CAD Basics

Carlson Software's office products utilize either an AutoCAD or IntelliCAD-based CAD engine. This section will review some basics of CAD software that will be useful in running Carlson Software. Running Carlson on IntelliCAD is largely the same as running on AutoCAD.

Starting Carlson

Once installed to your computer, one or more Carlson start-up icons (based on the product[s] contained within the product serial number) will typically be placed on your computer desktop. Carlson recommends launching the software through the desktop icon so proper software initialization parameters can be set. Once the Carlson software environment has been initialized, you can choose to open an existing document type (e.g. an existing *.DWG file) or create a new document type (e.g. a new *.DWG file). Based on your desired (or established) interface settings, one of three "start-up" environments may be presented:

1. Start Page (IntelliCAD users) - When this environment is active (i.e. variable STARTMODE = On), a generic "Start Page" will be displayed with common first-time commands and the software will wait for your to generally create a New Drawing or Open Files that the CAD application supports:
   
   • Clicking New Drawing will launch the Startup Wizard which provides a step-by-step process for the creation of a new, supported document type.
   • Clicking Open Files will launch a File Selector which permits navigation to a desired folder location on your computer (and/or shared network drive, if available) which provides the ability to directly open an existing, supported document type.
   A primary benefit of the Start Page environment is that only the drawing(s)/documents that you choose to create or open will be in use by the application. In this fashion, when exiting from the software, you'll have the benefit of only having to save changes to documents that are open and that have changed.
   
   NOTE: The complement of commands offered by the Carlson module(s) will not be fully loaded until at least one supported drawing document type is either created or opened.
   
   NOTE: The "Start Page" environment can be suppressed by enabling the Skip Start Page Next Time toggle in the lower left corner of the "Start Page." Enabling this feature will (by default) revert to the Startup Wizard interface the next time the application is restarted. The "Start Page" environment can be re-enabled by:
   1. Opening an existing drawing document, and,
   2. Keying-in STARTMODE into the Command: prompt, and,
   3. Setting the value of the variable to On.
2. Startup Wizard - When this environment is active, CAD will launch with a default drawing document (e.g. Drawing1.dwg) pre-loaded along with an interface with a step-by-step (aka wizard) approach for the creation of a new drawing document type:
   
   • Clicking Browse will launch a File Selector which permits navigation to a desired folder location on your computer (and/or shared network drive, if available) which provides the ability to directly open an existing, supported document type.
   • Clicking Open Recent will open the currently selected/highlighted drawing document which has been previously opened by the application.
   • Clicking Exit will dismiss the Startup Wizard dialog box and leave the default drawing document active and available for data entry.
   • Clicking New will start the formal Startup Wizard process which generally entails the following sequence:
     1. Establish the desired document type (and/or source) and click Next >:
        
     2. Establish the source document type (aka "template") and click Finish to launch into the drawing-specific settings:
        
     3. Establish the document name (e.g. use the Set button to establish the desired Folder and Document name) along with expected plot scale and desired Coordinate System information as desired and click Next to continue with additional information:
        
     4. Validate the Destination Folder and establish the related "Coordinate File" name to house designated point data and whether an existing Coordinate File (e.g. such as that created by Carlson SurvPC or SurvCE) or if a new Coordinate File should be created along with the source for any inbound Point Data and click Next to continue with further processing instructions (if applicable):
        
     NOTE: The precise sequence of steps within the Startup Wizard will vary based on the option(s) selected within each step of the Wizard. It is recommended that the Wizard be followed to its logical conclusion and the click of a resulting Finish button.
     
