The Tip of the Day introduces you to many useful features of IntelliCAD 98.\\To make the tips stop appearing, click the box below to uncheck it. To view tips at any time, from the Help menu, choose Tip of the Day.
If you prefer to enter commands at the command bar, go to the View menu and choose Command Bar, or press F3.\\You can dock the command bar at the top or bottom of the window, or float it anywhere you want.
You can register IntelliCAD 98 online, as well as find the latest news, tips, and updates.\\To register online, go to the Windows Start menu, choose Programs, then IntelliCAD 98, and select Register IntelliCAD Online.
You can work on several drawings at once. When you have more than one drawing open, you can copy drawing features such as layers, linetypes, views, and blocks from one drawing to another.
When a command is selected, a popup prompt box displays to provide you with options.\\You can turn the prompt boxes off. From the Tools menu, choose Options, then click the check box for Display Prompt Boxes to uncheck it.
You can read through all these tips, and you can add your own, in the file ICAD.TIP in your IntelliCAD 98 directory. Open it as a text file.
You can learn about any command on a menu by highlighting it to select it and reading the text in the status bar at the bottom of the main window.
IntelliCAD provides both print and online user's guides: an online Command Reference that gives details about commands, tools, aliases, and system variables; a guide for those familiar with Autodesk AutoCAD that highlights similarities and differences; online developer references for programmers; and online service and support information.
If your mouse has a center wheel, you can specify what it does. By default, it zooms in and out.\\To change what the center wheel does, type the system variable MWHEELUP or MWHEELDN, press enter, then enter a new command.
You can press F1 at any time to display IntelliCAD Help.\\If you are using a command, IntelliCAD displays help for that command.
If you are accustomed to using the command line in Autodesk AutoCAD, you can still enter the same commands and use the same options in IntelliCAD, even if you do not see them in the prompt.
If a tool or menu item is dimmed, that command is not available at the moment. For example, when no drawing is open, most features, such as drawing a line, are not available.
You can set IntelliCAD to show the tools and menu items appropriate for your level of experience. From the Tools menu, choose Options, then choose Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.
You can create blocks, which are combinations of entities you can use again throughout your drawing.\\To create a block, draw something you want to reuse, then go to the Tools menu and choose Create Block.\\To use the block later, go to the Insert menu and choose Insert Block, or select the block in the Drawing Explorer.
You can move the toolbars and the command bar to any place on the screen by dragging them away from the edge of the window.
All the files supplied with IntelliCAD 98 are available in uncompressed form on your CD.\\If you misplace a file, you do not need to reinstall the program. Just copy the file from the directory on the IntelliCAD 98 CD named Uncompressed.
You can change the color of your screen background. From the Tools menu, select Options.
You can find distances, areas, and exact locations in your drawings using the tools on the Inquiry toolbar.
You can use any word or symbol to indicate that IntelliCAD is ready for a command. By default, IntelliCAD displays a colon. You might prefer Ready or OK instead.\\To change what appears at the command line, type CMDLNTEXT and enter the new word or symbol.
You can choose any option in a prompt by typing the capital letter(s) in the option description in the command line. For example, to choose the Length option in the Line command, simply type L at that prompt.
You can maximize the drawing area on the screen by hiding items you do not need at the moment: toolbars, command bar, or status bar.\\To hide or display elements of the user interface, go to the bottom of the View menu and select or deselect the item.
The World Coordinate System (WCS) is the default, and the foundation on which user coordinate systems are built.\\You can return to the WCS at any time by entering UCS at the command line and choosing the World option.
You can define your own coordinate systems to make entering points and reading entity information easier.\\From the Settings menu, choose User Coordinate Systems, or create a new UCS in the Drawing Explorer.
You can create your drawing in any way that is convenient for you in model space (the default), then arrange it for printing in paper space.\\For more information, refer to Formatting and Printing Paper Drawings in Using IntelliCAD 98.
You can copy anything in the Drawing Explorer from one drawing to another: layers, linetypes, saved views, blocks, text styles, and user coordinate systems.
If the command bar is closed, you can see each step of an active command in the status bar. If you are using the command bar, look there for instructions.
