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Text File | 1987-08-05 | 69.5 KB | 2,036 lines |
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- PC-Draft I (tm)
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- User Manual
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- Release 3
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- This program and documentation are being distributed as
- Shareware. This means that you may make copies for others to
- try. But, you may not sell it. Shareware software is supported
- by your becoming a registered user. Please read the introduc-
- tion for further details.
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- (C) Copyright 1986,1987 - All Rights reserved
-
- Natural Software
- 19 South fifth Street
- St. Charles Illinois, 60174
- (312) 377-7320
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- -------
- LICENSE
- -------
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I IS COPYRIGHTED, ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. AS
- SHAREWARE, PC-Draft I MAY BE COPIED AND SHARED WITH
- OTHERS. HOWEVER, TO PROTECT THE QUALITY OF THE DIS-
- TRIBUTION OF THIS PROGRAM AND TO SUPPORT FUTURE
- DEVELOPMENT CERTAIN LIMITATIONS APPLY.
-
- COPIES OF PC-Draft I MAY BE MADE FOR TRIAL USE BY OTHERS
- ON A PRIVATE NON-COMMERCIAL BASIS ONLY. PC-Draft I MAY
- NOT BE RE-SOLD UNDER ANY CONDITIONS. PC-Draft I MAY NOT
- BE DISTRIBUTED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY OTHER PRODUCT OR
- SERVICE.
-
- THE SHAREWARE RIGHT TO COPY DOES NOT APPLY TO THE
- REGISTERED USER PROGRAMS: PC-Draft II AND PIX WHICH ARE
- SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT PRODUCTS.
-
- THIS SOFTWARE WILL PERFORM AS DESCRIBED HEREIN ONLY IF
- PROPERLY APPLIED. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU IS LIMITED TO
- REPLACING THE SOFTWARE (FOR REGISTERED USERS). WE HAVE
- NO LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS, INCLUDING
- SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL, CAUSED BY THIS
- SOFTWARE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY.
-
- YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE BY YOUR DECISION
- TO USE THIS SOFTWARE.
-
-
-
-
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-
-
- Table of contents
-
- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
- Shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
- What registered users get . . . . . 1
- Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
- Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
- MicroSoft Mouse . . . . . . . . . 5
- Other Mice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- Files used . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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- The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- Using Cursor Increment . . . . . . . 7
- Suspending Cursor Increment . . . . 7
- Changing Cursor Type . . . . . . . . 7
- Menu Selections . . . . . . . . . . 8
- Display Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . 8
- The Drawing Area . . . . . . . . . . 8
- Moving around the Drawing . . . . . 9
- Direct Move . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
- Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
- Clearing the Screen . . . . . . . . 10
- Erasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
- The Undo Command . . . . . . . . . . 10
- Saving Your Work . . . . . . . . . . 10
- Ending PC-Draft . . . . . . . . . . 12
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- Drawing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- Write (Graphic Font) . . . . . . . . 14
- Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- Drop Object . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- Transfer to Font . . . . . . . . . . 15
- Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- Kursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- Mouse cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
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- Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
- Loading Patterns . . . . . . . . . . 17
- Selecting Patterns . . . . . . . . . 17
- Creating and changing Patterns . . . 17
- Saving Patterns . . . . . . . . . . 17
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- Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- Saving Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- Retrieving Objects . . . . . . . . . 18
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- Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- Using Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- Creating and changing Fonts . . . . 18
- Saving Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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- Graphic Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- Using Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- Creating Macros . . . . . . . . . . 20
- Suspend Cursor Increment . . . . . . 20
- Relative [+/-] Cursor Increment . . 21
- .MAC file structure . . . . . . . . 21
- Importing text files . . . . . . . . 21
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- Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- Editing Points . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- Saving Points . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- loading Points . . . . . . . . . . . 23
- Graph Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
- Drawing graphs . . . . . . . . . . . 23
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- Drawing Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
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- Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
- Printer resolution modes . . . . . . 24
- Print current screen window . . . . 26
- Print full drawing . . . . . . . . . 26
- Print partial screen . . . . . . . . 26
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- Summary of Drawing Commands . . . . . 27
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- Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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- Introduction
- ------------
-
- PC-Draft I is a high resolution pixel oriented drawing and graphing
- utility, which is designed to facilitate a variety of drawing and
- drafting needs. With PC-Draft I you can:
-
- o produce drawings up to 1280 by 700 dots using IBM's color
- graphic adaptor high resolution graphics mode (640 x 200 dots per
- screen). Such a drawing will fill an 8-1/2 x 11 inch printed
- output (at 150 dots per inch resolution).
-
- o Built-in functions allow you to draw circles, lines, boxes; draw
- bar, line and pie graphs; create patterns with which to fill areas;
- cut and paste objects and save objects to files for later use.
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- o You can record graphic keyboard macros saved in files for later
- playback and for animation effects.
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- o You can load and edit fonts.
-
- o And you can print your drawings on IBM or Epson compatible
- graphic dot matrix printers or HP Laserjet+ printers.
-
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- Shareware
-
- PC-Draft I is copyrighted. It is not a public domain program. It is
- being distributed as Shareware, which means that unmodified copies
- of the software and documentation may be freely copied and shared.
- We ask in return that should you find PC-Draft I to be useful, you
- become a registered user. You become registered by sending $45.00 +
- $5.00 for postage and handling to: (use order blank on last page.)
-
-
- Natural Software
- 19 South fifth Street
- St. Charles Illinois, 60174
-
-
- Or call with your VISA or MasterCard number: (312) 377-7320.
-
-
- What do you get by becoming registered?
-
- What registered users get
-
- o The registered version of the software: PC-Draft II. PC-Draft II
- includes the following enhancements :
-
- - Drawing grids displayable at any spacing with optional "grid-
- lock".
-
- - A pop-up status panel showing x and y cursor position,
- position of the screen window in respect to the full drawing
-
- PC-Draft I Page 1
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- area, the current pattern, the current cursor increment value,
- and more.
-
- - New drawing commands including Arc, Ellipse and curve,
- freeform drawing and continuous line drawing.
-
- - New painting features: Spray can and Paint use the current
- pattern.
-
- - A preview function displays the entire drawing on the screen.
-
- - Objects can be reversed, rotated, expanded and contracted
- either vertically or horizontally.
-
-
- o A graphics presentation language called Pix which performs all
- PC-Draft II commands from a script you write without displaying
- any cursor or menu interaction. Pix allows you to create anima-
- ted sequences of: loading screens, drawing forms and graphs and
- adding text and more. Pix supports programming constructs such
- as Procedures and repeat loops.
-
- o A memory resident screen capture program which save screens
- from other programs (both text mode and graphics mode) to .PIC
- files for enhancement by PC-Draft.
-
- o The latest additions to the Font, Macro, and Object libraries.
- These require too much disk space to distribute with the
- Shareware version. And, as a registered user you will be notified
- when new libraries become available.
-
- o A collection of drawings made with PC-Draft II which you can
- incorporate into you own work.
