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AUTODESK ADI 4.2 Protected Mode Driver: The Orchid Graphics Series driver is a professional quality PADI (Protected mode Autodesk Driver Interface) driver to be used with AutoCAD Release 11/12, 3D Studio 1.0/2.0, and AutoShade 2.1. Features - Protected mode operation, PADI 4.2 specification. - 32 bit display list for "no regen" operation. - Display list operation with 36 active viewports, including pspace and perspective viewports. - Birds-Eye and Edge-Pan features for convenient zooms and pans. - Dynamic (real-time) pan & zoom in birds-eye. - Spy-Glass feature. - Icon-based menu system. - Partial redraws on overlapping vports. - Intelligent clean-up (Erase Buffer) to eliminate "flashing". - Display list memory meter. - AutoCAD memory usage statistics. - Paging Alarm - disables display list usage when paging becomes excessive. - Reliable dual screen operation. - Variable font support- allows fonts up to 16 by 30 in size. - International font support. - User configurable screen colors. - 15 and 16 bit "Band-Free" rendering support. - 24 bit Rendering support. - Text screen emulation window for Release 12. Font Configuration: ------------------ 1. The Driver will detect the Autodesk application that it is being configured for, and will provide correct defaults for all of the various applications. By accepting all of the default parameters, your driver will be configured correctly. This works with AutoCAD, AutoShade, or 3D Studio. 2. This driver will use the 8 bit international font in the VGA BIOS (8x16), or an MasterCAD optional font file if present. Font files may be in any size up to 16 x 30. 3. The driver searches for the file "*.AQF" in the current directory. If it finds AQF files it will offer these font on the popup menu configuration in AutoCAD. Name Width Height Int'l Comments ========================================================================= none 8 16 yes VGA default 6x9.fnt 6 9 yes extremely small 8x16.fnt 8 16 yes more legible than VGA font 9x15.fnt 9 15 no good for 800 modes 12x20.fnt 12 20 no good for 1024 modes & small CRTs 12x24.fnt 12 24 no good for 1024 or 1280 modes 15x25.fnt 15 25 no best for 1280 modes & small CRTs 16x30.fnt 16 30 no only useful for 1280 modes NOTE: The international font files are the only ones that will work satisfactorily with 3D Studio. All others may have strange characters instead of the arrows that you are used to seeing. This is perfectly OK, but often a little confusing. Most of the arrow heads needed to make the 12x20.fnt work with 3DS have been added, but it has NOT a full 8 bit international font. Screen Layout -------------- AutoCAD Screen layout - 1. Current Color Display - The rectangle in the top left of the screen displays the current drawing color. 2. Logo - This is used to display the manufacturers logo. 3. Display Status Area - This area is present only when display list has been enabled. Memory Status - This provides a percentage of total system memory that is being used by AutoCAD. AutoCAD may start to slow down when this display exceeds 100%. After this figure exceeds 150%, "paging" will occur. Display/Screen Lists Memory Status - This shows the amount of memory being used by the display list and screen list. When this line reads "Empty", this means that there is no drawing in memory (new drawing). Display List Status - D 32 bit display list data is in use. d 16 bit display list data has been selected. Z Zooming from the display list is allowed. z Pspace and perspective zooms by AutoCAD. Birds-eye will not work in viewport. P Page alarm enabled and paging occurred recently. p Page alarm enabled and no paging has occurred. E Edge-pan enabled. Edge pan is impending. e Edge-pan enabled but none impending. Graphics Flip Screen - When enabled, the Graphics Flip Screen will emulate the VGA text window. Use the F1 key to toggle between modes. If you wish to execute any DOS commands, the driver will switch the screen to a full screen text mode which allows for a full DOS compatibility. If you are using a plot spooler or other TSR which requires a compatible "pop-up" window, this option must be disabled. Birds-Eye View - MasterCAD provides you with an advanced Birds-Eye that is rich in features. Lockable Birds-Eye mode anchors the Birds-Eye to the screen for ready access. Powerful Dynamic PAN & ZOOM mode allows easy movement around the drawing. A Motif-style interface makes moving and re-sizing the Bird's-Eye a breeze. Quick Icons provide fast access to features. Birds-Eye Shortcuts Enable Birds-Eye To display the birds-eye window, double click the right mouse button. Disable Birds-Eye To remove the birds-eye window, simply move your mouse until the cursor is no longer inside the birds-eye. If this does not work, the birds-eye is in static mode. To remove a static birds-eye, click on the window close button in the top left corner of the birds-eye. Pan / Zoom To switch between pan and zoom, press the right mouse button. Real time pan and zoom Press the left mouse button (pick button), while pressing either shift key. The middle mouse button on a 3 button mouse also works. Zoom vmax Click on the zoom extents icon at the top of the birds-eye window. Birds-Eye Usage - This is one of the most simple and intuitive means of panning and zooming within a drawing possible. A bird's eye window is analogous to the "You are here" maps in shopping malls. It give you an overall view of the drawing, showing you exactly where you are in that drawing. It also lets you change the zoom factor and offset (panning) without entering any AutoCAD commands, and your hand never has to leave the digitizer puck or mouse. Bird's eye also works in multiple viewport drawings, and will appear in the aspect ratio