     NOTE: The "Startup Wizard" environment can be suppressed by enabling the Skip Startup Wizard Next Time toggle in the lower left corner of the opening "Startup Wizard" dialog box or the tertiary Document Name dialog box. Enabling this feature will (by default) revert to the standard CAD interface the next time the application is restarted. The "Startup Wizard" environment can be re-enabled by:
     1. Opening an existing drawing document, and,
     2. From the Settings menu, click Carlson Configure, and,
     3. Clicking the General Settings and enabling the Use Startup Wizard option.
3. Standard CAD - When this environment is active, the CAD application starts with a default document name (e.g. Drawing1.dwg) pre-loaded and ready for data entry. It is up to the user to properly save and rename the drawing document to a desired folder and file name.

CAD "GUI" (Graphical User Interface) Overview

When configuring the "GUI" (gooey) interface and/or effectively communicating with Carlson Technical Support, it is helpful to understand the various components, terminology and their locations within the CAD application:

Issuing Commands

Virtually all commands in CAD software have three or more ways they can be initiated. The two most common are through the Pull-down Menus and the Toolbars, but the persons who are comfortable with the "Ribbon" interface or Command line interface (for quick keystroke entry) have various options available to them. Using the Menus and Toolbars should be second nature to Windows users, so this section will mainly focus on the Command line usage in CAD.

Command Line Prompt (Command:)

CAD softwares have a Command line prompt where commands are issued and the status of a command is reported. When you select a command from a menu or toolbar, that key-in command name is sent to the Command line and is executed. When a command is issued, the Command line acts as a status bar that will show the available options and prompt for input from you (either in the form of Command line options and/or a dialog box).

Before most commands can begin, all other commands must be terminated. The exceptions are referred to as Transparent commands. The easiest way to see if no commands are running is to look at the Command line. If it displays "Command:" no commands are currently in progress.

General Key Commands

Enter

When you are required to press the Enter key in CAD, you can use the Enter key on the keyboard or you can press the spacebar or click the right mouse button.

Pressing the Enter key will perform different operations depending on your location within a command:

• If you are in the process of running a command which has no sub-options, the Enter key will end the command.
• If you are in the process of running a command which has sub-options and a desired sub-option other than the default option has not been specified, the Enter key will initiate the default sub-option (the option between the < > characters).
• If you are in the process of running a command which has sub-options and you wish to exercise a sub-option other than the default, left-click the desired sub-option or type the Capitalized character(s) (not case-sensitive) and press Enter.
• If you are in the process of selecting entities for a desired action, the Enter action will complete the current selection method and a second Enter will initiate the command on the selected entity(ies).

To avoid any problems with using the above methods to end a command, you can press the Escape key (Esc) as described below.

Repeating Commands

When you press the Enter key (or its equivalents) at the Command: prompt without a command running, you will repeat the last command.

Right Mouse Button

As mentioned above, the right mouse button can be used as Enter. However, you can set the right mouse button to perform different functions as well. When so configured, a right mouse may provide a context-sensitive list of commands and can select the desired one (e.g. Move the cursor the desired option and click on it with the left mouse button).

Canceling a Command (Esc)

The Escape key (ESC) key can be used to cancel any command. Some commands (such as Transparent commands) may require pressing the Escape key more than once.

For example, if the command line displays something other than Command: or if a command you want to run does not start because you are using another command, you will want to end the command and return to the command prompt. Using the Escape (Esc) key will accomplish this every time.

NOTE: If you accidentally left-click a location on the screen and start a selection window, the command prompt will prompt for another corner. Either select another point on the screen to finish the selection (not advised) or press the Esc key to return to the Command: prompt.

Undo

Undo reverses the effect of the previous command. Type U or use the shortcut Ctrl+Z to run Undo.

Redo

Redo reverses an UNDO command. You must use the UNDO command before you can use the REDO command. Type REDO or use the shortcut Ctrl+Y to run Redo.

Navigating Within the Drawing

NOTE: Panning and Zooming is made easy if your mouse has a center wheel. You can use it to zoom in and out by rolling the mouse wheel up or down. By holding the center wheel down on the mouse, you can pan in any direction.