You can open a drawing, run a script, or load a LISP program by dragging and dropping the file on IntelliCAD.
Some tools stick down to indicate that they are active. These include Grid, Snap, Orthogonal, and all the Entity Snap settings.\\On the menus, a check mark indicates a setting that is in use.
You can place point entities or blocks at regular intervals along an entity using the Divide and Measure tools.\\Divide marks the entity in a specified number of segments; Measure marks off segments of specified length. Neither command alters the original entity.
You can make aliases for any of the IntelliCAD commands. For example, you may prefer "guideline" to "infline".\\To make an alias, go to the Tools menu, select Customize, and click the Aliases tab.
You can cut, copy, and paste entities from one drawing to another.\\To copy a set of entities, select them, then go to the Edit menu and choose Copy. Click the destination drawing and choose Paste.
After you have pasted entities into a drawing, you can easily select them for the next command, such as Move, by choosing Previous Selection or typing P at the Select Entities prompt.
Larger, more detailed toolbar buttons are available. This can be especially helpful when you are first familiarizing yourself with IntelliCAD.\\To change to large toolbars, go to the View menu and choose Toolbars, then click the Large Buttons check box.
A user coordinate system (UCS) can involve anything from a simple shifting of the origin (0,0,0), to reorienting the axis so you can easily draw in a different plane.
You can change the current layer, color, linetype, and other options by double-clicking the item in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
You can use any drawing you want as the basis for your future drawings. Your template might include borders, title blocks, and your preferred settings.\\To choose a Prototype drawing, go to the Tools menu and choose Options, then Browse to select the drawing you want.
You can resize the command bar. Simply drag it to the middle of the window, change the size, and position it where you want.\\To prevent the command bar from docking, press and hold the Ctrl key as you move it.
You can drag and drop documents from other programs into your IntelliCAD drawings. For example, you can include a Visio Technical diagram or a Microsoft Word document.
You can draw quickly and precisely by snapping to points on existing entities, such as the end of a line or center of a circle.\\To set Entity Snaps and see their current states, use the Entity Snaps toolbar.
There are more example files than just those in the Sample directory. Look on your IntelliCAD 98 CD for the Extras directory, where you will find some interesting drawings and other files.
When you see coordinates reported in IntelliCAD - at the status bar, or in the List command, for example, they are relative to the current coordinate system - either a user coordinate system (UCS) or the World Coordinate System (WCS).
You can record command line entries and mouse coordinate selections in a script file, which you can play back later. Doing this is handy for avoiding repetitive work. Scripts are saved in files with the extension .scr.\\From the Tools menu, choose Record Script, then choose Stop Recording after you have finished.
You can remove tools that you rarely use from your toolbars. Press the Shift key and drag the tool away from the toolbar.\\For more toolbar customization options or to replace tools you have removed, go to the Tools menu and choose Customize.
You can use the Drawing Explorer to easily change your layers, linetypes, styles, coordinate systems, views, and blocks.\\From the Tools menu, choose Drawing Explorer. Right-click the item you want to edit, then choose Properties.
You can associate spaces for text, called attributes, with your blocks when you define them.\\Each time you insert the block, you can enter the appropriate information for that instance, such as a part number, price, or supplier.
You can save your arrangements of menus or you can import your menus from Autodesk AutoCAD.\\To import or export menus, go to the Tools menu and choose Customize.
Some commands are available in menus and toolbars only at the intermediate or advanced levels.\\To change your experience level, go to the Tools menu and choose Options, then select the experience level you want.
Polylines are sets of line and arc segments handled as a single entity. Polylines can have qualities that ordinary lines cannot, such as width.\\When you move a vertex of a polyline, both adjacent segments move with it.
To change where prompt boxes appear on the screen, move one to a different location. All future prompt boxes will display in the new position.\\You can also turn prompt boxes off from the Options dialog box.
The images on the Draw 2D toolbar show you the order in which points are entered for that command.\\The largest dot is the first point specified, the smallest is the last.
When drawing lines, arcs, and polylines, you can use the Follow option to continue drawing from the last point and in the same direction.