of the currently active viewport. When activated, either by entering the "AQBIRD" command, or by double- clicking the proper digitizer button, the bird's eye view will appear under the current cursor location. In this window will appear a small overall view of the amount of the drawing that AutoCAD has currently placed in MasterCAD's display list. A highlighted rectangle will appear within this window (filled white rectangle), indicating the currently viewed area. Also within this window is an outline rectangle that moves around with the digitizer. This indicates the area that will be shown if a bird's eye zoom is completed. If this rectangle contains an "X" in the middle, then the bird's eye is in pan mode. If this rectangle contains an arrow, then the bird's eye is in zoom mode. This is the same user interface presented by AutoCAD in the "ZOOM DYNAMIC" command, and should be intuitive. Pressing the pick button on your mouse or digitizer (left button with most any mouse) allows you to toggle between zoom and pan modes in the bird's eye window. You may move the pointing device around inside the new view. Pressing the selection button on your digitizer causes the selected view to be used in the currently active viewport. Pressing the pick button on your mouse or digitizer while simultaneously pressing the "Shift" key on your keyboard toggles the birds-eye between static and dynamic zoom modes. When in Dynamic zoom mode, MasterCAD will instantly update the current viewport as you move the mouse. Moving the cursor outside the bird's eye window cancels the function, and does not affect the current view. Bird's Eye Icons - Lock Icon This Icon locks the Birds-Eye on to the screen. When selected, this Icon will be replaced by the UnLock Icon and the Birds-Eye will remain on the screen. When the Birds-Eye is locked you can freely move back and forth between AutoCAD and the Birds-Eye. UnLock Icon Depressing this Icon unlocks the Birds-Eye on screen. When the Birds-Eye is unlocked, it is automatically removed from the screen when you execute a command or exit Bird's-Eye. Dynamic Mode On Icon By depressing this Icon you enable Dynamic PAN & ZOOM. As you move the cursor around the Birds-Eye, the contents of the cursor are zoomed into your current viewport. Dynamic Mode can also be toggled on and off by pressing the pick button on the mouse while holding down either SHIFT key. Dynamic Mode Off Icon Depressing this Icon will disable the Dynamic Pan & Zoom modes. Zoom All Icon The Zoom All Icon is provided to allow you to zoom to the extents of the local display list. Unlike AutoCAD's Zoom All or Zoom Extents commands, this command will not force a regen. It is very useful when zooming back out to the extents of the drawing. Sync Icon The Sync Icon allows for the synchronization of the Birds-Eye with the current viewport. Occasionally it is useful to have the Birds-Eye match the current viewport. Executing this Icon will force AutoCAD to perform a regen on the Viewport followed by the Bird's-Eye resetting itself to match the viewport. Repaint Icon Depressing the Repaint Icon allows the Birds-Eye to be brought up to date. The Birds-Eye will get out of sync with the viewport when blocks are moved or deleted. Edge Pan - Edge-pan is used to move around while zoomed into a drawing. By leaving the cursor near the border of the currently active viewport, this driver will automatically begin to pan in that direction. This only begins if the cursor is left idle for a predetermined length of time. There are a number of configuration settings to use, and they can be changed within AutoCAD. Experimentation will yield the best results for your needs. Paging Alarm - When AutoCAD's memory requirements exceed the amount of physical memory available in your machine, it begins "paging", in order to gain extra memory. Paging means that certain memory areas are traded back and forth with a "swap file" on the hard drive. Due to the difference in access speed between main memory, and this "virtual" memory that is on the hard drive, AutoCAD begins to slow down, often to the point of being unusable. To combat this, memory is used very sparingly, and only when absolutely necessary. As a second line of defense against paging, when the amount of memory paged out to disk exceeds several preset thresholds, the driver begins shutting down extra functions, and returns the memory to AutoCAD. When paging activity exceeds the first threshold, the screen-list feature is disabled and all associated memory is returned to AutoCAD. At this point, the screen list status line will disappear from the status window. Should paging activity continue, the driver will disable the display list feature and return all of the memory to AutoCAD. When this happens, the second line of the status window will say "Disabled", to indicate that all display list functionality has been terminated. The driver will continue to function as normal, but redraws will be slower. However, AutoCAD itself will now be much faster than it was when the paging was occurring. This allows you to complete your drawing session in much less time. Icon Menu System MasterCAD Icon menus provide powerful tools to automate your use of AutoCAD. MasterCAD contains a number of features: Icon Library Manager allows you to create and maintain Icon libraries without leaving AutoCAD. Icon Menu Manager allows for the building of individual menus. These menus may be linked. Chained Menus - Icon menus maybe chained up to three levels deep. Icons maybe created using either AutoCAD .SLD files or using Windows .BMP files. You can link Icon libraries to create an unlimited number of menus. MasterCAD comes with a number of pre-configured menus. This allows you to become immediately productive. Icon