-
- o A typeset quality user manual profusely illustrated with drawings
- made with PC-Draft II and full of helpful hints.
-
- The shareware philosophy is to pay smaller amounts for well crafted
- and useful software from developers who cannot spend the millions of
- dollars on marketing necessary to compete with the large software
- development companies. You benefit by being able to try a wider
- variety of software products to find the ones that suit your
- particular purpose. And the trial is free. The shareware developer
- benefits from being able to distribute his work to a wider audience
- than would be possible through normal channels.
-
- Your share of the responsibility for shareware to continue, and to
- support the development of more and better products is to distribute
- your shareware programs to others and become a registered user of
- those products you like and use.
-
-
-
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- PC-Draft I Page 2
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- If you have used previous versions of PC-Draft I, The following
- features are new to release 3:
-
- o Improved MicroSoft (or compatible) Mouse support.
-
- o The [E]rase command makes it easier to selectively erase portions
- of your drawing. The size of the erase box is controlled by the
- current cursor increment value.
-
- o Your previous filename and printer selections are preserved for
- the next time you run PC-Draft in a configuration file: PC-
- Draft.cfg.
-
- o You can now pop-up the main Draw menu with the [/] key as
- well as the [F2] key (for those Lotus/Borland touch typists).
-
- o Once a menu is up, you can use the left and right arrow keys to
- move to adjacent menus. If you are using a mouse this allows you
- access to all menus without touching the keyboard.
-
- o When specifying a filename, for instance when saving your
- drawing, you do not have to delete the previous filename to
- scroll through the directory of similar files. For example, if the
- filename pop-up shows the filespec: "PAT\PATTERN3", you can
- press the down arrow key (or move the mouse up or down) to
- scroll through the PAT sub-directory without needing to delete
- "PATTERN3".
-
- o All the supported printer types are contained in one overlay file
- (Pc-draft.000). You no longer have to rename a .PRT file. You
- select the printer type you wish to use from the second menu
- after pressing [F8] to print.
-
- o Four resolutions for each printer type are supported.
-
- o The IBM dot matrix graphics printer command set is now
- supported (it is slightly different from the Epson command set).
-
- o Undo function repairs damage done by your last command.
-
- o The text mode wraps within the current window, allowing text
- files to be imported within specified boundaries.
-
- o Drawing and Pic files may be saved in compressed format to save
- disk space.
-
- o You can clear the entire drawing area with [Ctrl+F9].
-
-
- System Requirements
-
- PC-Draft I is compatible with the IBM PC, XT, and AT and "true
- compatible" microcomputers with at least 256k of memory and with
- MS-DOS or PC-DOS versions 2.0 or later. An IBM or compatible
- Color Graphics Display adapter is required. PC-Draft I performs
-
- PC-Draft I Page 3
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- direct access of the display buffer at address B8000 hex. PC-Draft I
- will not work with monochrome displays or foreign display interface
- boards such as Hercules.
-
- If you have a problem with your display, you might try pressing the
- [Ctrl + F1] key combination to cycle through the different colors.
- The is particularly necessary on the PC-Jr.
-
- PC-Draft I is memory hungry. For the sake of speed, an entire bit
- mapped drawing is kept in memory, rather than being paged to and
- from disk. If you like to load lots of stay resident utilities, you
- better have a 512k machine, or unload them before running PC-Draft
- I. The PC-Draft I program itself occupies about 85k. As you move
- the screen window to new portions of a large drawing more memory
- is allocated, 16k per screen. If you start with less than 128k
- available, you will surely get an error message: Out of memory!,
- then all you can do is save your drawing and quit PC-Draft I.
-
-
- Terminology
-
- Brackets are used to indicate keystrokes. For instance: [Ctrl + PgUp]
- means to press the Control key and the PgUp keys together. Whereas:
- [F3][P][S] means to press those keys in sequence. The four arrow
- keys on the numeric keypad are indicated as: [^][<][>][v]. Filenames
- are given in all uppercase such as: PATTERN1.PAT.
-
-
- Installation
-
- If you are using a hard disk, create a sub-directory for PC-Draft I
- with the following sub-directories: PAT, MAC, FON, OBJ, PIC, DWG,
- SCR. If you are using DOS 3.2 or above, simply use the XCOPY
- command to copy all files from all sub-directories to your pc-draft
- sub-directory on your hard disk as follows:
-
- CD \
- MD PC-DRAFT
- CD PC-DRAFT
- XCOPY A:*.* /S
-
- The sub-directory names correspond to the default filename exten-
- sions for the various files PC-Draft I uses and will help keep things
- organized.
-
- If yours is a floppy based system, simply make a backup copy of the
- distribution floppy for use.
-
- PC-Draft I consists of the main program: PC-DRAFT.COM and one
- overlay file: PC-DRAFT.000. These must both be on your current
- directory. If you are using a floppy disk based system, you must
- leave the diskette containing PC-DRAFT.000 in the disk drive.
-
-
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- PC-Draft I Page 4
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- MicroSoft Mouse
-
- If you have a mouse compatible with Microsoft's Mouse driver
- software, PC-Draft will automatically use the mouse if the mouse
- driver is loaded.
-
- Be sure the mouse driver is properly loaded (either with the
- CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=MOUSE.SYS command, or from the keyboard (or
- in your AUTOEXEC.BAT) run the MOUSE.COM program.
-
- Mouse movement emulates the arrow keys, the left button simulates
- the [F2] key (to pop-up the menus), or (when in zoom mode) it
- simulates the [F9] key to select zoom drawing, and both mouse
- buttons pressed together simulates the [Esc] key to exit from a menu
- or process.
-
-
- Other Mice
-
- Most other brands of mice should work as described above if:
-
- 1. They can be configured to emulate Microsoft's Mouse driver
- or:
-
- 2. You can setup your mouse to:
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- a. convert movement into the appropriate arrow key.
- b. simulate the [F9] key with the right button.
- c. simulate the [F2] key with the left button.
- d. simulate the [Esc] key with both buttons (or the third
- button?).
-
- 3. If you can't get your mouse to use the buttons as function
- keys, it will still work if a button simulates the [Enter] key
- (but its nicer as described above).
-
- Please let us know if you have a problem with your mouse.
-
- If you do not have a mouse and intend to do much work with PC-
- Draft, it is strongly recommended that you get one. You'll love the
- difference.
-
- If you are using the cursor keys instead of a mouse, it is strongly
- recommended that you use one of the many shareware or public
- domain keyboard speedup programs available. This will make cursor
- movement around the graphics screen much nicer. If you have an IBM
- AT, look for SETKEY.COM on your bulletin boards. If you have and
- XT or compatible, look for QUICKEY.COM. Both of these were
- published in PC Magazine and can be down loaded from their BBS.
- Also the shareware programs:
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 5
-
-
-
-
-
- FASTKEY.COM from:
-
- Biologic Corp.
