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DRAFT CHOICE Version 1.5 September 1990 TRIUS Inc. 231 Sutton Street, Suite 2D-3 P.O. Box 249 North Andover, MA 01845-1639 Tel. (508) 794-9377 (C) Copyright 1988, 1989, 1990 COPYRIGHT NOTICE ---------------- The DRAFT CHOICE Product is NOT "Public Domain" and it is NOT "Freeware". DRAFT CHOICE is a copyrighted software product developed and owned by TRIUS, Inc. located in North Andover, Massachusetts, U.S.A. You may make and keep back-up copies of the software for your personal use, provided that you copy all the copyright, trademark, and other information indicated on the initial screen display, on each backup copy label. The rights to receive any financial or other benefit, and to modify the product or employ its components in any kind of derivative work, are reserved exclusively by TRIUS, Inc. You may not reverse-engineer, disassemble, modify, decompile or create derivative works of the product. You acknowledge that the product includes certain trade secrets and confidential information, all of which is the copyrighted intellectual property of TRIUS, Inc. DRAFT CHOICE is a trademark of TRIUS Inc. and the TRIUS Logo is a trademark of TRIUS, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. The DRAFT CHOICE User's Manual is copyrighted and all rights are reserved. The reproduction of this document, in whole or part, or its conversion to electronic medium are prohibited unless prior consent, in writing, has been given by TRIUS, Inc. EPSON is a trademark of Epson America Inc. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. LOTUS 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation HERCULES is a trademark of Hercules Corporation MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Additions and modifications to this program and the manual may be made periodically as needed and they should be considered additions to the material presented herein. LIMITED WARRANTY ---------------- This program is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to quality and performance of these programs is with you. Should the program prove defective, you (not TRIUS, Inc.) assume the entire cost of all necessary repair, servicing, or correction. In no event will TRIUS, Inc. be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use these programs, even if TRIUS, Inc. has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages so the above may not apply to you. You acknowledge that you have read this agreement, understand it, and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions. You further agree that it is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between us, which supersedes any proposal or prior agreement, oral or written, and any other communications between us. TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- Page COPYRIGHT NOTICE LIMITED WARRANTY INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 WHAT'S ON THE DISKETTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 GRAPHICS BOARDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 MOUSE INTERFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 MAKING A WORKING DISK/DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 COMMAND LINE SWITCH OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CURSOR MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 KEYBOARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PROGRAM INTERFACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MAIN MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 DROP DOWN MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 INPUT WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 DIALOG BOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 REFERENCE MARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ENTERING COORDINATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 FUNCTION KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 LEAVING THE PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 DRAFT CHOICE COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DRAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 [OTHER] ARROW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 [OTHER] BEZIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 BOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 [OTHER] COMPLEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 [OTHER] FREEHAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 [OTHER] MARK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 [OTHER] PARAMETRIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 POLYGON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 [OTHER] SPLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 EDIT COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 OBJECT SELECTION METHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 [OTHER] ARRAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 [OTHER] BREAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 COPY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ERASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 [OTHER] EXPLODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 FILLET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 [OTHER] FIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 [OTHER] MIRROR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ROTATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 [OTHER] RUBBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 SCALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 [OTHER] TRIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 UNDO! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 XTEND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ALTER COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 DOUBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 FILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 JOIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 MODIFY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 STYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 IMAGE COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 DOUBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 HALF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 LAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 PAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 UPDATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ZOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 OPTION COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ATTACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 DEFAULT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 FILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 GRID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 MACRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 STYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 TOGGLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 PLOT COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 [SETUP] CODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 [SETUP] DEVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 EJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 GO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 IMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 [SETUP] OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 [SETUP] SERIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 FILE COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 CONFIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 ERASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 IMPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 NEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 OSHELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 SAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 XTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 SYMBOL COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 ANIMATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 [ANIMATE] GET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 [ANIMATE] PLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 [ANIMATE] RESET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 [ANIMATE] STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 EXPLODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 FONT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 [FONT] ALT-READ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 [FONT] MAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 [FONT] READ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 [FONT] WRITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 MAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 RESET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 USE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 MEASURE COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 ANGLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 BOUNDARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 COORDINATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 DIAMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 LEADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 [QUERY] ANGLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 [QUERY] AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 [QUERY] LENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 [QUERY] OBJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 RADIUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 LAYER COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ACTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 COLOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 DISPLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 PROTECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 INTRODUCTION ------------ Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs have evolved from simple mainframe computer tools to powerful design and engineering environments for PCs, available to amateurs and experts alike. DRAFT CHOICE is an inexpensive alternative to packages that cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars and is being accepted as the design tool of choice. DRAFT CHOICE's popularity is due to the following: Low Price: For a small investment you get a tool that makes drawing and designing a joy. Power: With DRAFT CHOICE's editing and Auto-Dimensioning capabilities, design and engineering drawings can be easily created and checked by computer. Flexibility: Dynamically modify your drawings until you get the results you desire. Say goodbye to messy erasing and redrawing. Time Saving: Frequently used combinations of entities can be turned into reusable symbols to save time and memory. Versatility: High quality drawings may be produced on 9-pin and 24-pin printers, laserjet printers and HPGL compatible pen plotters. Support: TRIUS' development and technical support teams are always available to answer your questions and help you squeeze the most out of DRAFT CHOICE. Compatibility: Bonus utility programs make translation back and forth from AUTOCAD files to DRAFT CHOICE files a breeze. Simple DRAFT CHOICE requires only the bare minimum of Requirements: hardware. A PC compatible with 320K RAM, a Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA, or AT&T monitor, and a 9-pin dot matrix printer are all you need to start enjoying the benefits of the program. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 1 Expanded Draft Choice incorporates an amazing new technology Memory: that permits your drawings to use either EMS or emulate EMS with your hard drive, thus making it possible to create large-size (many entities) drawings. This on-disk manual is written and designed to help you get the most out of DRAFT CHOICE while explaining some basic CAD concepts. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 2 THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT --------------------- Shareware is a marketing concept which allows you to review and evaluate software without having paid for it first. If you don't like the software, don't use it. However if you do find the software useful, register to support continued product development and enhancement and of course to get a few things in return. Registration entitles you to the latest version of the program, a printed manual, font and help files, example drawings, symbol libraries and update notifications. Does this concept work? Yes and that's why the quality of shareware products gets better with each registration. Every registration we receive provides us with powerful motivation to continue improving our software. DRAFT CHOICE is distributed under the shareware concept. You may copy the program (but NOT THE MANUAL OR UTILITY DISK) and give it to your friends or colleagues for their evaluation. If you encounter problems with our program, please contact us and we will do our best to help you. WHAT'S ON THE DISKETTES ----------------------- The READ.ME file, provided on the DRAFT CHOICE program diskette, contains last minute news about the program, important information that did not make it into the manual, and a brief description of the files on the DRAFT CHOICE diskettes. To view the READ.ME file on your screen, use the command TYPE from the DOS prompt: A>TYPE READ.ME [ENTER] To print the contents of the READ.ME file on your printer, use the command: A>COPY READ.ME PRN [ENTER] GRAPHICS BOARDS --------------- DRAFT CHOICE works extremely well with basic PC systems. All you need is an IBM PC or compatible computer with a graphics board from the following list (and the corresponding monitor). DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 3 MNEMONIC GRAPHICS BOARD PIXEL RESOLUTION CGA Color Graphics Adaptor 640x200--mono EGA Enhanced Graphics Adaptor 640x350--16 colors HGA Hercules Graphics Adaptor 720x348--mono ATT ATT Graphics Board 640x400--mono VGA Video Graphics Array 640x400--16 colors The color assignment on a color monitor is as follows: 0 - Black 4 - Red 8 - Dark Gray 12 - Light Red 1 - Blue 5 - Magenta 9 - Light Blue 13 - Light Magenta 2 - Green 6 - Brown 10 - Light Green 14 - Yellow 3 - Cyan 7 - Light Gray 11 - Light Cyan 15 - White MEMORY ------ DRAFT CHOICE requires a minimum of 320K to operate. On a 640K machine operating under DOS 3.0, you should have approximately 200K of memory to use for your drawings. This corresponds approximately to a drawing composed of over 6000 individual elements (lines, circles etc). An average B size drawing might be made up of several hundred elements so you should clearly have plenty of room for your drawing(s). Starting with Version 1.5, expanded memory is automatically detected and used by the program. If you don't have EMS, a hard disk or diskette may be used to simulate EMS RAM (see section on command line switches). MOUSE INTERFACE --------------- If you want, you may select to use one of several different digitizing tablets and mice with DRAFT CHOICE. Most such devices connect to a serial I/O (Input/Output) port (usually COM1, i.e., the first communications port). In the current version of the program, a digitizing tablet operates in the same mode as a mouse, therefore only the description of the mouse operation is treated in this section. To attach the mouse to your computer, simply plug the mouse into the serial port (a 25 pin RS232C connector or a 9 pin mini-connector). Next, install the mouse driver. A mouse driver is a small memory- resident program included with your mouse when it was purchased. There are normally two types of mouse drivers. One is loaded as a device through the CONFIG.SYS file, while the other can be installed at any time from the DOS prompt. DRAFT CHOICE works with both types of mouse drivers. (Refer to your mouse's operating manual for details DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 4 on how to install each type of driver). The mouse driver provides a standard interface which permits different programs to interact with different mice. As an example, MOUSE SYSTEMS CORP. provides an optical mouse (with no moving parts) called the PC MOUSETM . The driver provided with this mouse is called MSMOUSE.COM. Execute the driver from DOS by typing MSMOUSE and pressing [ENTER]. A message will be displayed which states that the mouse driver has been successfully loaded. That's all you have to do to make a mouse work with DRAFT CHOICE. If the mouse driver was successfully loaded, you will see the mouse pointer immediately upon entering DRAFT CHOICE. NOTE: Variations in mouse names and operation do exist. The name of your mouse driver and installation procedures should be explained in the documentation that came with your mouse. INSTALLATION ------------ The DRAFT CHOICE program does not have a complicated installation process. Setting up to run on your system simply consists of copying the files to a working diskette or a subdirectory on your hard disk. Alternatively, you may use the SETUP program provided with DRAFT CHOICE, which does the same thing. MAKING A WORKING DISK/DIRECTORY ------------------------------- Before using DRAFT CHOICE, we recommend that a working copy of the program be made either on your hard disk or on a separate floppy diskette. The SETUP.BAT file provided on the DRAFT CHOICE diskette makes the process simple. It will transfer the necessary files from the original diskette to your working disk/directory. There are no copy protection schemes or hidden files to wrestle with. To make a working copy of the program, place the original diskette in drive A, and enter the command at the DOS prompt: SETUP X:\Dir1\Dir2 where: X: - Identifies the drive where the working copy will be placed, and \Dir1\Dir2 - Identifies the directory on the specified disk (directories are normally used only on hard disks). DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 5 NOTES: 1. If you are making a working copy on a floppy disk, the diskette must first be formatted. 2. If you are making a working copy on a hard disk, the specified directory must already exist. For example, to make a working copy of DRAFT CHOICE on a floppy disk in drive B: you would enter: SETUP B: (.. and press [ENTER] ..) To make a working copy on drive C: in a directory named DRAFTC, you would enter: SETUP C:\DRAFTC (.. and press [ENTER] ..) When the setup operation is complete, the DOS prompt will reappear on your screen. Place the original diskette in a safe place. If your working diskette later becomes damaged, repeat the above process to make a new working disk. COMMAND LINE SWITCH OPTIONS --------------------------- No hardware configuration is required when executing DRAFT CHOICE. However, to take advantage of the higher resolutions and startup options the program may be started with one or more command line switches. DRAFTC /Switch 1/Switch 2.../Switch n [ENTER] The following command line switches are available in DRAFT CHOICE: /ATT - AT&T Monitor/Card /E - EGA Monitor/Card /EV - VGA Monitor/Card (640x480) /H - Hercules/Card /MONO - Use only two colors B&W mode /NE - Don't use Expanded Memory /NT - Disable the Turbo Cursor Feature /SET=NN - Set color to NN /VM=XXX - Use Virtual Disk Memory in 16K pages (limit = 256 pages) /V1 - Special VGA/CGA Mode /YD=NNN - Plotter Buffer Delay (milliseconds) /FNT=fontname; - Load a new Default Font File DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 6 CURSOR MOVEMENT --------------- KEYBOARD -------- The keyboard cursor keys can be used easily to navigate the pointing cursor around the screen. A menu or command can be selected by pressing the first letter of the command or by moving the pointer on top of the command and pressing the ENTER key. The following keys may be used to manipulate the cursor. UP - move the cursor one step upwards DOWN - move the cursor one step downwards LEFT - move the cursor one step to the left RIGHT - move the cursor one step to the right PGUP - Increase the step size 2 times the previous step PGDN - Restore the step size to 1 pixel of movement ENTER - Select a command, or indicate a reference point ESC - Cancel a command, exit a menu, or cancel a point. Keeping the UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT cursor keys depressed will cause the cursor to accelerate in the desired direction. Tapping the keys will move the cursor one step at a time. MOUSE ----- Some mice have three buttons. DRAFT CHOICE, however, only uses two buttons on the mouse. They are the LEFT button which is functionally equivalent to the [ENTER] key on the keyboard (see above key explanation) and the MIDDLE or RIGHT mouse buttons which both represent the [ESC] key (see above). You can use either the keyboard or the mouse equivalents interchangeably. PROGRAM INTERFACES ------------------ MAIN MENU --------- The DRAFT CHOICE interface consists of a line of main menu selections across the top line of the screen. A menu item may be selected by either typing the first letter of the menu item or by moving the pointer up to the top line, highlighting the item, and then pressing ENTER. The main menu items have the following names: DRAW - Drawing