Tablet Invoking Icon Tablet Press either shift key while clicking the pick button on your mouse or tablet. The Icon tablet is initiated using the AQICON command. Executing this command will display the first menu found in the Icon file. A specific menu within the Icon file can be executed by attaching a menu name to the AQICON command (that is, AQICON=Display.) When moving the cursor around the tablet, the current icon will be depressed and the command help will be displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. Some Icons may invoke other Icon tablets. To cancel out of an Icon Pop-up tablet, simply move the cursor out of the Icon window. You may exit the main Icon tablet window by depressing the "close" Icon in the Title Bar. Creating New Icons & Libraries New Icons may be added to an existing library or a new Icon library may be created. Adding Icons to a library is a three step process. Create the Icon. Add the Icon to the library using the Icon Library Manager. Associate an Icon with a menu using the Icon Menu Manager. Creating Icons Icons maybe created with AutoCAD. In AutoCAD, draw the Icon you want. Then zoom in to the full size of the Viewport. Create a slide file of the view using the MSLIDE function. This slide can be added to the Icon library. For best results create your Icons using a square Viewport on the screen. Slides created in a square viewport will not appear distorted when drawn as a square Icon. If you wish to have Black vectors on the Gray Icon, draw your Icons using Color 255. This color will be translated to Black when drawn as an Icon. Icons may also be created using Windows image editors that create .BMP files. The Icon Library Manager recognizes .BMP files with the following format: Sixteen or 256 colors -- The Icon Library Manager remaps the colors, to avoid problems with AutoCAD color map. All colors above 10 are remapped into the first 10 colors in AutoCAD. 32 x 32 Pixel format. Uncompressed pixel data. These files may be created using Window Paint or one of a number of Icon editors. Icon Library Manager The Icon Library Manager can be invoked with the command AQLIB. This function allows you to add, modify or delete Icons in an Icon library. You are provided with a menu that allows you to change the icon image, commands used, and help menu prompt to use for each icon in the library. Selecting an Icon Upon entry into the window you are presented with the first icon in the Library. You may scroll through the library using the icon bar. The left and right buttons page you trough the Icon library. To activate an Icon to edit, simply select an Icon on the bar. You can create a new Icon by selecting an empty Icon. You can insert a new icon into a specific location or delete icons from the library. These operations are performed using the Insert or Delete buttons. Modifying an Icon An Icon is composed of three pieces of information, the Icon data, Help, and Command strings. Click on the file field to enter the name of the .SLD or .BMP file that defines the Icon. Once you have defined the Icon, you attach a Help message and a command string to it. The Help string provides up to 40 characters of help to clarify the meaning of the Icon. This is useful when creating new Icon menus and passing them around to others. It also makes a halpful reminder of the icon's function when creating a new icon library. Icon Command The Icon Command is a string of up to 200 characters that is sent to AutoCAD when the Icon is pressed. AutoCAD does not process the command using the Menu processor. As a result you can not use the same strings as used in an AutoCAD menu file. For example the "\" (backslash) character is not supported for collecting user input in the middle of a command. MasterCAD does provide several special characters or springs to control processing of the command's strings. ^ The caret character is a signal that the next character is interpreted as a control character. ; The Semicolon is translated to a space character. This is necessary at the end of command strings. All blank characters are stripped from the end of the command string. $P=menuname This command string allows you to execute pop-up menus. The menuname must be a valid menu within the current Icon Library. Popup tablets may be nested up to a maximum of three levels. $S= This command string signals the command processor to buffer up commands. When executed, the tablet menu will remain on the screen and the command placed in a buffer. The maximum buffer size is 200 characters. $E= This string removes the tablet menu from the screen and sends the contents of the buffer to AutoCAD. Chaining Icon Libraries Icon Libraries can be chained together by placing pointer Icons in each Library that point to the other library. The command string for the icon pointing to another library would contain: aqiconload=libraryname;aqicon; This command would load in the new library and bring up the first menu in the file. Icon libraries are specifically designed to load quickly to allow the easy movement between libraries. Icon Menu Manager Once you have entered all the Icons you want, use the Icon Menu Manager to organize your icons into menus. An individual Icon Menu may be composed of up to 50 Icons. To Create a new menu. Tab through the menus to a blank menu. Click on the menu name field to give the menu a name. Click on an Icon in the Icon selection and drag it down to the menu area. Click on the menu and the Icon will fall into place. Removing Icons from Menus You can remove an icon from the menu by selecting the icon, moving off the menu and dropping the icon. The selected icon will be removed and the menu will collapse. Moving Icons In Menus You can move an Icon from one position to another in a menu. Click