- P.O. Box 1267
- Manassas, Virginia 22110
-
- and KBFIX2.COM from:
-
- Skip Gilbrech
- 90 Lexington Ave. #10-G
- New York, NY 10016 ( Compuserve: 71445,534 )
-
-
- Printers
-
- The current version of PC-Draft I will work with three types of
- printers for graphics output; IBM Graphics dot matrix, Epson dot
- matrix graphics compatible printers, and Hewlett Packard LaserJet+
- laser printers. The drivers for these printer types are included in
- the overlay file: PC-DRAFT.000. When you start to print your drawing
- PC-Draft will look for this file, so be sure that it is on the current
- drive. Many other brands of printers emulate the necessary control
- codes to print graphic images of one the above printers, so experi-
- ment to see which is appropriate for your brand.
-
- Refer to the READ.ME file on the disk for information about
- additional printer support.
-
-
- Files used
-
- The only necessary files used by PC-Draft are the main code file:
- PC-DRAFT.COM and the overlay file: PC-DRAFT.000. all other files
- are optional.
-
-
- File Names
-
- The file naming conventions used are also optional. However, it is
- recommended that you follow them. When PC-Draft saves a file of a
- particular type, say a font file for instance, it uses the appropriate
- filename extension unless you override it by entering a different
- extension. This helps prevent accidental data loss by overwriting
- files and by loading the wrong type of file.
-
- The default filename extensions are:
-
- Screen dump files: filename.PIC
- Drawing files: filename.DWG
- Pattern files: filename.PAT
- Font files: filename.FON
- Object files: filename.OBJ
- Macro files: filename.MAC
- Graph Point files: filename.PTS
- PIX program files: filename.SCR
-
- PC-Draft I Page 6
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-
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- The Basics
- ----------
-
- To start PC-Draft, type the command: PC-DRAFT with the files PC-
- DRAFT.COM and PC-DRAFT.000 on the currently logged drive. The
- Copyright notice will appear for a moment, then it will display the
- graphics screen.
-
-
- Cursor Movement
-
- The cursor will appear as a small cross in center screen. Press the
- cursor movement keys on the numeric keypad (or move the mouse) to
- move about the screen:
-
- Initially, the cursor will move 8 dots for each key pressed.
-
-
- Using Cursor Increment
-
- The amount the cursor moves (in dots or pixels) is called the cursor
- increment.
-
- To change the cursor increment value, enter a number (using the top
- row of number keys, or press Num Lock to use the numeric key pad
- keys). For instance, enter 24 to cause the cursor to move 24 dots
- for each cursor movement keystroke.
-
- You will quickly get into the habit of adjusting the cursor increment
- value to a larger number to quickly move to a new position on the
- screen, then to a smaller number (try 1) for detailed work.
-
-
- Suspending Cursor Increment
-
- Pressing the [S] key Suspends the current cursor increment value,
- causing the cursor to move one dot at a time. Pressing [S] again
- restores the increment value. This allows you to quickly change from
- coarse to fine movements and is also useful when creating graphics
- keyboard macros as described below. Note that while in the [W]rite
- mode, you can suspend cursor increment by pressing [Alt + s].
-
-
- Changing Cursor Type
-
- There are two cursor types (three if you have a mouse). Initially,
- the cursor appears as a small cross. Press [K] ([K]ursor) to change
- the cursor to a full screen cross. This cursor type is helpful when
- positioning lines and objects in line with other elements in your
- drawing. Press [K] again to toggle between the two cursor types. If
-
- PC-Draft I Page 7
-
-
-
-
-
- you have a MicroSoft mouse, you can change the mouse cross cursor
- to an arrow by pressing [Alt + C]. Press it again to return to the
- cross. You can still use the full screen cursor by pressing [K].
-
-
- Menu Selections
-
- Initially, the eight main menu selections are displayed across the top
- of the screen. To make a selection, press its corresponding function
- key. For instance, press [F2] (left mouse button) to display the pop-
- up Draw functions menu.
-
- With the pop-up menu displayed you may now:
-
- 1. Press the Escape key: [Esc] (both mouse buttons), to exit
- from a menu without making a choice.
-
-
- 2. Select a choice from the menu by:
-
- a. press the [L]etter in brackets for your choice.
- b. use the arrow keys: [^] and [v] to move the reverse
- video cursor to select your choice. Then press [Enter]
- (or the mouse right button) to make your selection.
-
- 3. Press the left or right arrow keys: [<] or [>] to move to
- another menu (or move the mouse right or left).
-
- For example; press [F2], then press [B] for the [B]ox command, then
- press [Enter]. The Draw menu will disappear. Now, move the cursor.
- A box will form with its diagonal corners determined by the original
- cursor position and the opposing current cursor position. When you
- are satisfied with the final position of the box, press [Enter] (right
- mouse button) to complete the [B]ox command.
-
- Most of the other menus work the same, press the function key, then
- up and down arrows, then [Enter].
-
-
- Display Menu Bar
-
- By pressing the [F1] key, you can pop-off the menu bar to allow full
- screen drawing. When you press [F1] again, the menu bar will pop-
- up again. The drawing obscured by the menu, will be untouched, but
- inaccessible, until you pop-off the menu.
-
-
- The Drawing Area
-
- One screen represents 640 pixels or dots horizontally, and 200 dots
- vertically (with the menu bar). All drawing operations are confined
- to this screen area. You can draw a line to the screen edge only.
- However, the full drawing area available to PC-Draft is 1280 dots
- wide by 700 dots vertically. visualize the monitor screen as a
- window positioned over a larger drawing
-
- PC-Draft I Page 8
-
-
-
-
-
- area. You can move this window up, down, left and right to reach all
- parts of the drawing. The full drawing size is two screens wide, and
- three and one half screens high.
-
-
- Moving around the Drawing
-
- To move the screen window down on the larger drawing, press the
- [Ctrl + PgDn] keys together.
-
- The screen moves one half screen width for each window movement.
- To move up, press [Ctrl + PgUp].
-
- [Ctrl + >] moves right, and [Ctrl + <] moves left. When you reach the
- edge of the drawing area, you'll know it (beep).
-
-
- Direct Move
-
- Pressing the [.] (the period or shifted [>]) key will pop-up a prompt
- box asking for a screen window number. You can enter a number
- from 1 to 28 to directly move the display window to a new area of
- the larger drawing.
-
- The full drawing is logically divided into 28 sections. Each section
- represents one forth of one screen's area.
-
- When PC-Draft is first started, drawing sections 1, 2, 5 and 6 are
- displayed. To move the screen window to the bottom right of the
- drawing area; press [.] and enter 23 to display drawing sections 23,
- 24, 27 and 28.
-
-
- +----+----+
- Initial | 1 | 2 | +----+----+
- Screen ---> +----+----+ | 3 | 4 |
- Window | 5 | 6 | +----+----+
- +----+----+ | 7 | 8 |
- +----+----+----+----+
- | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
- +----+----+----+----+
- | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
- +----+----+----+----+
- | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
- +----+----+----+----+
- | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
- +----+----+----+----+
- | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
- +----+----+----+----+
-
-
- Home
-
- Press [H] to move the cursor to center screen.