objects (Line, Circles...) EDIT - Editing features (Copy, Move ...) ALTER - Modify attributes of entities IMAGE - Image zooming features (Update, Window, Half...) DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 7 OPTION - Global defaults (Grid, Toggles, Fill, Style...) PLOT - Print drawing/picture (Go, Image, Setup..) FILE - File handling (Load, Save, Import, Xport...) SYMBOL - Group and name objects and use as symbols MEASURE - Determine lengths, angles, areas LAYER - Select active layer, set colors, protection, etc. QUIT - Exit to DOS DROP DOWN MENUS --------------- When a menu item has been selected, a drop-down menu appears. You will notice that the first option in the drop-down menu is highlighted. Any option in the menu can be selected by typing the first letter of that option, or by highlighting it using the mouse or cursor keys and pressing [ENTER]. For example, to begin drawing a BOX which is one option in the DRAW menu, press "D" to select the DRAW menu, and then press "B" to select the box. Note that some drop-down menus contain an OTHER option which, if selected, will display additional menu options. It is possible to return back through any menu or option by pressing the [ESC] key. INPUT WINDOW ------------ An input window presents a prompt for a single piece of information, i.e. a name, dimension or scale factor. Note that the current contents of the input window can be erased by pressing either the [ESC] key or the right button on your mouse. DIALOG BOX ---------- A dialog box is a window which presents multiple choices which can be selected or modified. To select a choice with the keyboard, just type the first letter of the choice, i.e. to turn on the GRID press the letter G. The highlight will move to the choice with matching letter. To select a choice with the cursor keys highlight the desired choice and press [ENTER]. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 8 To select a choice with the mouse, move the mouse pointer. As the pointer passes over a choice the choice will be highlighted. To select that choice press the left button. REFERENCE MARK -------------- Each drawing object created by DRAFT CHOICE has a reference MARK which is represented by a small cross (X). This feature is used by editing commands to select an object for copying, moving or other manipulations. The reference mark will NOT be plotted or printed on your hard copy. The display of the marks on the screen can be toggled on or off by selecting the command OPTION, ENABLE, MARK. A check mark next to the word MARK in the dialog box indicates the reference marks will be displayed the next time the screen is updated. When disabled, reference marks will not be removed until after the next screen update. ENTERING COORDINATES -------------------- Drawings produced on DRAFT CHOICE use a floating point cartesian coordinate system with the following limits of accuracy. (X is measured horizontally and Y vertically) 1.0 E-37 <= | X or Y | <= 1.0 E+37 NOTE: Although the magnitude of representable numbers is very large, only 11 significant digits of precision are provided. Realistically, if you try to draw a map of a city, and you want accuracy down to 1/1000 inch, the maximum range would be: +/- 99,999,999.999 inches (or 1,578 miles) IMPORTANT! In addition to using the crosshair cursor when drawing, ---------- coordinates can only be entered accurately from the keyboard using one of four methods below. The first letter of each method identifies the type of coordinate. ABSOLUTE: Type A50,50 and press [ENTER]. Coordinate with respect to origin at a coordinate of 0,0. The first value represents X units and the second Y units. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 9 NOTE: This is the default coordinate if a letter is not specified, i.e., 50,50 is the same as typing A50,50. RELATIVE: R35,20 Similar to Absolute, but measured with respect to last X and Y coordinates entered. HINT, use this command to create objects with exact dimensions. POLAR: P100,45 Coordinate with respect to origin at absolute coordinate 0,0. The first value represents a RADIUS of 100 units projected at an angle of 45 degrees. All angles are measured positive counter clockwise from the horizontal (i.e. 3 o'clock). BEARING: B300,25 Similar to Polar but measured with respect to last coordinate. For example, if your last point was at 100,50, the following would result for each type of coordinate method used: A1000,200 - Absolute coordinate, means the new coordinate is located at 1000 units X and 200 units Y. R200,300 - Relative coordinate, means add 200 units X and 300 units Y to the last coordinate. (The equivalent absolute coordinate for the same location would be A300,350). P100,45 - Polar coordinate, means radius is 100 units from the origin and the angle is 45 degrees from the horizontal. B200,30 - Bearing coordinate, means relative radius is 200 units at an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 10 FUNCTION KEYS ------------- The bottom portion of the DRAFT CHOICE screen displays the identification of the function keys. F1 - Pressing F1 while in the ready mode of the program (not [HELP] when a secondary menu or command is displayed), invokes the help mode. The help screen contains a column of topics on the left hand side and a description of the highlighted topic on the right portion of the screen. Press ENTER to toggle between the Right/Left Window. Use the arrow keys to scroll up/down within each window. To exit the help menu, press the [ESC] key. F2 - Press this funciton key to execute a user-defined macro [MACRO] command sequence (see Options, Macro command). F3 - Invoke the calculator built into DRAFT CHOICE. The [CALC] operators and functions available in the calculator are defined below: OPERATORS -------------------- + - Addition - - Subtraction * - Multiplication / - Division FUNCTIONS ---------------------------------------- EXP(X) - Exponential (ex) SIN(X) - Sine of X (X in degrees) COS(X) - Cosine of X (X in degrees) ABS(X) - Absolute value of X TAN(X) - Tangent of X (X in degrees) ACOS(X) - Arc Cosine of X (Result in degrees) ASIN(X) - Arc Sine of X (Result in degrees) ATAN(X) - Arc Tangent of X (Result in degrees) INT(X) - Integer Portion of X LOG(X) - Logarithm (base 10) of X LN(X) - Natural logarithm of X MOD(X,Y) - Modulo division; return the remainder of X divided by Y. PI - Return constant value 3.1459265 SQRT(X) - Square root of X IF(X,A,B) - Returns A if x>1, B if X=0 DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 11 NOTE: You may enter a formula anytime a numeric value is requested. The above operators and functions may be combined for complex calculations, e.g.: SQRT(36) * LOG(100) + 10 will result in the value of 22 F4 - Toggle between the WINDOW and PICK selection methods, [WIND] (see OBJECT SELECTION METHODS). F7 - Permits drawing in vertical and 30-degree angles (six [ISO] directions) to produce isometric drawings. A check mark next to the F7-ISO in the bottom right of the DRAFT CHOICE screen indicates the Isometric mode is active. This mode can be adjusted at any time while drawing an object. F8 - The [F8] Function Key toggles the ORTHOGONAL MODE on and [ORTH] off. When turned on, all line segments are drawn either horizontal or vertical (four directions). A check mark next to the F8-ORTHO in the bottom right of the DRAFT CHOICE screen indicates the Orthogonal mode is active. This mode can be adjusted while drawing an object. F9 - Toggle the SNAP option ON and OFF. The snap spacing is [SNAP] set using the Option, Snap command. When snap is active the draw cursor is forced to the nearest snap point. A check mark next to the F9-SNAP in the bottom right of the DRAFT CHOICE screen indicates the Snap mode is active. This mode can be adjusted while drawing an object. F10 - Toggles ATTACH ON and OFF. When active and a point is [ATTACH] indicated, DRAFT CHOICE will search for the nearest object within the pick window distance (default is 8 pixels). If an object is found, DRAFT CHOICE will determine the closest reference point on the object (Endpoints or Middle) and the cursor will be repositioned at that point. A check mark next to the F10-ATTACH in the bottom right of the DRAFT CHOICE screen indicates the Attach mode is active. This mode can be adjusted at any time while drawing an object. LEAVING THE PROGRAM ------------------- You just completed your first masterpiece and are ready to quit for the day. MAKE SURE THAT YOU SAVE THE LATEST VERSION OF YOUR DRAWING. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 12 Select the FILE option from the main menu, then the SAVE option. When SAVE is selected, the file will be saved into the current data drive and subdirectory. Access the QUIT command by pressing Q on the keyboard or highlighting the QUIT command with your cursor keys or mouse. Once QUIT is selected, you will be given a second chance to change your mind when DRAFT CHOICE asks you to Confirm or Cancel your selection. If you performed the above by accident, or changed your mind about quitting the program, highlight the NO response and press [ENTER]. You will be returned to the DRAFT CHOICE work screen with your drawing intact. To exit completely, highlight the YES response and press [ENTER]. The program will now return you to DOS. Once the QUIT command is confirmed, all drawing information not saved will be lost. Remember to save your drawing before you QUIT! DRAFT CHOICE COMMANDS --------------------- This section describes the powerful commands that are available within DRAFT CHOICE through the drop-down menus. DRAW ---- This menu contains all the drawing commands available in DRAFT CHOICE. When the coordinates have been enabled (see OPTION TOGGLE COORD), the X-Y coordinate position of the cursor is displayed at the bottom of the screen. When enabled, delta X (dX) and delta Y (dY) coordinates are also displayed when one of the DRAW commands are selected. ARC --- Draw an arc by indicating the center of the arc, the starting point on the circumference, and then a second point on the circumference, clockwise from the first point. The arc is drawn according to the current circle aspect ratio. See DRAW CIRCLE SETUP ASPECT for information on adjusting the circle aspect ratio. (See also OPTION FILL) [OTHER] ARROW ------------- The arrow head is a predefined shape which is specified by point 1, (the tip of the arrow head) and point 2 (any point directed away from the tip). The length of the arrow head from the tip to the tail can DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 