on the Icon to move. Move to the new location and drop the Icon. Custom Menu Design - The following is an example of how to write a menu of useful functions for MasterCAD that will work with Release 12. It should be added to your standard "ACAD.MNU" file, and then recompiled. Please see the "Custom Menus" chapter of the "AutoCAD Customization Manual" for more information. ***POP10 [MasterCAD] [--] [Driver Status]AQDRQ [Dlist Status]'textscr;AQDLQ [--] [->Edge Pan] [On/Off]AQEPAN [Fast Pan]AQPANTM1=18;AQPANTM2=1 [Bump Pan]AQPANTM1=10;AQPANTM2=18 [--] [->Border Size] [Narrow]AQPANBRD=5 [Medium]AQPANBRD=20 [<-Wide]AQPANTM2=40 [->Delay] [Fast ]AQPANTM1=10 [Medium]AQPANTM1=27 [<-Slow]AQPANTM1=60 [->Repeat Rate] [Fast ]AQPANTM2=1 [Medium]AQPANTM2=3 [<-<-Slow]AQPANTM2=9 [->Birds Eye] [On]'aqbird [Small]AQBESZ=15 [Medium]AQBESZ=30 [<-Large]AQBESZ=50 [--] [->Zooms] [In]AQZI [Out]AQZO [Way In]AQZWI [Way Out]AQZWO [<-Birds Eye]'_zoom _extents AQZWI [->Pans] [Left]AQPL [Right]AQPR [Up]AQPU [<-Down]AQPD Appendix Icon Menu System Details The Icon menu system has been designed to provide maximum flexibility for the user, but like every thing in this world, there are some limitations. Once you are aware of the limitations of the MasterCAD menu system, you will be able to create a wide variety of menus to suit your needs. 30 menus per menu file. 50 icons per menu. 512 icons per file. Please note that if your requirements exceed these limitations, you may chain menus together to achieve the desired effect. Menu Files The following files are involved in the creation and use of icon menus: *.BMP files. These files can be read into the MasterCAD icon menus. Once loaded into a menu file and saved, the bitmap files are not needed anymore, and may be deleted to conserve disk space. *.SLD files. These files can be read into the MasterCAD icon menus. Once loaded into a menu file and saved, the slide files are not needed anymore, and may be deleted to conserve disk space. *.ICN files. These are the Icon Menu files that are loaded into MasterCAD. These files are created with the aid of the MasterCAD Icon Library Manager and the MasterCAD Icon Menu Manager. Menu Sizes The size of each menu will vary, according to the number of icons in each menu. The following information is useful in designing your own menu layouts. Width 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 2 3 4 5 2 6 7,8 10 13 17,18 3 9 11,12 14,15 21 26,27 Height 4 16 19,20 22,-24 28 31,32 36 5 29,30 33-35 37-40 43-45 50 6 25 41,42 7 49 8 46-48 Erase buffer - When AutoCAD erases objects from the drawing database, it erases them from the screen as well. Sometimes this action causes other objects to appear erased as well. The "redraw" command has no effect, but a "regen" causes the objects to appear correctly. This problem can be solved by using the erase buffer to correct the display corruption that occurs when objects are erased from the drawing. Normally, AutoCAD will request that the driver erase a line from the screen by drawing it in black. This causes the erased object to flash on and off the screen during redraws. Another side effect is that objects near the erased one may appear to be incomplete. To correct this in the fastest manner possible, the driver will keep a list of erased vectors, and erase them only when the buffer fills. This speeds up block erasures considerably. There are certain after market software packages for AutoCAD, such as CAD Overlay, which rely upon the ability to draw objects in black (background color). If you are using one of these packages and the screen images keep coming up distorted, you may need to disable the erase buffer. Band-Free Rendering - When using the 15 or 16 bit rendering modes, often times the images appear "banded". This banding or staircasing occurs most often on objects with large sloping or gently curving surfaces. Band-Free rendering improves the image quality in these modes. The "Band-Free" effect can be controlled as well. It may be set to "Low", "Medium", or "High", depending upon how much of the banding you want to eliminate. This feature will be of limited use to users of AutoShade, but is beneficial to users of Autodesk RenderMan and 3D Studio. Driver status (^L) Typing a ^L at the AutoCAD command prompt will give the user a display of the current display resolution, and memory allocation statistics. If invoked from the text screen, the command used to provide help on the driver local commands will also be displayed. Help screen (AQHLP) The help screen function displays a list and brief description of all the driver local commands. This command is best executed from the text screen (flip screen), as the list will be much longer than the 3 lines allowed inside the drawing editor. AQSCR This command brings up a menu of all the menu colors used inside AutoCAD. You may change individual colors, or choose among different color schemes. By using this command, you can change the colors used by MasterCAD in various areas of the AutoCAD screen. AQCTL The Control Panel feature allows you to set a number of features and save them away for future use. These include screen saver settings, coordinate alignment, birds eye cursor appearance, and digitizer button remappings. AQBUT This command brings up a menu of all the commands assigned to puck buttons by MasterCAD. You may save any button commands you wish, and vary the double click delay as well. AQPAL This command brings up a menu of all the colors available in the drawing area. You will be allowed to change individual colors, or select entire new color schemes. AQSTAT=x This command allows you to change the appearance of the logo and status area (lower right corner of screen). The changes you make to the appearance will not take effect until the