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 9
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Clearing the Screen
-
- To clear the current screen window (not the whole drawing), press
- the [F9] key. A warning pop-up will ask if you're sure. Press the
- [Y] key for [Y]es, if you are.
-
- To clear the entire drawing, press [Ctrl + F9]. A warning pop-up will
- ask if you're sure. Press the [Y] key for [Y]es, if you are.
-
-
- Erasing
-
- Since this is a pixel (raster) based graphics program, erasing selected
- image areas is not as easy as it would be in an object based CAD
- package where you can erase selected operations rather than areas of
- the screen. Here are a few different ways to erase:
-
- o Use the [E]rase command to remove the image as you move
- the cursor. The size of the erase box is controlled by the
- current cursor increment value. Make this value larger to
- erase larger areas. (The Replace drawing mode must be on.)
-
- o Select the Transparent drawing mode (with [F5]), then re-
- trace the image to be erased.
-
- o Select an all black pattern (with [F4], usually pattern number
- 1), then with the [R]ectangle command, surround the area to
- be erased. The drawing mode must be set to Replace. (The
- Replace drawing mode must be on.)
-
- o Surround the area to be erased with the [W]indow command,
- then press [F9] to clear the current window.
-
-
- The Undo Command
-
- Whenever you have performed some drawing operation that changed
- the drawing in a way you did not expect (you goofed), you can press
- [U] to Undo. You can only undo the previous operation such as [B]ox
- or [P]aint, you cannot undo changes made before the last one. This is
- especially handy when your [P]aint operation spills outside of a
- bounded area unexpectedly.
-
-
- Saving Your Work
-
- Once enough of your masterpiece is constructed to make you nervous
- about losing your work, you should save it to a file on disk. You
- can save the current screen window to a .PIC file or you can save
- the entire drawing to a .DWG file.
-
- 1. Press the [F3] key to pop-up the File menu.
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 10
-
-
-
-
-
- 2. Select [S]creen to save just the current screen window (just
- what is currently displayed).
-
- Or, select [D]rawing to save your drawing that may consist
- of several screens worth. (Only those screens that you have
- visited will be saved. If you have not moved from the initial
- screen window, the drawing file will be the same size as a
- screen ".PIC" file.)
-
- 3. Then, select the operation from the next pop-up:
-
- [S]ave.
-
- 4. you will be asked whether you want to save it in [C]ompres-
- sed or [N]ormal format. If you choose Normal format, the
- image will be saved without compression in a format compat-
- ible with previous versions of PC-Draft. An un-compressed
- .PIC file is a straight byte for byte dump of the high-
- resolution screen buffer and is compatible with many other
- graphics programs. If you choose Compressed format, the file
- will take less disk space (saving an average of 66%).
-
- When you read in a .PIC or .DWG file, PC-Draft will detect
- whether the file has been compressed or not and load it
- properly.
-
- The I/O time is increased for saving and loading compressed
- files. You might want to use normal format while you are
- working on a drawing to maintain the speed advantage, then
- save it in compressed format only when you are finished
- making changes.
-
- The compression method is very rudimentary. A trade-off had
- to be made given code space limitations and permissible I/O
- delays. You can achieve a much greater compression and
- saving of disk space if you use ARC.EXE to archive your
- drawings (sometimes greater than 90%).
-
-
- 5. Then, enter a filename in the next pop-up. Enter any valid
- DOS file path specification, including drive and sub-direc-
- tories unless you want to save the file on the currently
- logged drive and path.
-
- You need not enter a filename extension. PC-Draft will
- automatically add the appropriate extension for you if you
- leave it off. Simply enter a filename such as: "DRAWING1"
- or "A:SUBDIR1\DRAWING1"
-
- PC-Draft will save your drawing as: DRAWING1.DWG (or:
- DRAWING1.PIC if you selected to save the screen).
- (See note below for directory searches.)
-
- 6. Press [Enter] to complete the operation.
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 11
-
-
-
-
-
- Once you've done this a few times, the operation of saving and
- retrieving screen and drawing files should become easy, intuitive and
- obvious with the help of the pop-up prompts. The method is the
- same for other file operations such as saving and retrieving patterns,
- fonts, objects.
-
- When entering a filename for any file operation, you can obtain a
- directory search by pressing either the up or down arrow keys [^] or
- [v]. Any existing files with extensions that match the current default
- will be displayed in the file path name window. For example, when
- you are retrieving a screen file, press the [^] key in response to the
- filename prompt, the name of the first file with a .PIC extension will
- be shown. Press the [^] to show the next (if any) .PIC file, and so
- on. When the file you want to retrieve is shown, press [Enter] to
- retrieve it.
-
- To search the directory other than the current one, enter the DOS
- path information, for instance to refer to the directory containing
- pattern files, enter: "FON\", then press [^] or [v].
-
-
-
-
-
- Other useful keys to use when entering filenames:
-
- [<] and [>] move the cursor non-destructively.
-
- Backspace [<-] moves left destructively.
-
- The [End] key clears the field from the cursor position to the
- end.
-
- The [Esc] key restores the field to its original contents.
-
-
-
- Ending PC-Draft
-
- Press [F10] to exit PC-Draft. If you have made changes to your
- drawing but not saved it yet, a warning pop-up will ask if you want
- to. Similarly, changes to the current font, pattern and/or graph point
- values, will be checked and you will be warned before actually exiting
- to DOS. If everything is safely saved, when you press [F10] you will
- immediately be returned to the DOS prompt.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 12
-
-
-
-
-
- Drawing Commands
- ----------------
-
- The basic drawing operations can be specified in two ways. You can
- press [F2] (mouse left button) to choose from the Draw menu, or you
- can press the mnemonic character associated with the command.
- For example to select the line command either press:
-
- [F2][v][v][v][v][v][v][v][v][Enter]
- or
- [F2][L][Enter] or simply press [L].
-
- Most drawing operations follow the same sequence of operations:
-
- 1. Position the cursor to a starting anchor point.
- 2. Select the drawing command.
- 3. Move the cursor to the desired ending point.
- 4. Press any key other than cursor movement or numeric to
- complete the operation.
-
- Remember, at any time while moving the cursor, you can fine tune
- cursor movement or speed up cursor movement by pressing the
- numeric keys to change the current cursor increment. Also you can
- press the [S] key to [S]uspend the cursor increment for fine work.
-
-
- Line
-
- 1. Move the cursor to one end of the future line.
- 2. Press [L] to start the line.
- 3. Move the cursor to the other end.
- 4. Press [Enter].
-
- I think you get the idea.
-
-
- Box
-
- Press [B] to begin the [B]ox command. The starting position is one
- corner of the box, the ending cursor position is the opposite corner.
-
-
- Rectangle
-
- This is similar to [B]ox, but the rectangle is filled with the current
- fill pattern. The [R]ectangle command is useful for erasing areas of
- the drawing, by selecting a completely blank pattern as the current
- fill (and the [R]eplace drawing mode). See below for how to select
- patterns.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 13
-
-
-
-
-
- Circle
-
- Press [C] to draw a circle. The starting position is the center of the
- circle. Move the cursor outward to establish the diameter and press
- [Enter].