Pan

Press and hold the middle (wheel) button of a 3-button mouse and drag the view to the desired location. Alternatively, type 'P for a transparent Pan then click and hold the left-button of the mouse on the point from which you want to move the display. Drag the mouse to the desired area, then release the mouse.

Zoom

Typing Z for Zoom will give you several options: To specify the scale, enter the magnification value. To zoom in, choose In. To zoom out, choose Out. To display the entire drawing, choose All. To view a window defined by a center point and the magnification value or height, choose Center. To display the drawing extents, choose Extents. To view a window by selecting the desired area in the drawing, choose Dynamic. To view a window defined by the left point and the magnification value or height, choose Left. To return to the previous display, choose Previous. To view a window defined by the right point and the magnification value or height, choose Right. To view a window defined by specifying two (opposite) corners, choose Window.

Transparent Commands

Several commands in CAD software can be run transparently. This means that they can be performed while another command is running. For example, if you are in a command and are trying to select something in the drawing but it is too small to see, you can use the zoom command transparently. Zoom to the area where the object is, then select the object without ending the initial command. The most commonly used commands are the View commands of Zoom and Pan, and the Properties commands including the Layer dialog box.

To issue a transparent command, type an ' (apostrophe) before the command name. For example, 'Z would be Transparent Zoom. Note that many commands will automatically be assumed to be transparent if they are issued from the toolbar while another command is running.

When you are in a command that is running transparently, this will be indicated with a >> at the far left of the command line preceding any options or other text. When a transparent command is complete, you will return to the command you were previously running. If you are in a transparent command and want to end the command to get back to the command prompt, you will need to press the Esc key twice.

NOTE: If you select a View command while running another command, the other command will not end. You will be running the View command transparently. This is one of the exceptions to the rules for ending a command. If you do not want to run the View command transparently, you need to complete the other command or end it by pressing the Esc key.

Command Sub-options

The Command line changes as a command is running. When there are options available for the command you are running, they will display at the Command line with capital letters in the option name. To use one of the options, type the capital letter(s) at the prompt (but know that these "accelerators" are case-insensitive).

For example, if you issue the Zoom command, the Command prompt will typically show sub-options of [In/Out/All/Center/Dynamic/Extents/Left/Previous/Right/Window/ENtity/Scale]<Scale (nX/nXP)>:

To select the Dynamic option, type D (or d) at the Command line, then press the Enter key. If you do not input an option and press Enter, you will be selecting the option that appears between the < > brackets. For the example shown above, that is the Zoom -- Scale option.

Selection of Items

Most commands in CAD software require the selection of objects. When you need to select objects, the command line will prompt Select objects: (or [FILter]/<Select entities ...>: in IntelliCAD) . When you are at this prompt, your next step will be to create a selection set. While creating the selection set, the prompt Select Objects: repeats and you can continue to select objects until you press the Enter key, at which time the command you are using will continue and use the objects selected.

Selection Sets

There are several ways to create a selection set from the Select objects: prompt. With all selection methods, the number of objects selected will be displayed in the Command line along with any objects that were duplicated. Following are the most commonly used methods for creating a selection set:

Single

A single selection is made when you move the object selection target to an object on the screen and click on it. The selected object will highlight and the Select objects: prompt will return. The cursor changes to a small square when the Command line displays Select objects:.

Window

A Window will select all objects completely inside of the rectangle drawn. Create a window by selecting a point on the view screen and then moving the cursor right. The window will display as a solid rectangle. You can also create a window by typing W at the Select objects: prompt. In this case, the direction of the window creation does not matter.

Crossing

A crossing will select all objects within the rectangle as well as those touched by the rectangle. If you select a point on the view screen and move the cursor to the left, you are creating a crossing. The crossing will display as a dashed rectangle. You can force a crossing by typing C at the Select objects: prompt, allowing you to move the cursor to the right and create the crossing.