next time that you start AutoCAD. The changes will also be saved in the configuration file, so they are permanent from AutoCAD session to the next. AQSTAT=0 disables logo and status display. AQSTAT=1 status display only, normal appearance AQSTAT=3 status only, window appearance AQSTAT=4 logo only, normal appearance AQSTAT=5 status and logo, normal appearance AQSTAT=6 logo only, window appearance AQSTAT=7 status and logo, window appearance AQCOORDJ=x Using the options of this command, you can relocate the coordinate display on the top line of the screen. "AQCOORDJ=0" sets the coordinate display to a left-hand justified mode. "AQCOORDJ=1" sets MasterCAD to a center- justified mode. "AQCOORD=2" sets MasterCAD to draw coordinates with right- hand justification AQCOORDL=x This command sets the location (left column) for the coordinates that appear on the top line of the AutoCAD screen. This is ignored if centered or right-justified coordinates are used, but will take effect if left- justified ("AQCOORDJ=0") are used. If a negative number is used, the coordinates will appear with the correct number of columns from the right side of the coordinate area. AQSS=x This command enables or disables MasterCAD's built in screen saver. To disable the screen saver (default when shipped), use the command "AQSS=0". To set the screen saver to 5 minutes, enter "AQSS=5". Valid values are from 0 to 60 minutes. AQDLQ This command will give a printout of all the viewports currently in use, along with some useful statistics about each one. Perspective or paperspace viewports will be listed as such, and the current viewport will be indicated. Each viewport will list the amount of memory used by it, as well as the number of erased vectors. In multiple viewport drawings this will print out a large number of lines, so it is better to perform this command from the text screen. AQDRQ This command will indicate the status of many features of the driver, and will perform exactly the same as the driver status command. AQCLN When editing drawings, sometimes you may notice a flashing of erased or moved objects on the screen during redraws. This command will remove those objects from the display list by initiating a "cleaning" cycle. This can be executed at any time, even if the Erase Buffer has been disabled. AQCOLOR=index,red,green,blue This allows you to change the appearance of each color on the screen. It may be useful when trying to match screen colors to plotter pens. The valid range for all values is 0 - 255. AQICON=menu This will cause an icon menu to be displayed on the screen. If no parameter is given, the default icon menu is displayed. If the parameter passed is the name of a sub-menu, it will be displayed as the main menu. This may be used to activate different submenus with different digitizer buttons. AQICONLOAD=filename Loads a new icon library into memory, over the top of the existing menu. If filename does not exist the icon menu is disabled. AQLIB This will bring up the Icon Library Manager screen. You may add or remove icons from or to the loaded menu. AQMENU This will bring up the Icon Menu Manager screen. With this screen you may combine icons defined in the library into menus. AQBIRD This will cause the bird's eye window to appear underneath the current cursor location. The window will display an overall view of the contents of the currently active viewport. If the current viewport is a paperspace or perspective viewport, the bird's eye will not appear. AQEPAN Entering this command will toggle on & off the edge pan feature. It may be disabled and re-enabled at any time during an AutoCAD session. The bottom line in the status window will be updated to reflect the change. AQPL This will pan the current viewport to the left by 25 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQPR This will pan the current viewport to the right by 25 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQPU This will pan the current viewport up by 25 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQPD This will pan the current viewport down by 25 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQZI This will zoom in the current viewport by 50 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQZO This will zoom out the current viewport by 50 percent. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQZX This will zoom the current viewport to the extents (extreme edges) of the display list. Regens are never authorized by this command. AQZWI Only available under Release 12, this special zoom command performs a "ZOOM WAY IN", while keeping the same scale factor on the screen. This will cause a regen to occur. Upon completion, you will be able to zoom in futher before another regen will occur. Careful use of this command upon loading a drawing can eliminate subsequent regens. When finished, the viewport will look exactly as it did before. The difference is that now you will be able to zoom in much farther before a regen occurs. In the case of 32 bit display lists, subsequent regens may never occur. By performing a "ZOOM ALL", followed by an "AQZWI" command, you will be able to zoom in and out of your drawing as much as possible without causing further regens. This can also be used to eliminate the small bird's eye image that is present when loading drawings in Release 12. AQZWO Only available under Release 12, this special zoom command performs a "ZOOM WAY OUT", while keeping the same scale factor on the screen. This is the conceptual opposite of the AQZWI command. This will cause a regen to occur. Upon completion, you will be able to zoom out as far as possible before another regen will occur. This can be very useful when making large additions to your drawings, such as array copying, or cross referencing