-
-
- Paint
-
- Position the cursor within a bounded area on the screen. Press [P] to
- [P]aint the area with the current fill pattern. See below for how to
- select and edit patterns. Note that the selected area must be tightly
- bounded by white dots. A single missing dot provides an escape route
- for the pattern to fill adjacent areas.
-
-
- Text
-
- To add text to your drawing, position the cursor and press [T] to
- enter [T]ext mode. The cursor will become an underline and what you
- type next will be shown using the built-in IBM graphics font. You
- can use backspace and the [<] and [>] arrow keys for simple editing
- and the [Enter] key to move to the start of the next line.
-
- To exit text mode, press [Esc].
-
- Note that this mode always positions the text on an 8 dot boundary
- both vertically and horizontally. To position the text between this 8
- dot grid, first type the text, then exit text mode and use the
- [O]bject and [D]rop commands to move it to a new location.
-
- As you type, the cursor will wrap to the next line when you reach
- the right edge of the current window. You can set a smaller window
- with the [Alt + W] key to restrict the text to a selected area.
-
- Another way to add text is to import from an ASCII text file. You do
- this by adding two characters to your text file, a 'T' at the begin-
- ning and a '%' at the end. this makes the file a valid PC-Draft Macro
- file. Refer to the Macro section for an example.
-
-
- Write (Graphic Font)
-
- Pressing [W] places you in [W]rite mode. The cursor changes to a box
- the size of the currently loaded graphics font. When first started PC-
- Draft does not have a font loaded. To experiment with [W]rite mode,
- press [F3][F][R] to retrieve a font. In the filename pop-up prompt
- box enter: FON\EURO and press [Enter]. The eurostyle font will be
- loaded from the font sub-directory: FON. Now enter [W]rite mode.
- You can move the box cursor with the arrow keys and enter text in
- your drawing.
-
- While in [W]rite mode you can suspend cursor increment by pressing
- [Alt + S], since the [S] key is used to write S's.
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 14
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Object
-
- By Object, we mean a portion of the drawing, a bit mapped image.
- The [O]bject command allows you to grab an area of the drawing
- from within the current screen window. Once you have grabbed an
- area, you've got an object which can then be [D]ropped (re-drawn) in
- a new position. Also objects can be saved in a file (.OBJ files) to
- create a library of objects. And, of course, object files can be
- retrieved to be added to other drawings.
-
- This command works like the [B]ox command. Position the cursor to
- one corner of the area to be grabbed. Press [O]. Then move the
- cursor to the opposite corner of the area and press [Enter] to grab
- it.
-
-
- Drop Object
-
- When you have an Object currently in memory either by using the
- [O]bject command or by retrieving it from an .OBJ file, you use the
- [D]rop command to re-draw the object in the current drawing.
-
- When you press [D], the cursor takes the form of a box the size of
- the current object. Move the box to the position in your drawing
- where you want the image and press [Enter].
-
-
- Transfer to Font
-
- This command ([X]fer) is like the [O]bject command. With [X]fer, you
- grab an area of the drawing to be copied to a specific character in
- the current graphics font. When you press [X], the cursor becomes a
- box the size of the current font. Move the box to the image to be
- grabbed and press the key for the character to copy to. For example,
- to grab an image to use for the A character, press [A]. You can then
- move to another area and grab again for another character. Press
- [Enter] to exit this mode.
-
- Note that you cannot [X]fer to numeric characters (0 to 9), because
- these keys are used to change the cursor increment value. First
- [X]fer the image to another temporary character. Then use the font
- copy function: [F10] to copy from the temporary to the one you
- want.
-
-
- Zoom
-
- [Z]oom allows you to edit a portion of your drawing at the pixel
- level more easily by enlarging the dots. Position the cursor in the
- center of the area to zoom and press [Z]. When the box appears, you
- can move the cursor with the arrow keys. The [Ins] key (mouse right
- button) toggles pixels on or off. When the cursor is over a blank
- space, pressing [Ins] will turn on the pixel there. When the cursor is
- over a pixel already on, pressing [Ins] will turn it off.
-
- PC-Draft I Page 15
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The [F9] (mouse left button) key lets you cycle through three
- drawing modes:
-
- o Press [F9] once to draw pixels as you move.
- o Press [F9] again to erase as you move.
- o Press [F9] again and you are back to the original state, no
- change will be made as you move the cursor.
-
-
- While in Zoom mode these function keys perform new functions:
-
- [F1] shifts the zoomed image left one pixel.
- [F2] shifts the zoomed image right.
- [F3] fills the zoomed area (all white).
- [F4] clears the zoomed area (all black).
- [F5] reverses each pixel in the zoomed area.
- [F8] will print the screen with the zoom window.
-
-
- Kursor
-
- This toggles the cursor shape back and forth from the small x to the
- full screen cross.
-
-
- Mouse cursor
-
- If you are using a MicroSoft compatible mouse, this command changes
- to the arrow cursor. From the keyboard press [Alt + C]. Select this
- command again to return to the normal cursor.
-
-
- Color
-
- This changes the foreground color to one of the possible 15 standard
- IBM Color Graphic Adapter colors. From the keyboard press [Ctrl +
- F1]. Each time you execute this command, the color is cycled to the
- next in the list, eventually repeating.
-
-
- Window
-
- The [W]indow command allows you to designate a rectangular area of
- the screen to contain subsequent drawing operations. Once you have
- created a smaller than normal window (normally the drawing window
- is the full screen), the cursor will not move outside the borders of
- your window and lines and fills will not spill out. You specify the
- area of the window similar to the way you draw a box. Position the
- cursor to a staring corner, press [Alt + W], move to an opposite
- corner, press [Enter]. To undo the window, press [Alt + W] again.
- This command is not on the menu.
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 16
-
-
-
-
-
- Patterns
- --------
-
- Patterns are created as 8 by 8 pixel grids which are repeated to fill
- areas.
-
- PC-Draft keeps 8 patterns resident in memory at a time which are
- used by the [R]ectangle and [P]aint commands to fill areas
-
- Patterns are stored in .PAT files in the PAT sub-directory. You can
- create your own patterns or edit those that come with PC-Draft.
-
- When first started, a default set of patterns is defined. Press [F4] to
- pop-up the current pattern list.
-
-
- Loading Patterns
-
- Press the sequence: [F3][P][R] for "File menu, [P]atterns, [R]etrieve".
- Then in the filename prompt box, enter: [PAT\], then press [^] or [v]
- to step through the directory of patterns. Press [Enter] to retrieve a
- pattern.
-
-
- Selecting Patterns
-
- Press [F4] to display the list of current patterns. Either press the
- number of the pattern you want, or move the arrow cursor to point
- to it, then press [Enter] to make it the current pattern.
-
-
- Creating and changing Patterns
-
- Once you have selected a pattern as "current", return to the pattern
- pop-up by pressing [F4], then press [E] to edit the current pattern.