With the Drawing Explorer, you can view blocks before inserting them.\\To see thumbnail views of your blocks, select the Images tool in the Drawing Explorer.
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You can apply the qualities of one entity, including color, linetype, and thickness, directly to other entities.\\From the Standard toolbar, choose the Copy Entity Formatting tool.
To use the New Drawing wizard, go to the File menu and select New. To open a new drawing without the assistance of the wizard, select New from the toolbar.
You can display a reference grid, or snap to regularly spaced points on the screen.\\To see all the options, bring up the Drawing Settings dialog box and click the Coordinate Input tab. Select the Snap and Grid option.
The drawing crosshairs use a different color for each axis.\\To select the colors you want, go to the Tools menu and choose Options.
Several toolbars include flyout toolbars with related commands and options.\\Flyout toolbars are indicated by a small black triangle in the lower right corner of the tool.
You can easily render your drawings with materials, backgrounds, lighting, and shadows. From the View menu, choose Rendering.\\Try rendering some of the sample drawings provided with IntelliCAD.
You can use any sound files (.wav) for your IntelliCAD startup and warning sounds. From the Windows Control Panel, choose Sounds. Find the Icad section, and assign any sounds you want.
You can replace all of your menus with a new set or append only a few to the existing menus.\\In the Menus tab of the Customize dialog box, click Import. Set the Append check box on or off as appropriate.
You can constrain lines and other entities to draw only vertically and horizontally.\\For just a few lines, hold the Shift key down while you draw. To work this way continuously, go to the Settings toolbar and click Orthogonal.
There are hundreds of settings that affect how dimensions are created and displayed. To see how they work and change them go to the Settings menu and choose Dimension Settings.
You can display as many or as few of the toolbars as you want. From the View menu, choose Toolbars, then click the check box for the toolbars you want to display.\\To hide a toolbar, drag it away from the edge of the window and click the "x" in the upper right corner.
Donuts are planar, circular entities having an inside and outside diameter, like a flat washer.\\You can draw donuts by either the two-point, three-point, or tangent-radius method.
When creating planar entities using the Plane command, you can constrain the planes to squares, rectangles, and equilateral triangles.
There are files in the IntelliCAD 98 Samples directory, and in the Extras directory on your IntelliCAD 98 CD that are great examples for rendering.\\Try rendering these files: Copter.dwg, Countach.dwg, or Crane.dwg.
You can quickly hide or display the command bar by double-clicking in the text area of the status bar, on the left side.
You can customize your menus and toolbars. Go to the Tools menu and choose Customize.\\To set them back to their original state, simply click Reset.
You can use the Xplode command to alter various properties of entities as they are exploded.\\You can alter layer, color, linetype, and linetype scale.
You can use the Push Pin tool in the Properties dialog box of the Drawing Explorer to keep it visible. Click the Push Pin tool again to unpin the dialog box.
You can display a shortcut menu of commands to modify specific entities. Select the entities you want, then right-click to display the shortcut menu.
You can use the Rectangle command to draw square polylines or rectangles at a specific angle. You can also adjust the width of the polyline.
LISP is an interpreted programming language invented by John McCarthy in 1958 for work in artificial intelligence.\\You can write your own LISP programs for IntelliCAD to automate frequent or complex operations.\\See the online IntelliCAD Developer Reference for complete information.
You can fillet or chamfer selected vertices of a polyline.\\Select two points on the polyline, and all vertices between the selected points will be modified.\\The operation goes in the direction of the polyline, so on closed polylines the order of point selection determines which vertices are modified.
You can visit the Visio IntelliCAD web site for news and tips on IntelliCAD, and for information on other products from Visio.\\Point your browser to www.visio.com and click the link to IntelliCAD 98.
You can change the units display method by right-clicking the coordinates display in the status bar.
You can close a dialog box by pressing the Esc key.
You can display a menu of available toolbars by pointing to the toolbar area and clicking the right mouse button.
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You might have blocks you are no longer using being saved in your drawing. You can clean out those unused blocks with the Purge command.
You can create regular polygons such as hexagons and pentagons using the Polygon command. All polygons are created as closed polylines.