other drawing files. To get the most out of this command, zoom in as far as you will need into your drawing. Then enter "AQZWO". When finished with the regen cycle, you will be able to pan and zoom out as much as possible without incurring further regens. This will allow you to add large blocks of data to your drawing without limiting your ability to zoom around it. AQSPY=xx This command can be used to change the size of the Spy Glass windows. This is the area around the cursor that is magnified in the Spy Glass. The default window size is 25 pixels. To change the window to 50 pixels, "AQSPY=50" would be used. AQPANSCR=xx Changing the amount of the viewport scrolled by the edge pan feature is accomplished here. The value must be between 10 and 80, and is a percentage of the viewport size. Example- to set the scroll distance to one quarter of the viewport size, "AQPANSCR=25" would be used. AQPANBRD=xx This will change the width of the edge pan border. The value must be between 5 and 50, and is in number of pixels. Example- to set the edge pan scroll zone to 16 pixels, "AQPANBRD=16" would be used. AQPANTM1=xx This command allows you to change the amount of initial delay used before the edge pan begins to happen. This is given in number of "clicks", or fractions of a second. There are 18 "clicks" to a second. Valid range for this command is between 10 and 64. Example- to set the initial delay to 1.5 seconds, "AQPANTM1=27" would be used. AQPANTM2=xx This command allows you to change the amount of repeating delay used after the edge pan begins. This is given in number of "clicks", or fractions of a second. There are 18 "clicks" to a second. Valid range for this command is between 1 and 18. Example- to set the repeating rate to twice a second, "AQPANTM2=9" would be used. AQEBUF=xx This command is used to change the size of the Erase Buffer. If zero is used, the buffer is turned off. Example- to set the Erase Buffer to 25 objects, "AQEBUF=25" would be used. Valid range for this command is 0 (zero) to 32000. Orchid Graphics Driver Commands - AQHLP The help screen function displays a list of all the driver local commands, and gives a brief description of each. AQLIB This will bring up the Icon Library Manager screen. AQMENU This will bring up the Icon Menu Manager screen. AQDLQ Displays on a text or flipscreen all the viewports currently in use, along with some useful statistics about each one. AQDRQ Displays current display resolution and memory allocation statistics (CTRL-L provides the same function). AQCLN Removes objects from display list. AQBIRD Displays Birds-eye window underneath current cursor location. AQEPAN Toggles on and off the Edge-pan feature. AQPL Pan to the left by 25 percent. AQPR Pan to the right by 25 percent. AQPU Pan up by 25 percent. AQPD Pan down by 25 percent. AQZI Zoom in by 50 percent. AQZO Zoom out by 50 percent. AQZWI "Zoom way in" while using the same scale factor. Only available in AutoCAD 12. Zooms in as much as possible before another regen will occur. AQZWO "Zoom way out". Only available in AutoCAD 12. AQBESZ=xx Resize the Birds-eye window. Valid number is between 10 and 50, and it is a percentage of the graphics creen size. AQCOLOR=x,x,x,x Index,RED,GREEN,BLUE ; The value range is 0-255 AQICONLOAD=file Loads a new icon library into memory, over the top of the existing menu. AQICON=menu This will cause an icon menu to be displayed on the screen. AQPANSCR=xx Amount of the viewport scrolled by the edge-pan feature. Valid number must be between 10 and 80, and it is a percentage of the viewport size. AQSPY=xx This command can be used to change the size of the Spy Glass window. AQSS=x This command enables or disables MasterCAD's built in screen saver. AQPANBRD=xx Width of the edge-pan border given in number of pixels. Valid number must be between 5 and 50. AQPANTM1=xx Amount of initial delay given in number of "clicks" or fractions of a second used before the edge-pan begins. Valid range is 10 to 64. AQPANTM2=xx Amount of time before another edge-pan begins. Valid number is between 1 to 18. AQEBUF=xx Size of the erase buffer. Using 0 turns off the buffer. AutoCAD Performance Tuning Memory - AutoCAD Releases 11 and 12 have a ravenous appetite for memory. In order for AutoCAD to run at its best, you should have a large amount of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) in your system. Both AutoCAD and MasterCAD are designed to work at their best when a large amount of memory is available. There is no fixed rule, but the following general formula is a good guideline: Anything less than 4 megabytes is not recommended. 4 MB is barely usable. For the user who spends less than 2 hours a day using AutoCAD, 8MB is probably sufficient. If you are impatient, have large drawings, use AME or 3rd party software, or spend most of your workday using AutoCAD, 12 to 16MB is reasonable and 32 megabytes is ideal. The increase in productivity will quickly offset the cost. Disk optimization - A disk drive will operate at its fastest when all files are located in physically contiguous areas on the drive. Over the course of time these files become "fragmented", which means that different parts of the file may be in physically different locations on the drive. The act of "seeking" to all these different locations increases the time it takes for the machine to load these files. Files can become fragmented by being written to and saved again. To correct this problem, there are a number of 3rd party hard drive utility packages that are capable of "de-fragging" your hard drive or drives. Used on a regular basis, they will keep your filesystem operating at peak efficiency. The process of installing AutoCAD causes the entire "\ACAD" subdirectory structure to become very fragmented. The