13 be specified in the current units of measurement from the SETUP menu. The orientation of the arrow can be adjusted by moving point 2 before pressing the [ENTER] key. Press [ESC] to cancel this object. [OTHER] BEZIER -------------- Draw a bezier curve (a special parabolic curve). Indicate points 1 and 2 as end points of the curve by moving the cursor and pressing the [ENTER] key when in position. Use point 3 (but don't immediately press the [ENTER] key) to adjust the shape of the curve. The curve will float, i.e. change size and shape as the cursor is moved. To fix The bezier curve to its final position press the [ENTER] key, or press [ESC] to cancel this object. (See also OPTION FILL) The bezier curve, has the characteristic that the slope of the curve at the end points (1 and 2) is tangent to imaginary lines drawn to point 3. BOX --- Draw a horizontally-aligned box between two points which represent diagonal corners of the box. The first point is chosen by positioning the cursor and pressing [ENTER]. After repositioning the cursor to the location where the opposite corner of the box is to be placed, the last point indicated by pressing [ENTER]. NOTE: You must type XY coordinates to precisely locate the diagonal corners of a box or have the snap mode active. CIRCLE ------ Draw a circle using a choice of three modes, RADIUS, DIAMETER, or POINTS, from the SETUP menu. RADIUS: The circle can be defined by a center point and any point on the radius. DIAMETER: The circle is defined by two points on the circumference. POINTS: The circle is defined by three points on the circumference. ASPECT: The aspect ratio of the circle can be changed to produce an ellipse with either a vertical or horizontal main axis. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 14 The circle can be located by using the PLACE command. You will be prompted according to the type of circle selected. The default circle is RADIUS with an ASPECT ratio of 1. [OTHER] COMPLEX --------------- A complex polygon is an irregular sided shape composed of straight lines. It is defined in a manner similar to the LINE command. New sides of the polygon are created by pressing [ENTER]. The last side is terminated by pressing the [ESC] key. The complex line will be filled with the default fill pattern if one is selected. (See Alter Fill, Option Fill) [OTHER] FREEHAND ---------------- A freehand curve allows you to draw on the screen using the cursor. This allows you to enter information like your signature directly into the drawing. However, a maximum of 100 points may be stored per object. The faster you move the cursor, the bigger the step size and the more of your basic signature you can enter. LINE ---- Draw a line from the last point to the current position of the cursor. Each time the [ENTER] key is pressed (or the left mouse button), a new line will be drawn from the last entered point. The sequence continues head-to-toe until the [ESC] key has been pressed (or the right mouse button). NOTE: You can type an XY coordinate at any time in order to precisely locate the end points of a line. (See Entering Coordinates, page 2-16) [OTHER] MARK ------------ This object is used to place a construction mark on the drawing for reference purposes. It will not be plotted. Pressing [ENTER] creates a mark. You will stay in the MARK mode until [ESC] is pressed. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 15 [OTHER] PARAMETRIC ------------------ This powerful command can be used to create complex shapes based on parametric equations. A menu will be displayed which permits you to independently define the X-coordinate as a function of t and the Y- coordinate as a function of t. The equation is used to generate points connected by a continuous line, with the result being a complex line object. For example: X(t) =10 Sin (t/360)with 0 < t > 360 in 100 steps Y(t) =10 Cos (t/360) will produce a circle of radius 10 located at the origin. Experiment with other equations, eg.,: 10 Sin (t/360) * exp (-t/10) 10 Cos (t/360) * exp (-t/10) will create a spiral. POLYGON ------- A polygon is a regular sided closed shape; i.e., all sides and all angles are equal. When this option is selected, you may either select one of the predefined polygons presented on the screen, or you may specify your own. You specify the number of sides first, then indicate point 1 (the center of the polygon). The size of the polygon floats until fixed by point 2. To fix the size press the [ENTER] key. Press [ESC] to cancel this object. (See also OPTION FILL) [OTHER] SPLINE -------------- A spline is defined similar to COMPLEX. After the [ESC] key is pressed, a smooth curve is plotted through each of the line end points. The degree of smoothness is controlled by the value specified by LEVEL under the OPTION, DEFAULT menus. A LEVEL value of 1 results in the same shape as COMPLEX LINES. A LEVEL value of 3 results in a smooth shape. The tradeoff of a higher LEVEL value is that fewer data points can be used to define the spline curve. The maximum number of vertex points is approximately 100 divided by 2 raised to the power of the LEVEL value. Therefore, at LEVEL 3, the maximum number of vertex points is 100/8 or about 12. At LEVEL 1, the maximum number of points is about 50. (See Alter Modify to change the slope of the spline) DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 16 TEXT ---- Text can be placed anywhere on the screen. You can individually set the height, width, angle and spacing of the text from the SETUP menu. You can further specify the placement of the text with respect to the cursor location: left, centered, right justified, or aligned (FIT) between two points. Note that the Height and Width are given in the current units as indicated at the top of the dialog window. Here, you may also select which of the two loaded fonts to use (see Symbol, Font command). If a secondary font file has not been loaded, only one font file selection option is available to the user. Note that the selected font here has no effect on text that is aleady drawn. If, however, text was drawn using the primary font, let's say ROMAN, and a new primary font is loaded using the Symbol, Font command, then all text that was written in ROMAN font will change to the new one. EDIT COMMANDS ------------- Edit commands act upon objects allowing them to be erased, duplicated, translated, rotated, mirrored, or combinations thereof. NOTE: Although only one layer can be ACTIVE at a time (see OPTION LAYER), EDIT commands operate on all layers, whether active or not. To ensure objects are not mistakenly selected, make sure all layers are displayed when performing EDIT commands. OBJECT SELECTION METHODS ------------------------ Two methods are available for selecting an object(s) for editing, the Window method and the Pick method. The Window method captures the reference mark associated with the object. You will first be prompted to press [ENTER] to establish one corner of the window. Move the cursor near the reference mark(s) of the object(s) you wish to edit and hit [ENTER]. Move the cursor diagonally to create a window which captures the reference mark(s) and hit [ENTER] again. To continue with the editing command, you must press [ESC] to halt the window selection mode. The objects associated with the reference mark(s) captured by the window will be modified by the selected EDIT command. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 17 The Pick mode may be desirable when the reference mark is far from the cursor or when many reference marks are close together and you wish to select only one object for editing. To select the Pick mode, hit the [F4] Function Key. A small box will appear on the screen in place of the cursor. Position the box over a line associated with the object to be edited and hit [ENTER]. DRAFT CHOICE will display the number of object(s) found. To proceed, hit [ESC] again. If you desire to select additional objects, hit [ENTER] and position the box to select the next object. Hit [ESC] to proceed with the edit command. NOTE: You may switch between WIND and PICK modes by pressing [F4] at any time. [OTHER] ARRAY ------------- This command combines a COPY operation with a ROTATION/ TRANSLATION/ SCALING operation. You will first be asked for the object selection window and the center of rotation. You will then be asked for the number of copies of the object. DRAFT CHOICE returns an estimated rotation angle based on the number of copies plus one rotated equally about a full 360 degrees. If you accept this number, just hit [ENTER]. Otherwise, type in your new desired angle. For example, to ARRAY a triangle (a 3 sided POLYGON) with 3 copies, the angle of rotation estimated by Draft Choice will be 360 degrees divided by (3+1) = 90 degrees. [OTHER] BREAK ------------- This command will break a single LINE into two LINES at points perpendicular to the points you indicate. This command is very useful when you have one object intersecting another and you wish to selectively erase part of one of the objects. COPY ---- The copy of the selected object is dynamically translated, i.e., the block of objects moves with the cursor, into its new position. Pressing [ENTER] places a duplicate of the block onto the drawing at the cursor position. You can continue to move and place a number of duplicates anywhere on the screen. To terminate this mode, press the [ESC] key. ERASE ----- Erase the selected object(s) from the drawing. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 18 NOTE: See UNDO to restore the last ERASE command. Previous erasures cannot be restored. [OTHER] EXPLODE --------------- This command converts COMPLEX objects such as bezier curves and circles into equivalent objects composed only of straight line segments. It will also convert a box into four line segments. One application of EXPLODE would be to allow scaling to be applied to a fragmented circle on other than an axis of symmetry. FILLET ------ FILLET extends or trims two lines until they are tangent to an arc of specified radius. The two lines must intersect at a point within the drawing. DRAFT CHOICE will not FILLET parallel lines. If such an operation is attempted, an error message will be displayed. If a radius of "0" is selected, the two lines will be extended until they intersect. [OTHER] FIT ----------- FIT is used to expand/contract selected entities so that they will fit a user specified area. The user is first asked to select the desired entities and then to define the envelope the entities are to fit in. (Similar to the Scale Command). [OTHER] MIRROR -------------- This command will cause selected objects to be flipped/mirrored across the vertical axis. To flip an object vertically (across the horizontal axis), use the ROTATE command first, perform the MIRROR command, and then ROTATE back to the original angle. MOVE ---- Translate the selected objects into a new position. Dynamic positioning occurs with the movement of the cursor (BW mode only). Press [ENTER] to indicate the final position. NOTE: A position coordinate can be specified just by typing in the values. (See Entering Coordinates in the Getting Started Section.) DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 19 ROTATE ------ This command rotates the selected group of elements by a user- specified angle in degrees about a point of rotation. Positive (+) angles are rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, negative (-) angles are rotated in a clockwise direction. [OTHER] RUBBER -------------- This command allows objects to be stretched into new shapes. First select those objects with end points you dynamically wish to move. Then you specify a "from" position. Next you specify a "to" position. The objects will redraw themselves as the cursor is moved to the new position. Press [ENTER] to freeze the shape. To cancel the "to" mode and restore the original shape, press [ESC]. SCALE ----- Scale the selected object(s) according to user-specified Horizontal (X) and Vertical (Y) scale factors. The current dimensions of the object(s) will be multiplied by the X and Y factors. You will be requested for a reference point about which to scale the objects. For convenience HALF and DOUBLE will adjust the scale factors by multiples of 1/2 and 2. NOTE: The SCALE command will not work on a CIRCLE or ARC with a non-orthagonal axis of symmetry (see EXPLODE). [OTHER] TRIM ------------ The TRIM command is used to trim entities so that they do not extend beyond a specific boundary. Once the command is invoked, you are asked to specify the trim boundary. After the boundary is selected, you are prompted to select the lines to be trimmed. Note that complex entities (other than lines) need to be exploded before they are trimmed, in order for the trimming process to work correctly. Touching the cursor on the object on the side of the boundary will erase that portion up to the boundary line. UNDO! ----- The UNDO command will restore the original size, shape, and position of objects modified by the last EDIT command. NOTE: A maximum of 200 objects per single edit is capable of being restored. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 20 XTEND ----- This command will extend the length of line segment 2 to intercept with line segment 1. You will first be prompted to identify the boundary line (line segment 1) to which line segment 2 is to be extended. You will then be prompted to identify the line segment to be extended. NOTE: No action will occur if the line which is extended will not meet the intersecting line. ALTER ----- This powerful menu contains the commands that are required to change certain attributes for entities that are already drawn, and allows editing of special-type entities. DOUBLE ------ This command is used to create border lines (doubles) around complex entities. You are asked to specify how far from the original you want these border lines to be. NOTE: The parallel line is always oriented from left to right on top of the object. FILL ---- Similar to the Style command, above, this command is used to alter the fill pattern of already drawn complex entities. JOIN ---- The Alter, Join command is used to connect lines or complex entities into a single object. MODIFY ------ The modify command is one of the most powerful in this menu. It is used to change already drawn complex entities. The box on the left side was modified by relocating its top left corner as shown in the right portion DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 21 STYLE ----- This command permits you to change the line style of selected line entities. When the desired lines have been selected, you are presented with a menu of styles to choose from, similar to the one in Options, Style. TEXT ---- The Alter, Text command allows you to edit text that has already been typed in your drawing. When selected, the desired string is placed on the edit line (top of screen) and the Arrow, Delete and Insert keys are active. Press [ENTER] to confirm any modifications. Note that the EDIT menu commands are used to copy, move, scale and otherwise perform operations on a string as a whole entity. UNITS ----- This command is used to alter the units of an already drawn entity. It is useful when the drawing's overall units need to remain to be changed. After the element(s) to be re-dimensioned are specified, the user is presented with the available options. IMAGE COMMANDS -------------- Imagine that you are looking through a magnifying window at a very large and detailed picture. At high magnification, you can only see that portion of the picture which is directly under the viewing window. To see more of the picture (but less detail), you must decrease the image scale factor. To zoom in on a specific detail, you increase the image scale factor (but see less of the picture). When DRAFT CHOICE is started, the default image scale factor is set to 1.00 and the coordinate of the lower corner of the screen is set at 0,0. This is called the origin. The image scale factor is displayed in the lower left of the DRAFT CHOICE screen. You can modify the ISF by using the IMAGE menu commands to adjust the position of the viewing window with respect to the drawing and the overall size of the drawing displayed on the screen. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 22 ALL --- DRAFT CHOICE scans all objects in the drawing to determine the maximum and minimum X-Y coordinates of the drawing and uses this information to determine an image scale factor and viewing window which will display the entire drawing on the screen. The effect is to display the entire drawing in the largest scale possible while still fitting it on one screen. DOUBLE ------ Double the image scale factor and reposition the viewing window about the center of the screen. Objects displayed in the drawing get larger by a factor of two. HALF ---- Halve the image scale factor and reposition the viewing window about the center of the screen. Objects displayed in the drawing get smaller by a factor of two. LAST ---- Swap between the last image/scale factor/position displayed and the current image settings. This is very useful when working on a very large drawing. It allows you to zoom in on a small work area, make your changes, and then returns you to the original scale which shows the entire drawing. PAN --- Dynamically reposition the viewing window on the current display. As soon as you designate a point (by pressing [ENTER]) you will discover that further movement of the cursor (with mouse or cursor keys) will result in the image on the screen moving instantly! (Hint: we recommend a point near the center of the screen to permit the greatest range of movement) Finally, to fix the new location of the viewing window designate a second point (by pressing [ENTER]). Once the new location is fixed, the drawing is redrawn at the specified position. UPDATE ------ Redraw the entire screen at the current image scale setting. UPDATE will remove remnants of objects that have been ERASED or MOVED. UPDATE will also allow you to see the effect of toggling the various options. It is recommended that you use the Image ON or OFF, update command to eliminate the blip marks created while you are creating a complex entitiy. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 23 WINDOW ------ Zoom in on a small area of the current display. You select a portion of the drawing which will be enlarged to fill the screen, by enclosing the area with a flexible window. The size of the window will be used to determined the new image scale factor. ZOOM ---- This command allows you to manually change the image scale factor and the location of the lower left screen coordinate (screen origin). Entering a scale factor of 1.0 will return the drawing to the default image scale setting, as will selecting the "ORIGIN" setting. A dialog window presenting the choices, will be displayed. The X and Y offset coordinates are used to move the origin of the drawing (lower left corner) to absolute coordinates X,Y. OPTION ------ The OPTION menu allows you to change default parameters that effect the entire drawing. The changes will remain in effect until the next time a parameter is changed or DRAFT CHOICE is restarted from DOS. ATTACH ------ This option presents you with a dialog window that allows you to select the attach point (F10) location. You may set the attach point to be the start, middle or end of the attached line. DEFAULT ------- The following parameters control the response of the screen to keyboard or mouse input and the screen updating process. Each setting has the following definition: ASPECT - Set the video aspect ratio, so a circle looks correct and does not appear oval. The aspect ratios differ for CGA, EGA and HGA cards and may vary depending on your graphics monitor. NOTE: See FILE CONFIG for permanent setting. MOUSE - Set the mouse sensitivity to movement, the smaller the number the more sensitive the mouse. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 24 RATE - Normally to speed up the drawing process, objects are drawn into a special video buffer and then transferred after every 7 objects have been drawn as a block to the screen. For very large complex drawings with many objects it is faster to transfer bigger blocks of objects. If the refresh rate is set to 1, the video buffer is bypassed and each element is drawn directly on the screen. This results in substantially slower overall drawing update but at the same time it appears that more action is occurring on the screen, and it is certainly more entertaining to watch. The default rate of 7 means that 7 objects are drawn in the screen buffer before the video screen is updated. Experiment with refresh rates of 1, 7, or pick an even larger refresh rate to get the greatest overall drawing speed. SPDUP - Set the sensitivity of the keyboard cursor keys when used to navigate the pointing cursor around the screen. Keeping a keyboard cursor key depressed will cause the pointing cursor to accelerate in the desired direction. The default value of SPDUP is 2. A value of 0 results in no acceleration and moves the cursor one pixel at a time no matter how long the cursor key is kept depressed. The larger the value, the greater the acceleration rate. Experiment until you find a value which is acceptable to you. NOTE: No matter what the value of SPDUP, tapping the keyboard cursor keys once will result in pointing cursor movement of one pixel at a time. COLOR - Set the overall color of your drawing as displayed on the screen. It has NO EFFECT on output to print devices (CGA mode only). LEVEL - Sets the degree of curve smoothness for Spline and circles (See DRAW COMPLEX SPLINE for the effects of various values of LEVEL.) DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 25 BSCALE - This factor is used to internally adjust the image scale factor to appear as a factor of 1.0 when a fixed drawing size has been selected. PICK - Modify the size (in pixels) of the pick window used to select objects when editing. FILL ---- The following objects can be created so that their interior portions are filled with a bit pattern automatically, when they are drawn BOX ARC BEZIER CIRCLE COMPLEX POLYGON COMPLEX ARROW SPLINE FREEHAND Once created with a fill pattern, the pattern can be changed to another pattern with the EDIT FILL command. When FILL is selected, a dialog box will be displayed. The current default fill pattern is displayed in the lower-left portion of the screen. The difference between NONE and BLANK is that any object appearing inside the outline of the filled object, such as a BOX surrounding TEXT, will be BLANKed out and will not be seen. With NONE, only the outline of the main object appears so any enclosed object will be visible. GRID ---- After selecting OPTION GRID, a dialog menu will appear. The grid option menu allows you to individually specify an X and Y construction grid spacing and snap spacing. The grid is visibly represented by a dot at each XY intersection coordinate. The default grid setting is X=1, Y=1, but the settings can be specified in any combination. The grid can be toggled on and off by typing "G" or selecting GRID. Note that the Grid Dialog menu also displays the current default units. (The Grid will not be displayed until the GRID menu has been exited.) The snap option allows you to constrain the movement of the cursor to exactly the spacing of the snap grid. The snap grid is similar to the construction grid, but when drawing an object, the physical coordinates are rounded to the nearest snap point. The snap grid can DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 26 be toggled on and off by typing "S" or selecting SNAP. Snap can be toggled while drawing by hitting the [F9] Function Key. A check mark displayed next to the F9-SNAP in the bottom of the DRAFT CHOICE screen indicates the snap option is active. The default settings are for an X and Y grid at 1 unit spacing with H and V snap spacing at 0.25 units, and both GRID and SNAP disabled. MACRO ----- Enter macro keystrokes that can be played back to perform the desired operations. Macro commands must be enclosed in curly brackets {}. The following commands are available: {~} - Equivalent to pressing [ENTER] {ESC} - Equivalent to pressing [ESC] {LT} - Move cursor one increment left {RT} - Move cursor one increment right {UP} - Move cursor one increment up {DN} - Move cursor one increment down {PGUP} - Increase cursor movement step by 10 pixels {PGDN} - Decrease cursor movement step by 10 pixels {F4} - Toggle the Windowing and Pointing selection modes {F7} - Toggle the ISO mode ON/OFF {F8} - Toggle the ORTHOGONAL mode ON/OFF {F9} - Toggle the SNAP mode ON/OFF {F10} - Toggle the ATTACH mode ON/OFF Menu commands can be invoked by using their first letter. Press [ENTER] to end macro recording. Press [F2] to execute the macro. As an example, DB{~}R100,500{~} will invoke the DRAW BOX command, fix the first corner of the box at the current position and draw a box of 100x by 500y units. STYLE ----- Line styles can be selected from a dialog window representing the following styles: SOLID - Display line as solid and continuous (default) DASH - Display line as a series of dashes CENTER - Use a centerline dash-dash sequence PHANTOM - Use a dot-dash sequence CROSS - Place a cross at equal spacing on solid line HATCH - Place a double hatch at equal spacing on line NONE - Prevent the display of line or object outline. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 27 SLIM - Represent each line with 1 dot width THICK - Represent each line with 3 dots width FAT - Represent each line with 5 dots width SPACE - Set the spacing of dots and dashes for various line styles ACCEPT - Confirm new settings CANCEL - Revert back to original settings TOGGLE ------ Toggle switches are features that can be enabled or disabled. The dialog window appears. A check mark next to each switch indicates the switch is active. The switches are listed below along with their defult settings: COORD - Dynamically display the X-Y coordinate position of the cursor at the bottom of the screen in the current units. [OFF] MARK - Display the object reference mark (X). This toggle switch is useful when fine editting of entities is desired. [OFF] TEXT - Display TEXT objects completely. If disabled, represent text with a solid line to speed up screen redrawing. [ON] B&W - Turn off COLOR for individual layers. [ON] AUTO - Commence CYCLE animation automatically when a drawing is loaded. [ON] STYLE - Display all lines with specified line style. If disabled, represent each line with a thickness of SLIM (see OPTION STYLE), regardless of the style used when the line was drawn. [SLIM] FILL - Display all shapes with specified fill pattern. If disabled, all shapes will be empty regardless of the fill pattern used when the entity was drawn. [BLANK] VERIFY - Force the user to confirm an erase action. [ON] RULER - Display a ruler aid on the screen. [OFF] DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 28 UNITS ----- Indicate the current units to use when mapping screen coordinates. The choices are presented in a dialog window. A check mark beside one of the units indicates the current default setting which will be used by all new dimension operations and by the coordinate position indicator displayed in the center of the bottom line of the screen. It does not have any effect on previous units that were already embedded in the drawing. (See Alter Units to change previous units.) PLOT ---- To produce a hardcopy of all or part of your drawing, select the PLOT option from the main menu. The default plot settings are for an EPSON dot matrix printer or compatible which is connected to LPT1. However you can change the device (Plotter, Dot Matrix Printer, or LaserJet Printer) and the data port to which data is sent (LPT1, LPT2, COM1, COM2 or an ascii file or device driver). [SETUP] CODES ------------- Specify the control codes needed for printing a graph to a dot matrix or laser printer. For each of the 9-pin, 24-pin, or raster (laser) the following selections need to be set: HIGH - Control Code that sets printer in high resolution graphics mode. MED - Control Code that sets printer in medium resolutions graphics mode. LOW - Control Code that sets printer in low resolution graphics mode. BGFD - Big Line Feed; Control Code to advance the printer one line corresponding to the low/medium resolution graphics mode. SMFD - Small Line Feed; Control Code to advance the printer one line (dot) corresponding to the high resolution graphics mode. RES - Control code to reset the printer to text mode. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 29 Control Codes may be specified either by a their decimal ASCII code or by the ASCII character equivalent. When ASCII decimal codes are used, they need to be separated by a backslash "\". For example, the code sequence ESC "E" may be specified as \027E or \027\045. The setup control codes, already provided in the program, correspond to 9-pin and 24-pin EPSON, and HP Laserjet II printers. If your printer is different and cannot emulate the default printers 100% you need to change the setup codes, (you'll find these codes in your printer's manual). The default setup codes built into the program are shown below: HIGH: MED: LOW: BGFD: SMFD: RES: 9-pin \027Z \027L \027K \0273\023 \0273\001 \027@ 24-pin \027*' \027*! \027*\032 \0273\024 \0273\001 \027@ Raster (1) (2) (3) \027*b W \027*rB (1) : \027*t300R\027&a100h100v\027*r1A (2) : \027*t150R\027&a100h100v\027*r1A (3) : \027*t75R\027&a100h100v\027*r1A [SETUP] DEVICE -------------- This command will display a dialog window which allows you to select the print device and the output port. The dialog window will appear with the following options: HP7470 - Produces a plot using the Hewlett Packard Graphics Language (HPGL) which is sent to the selected serial port or file. This option can be used with any plotter device that supports HPGL or sent to a plot file. NOTE: WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1 can import HPGL files directly into documents. EPSONFX - Produces a dot matrix plot using EPSON FX- series compatible graphics commands. (Same graphics format as used with PCWRITE) LASERJET - Produces a printed image using HP LaserJet compatible graphics commands. P-LQ2500 - Produces a printed image using EPSON 24-pin or compatible graphics commands. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 30 EJECT ----- The EJECT command issues a form feed to the printer and causes the paper to advance to the top of the next page. The EJECT command does not function when the print device is a plotter. GO -- To begin the printing process, make sure the paper in your printer is adjusted to the top of the form and then select the command PLOT, GO. Note that only portions of the drawing currently displayed on the screen will be printed according to the default paper width. (See Image WIDTH) When printing, the graphics information is created in horizontal strips and then sent to the printer. While each strip of the image is being generated there will be a short delay and then the information will be sent to the printer. The more complex the drawing and when higher print density is selected, the longer the delay. The progress of the plotting process is displayed as a status bar on the top line of the screen. When the drawing is complete, DRAFT CHOICE will give a short beep. IMAGE ----- The IMAGE command will display a dialog window which allows you to modify the resolution, size, orientation, and aspect ratio of the drawing sent to the print device. The aspect ratio is only used to adjust the appearance of a plotted circle so it looks round. PORTRAIT - The width dimension matches the narrow page dimension horizontally. LANDSCAPE - Matches the height of the drawing. WIDTH - Specify the width of the printed drawing in inches. When the FIT flag is set, the maximum and minimum dimensions of the drawing will be scaled to fit the width exactly. V-ASPECT - Specify the vertical plotting scale. This is used to correct for differences in vertical resolution between plotting devices. The drawing will be adjusted vertically, i.e., divided by the V-ASPECT value. The larger the value of V-ASPECT, the smaller the vertical plot. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 31 FIT - Auto scales the max/min drawing dimensions to exactly fit the WIDTH setting. DENSITY - Three print density options are available: high, medium, and low. High print density results in the best possible quality drawing (best possible for your particular hardware setup), but it also takes the longest plot. Dots Per inch Horizontal LO MED HIGH 9-Pin Dot Matrix 60 120 240 24-Pin Dot Matrix -- --- --- LaserJet 75 150 300 [SETUP] OUTPUT -------------- Select either the parallel port, serial port, or a file name to send the output to when GO is selected: LPT1 - Parallel Printer Port #1 LPT2 - Parallel Printer Port #2 COM1 - Serial Communications Port #1 COM2 - Serial Communications Port #2 FILE - Specify a file name used to store printer/plotter output NOTE: If a file name is selected for output, the drawing information will be written to the file using the selected device format. This option is used to produce graphics files to be imported to other programs. i.e., WordPerfect 5.1, PCWRITE, etc. (Also see file XPORT) [SETUP] SERIAL -------------- The Plot, Setup, Serial command allows you to define the parameters necessary for your computer to communicate with your serial printer/plotter. The parameters that need to be specified are: Transmission Speed : 110 to 9600 baud Parity : Odd, Even or None Data Bits : 7 or 8 Stop Bit : 1 or 2 Delay : an integer representing milliseconds You need to make sure that the serial setup variables that you select in this menu correspond to the configuration of your printer/plotter. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 32 The Delay variable is used to make sure information sent to your serial plotter/printer does not get lost due to overflowing the data buffer. The Delay is usually set to 200 milliseconds but you may change that to a higher value if you notice that some information on your screen does not appear in your hard copy or your plotter output is fragmented. FILE ---- This menu allows you to SAVE or LOAD your drawing and to IMPORT and XPORT information to/from other programs. CONFIG ------ This command saves DRAFT CHOICE default settings into a file called DRAFTC.CFG: - Status of Toggles switches, COORD, STYLE, FILL, TEXT, B&W, AUTO, MARK, ORTHO, ISO - GRID/SNAP status, grid and snap spacing - Text height, width, angle, and spacing - Screen color, refresh rate, mouse and keyboard cursor sensitivity, screen aspect ratio - Fill pattern and line style - Circle aspect ratio, Arrow size - Unit of measurement - Polygon sides - Dash spacing - Arrow size - Array copies, scale, angle, counter rotate angle, circular/linear type of array - Plot device, plotter aspect ratios, landscape/portrait orientation - Drawing size When DRAFT CHOICE is executed from DOS, the settings contained in the CONFIG file will be automatically set. NOTE: If you use a CONFIG file from an older version of DRAFT CHOICE, unpredictable settings may result. Erase the old DRAFTC.CFG file from the DRAFT CHOICE working disk or directory and redefine and save your new settings. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 33 ERASE ----- This command erases a specified file from your disk. A dialog window will appear and you may select the file to be erased. NOTE: Wild card characters CANNOT be used with ERASE. IMPORT ------ This command allows you to import ASCII TEXT files, and AS-EASY-AS compatible PIC files (the end product of a saved graph) and DCH files which where created with the FILE SAVE command or drawing files that were XTRACTed. The following options are supported: ASCII - Each ASCII line is stored as a TEXT object starting at the indicated cursor position with the text assuming the current default text height and width. Each new line is placed downwards by an amount equal to the text vertical spacing. VALUE - This is an ASCII file which has XY absolute coordinate pairs separated by commas, one pair per line. For example, the following would define two separate straight lines: line 1: 100,0 line 2: 100,100 line 3: line 4: 200,200 line 5: 300,200 PIC - The file must conform to PIC file format used to store spreadsheet graphics. DWG - Import a DRAFT CHOICE DCH file into the current drawing. all symbols defined in the imported drawing will be included/added to the main draawing. HPGL - Import a file in the HP Graphics Language format. NOTE: Set PLOT device to HP7470 and output filename to create an HPGL file. SYMBOL - Import a special symbol file. Since DRAFT CHOICE expects to load a SYM file, you are presented with a list of available *.SYM files to choose from. If you type a .DCH file name instead, drawing entities DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 34 in the DCH files will be filtered out and the symbols saved with the specified file will be loaded into RAM. LOAD ---- This command prompts for a file name by presenting a pick window which lists all files in the current drive and subdirectory. The current path can be modified within the pick window. To select a name from the directory list, move the cursor to highlight that name, press ENTER. The name will be transferred into the Name: field. To begin the loading process select LOAD. To cancel and return to the menu select CANCEL. To change the subdirectory (used to indicate where your drawing files are located), select PATH and then type in the new path. When ENTER is pressed the subdirectory will be read and a new list of names will be displayed. A file may be selected either by highlighting it and pressing [ENTER] or by selecting [FILE] and typing its name. The UP and DN indicators may be used to scroll the list of file names up or down. NEW --- This command clears the drawing from memory and it prepares DRAFT CHOICE for a new drawing to be started. Once this command is selected, you are presented with a dialog box. We advise that you select one of the available drawing sizes, since this makes printing to scale much easier. Once the drawing size is selected, you may specify the desired drawing scale (e.g., REAL units of feet, 20.0 vs. DWG units of inches 1.0 would result in a scale which, when plotted/printed, one inch of drawing should correspond to twenty feet of real distance). The available units may be cycled through by simply clicking the units box selection. (See Option Units) NOTE: The last drawing size specified with File, New is saved in the configuration file as the default size for next DRAFT CHOICE session. OSHELL ------ This command allows you to temporarily shell to the operating system, (DOS). To get back to DRAFT CHOICE, type EXIT and press [ENTER] at the DOS prompt. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 35 SAVE ---- This command prompts for a file name to be assigned to the current drawing in memory. When the name is provided, the file will be saved into the data drive and subdirectory currently specified. XTRACT ------ This command allows you to extract a portion of your current drawing and save it in one of several formats: DWG - The extracted drawing is saved in native DRAFT CHOICE format with the extension .DCH. BSAVE - The image is saved as a binary byte image. The first two integers represent the width and the height of the image respectively. The rest of the image is saved as byte information row by row. PIC - The image is saved using the PIC file format used to store spreadsheet graphics. This file format is used to import drawings to programs that support PIC files. SYMBOLS - Save the symbols currently in RAM to a special symbol (.SYM) file. The Drawing entities are not saved, just the symbols. SYMBOL ------ This menu allows you to group a number of drawn objects and assign a symbol name to that group. Thereafter, the name may be used to indicate the complex object symbol. For example, an electrical designer might have a set of symbol definitions for common objects like resistors, capacitors, inductors, voltage sources, current sources, etc. Each symbol might be composed of two or more primitive objects like lines, circles, and boxes. By defining the symbol once, and then using it by name many times, the designer will save time, effort and computer memory in creating the drawing. Symbols are saved with the drawings that use them. If you clear the current drawing from memory using the FILE NEW command, named SYMBOLS will be retained in memory. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 36 When a new FILE is LOADed and there are SYMBOLS in memory, you will be prompted as to whether you wish to discard the symbol library currently in RAM. If you select yes, the symbol library will be cleared from memory. If you select cancel, the symbol library will be retained and any named symbols in the file being LOADed will be included with those currently in memory. When DRAFT CHOICE is first started, it looks for a symbol library file AUTOLOAD.SYM. If it finds it, the symbol library is loaded automatically. To make this process easier, if a DCH file is renamed to AUTOLOAD.SYM, then when it is loaded, all drawing entities in the file are filtered out and only the symbols are retained. CAUTION: -------- As indicated earlier, symbols are saved with the drawings that use them in order to use RAM and disk space efficiently; however, only the symbols used, not the whole libraries, are saved. If you want to save the symbol library currently in RAM for later use, then you need to use the File, Xtract, Symbols commmand, which creates a file with the extension .SYM. ANIMATE ------- ANIMATE allows you to create an animated display of images. Any portion of the screen can be captured providing it has an element in it. When a sequence of images has been captured, they can be played back in an animation sequence, forwards or backwards. The duration of each frame can be set in milliseconds. Hint: it helps to use a rectangular frame to blank out the last image placed on the screen. [ANIMATE] GET ------------- Capture selected objects as a rectangular block of Binary Bits. The size of the block is determined by the maximum and minimum boundary of the selected objects. Once an image has been captured, you are prompted for the image display time in milliseconds. [ANIMATE] PLAY -------------- Play back sequence of recorded slides . The following keys affect the play back display speed: [UP] - Speeds up the display sequence rate [DN] - Slows down the display sequence rate [LEFT] - Causes the display to rotate in a "forward" direction [RIGHT] - Causes the display to rotate in a "reverse" direction DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 37 [ANIMATE] RESET --------------- Release memory assigned to slides. NOTE: Only conventional memory is used to store slides. [ANIMATE] STEP -------------- This command permits you to view each slide individually. Press the Right cursor to advance to the next slide, and the left cursor to backup. Hit [ENTER] and [ESC] to exit from the step mode. DELETE ------ To eliminate or remove ONE symbol from the library, either type the name in response to the prompt or select the name from the pick window. EXPLODE ------- This command is exactly the reverse of a SYMBOL MAKE. It takes any symbol in the drawing which has in its definition lines, circles, etc., and replaces it with those lines and circles. An excellent use of this command is to permit you to make modificaiton to an existing symbol library. For example, take symbol "AA", explode it, define some new lines, delete some old lines, and then make a new symbol with the same name. FONT ---- The character font used to DRAW TEXT belongs to its own special category of symbols. Only LINE objects may be used to define the font character. For example, the capital letter A could be constructed with three straight lines. NOTE: Circles and other complex shapes must be converted to LINE objects with the EDIT EXPLODE command before they are used to define a font character. [FONT] ALT-READ --------------- The current alternate (secondary) font in memory is replaced with a font specified by the user. For instructions on how to use the two available fonts, refer to DRAW, TEXT, SETUP. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 38 Please note the font name information is not saved with the drawing file, only primary or secondary font indicators. If text was drawn using NFONT and ROMAN as the primay and secondary fonts respectively, and then two new fonts are loaded, all text will change to the new fonts. [FONT] MAKE ----------- A selection window is used to indicate those lines used to define the character. The allowable range of font characters is from ascii 32 to 255 decimal. A font character is assumed to be a maximum of 256 meters wide and 256 meters high. Any lines projecting outside this boundary are truncated at 256 and may cause some unexpected results. The default font used by DRAFT CHOICE was created by establishing a set of horizontal and vertical construction grid lines which created a box which was 240 meters high and 230 meters wide. One horizontal line was placed at 75 meters high to provide a reference line for character descenders like the lowercase y. The reference point of each construction line was placed outside of the box so that the selection window would not result in those lines being included. The units were set to meters, and for convenience the snap and grid were set to 16. Put a window around the character but make sure NOT to include the reference points of the construction lines. Use the 0,0 point as the reference point for the character. When a font character has been changed and DRAFT CHOICE is exited, a prompt will request the name of file to use when saving the modified font. If the [ESC] key is pressed, the altered font will NOT be saved on the disk. If a name is specified or the [ENTER] key is pressed, all your modifications will be saved. [FONT] READ ----------- The current primary font in memory is replaced with the font which is read from the specified directory. Although a primary and a secondary font file may be loaded, only one font may be active at a time, as speicified in the Draw, Text, Setup options. NOTE: The font file must have an extension of .FNT and must be in DRAFT CHOICE font format. [FONT] WRITE ------------ The current font in memory is written to the specified directory and will use the filename defined. The font will be assigned an extension of .FNT and will be written in DRAFT CHOICE font format. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 39 MAKE ---- To assign a symbol name to a group of primitives, first enclose the objects in the selection window. The next step is to type the symbol name in response to the prompt. Finally, using the cursor, you must indicate the reference point of the symbol. This is the point which identifies the symbol position when it is USEd. NOTE: Remember to save your drawing after defining the symbols to save them for future use. RESET ----- Erases the symbol library. USE --- When the Symbol, Use command is selected, a pick window displaying the available symbols is presented. Move the cursor to highlight the desired symbol name and press [ENTER]. Once a symbol has been selected, a second pick window appears, which allows you to modify the copy of the symbol prior to placing it in your drawing. To make rotating the symbol easier, four rotation angles may be easily selected by the user, or, a rotation angle may be typed in. After accepting your selection, you must tell DRAFT CHOICE where to place the symbol. Move your cursor to the desired spot and press [ENTER]. The symbol will be drawn with the symbol reference point at exactly the cursor location. MEASURE ------- This menu allows you to determine distance, interior angle, and area of the objects being created. ANGLE ----- Draws an arc dimension with arrow heads and two leader lines. You specify the center, point one on arc and point 2 clockwise from point 1. BOUNDARY -------- This command prompts for one or more objects to be selected (After selecting the objects, press ESC to continue), then determines the maximum and minimum X, Y dimensions, and then places dimension lines with leaders horizontally and vertically around the object. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 40 COORDINATE ---------- Creates an object which echoes the X,Y coordinate as text associated with the reference point. DIAMETER -------- Draws a dimension line with arrow heads at both ends of the line. DIMENSION --------- Place a dimension line on the screen complete with end point arrow heads and a text string representing the distance between the end points. The orientation of the text string is controlled by the order in which the end points are indicated. The text is always written from the first point to the last point. If space permits, the distance text is centered between the end points. Otherwise, it overflows to the left. LEADER ------ Places a leader line from point 1 to point 2. The leader line consists of a line angled at 60 degrees from the vertical connected to a horizontal line. It is commonly used in conjuntction with text to place notes on a drawing. [QUERY] ANGLE ------------- Determine the interior angle between two lines. First specify the intersecting point and then respectively a distant point on each line segment of interest. The calculated angle will be displayed in a dialog window in the center of the screen, but it is not inserted in the drawing. [QUERY] AREA ------------ Determine the total area enclosed by an irregular polygonal shape by indicating points on the outline of that shape. To terminate the operation press the [ESC] key and the total area will be displayed in a dialog window but will not be inserted in the drawing. [QUERY] LENGTH -------------- Determine the length between two points by specifying first the starting point and then the end point. The calculated length will be displayed in a dialog window in the center of the screen, but it is not inserted in the drawing. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 41 [QUERY] OBJECT -------------- Display Object Type, Line Style, X Coord, Y Coord, dX parameters, and dY parameters for a selected object in a dialog box in the center of the screen. RADIUS ------ Draws a dimension line with one arrow from the first point to the second. A cross line is placed at the first point. LAYER ----- DRAFT CHOICE permits you to work on eight (8) different layers which can be thought of as transparent overlays. You can select the ACTIVE layer, the layer(s) to be DISPLAYED, layers protected from editing operations, and individually set the COLOR for each layer. You can turn on or off a specific layer by selecting that layer from the displayed list. ACTIVE ------ This command allows you to specify the layer that will be active. When selected, you are presented with a dialog window. Only one layer can be active at a time. NOTE: The active layer is the only layer you can draw on. COLOR ----- When COLOR is selected, a decimal 0 through 15 can be assigned as the color associated with a layer. NOTE: You can only see colors when B&W is disabled (see OPTION TOGGLE B&W), and an Image Update is performed. The color assignment on a color monitor is as follows: 0 - Black 4 - Red 8 - Dark Gray 12 - Light Red 1 - Blue 5 - Magenta 9 - Light Blue 13 - Light Magenta 2 - Green 6 - Brown 10 - Light Green 14 - Yellow 3 - Cyan 7 - Light Gray 11 - Light Cyan 15 - White DISPLAY ------- A check mark next to a display number indicates that the layer is visible. All eight layers may be visible at one time. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 42 NOTE: Although only one layer can be ACTIVE at a time, EDIT commands will operate on all layers. To ensure objects are not mistakenly selected, make sure all layers are DISPLAYed when performing EDIT commands. MOVE ---- This command permits you to move an object from its current layer to the indicated layer. This command operates the same as the Edit, Move command with the exception of specifying a To:layer rather than a To: position. PROTECT ------- This command protects objects on specific layers from being modified during editing operations. You are again given the opportunity to select the layer to protect from a dialog window. You may protect as many layers as you wish. Protecting all layers would disable editing of the whole drawing until protection was reset. DRAFT CHOICE V.1.5 (C) Copyright TRIUS, Inc. 1988-90 Page - 43