Previous

After you select several objects, they will be temporarily stored as a selection set. Should you want to re-use the same objects that were selected by the last command for a different command, you can generally type P at the Select objects: prompt.

Remove

If you select incorrect objects, you can type R to remove objects from the selection set. When you are in Remove mode, the prompt will be Remove objects:. Click on the objects that you do not want to include in your selection. To return to select (or "add" mode), type A at the Command line.

Snaps

When creating geometry, it is often desireable to locate aspects of the new geometry piece to the precise location of key-points of an existing piece of gemoetry (i.e. setting the endpoint of one line to the midpoint of another line). This can be accomplished through the use of entity snaps (object snaps in AutoCAD). Desired snaps can be turned on to be available all the time (through the status bar area of the GUI or via the F3 function key) or issued within a command through a key-in of the first three letters of the snap (e.g. endpoint, midpoint, nearest, intersection, perpendicular, etc).

Grips

Objects may also be selected before issuing the command and receiving the Select objects: prompt. This selection will turn on CAD grips. Grips appear as small blue squares (aka "cool grips") in the drawing. All objects with grips will be used when a command is issued. Grips are turned on similar to selecting objects as described in the previous section, but with the command line at the Command: prompt, not the Select Objects: prompt. You can select single objects by clicking on an object with the standard cursor or you can select multiple objects by clicking in the view where there are no objects, then creating the window (right) or crossing (left). To remove grips, press the Esc key twice.

Using Grips

Grips can also be used to edit or change the location of objects in the drawing. Move your cursor to a grip and click. You should notice the cursor snap to the grip. The grip will turn from blue to red (aka a "hot grip"). The object grip is now attached to the cursor so you can move the object to the desired location and release it by clicking again.

Layers

Layers (and pertinent layer properties) define how an object in CAD is organized and/or displayed. One of the most common properties is the Layer. Layers can be turned off or frozen so the objects on that layer are hidden from the view of the drawing. Layers that are turned off can still be selected while frozen layers are essentially removed from the working set of the drawing. After layers are turned off or on, a redraw (which is done automatically) will update the view. A redraw of a file is a rather quick process. After a frozen layer is thawed, a regeneration may be required to update the view. Regenerations on large files may take a considerable amount of time depending on your hardware.

Properties Toolbar

If this toolbar (or any toolbar) is not displayed, you can open it using the Toolbars dialog box. Type toolbar at the Command line or right-click on an existing toolbar for toolbar options. Common usage of this toolbar includes:

Properties Toolbar

Common Name	Key-in	Toolbar	Description
Set Current	SETLAYER		The "MOLC" (Make Object Layer Current) button permits you to select an existing entity in the drawing which makes the layer of the selected entity current. The current layer will be the one shown in the Layer drop list box. You can change the current layer by selecting the desired current layer from the drop list. Finally, you can highlight a layer in the Layer dialog box and click on the Current button to make the highlighted layer current.
Layer	LA		The Layer dialog box provides control of the drawing layers. You can turn layers on, off, freeze or thaw them, change the layer color and linetype, set the current layer, add new layers, delete layers, etc. To perform any of these functions, click on the Layers button. In the Layer dialog box, you can highlight several individual layers to perform actions on at once by holding down the Control key and clicking on the desired layers. You can also highlight a continuous range of layers by highlighting one layer, holding down the Shift key, and clicking on another layer. All layers between the two will be selected. To select all of the layers, hold down the CTRL key and press A on the keyboard. You cannot freeze the current layer, but you can turn that layer off (not recommended).
Current Layer	-na-		The Current Layer is the layer that you are on and will be working with. The Current Layer is the one shown in the Layer drop list. For example, in the above toolbar illustration, the Current Layer is PNTS. When you click on the symbols in the list, the layers status will be changed appropriately.

For additional assistance on general CAD software basics, please consult the Introduction section of the Carlson documentation or visit our Knowledge Base at www.carlsonsw.com/support/knowledge-base/.