first thing that should be done after an AutoCAD installation or update is to de-frag the disk drive. Due to the large amount of data that will need to be moved, this may take some time. Disk cache - AutoCAD systems with more memory (10 MB and up) should reserve some of the memory for use by a disk caching utility, such as SMARTDRV. This will speed up drawing file access, as well as the amount of time it takes to load AutoCAD. Finding the right amount of memory to set aside for disk cache will take some experimentation, but it should be at least 512Kb to be effective. If too much memory is taken away from AutoCAD by the caching software, AutoCAD will slow down considerably. DOS extender Release 11 uses Phar Laps' DOS extender version 2.2b as default, but can be upgraded to version 2.6 by using the NEWDX utility provided on the "Dxfix / Newdx / B1step" utility disk. Follow the directions, and install the updated DOS extender. This will allow AutoCAD to use more memory, and will make AutoCAD compatible with Microsoft Windows' HIMEM.SYS memory manager. This step is essential if you're are planning to use Windows on the same machine as AutoCAD. Then use the "CFIGPHAR" program to set the "DEMANDLOAD" option to "ON". Release 12 uses Phar Laps' latest (4.0) DOS extender, and is has the "demandload" option turned on as a default. Troubleshooting - Here are some of the most commonly asked technical support questions. - AutoCAD has a white square in the top left corner of the screen. This indicates the current drawing color, and is not a bug. This is not present on many VGA drivers (such as Autodesk's), but it is OK for it to be there. It will change color to whatever the current drawing color is. - The display list is enabled in the configuration, but no status window is present, and redraws are not as fast as they should be. MasterCAD has detected that the graphics card being used is not fully compatible with this driver. This may also be confirmed by the logo used in the menu zone- if this is an insect then MasterCAD has detected an incompatible device. To solve this problem, please buy a graphics device that includes MasterCAD. - The Paging Alarm may have been tripped. If the logo in the menu area is normal, then this is the case. To reset the Paging Alarm and enable display list capabilities again, you must exit and re-enter AutoCAD. - Using a digitizer tablet causes my drawing to scroll off the screen. This is caused by the Edge-Pan feature. To keep this from happening, you must re-configure the driver. As a default the Edge-Pan is disabled, but you may have enabled this feature. To disable it, use the command "AQEPAN". - Release 12 does not have an option to use MasterCAD. Toggling to the flip screen always uses the text screen, instead of the text window in the middle of the AutoCAD screen. - 3D Studio ignores the font I have selected. Yes. This is because 3D Studio requires at least 80 columns and 30 lines to run. To accomplish this, the selected font may be disabled and replaced with the standard VGA font. - After rendering in AutoShade, the main graphics window is blank. AutoShade has been incorrectly configured. You must tell AutoShade that a redraw is needed when returning from shading and RenderMan screens. - The Birds-Eye view refuses to appear, and it is enabled. The Birds-Eye will only appear in zoomable viewports, and is not available in paperspace or perspective viewports. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- AutoCAD Release 11 configuration MasterCAD Configuration AutoCAD ChipSet: VGA ------------------------------------------------- Resolution: undefined Font File :vga Dual Monitors:Off Edge Pan :Off DOS Window : Percentage :10 Delay1 :24 Display List :On Delay2 :1 Format : Border :12 Storage :Dynamic Usage :Performance Bird's-Eye :On Memory : Size :30 Erase Buffer :2 Page Alarm :Off [F10] Accept [ESC] Abort [TAB] Next Field AutoCAD Release 11 configuration screen Start AutoCAD by moving to the "\ACAD" directory and typing "ACAD". Select option #5 "Configure AutoCAD". Select option #3 "Configure video display". Select option #1 "ADI P386 v4.0/4.1 display". The MasterCAD configuration menu (see above example) will appear next. Choose the resolution mode to use (menu options 1). MasterCAD will detect which graphics card you are using, and provide you with a list of resolution modes that will be valid for your graphics card. If this is the first time, it may take MasterCAD a minute or two to try all the possible combinations; during this time, the screen will go blank, but will come back. Select all other options by tabbing through them and making the correct choices. Exit the MasterCAD configuration menu (by pressing F10). Configure pointer (mouse or tablet), printer and plotter as needed. Return to the main AutoCAD menu, saving the configuration results. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AutoCAD Release 12 configuration MasterCAD Configuration AutoCAD ChipSet: VGA Resolution: undefined Font File :vga Dual Monitors:Off Edge Pan :Off DOS Window :On Percentage :10 Delay1 :24 Display List :On Delay2 :1 Format :32 Bit Border :12 Storage :Dynamic Usage :Performance Bird's-Eye :On Memory : Size :30 Erase Buffer :2 Page Alarm :Off [F10] Accept [ESC] Abort [TAB] Next Field AutoCAD Release 12 configuration screen AutoCAD Release 12 uses a much different method of locating device drivers than Release 11. Release 12 will search directories for device files, and ignores the "DSPADI=" environment variable. If you are installing or configuring Release 12 for the first time, please pay careful attention to following setup instructions: Set the environment variable as follows: "set ACADDRV=C:\ACAD\DRV". Start AutoCAD by moving to the "\ACAD" directory. Enter "ACAD -r". Select the video display driver "MasterCAD Driver" from the menu. The MasterCAD configuration menu (see above example) will appear next. Choose the resolution mode to use (menu option 1) MasterCAD will detect which Orchid graphics card you are using, and provide you with a list of resolution modes that will be valid for your Orchid graphics card. If this is the first time, it may take MasterCAD a minute or two to try all the possible combinations; during this time, the screen may go blank, but it will come back. Select all other options by tabbing through them and making the correct choices. Exit the MasterCAD configuration menu (by pressing F10). Configure pointer (mouse or tablet), printer and plotter as needed. Upon saving the configuration results, you will be placed in the AutoCAD graphics screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AutoShade Configuration Start up AutoShade, with the special configuration command "SHADE /R". Select the correct pointing device. Select option #2 "P386 Autodesk Device Interface display driver". Choose a display resolution mode. This is the display mode that will be used for the interactive screen. Choose the colors to use in the various parts of the screen. (Menus, Pop-ups, Background, etc.) Save and exit the colors menu when finished selecting colors. Select option #2 "P386 Autodesk Device Interface rendering driver". Choose a rendering resolution mode. This is the display mode that will be used for the rendering (shading and RenderMan) screen. If you select the 32768 or 65535 color modes, you will be asked if you wish to enable "Band-Free" mode. This allows the best color quality possible in a 15 or 16 bit device. Select Low, Medium or High. Answer the next 3 questions with a "YES", since only one screen is used, and must be redrawn upon switching. Select a hard copy device option. At this point, AutoShade will be configured, and you will find yourself in the interactive screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3D Studio 1.0 Configuration Go to the "\3DS" directory, and edit the file "3DS.SET" file. Change the line that starts with "DEFAULT-DISPLAY = VGA320X200" to read "DEFAULT-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Change the line that begins with "MAIN-DISPLAY =" to read "MAIN-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Delete any leading semicolon (;) that may be present. Change the line that begins with "MATERIAL-DISPLAY = VGA320X200" to read "MATERIAL-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Save the file and exit the editor. Delete the file "3DADI.CFG", if present. Start 3D Studio with the command "3DS". Select a resolution mode for the Main display. This is the mode that will be used for the 2D Shaper, 3D Lofter, 3D Editor, and Keyframer. There is no benefit to selecting a very high resolution mode, as these screens will not use any more than 16 colors, but you may choose to experiment with this. Select a resolution for the Materials Editor. This must be a 256 color mode. Use of a 16 color mode will cause 3D Studio to crash in a horribly painful manner. Use of a resolution greater than 640 x 480 will not increase the usefulness of the Materials Editor at all. You should now find yourself inside the 3D Editor of 3D Studio. The first time that you try to render a drawing or view an image, you will be asked to select a resolution for the Rendering Device. If you select the 32768 or 65535 color modes, you will be asked if you wish to enable "Band-Free" mode. This allows the best color quality possible in a 15 or 16 bit device. Select Low, Medium or High. Configuration is now complete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3D Studio 2.0 Configuration Go to the "\3DS" directory, and edit the file "3DS.SET" file. Change the line that starts with "RENDER-DISPLAY = VGA320X200" to read "RENDER-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Change the line that begins with "MAIN-DISPLAY =" to read "MAIN-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Delete any leading semicolon (;) that may be present. Change the line that begins with "MATERIAL-DISPLAY = VGA320X200" to read "MATERIAL-DISPLAY = RCPADI". Save the file and exit the editor. Delete the file "3DADI.CFG", if present. Start 3D Studio with the command "3DS". Answer the question about having a VGA or SVGA. Select a resolution mode for the "ADI main display". This is the mode that will be used for the 2D Shaper, 3D Lofter, 3D Editor, and Keyframer. There is no benefit to selecting a very high resolution mode, as these screens will not use any more than 16 colors, but you may choose to experiment with this. Select a resolution for the "ADI MEDIT". This must be a 256 color mode. Use of a 16 color mode will cause 3D Studio to crash. Use of a resolution greater than 640 x 480 will not increase the usefulness of the Materials Editor at all. Answer the question about "Will RDPADI render to a separate screen?". The answer is always "no". Select a resolution mode for the Rendering "RDPADI" Device. If you select the 32768 or 65535 color modes, you will be asked if you wish to enable "Band-Free" mode. This allows the best color quality possible in a 15 or 16 bit device. Select Low, Medium or High. Answer the question about "Will RCPADI render to a separate screen?". If using MasterCAD for an 8514/A, the answer is "yes", for all others, the answer is "no". Select a resolution mode for the Rendering "RCPADI" Device. If you select the 32768 or 65535 color modes, you will be asked if you wish to enable "Band-Free" mode. This allows the best color quality possible in a 15 or 16 bit device. Select Low, Medium or High. You should now find yourself inside the 3D Editor of 3D Studio. Configuration is now complete.