walls in a clockwise direction

Finish by pressing enter on the original start mark ( showing 0 h 0 v on the guide line ) - otherwise the programme will not continue because it will not know you have finished marking the walls

HINTS

Check the guide line for hints at all times - it also shows the distance from the start point when drawing the external walls.

Use the arrow keys to finetune the cursor position in most functions

     Of course there is a lot more to check out on the help system than this brief introduction

click one of the underlined headings with the left mouse button

If all else fails….

EXAMPLES   a short tutorial -

HOW TO....  solve your queries and customising the programmes to suit you

INTRODUCTION   how to use the programme, getting to know the layout, speedy ways to answer the dialogue boxes,

FAST PLANS    OVERVIEW drawing house plans the fast & easy way, changing the default settings, printing

EASY LAYOUT   OVERVIEW a quick & very easy way to get your floor plan

SUNTRAK  Overview, take advantage of the sun by plotting the position at different times of the day, summer & winter

NORMAL DRAWING TECHNIQUES   how to draw and alter lines etc.,

HINTS & REMINDERS

ORDER  how to order this programme

this help page will only show once at first start up, but you can always access it by clicking help/quick start