- Within the pattern editing box, you will see happy faces representing
- pixels that are "on". The cursor position is shown as a single dot
- when over an "off" pixel and as a solid face when over an "on" pixel.
-
- You can move with the arrow keys (or mouse) and toggle pixels on
- and off with the space bar (mouse left button).
-
-
- Saving Patterns
-
- If you create your own patterns, you must save them in a .PAT file.
- Press [F3][P][S] for: "File menu, [P]atterns, [S]ave". Enter a filename
- (no extension, PC-Draft will add .PAT as the default extension).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 17
-
-
-
-
-
- Objects
- -------
-
- Above we discussed Objects and how to grab an area of the drawing
- as an object that could be saved and [D]ropped in new positions.
-
-
- Saving Objects
-
- To save your current object (after you have performed an [O]bject
- command), press [F3][O][S] for: "File menu, [O]bject, [S]ave". Then
- enter a filename (PC-Draft will add the default .OBJ filename
- extension).
-
-
- Retrieving Objects
-
- PC-Draft comes with several example object files in the OBJ sub-
- directory. Press [F3][O][R] to retrieve an object. In the filename
- prompt box enter: [OBJ\] and press [^] or [v] to step through the
- object directory. Press [Enter] to retrieve.
-
-
-
- Fonts
- -----
-
- With PC-Draft you can load, edit and create a variety of fonts. Each
- font is stored as a file with a .FON extension. Fonts may consist of
- characters or may be all symbols.
-
-
- Using Fonts
-
- You can load an existing font by pressing: [F3][F][R] for: "File menu,
- [F]ont, [R]etrieve". In the filename prompt box, enter: "FON\" and
- press [^] or [v] to step through the font directory. Press [Enter] to
- retrieve.
-
- Once you have loaded a font, when you press [W] (for [W]rite) the
- cursor becomes a box the size of the font. Some fonts contain only a
- subset of the alphabet. So, if nothing happens when you try to type
- a character in [W]rite mode, perhaps the current font has no
- character defined for that key. Try uppercase. To leave [W]rite mode,
- press [Enter] or [Esc].
-
-
- Creating and changing Fonts
-
- Press [F6] to pop-up the font editing window. You will see the
- filename of the current font on the top line followed by the current
- key shown in brackets (also on the top line). The current range of
- characters in the current font is shown on the next two lines in the
- window as, for instance: "START: A", "END: Z". This means that this
- font contains a character for each keyboard character between
-
- PC-Draft I Page 18
-
-
-
-
-
- uppercase A to Z. It is important to make the distinction between
- font characters and keyboard characters. With some fonts loaded, for
- example, pressing the [A] key may draw an Apple rather than an 'A'.
-
- Also shown at the top of the font window is the current font's
- height and width. These are expressed in pixels. The maximum
- character height is 32 pixels. The maximum width is 48.
-
- Warning: you should not change the height and width of an
- existing font. Set these values only when you are
- creating a new font.
-
- The "SPACE:" field indicates the amount of space needed for the
- particular character currently displayed. By varying this from
- character to character, you can create proportionally spaced fonts.
- For instance, in a font whose size is 32 dots high by 24 dots wide,
- the 'I' character may need 8 dots of space, while the 'M' character
- would need 24 dots. To change this value press [F6].
-
- When you press any character key that falls within the range of the
- current font, that character will be displayed for editing. You can
- move the cursor with the arrow keys. Similar to the [Z]oom command
- discussed above, the [F9] key (mouse left button) controls the editing
- of pixels:
-
- o Press [F9] once to draw pixels as you move.
- o Press [F9] again to erase as you move.
- o Press [F9] again and you are back to the original state, no
- change will be made as you move the cursor. In this mode,
- the [Ins] (mouse right button) key will toggle the current
- pixel.
-
- The usage of the other function keys is shown in the Font window:
-
- [F1] Shifts the current character left one pixel.
- [F2] Shifts it right.
- [F3] Fills the entire character.
- [F4] Clears it.
- [F5] Reverses each pixel.
- [F6] Allows you to change the character size of the font
- and/or the space for the current character.
- [F7] Allows you to change the range of characters
- included in this font.
- [F8] Prints the screen, including the font window.
- [F9] Toggle the setting or clearing of pixels.
- [F10] Allows you to copy the image from another character
- to the current one.
-
-
- Note that you can copy images drawn on the regular drawing area
- into specified characters in the font with the [X]fer command
- described in the Drawing Commands section above.
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 19
-
-
-
-
-
- Saving Fonts
-
- To save a font, press: [F3][F][S] for "File menu, [F]ont, [S]ave". And
- enter a filename. PC-Draft will automatically add the .FON file
- extension.
-
- Note that fonts do not necessarily have to contain characters. They
- provide a convenient way to store a group of symbols or objects, so
- that they are available in memory all at once. For example the font
- file: FLOW.FON contains objects designed to draw flow charts:
-
-
-
- Graphic Macros
- --------------
-
- This feature of PC-Draft provides a way to store a sequence of
- keystrokes in a .MAC file for later playback. This is another way to
- create a library of images. MAC files are stored as normal ASCII text
- files and can be edited by your favorite text editor.
-
- As well as a way of saving drawing commands, macros can be used to
- provide a variety of interesting animation effects.
-
-
- Using Macros
-
- To start the playback of a macro (for example use one of the samples
- supplied with PC-Draft), press [F3][M][R] and in the filename prompt
- box enter: [MAC\] and press [^] or [v] to step through the MAC
- directory. Press [Enter] to start. The sequence of keystrokes stored
- in the selected macro file will be immediately played back.
-
- By changing the current cursor increment value, and then replaying
- the macro, you can redraw a given shape larger or smaller (as long
- as the cursor increment value was not changed within the macro
- itself).
-
-
- Creating Macros
-
- To start creating a new macro, press [F3][M][S], and enter a
- filename. When you press [Enter] to return to the drawing screen,
- each keystroke from that point on will be recorded and saved in the
- specified file.
-
- To end the recording of keys, press [%] (the percent symbol key).
- The .MAC file will be closed. You can then replay the macro in
- different positions, and with different cursor increment values.
-
-
- Suspend Cursor Increment
-
- It is useful to be able to move one pixel at a time within a macro
- without actually changing the cursor increment value so that the
-
- PC-Draft I Page 20
-
-
-
-
-
- macro can be replayed for different sized objects. This can be
- accomplished with the [S]uspend command to temporarily cause the
- cursor to move one dot at a time.
-
-
- Relative [+/-] Cursor Increment
-
- Similarly, you can use the [+] and [-] keys to increment and decre-
- ment the cursor increment value to make changes relative to the
- value in effect when the macro is started.
-
-
- .MAC file structure
-
- Macro files are created as standard ASCII text files and may be
- edited with your ASCII text editor (even EDLIN!). .MAC files simply
- consist of each keystroke as entered during their creation. Control
- keys are represented by their keyboard scan value as an ASCII
- character preceded by a "^" character.