You can change many settings directly from the status bar at the bottom of the window.\\Try double-clicking or right-clicking on each of the items in the status bar, such as color, layer, snap, or grid settings.
You can use the Center entity snap to snap to the center of any two-dimensional closed polyline, including rectangles and polygons.
You can use the Copy and Move commands between drawings. When prompted for a displacement point, specify a point in the destination drawing.
You can bisect lines, arcs, and polylines using the Ray command.\\Use the Ray command, then select Bisect and Entity.
You can save a block to a separate drawing file using the Drawing Explorer.\\Select the block to save in its own drawing, and click the Save Block tool.
In the Drawing Explorer, you can double-click the name of an item to make it current. For example, to set a layer as the current layer, double-click the name of the layer.
You can mail a drawing to someone else while working in IntelliCAD. From the File menu, choose Send Mail. Your current drawing is sent as an attachment.
Your suggestions and requests are important to the development of future versions of IntelliCAD. Please send them to us via the IntelliCAD web site at www.visio.com.
You can open multiple windows to view your drawing in different ways at the same time. From the Window menu, choose New Window.
You can use your mouse to select command options from the popup prompt boxes.\\If you prefer not to use the prompt boxes, it is easy to turn them off. From the Tools menu, choose Options, and click the option to Display Prompt Boxes to turn it off.
You can explode Traces, Planes, and 3D Faces into their component lines. \\From the Modify menu, choose Explode, then select the entities to explode.
When editing a polyline, you can taper the width of the polyline continuously from start to end. All vertex widths are automatically calculated.\\From the Modify menu, choose Edit Polyline, then choose Taper.
When offsetting polylines that cross themselves, you can do either a true offset or a boundary offset. \\From the Modify menu, choose Parallel. Select a polyline, then choose either the side to parallel or the Wrap option.
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You can convert an arc into a circle. From the Insert menu, choose Circle. From the prompt box, choose Turn Arc Into Circle.
A drawing can contain a reference to another drawing, called an Externally Referenced drawing, or XRef.\\The display of the referenced drawing updates each time the reference is reloaded using the XRef command.
You can see and work with the layers, linetypes, and other elements of Externally Referenced drawings (XRefs) in the Drawing Explorer.\\To make information from externally referenced drawings available in the Drawing Explorer, simply reload the drawing using the XRef command.
You can alter how the Change command affects Rays and Infinite Lines.\\After selecting the entities to change, use the Entities option to select from No Change, Point Change, or Angle Change.
You can fillet a polyline, even if the intersection lies on a curved segment.
Polylines have a direction. To reverse the direction of the polyline, first select it, then go to the Modify menu and choose Edit Polyline, then Reverse Direction.
You can change the included angle of individual polyline segments. From the Modify menu, choose Edit Polyline. Select the entity, then from the prompt box, choose Edit Vertices. Choose Next Vertex or Previous Vertex to select the vertex, then choose Angle.
You can include IntelliCAD drawings in your documents in other programs - just drag and drop the drawing on the document. To edit the drawing in place, double-click it.
You can straighten a polyline segment. From the Modify menu, choose Edit Polyline. Select the entity, then from the prompt box, choose Edit Vertices. To select the vertex, choose Next Vertex or Previous Vertex, then choose Straighten.
You can snap lines perpendicular or tangent to existing entities. Simply select a point on the entity, and IntelliCAD adjusts the point so that the line you are drawing is perpendicular or tangent to the entity.
You can pan horizontally and vertically using the scroll bars at the side and bottom of the drawing window. The size of the scroll boxes are proportional to the current view size.
Drawing by entering coordinates in two and three dimensions is a fun and rewarding way for children to practice their math and geometry skills.
You can adjust the size of the cursor used for selecting entities. To set the size of the Entity Selection Pickbox, go to the Drawing Settings dialog box, choose the Coordinate Input tab, then choose Entity Selection.
You can assign commands to any key on your keyboard or change existing key assignments. You can also use key combinations with Shift, Alt, and Ctrl.\\From the Tools menu, choose Customize, then click the Keyboard tab.