-
- The common PC-Draft keystrokes are as follows:
-
- [F1] = ^; [^] = ^H [Ctrl + PgUp] = ^(value 132)
- [F2] = ^< [v] = ^P [Ctrl + PgDn] = ^v
- [F3] = ^= [<] = ^K [Ctrl + <] = ^s
- [F4] = ^> [>] = ^M [Ctrl + >] = ^t
- [F5] = ^? [Home] = ^G
- [F6] = ^@ [End] = ^O [Enter] = (value 13)
- [F7] = ^A [PgUp] = ^I [Esc] = ^[
- [F8] = ^B [PgDn] = ^Q
- [F9] = ^C
- [F10] = ^D
-
- For example the shadow box macro: SHADOW.MAC is:
-
- B^Q^M^M^M^HS^P^P^P^P^MR^M^M^M^M^M^MS^PR^K^K^K^KS^H^H^HS^H%
-
- Note that the macro file must end with the "%" terminator character.
-
-
- Importing text files:
-
- You can import text from a standard ASCII text file into the graphic
- screen. To do so, you must do three things:
-
- 1. Add the character "t" as the first character in the file. This
- will tell PC-Draft I to enter text mode.
-
- 2. Add the character "%" to the end of the file. This tells the
- macro function that the end of the macro has been reached.
-
- 3. Rename the file so that its extension is .MAC.
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 21
-
-
-
-
-
- Actually what you do is convert the text file into a PC-Draft I macro
- file. Now, to import the text:
-
- 1. Set the window size as appropriate for the text in the
- position you want within the graphic screen area with the
- [Alt + W] command.
-
- 2. Position the cursor to the upper left corner of the window.
-
- 3. Load the macro by pressing: [F3][M][R] and entering the
- name of your text file.
-
- That's it. The text will be imported into the window area, wrapping
- around as necessary. If your text file is too long for the window
- size, you will have to put up with a lot of beeping as the macro tries
- to write characters at the end of the window.
-
-
-
-
- Graphs
- ------
-
-
- PC-Draft's graphing function allows you to automatically create line,
- bar and pie charts. While this function is not as sophisticated as you
- might find in business graphics programs dedicated to that purpose,
- PC-Draft provides the means to enhance your graphs with labels,
- pattern fills, etc. in a much more flexible and free form way. You are
- the artist. PC-Draft is the tool.
-
- Creating graphs involves three steps:
-
- 1. Enter a set of value pairs (for X and Y graph axis).
- 2. Select the type of graph: Bar, Line, Points, or Pie.
- 3. Draw the graph (similar to the [B]ox command or the
- [C]ircle command for pie charts).
-
-
- Editing Points
-
- Press [F7] to pop-up the graph menu. Then press [E] to edit points.
- Enter values for each element in your graph. Normally the values on
- the X axis would be equal for equally sized Bars in a Bar graph for
- example. So, enter a 1 for each element down the X column. The
- first X axis entry of zero signals the end. If your graph has 8
- elements, the ninth entry in the X column should be zero. If your Y
- values are decimal, enter them without the decimal point. For
- instance, enter 12.34 as 1234, and then 56.00 as 5600.
-
-
- Saving Points
-
- You can save your graph data to a .PTS file by pressing: [F7][S] and
- specifying a filename.
-
- PC-Draft I Page 22
-
-
-
-
-
-
- loading Points
-
- Similarly, you load graph data with: [F7][L].
-
-
- Graph Type
-
- Specify the type of graph you want to draw by pressing [F7][T].
- Then select either [B]ar, [L]ine, [D]ots, or [P]ie.
-
-
- Drawing graphs
-
- Once you have entered or loaded point values and selected a graph
- type, you can draw your graph anywhere in your drawing. For graph
- types other than Pie, position the cursor at one corner of a rectan-
- gular area, press [G], then move the cursor to the opposite corner
- and press [Enter].
-
- PC-Draft automatically scales the graph to fill the rectangular area
- specified. To overlay two or more sets of graph point values:
-
- 1. Draw a bar graph for the first set of points.
- 2. Turn off the Graph s[C]ale by pressing: [F7][C] so that the
- scale indicator shows: [OFF]. This will cause PC-Draft to use
- the same scale established from the previous graph.
- 3. Load the second set of point values.
- 4. Select the drawing mode: [O]verlay (see below).
- 5. Draw the graph for the second set of points in the same
- location as the first.
-
- For the Pie graph type, move the cursor to the center of a circular
- area, press [G], and move the cursor outward to size the pie chart.
-
-
-
- Drawing Mode
- ------------
-
- The drawing mode determines what happens pixel by pixel when you
- draw over existing (set) pixels. When first started PC-Draft is in
- [R]eplace drawing mode.
-
- To change drawing mode, press [F5] to pop-up the drawing mode
- menu. Then press the letter in brackets for the mode you want, or
- press [^] or [v] to move the pointer and press [Enter] to make your
- selection.
-
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- PC-Draft I Page 23
-
-
-
-
-
- The effect of each drawing mode is as follows:
-
- [R]eplace: The resulting pixel equals the drawing pixel.
-
- [O]verlay: The resulting pixel is changed only if the drawing
- pixel is "on".
-
- [T]ransparent: The resulting Pixel is made the opposite of the
- drawing pixel. This is "XOR" mode.
-
- You must experiment with the drawing mode to see how it affects
- other operations such as spra[Y] can, [J]ust paint and [P]aint.
-
-
-
- Printing
- --------
-
- PC-Draft will print your drawing using either an IBM or Epson
- compatible dot matrix printer or a laser printer compatible with the
- Hewlett Packard LaserJet+. Before attempting to print be sure that
- the file: "PC-DRAFT.000" is available on the currently logged drive.
- This is an overlay file that will be loaded when you select the print
- function.
-
- You can print a portion of the current screen window, the whole
- screen or the entire drawing. The printing function is evoked by
- pressing the [F8] key. If you press [F8] with a pop-up menu "up",
- you will print the screen with the menu pop-up included. Otherwise,
- the menu bar will not be printed.
-
-
- Printer resolution modes
-
- It is not always possible to get dot matrix printer output to exactly
- represent the same aspect ratio as the graphics screen.
-
- The monitor's (in high resolution 640 by 200 dot mode) aspect ratio
- is 2:1. It takes two horizontal dots to equal one vertical dot. A box
- that is 100 pixels wide by 50 pixels high will appear square.
-
- Printers compatible with either the IBM Graphic dot matrix or the
- Epson dot matrix printers always print with a vertical resolution of
- 72 dots per inch (this is the spacing between the pins in the print
- head). So the perfect horizontal resolution to match the screen
- appearance is 144 dots per inch horizontally (144:72 ratio). The Epson
- FX+ series printers have this resolution, the IBM dot matrix printer
- does not.
-
- With this release of PC-Draft I, the 60 dots per inch modes print two
- vertical dots for each one in your original drawing in an attempt to
- get as close as possible to the 2:1 aspect ratio. 60:36 is close but not
- perfect. This mode fits one screen window on eight inch wide paper.
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 24
-
-
-
-
-
- The 240 dots per inch modes print one vertical dot for every two in
- your original drawing. The pixels in alternate lines are combined. This
- 240:144 aspect ratio is better than the normal 240:72, but still does
- not produce perfectly round circles.
-
- Each printer has different graphics resolution modes. The current
- version of PC-Draft supports four modes for each printer supported.
-
- For IBM Graphic dot matrix compatible:
-
- Mode [1] prints at 60 dots per inch. (480 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [2] prints at 120 dots per inch. (960 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [3] prints at 120 dots per inch. (draft mode is faster, prints
- every other dot.)
- Mode [4] prints at 240 dots per inch (1920 dots/8 inch line.) this
- fits two screens wide in 5-5/16 inches.)
-
- There is no mode for this printer that will print round circles.
-
- For Epson dot matrix compatible:
-
- Mode [1] prints at 60 dots per inch. (480 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [2] prints at 120 dots per inch. (960 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [3] prints at 144 dots per inch. (1152 dots/8 inch line.) This
- is best for round circles. However, you lose 128 dots
- from the far right of your drawing unless you have a
- wide carriage printer.
- Mode [4] prints at 240 dots per inch (1920 dots/8 inch line.) this
- fits two screens wide in 5-5/16 inches.)
-
- For HP LaserJet+ compatible:
-
- Mode [1] prints at 75 dots per inch. (600 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [2] prints at 100 dots per inch. (800 dots/8 inch line.)
- Mode [3] prints at 150 dots per inch. (1200 dots/8 inch line.) This
- fills an 8-1/2 by 11 inch size printout.
- Mode [4] prints at 300 dots per inch (2400 dots/8 inch line.) this
- fits two screens wide in 4.26 inches.)
-
- All modes for the LaserJet print double the number of pixels verti-
- cally to more closely match the proportions of the screen, so that
- squares and circles are printed square and round.
-
- If your drawing is the equivalent of two screens wide, you should use
- the high density modes to fit on 8 1/2 inch wide paper.
-
- If you have a printer that you would like PC-Draft to support, please
- send a copy of the dot graphics section of your printer manual and
- we will supply you with a printer driver for your printer and add it
- to our collection.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PC-Draft I Page 25
-
-
-
-
-
- Print current screen window
-
- Press [F8] to pop-up the print menu and select [S] for [S]creen. Then
- select a printer type. Then select a printer resolution mode: [1] - [4]
- from low to high density.
-
-
- Print full drawing
-
- Press [F8] to pop-up the print menu and select [A] for [A]ll. Then
- select a printer type and resolution mode.
-
-
- Print partial screen
-
- First position the cursor to one corner of a rectangular area of the
- screen to print. Press [F8] to pop-up the print menu and select [B]
- for [B]ox. After selecting the printer type, you then must position
- the cursor to the opposite corner of the area to print as if you were
- drawing a box. Then select a printer resolution mode: [1] - [4] from
- low to high density and press [Enter] (mouse right button) to start
- printing.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
- PC-Draft I Page 26
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Summary of Drawing Commands
-
- B - Box O - Object grab
- - (minus) - decrement
- C - Circle P - Paint cursor increment value
-
- D - Drop Object R - Rectangle + (plus) - increment
- cursor increment value
- E - Erase mode S - Suspend
- . (period) - Direct Move
- G - Graph T - Text mode
-
- H - Home U - Undo
-
- K - Kursor change V - curVe
-
- L - Line X - Xfer font
-
- Z - Zoom
-
- F1 - F Key menu on/off F2 - Drawing menu
-
- F3 - File menu F4 - Patterns
-
- F5 - Drawing mode menu F6 - Font Editor
-
- F7 - Graphs menu F8 - Print
-
- F9 - Erase Screen F10 - Exit
-
- Alt-F9 - Erase Drawing Ctrl-F1 - change color
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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- PC-Draft I Page 27
-
-
-
-
-
- Index
- -----
-
- B Fonts 18
-
- Bar Graph 23 Graph
- Box 13 Points 22
- Type 23
- C Graphic Macros 20
- Graphs 22
- Circle 14
- Clearing the Screen 10 H
- Color 16
- Compressed Files 11 Home 9
- CONFIG.SYS 5 HP LaserJet+ 25
- Cursor
- Increment 7 I
- Mouse 8, 16
- Movement 7 IBM Graphic dot matrix 25
- suspend 14, 20 Import text 21
- Type 7 Installation 4
-
- D K
-
- Direct Move 9 Kursor 7,16
- Directory search 12
- Drawing Area 8 L
- Drawing Commands 13
- Box 13 Laser printer 24
- Circle 14 Line 13
- Color 16 Line Graph 23
- Drop Object 15
- Kursor 16 M
- Line 13
- Object 15 MAC file 20
- Paint 14 Structure 21
- Rectangle 13 Macros 20
- Text 14 Menu Selections 8
- Transfer to Font 15 MicroSoft 5
- Window 16 Mode 23
- Write (Graphic Font) 14 Mouse
- Zoom 15 buttons 5
- Drawing Mode 23 cursor 8, 16
- Drop Object 15 driver 5
- DWG file 10 move
- Cursor 7
- E direct 9
- screen 9
- Ending PC-Draft 12
- Epson dot matrix 25 O
- Erasing 10
- OBJ file 18
- F Object 15
- Objects 18
- Features 1 Overlay Drawing Mode 24
- File Names 6
- FON file 20
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- P
-
- Paint 14
- PAT file 17
- Patterns 17
- PIC file 10
- Pie Graph 23
- Printers 6
- resolution modes 24
- Printing 24
- PTS file 22
-
- R
-
- Rectangle 13
- Relative Cursor Increment 21
- Replace Drawing Mode 24
-
- S
-
- Saving Your Work 10
- Suspend
- Cursor 20
-
- T
-
- Text 14
- Transfer to Font 15
- Transparent Drawing Mode 24
-
- U
-
- Undo 10
-
- W
-
- Window 16
- Write (Graphic Font) 14
-
- X
-
- Xfer 15
-
- Z
-
- Zoom 15
-
-
-
- PC-Draft Registration/Order form
- --------------------------------------------
- The license for the registered user version
- including PC-Draft II software on disk and a
- typeset quality illustrated manual with font
- and object libraries, and the PIX slideshow
- program and the screen capture utility costs:
-
- $50.00
-
-
- Please send ______ copies of the latest version of PC-Draft II to:
-
-
- Name: _____________________________________________________________
-
- Company:___________________________________________________________
-
- Address:___________________________________________________________
-
- City:__________________________________ State:____ Zip:____________
-
- Telephone: (______) ______-__________
-
-
- Payment of $_____________: [ ] check enclosed [ ] VISA [ ] MC
-
- card #:______________________________________ Exp. Date:___________
-
-
- Mail to: Natural Software
- 19 South 5th. Street
- St. Charles, Illinois 60174
-
- For quantity discounts and site liscense information call:
-
- (312) 377-7320