When drawing lines, you can specify the angle or length first, then adjust the other parameter dynamically.
You can use the Edit Polyline command to specify whether linetypes are broken or continuous across vertices. From the Modify menu, choose Edit Polyline, then choose Linetype Mode. From the prompt box, choose Continuous On or Continuous Off.
You can join colinear lines and coplanar arcs with the same center and radius using the Join command.
You can use the Plan command to change to the plan view for any UCS or the WCS. From the View menu, choose Plan View.
You can display entity information in the Prompt History window by typing LIST. Follow the prompts to toggle information displayed between PAginate and SCroll.
You can use block attribute information in an external database.\\To copy data from the attributes in your drawings, go to the Tools menu and choose Extract Attributes.
You can set points to be displayed in any of twenty different ways. From the Settings menu, choose Drawing Settings, then select the Entity Creation tab. Change the settings for points by choosing one of the displayed options.
You can insert a block or hatch in its exploded form so that it is inserted in pieces rather than as a single unit. Precede the name of the block or hatch pattern with an asterisk.
You can simultaneously modify the properties of any number of selected entities using the Properties command, which is located on the Modify menu.
When using the Polygon command, you can change the line width of the polygon you are drawing.
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Many of the commands in IntelliCAD can be nested.\\To start a new command while one is in progress, first type an apostrophe, then enter the new command. While the nested command is active, a second angle bracket is displayed in the command prompt.
If you are drawing in isometric planes and your grid is on, your x-axis grid spacing is automatically adjusted to isometrically match your y-axis spacing. To draw isometrically, go to the Drawing Settings dialog box, click the Coordinate Input tab and check Isometric Snap and Grid.
You can change entities to make them the same length. Go to the Modify menu, and choose Edit Length. From the prompt box, choose Total. Enter the length you want, and select the entities you want to lengthen.
There are two ways of chamfering entities. You can specify the distances from the intersection point of each entity, or you can specify the distance on the first entity and an angle for the chamfer line.
You can use any bitmap image as a background for rendering. You can show a building you are drawing against the existing skyline, for example.\\To select an image for a rendering background go to the Rendering toolbar and choose Backgrounds, select the image icon, then click Details to specify an image.
You can create a selection set and add entities to it by their properties, such as layer or color. Type SELECT, and from the prompt box choose Select By Properties.
You can change the hatching style for nested regions to hatch either the outer and inner regions, only the outer region, or all regions. To set this variable, go to the Drawing Settings dialog box and click the Entity Creation tab.
Any LISP function placed in the ICAD.LSP file is automatically loaded each time you start IntelliCAD.
You can erase the ends of sketches you are drawing using Freehand. From the prompt box, select Delete On and move the cursor to erase. To continue drawing, go back to the prompt box and select Delete Off.
You can select several entities and change their properties simultaneously. Select the entities, then right-click to see the shortcut menu. Select Properties, and make the global changes.
You can right-click different areas of the screen to bring up different shortcut menus. Try doing this on the status bar at the bottom of the window.
You can use the Flatten command to flatten entities onto the current UCS xy plane. From the Modify menu, select Flatten.\\You can also specify a different elevation to use for flattening.
A cockroach's brain is not all in its head - it is spread along the bug's body.\\A cockroach can live without its head for a week or so before it dies - of thirst.
IntelliCAD automatically saves your work at a time interval you specify. From the Tools menu, select Options, and set the Autosave time.
You can export rendered views of your drawings to files you can use in presentations, papers, or other documents. In the Render Settings dialog box, choose the Export tab.
IntelliCAD automatically tracks your command history.\\The default number of recorded lines is 256, but you can add more from the Options dialog box on the Tools menu.
You can customize any toolbar. Simply right-click anywhere in the toolbar area, and from the popup menu choose Toolbars, then Customize.
You can make a layer current by selecting an entity on that layer. From the Settings menu, choose Set Layer By Entity and select an entity on the layer you want to make current.
You can enter a LISP expression in response to a request from a LISP function for input. For example: "Enter circumference: (* 2 3.14 5)."
This is the last Tip of the Day.\\The tips will start again from the beginning.
