mCAD Version 1.1 mCAD is an object-oriented drawing program. It has a small set of graphics primitives (like "line", "box", and "text") and a small set of editing functions (like "move", "size", and "rotate"). While drawing and editing, the user can call on other functions to modify the display -- to zoom in, slide around, superimpose a grid, etc. The one powerful feature of mCAD is that primitives can be grouped and ungrouped; the editing functions operate on groups of (one or more) primitives. In these instructions, "group" and "object" will mean either a single primitive or a group of primitives. In this version of mCAD, groups cannot be saved to or called from disk. Soon... Most (surely all!) Amiga users know how to use the mouse to draw pictures. In mCAD, the mouse does mostly what you're accustomed to from programs like GraphiCraft. There are three differences: 1) In mCAD, you are called on to SELECT objects for treatment with one of the editing tools. Since mCAD can't know for which of two or more overlapping objects your SELECT click was intended, it runs through a list of all the possibilities, highlighting each in turn. In this context, the MENU button means "No, not that one", the SELECT button means "Yes, the highlighted object is the one I want". 2) While drawing a primitive (exception: text) or editing a group (exception: coloring), mCAD gives you a chance to abort the whole operation. In this context, the MENU button means "Abort", the SELECT button means "The highlighted object is drawn as I want it, make it permanent." 3) Certain editing functions, "Size" for example, require additional information and indicate this by drawing a highlighted object. You are asked to click on (SELECT button) e. g., one corner of a box. So, generally, when the mouse buttons don't have their Intuition meanings, the SELECT button means "Yes/ok/do it...", and the MENU button means "No/abort/get me out of this". This follows the accepted Amiga convention that "left" breaks new ground while "right" is conservative and safe. If you get lost in -- or called away in the middle of -- a sequence of mouse clicks, a couple of MENU button clicks will get you out of it. ********************************************************************* THE COMMAND LINE: to call up the program ***************** mCAD ? Help mCAD filename Create/Edit a drawing named "filename". ********************************************************************* THE MENU: menu items that don't work or aren't yet implemented are described by "*" ********* ************* PROJECT Open * Save Save the drawing to disk as "filename" (the name that occurred on the command line.) The default file name is "mCAD.out". SaveAS * Plot Save the (entire) drawing as a plot file in the Hewlett Packard Graphics Language. Instructions are included in the file to enable XON/XOFF handshaking with the plotter. To actually make the plot, copy the plot file to SER: The plot file name has the extension ".plt" Quit Quit. In this version, there is no requester to give you a second chance to save your drawing to disk. Sorry. ************* PART Open * Save * SaveAs * Group Draw a box completely enclosing the objects you want treated as a group. An object can only be in one group at a time. If an enclosed object is already part of a group, it will be extracted from that group. If an entire group is enclosed, that group will merge into the new group. UnGroup Select a group by clicking on any of its members. On the confirming SELECT click, the group will be dismembered. ************* OPTIONS Replot Redraw the screen. The options "Axes" and "Grid" do not cause a replot automatically because redrawing can take a long time, and because you may want to make another display selection before redrawing. Zoom Draw a box around the region you want. mCAD will zoom in to the biggest region consistent with both the box you drew and the aspect ratio of the drawing. Note: in this version the aspect ratio cannot be changed by any command. Slide Draw a line. On your second SELECT click mCAD redraws the picture as if your first click had grabbed a hold of the page. (mCAD is too slow to move the whole picture along with the mouse and memory is too precious to spend on a scrollable screen.) FullPlot Zoom out to show the whole drawing. Axes Toggle switch that puts axes on the display. See Replot. Grid Toggle switch that puts a grid over the display. See Replot. X-Hair Toggle switch. The mouse pointer is replaced by a crosshair. Notice what happens when you press the MENU button and move the mouse. GridSnap Toggle switch. Primitives (exceptions: text, circle, arc) drawn with GridSnap enabled will snap to the grid on your *final* SELECT click. When enabled, menu item reads "GridSNAP". DataSnap Toggle switch. Primitives (exceptions: text, circle, arc) drawn with DataSnap enabled will snap to previously drawn objects (if they are close enough) on your final SELECT click. Points are more "attractive" than lines connecting those points. When enabled, menu item reads "DataSNAP" nTics*2 Increase the density of tics / grid lines. A maximum is enforced. This item causes a replot. nTics/2 Decrease the density of tics / grid lines. A minimum is enforced. This item causes a replot. ShowXY Calls up a numeric readout in the current plot color of the pointer position. The readout is in USER coordinates (the numbers which are drawn when you select "Axes" are in USER coordinates.) The readout consists of the absolute X (horizontal) and Y coordinates and the distances from the location of the previous SELECT click. ************* DRAW Line Draw a sequence of (one or more) connected lines. Click twice on your final point. Box Draw a box by clicking on two corners. Circle Draw a circle by clicking on the center position, moving the mouse to change the size, and clicking again when the size is right. Arc Draw an arc with three mouse clicks: the first click sets the center; the second click sets the radius and starting angle; the third click sets the ending angle. Measure * TextSize Draw a box indicating the size/aspect of the letters you plan to type onto the screen. Clone Select a group by clicking on any of its members. A duplicate will follow the mouse pointer until you press either the MENU button ("abort") or the SELECT button. Cursor SELECT the location of the text cursor. ************* EDIT In every case, you first select a group for treatment. Erase SELECT the highlighted group to erase it. Size SELECT the highlighted group. mCAD draws the smallest enclosing rectangle (possibly a line). You SELECT a corner of the rectangle to begin sizing. The group is scaled as the mouse moves. Press the SELECT button, when you like what you see, or the MENU button to abort. Move Select a group by clicking on any of its members. The group will follow the mouse pointer until you press either the MENU button ("abort") or the SELECT button. Rotate The selected object is rotated about its "center". Vary the angle by moving the mouse and click SELECT to finish or MENU to abort. Point * Color Select a group. The selected group immediately turns to the current plot color. No chance for abort here. ************* COLORS color boxes Your menu selection becomes the current plot color. Initially, the current color is #3 (first box in second row of the palette). Modify Colors Call up Microsmith's Palette tool (a very nice tool written by Charlie Heath). Possibly, Microsmith's objects to their tool occurring in a share-ware program (I intend to ask them.) If so, I'll write another one, but it won't be nearly as nice. Save Colors Save current colors to the file "color.map" which is read by mCAD on startup. ************************************************************************ BUGS, WARNINGS, ADDITIONAL NOTES ... You MUST select a text size and cursor location before typing text into your drawing. There aren't any defaults in this version. This means that text will be put any old where in some arbitrary size -- which, in turn, means that you can expect a short, one-sided chat with the Guru the next time you select "FullPlot". Letters, in this demo, are REALLY primitives; all points are connected together as though drawn with a single "Line" command. This means characters like [ ! = ? : ; " Q ] don't look so good. (Ok, they look awful!). Text is likely to improve in some future version. When X-Hair is NOT selected, the Intuition pointer is supplemented with a dot at the current location of the graphics cursor. You may know that the Intuition pointer is implemented in low resolution and therefore cannot, with precision, select a point on a high resolution screen. The dot is a remedy for this. To make effective use of it -- indeed, too SEE the dot -- your pointer should have the "hot spot" on one of the "transparent" pixels. In Preferences, use the "Set Point" option while you "Edit Pointer". Occasionally, with both the X-Hair and the dot, trash may be left on the screen after editing a group. Use "Replot" for now. (I don't consistently "pick up" the dot before drawing over it.) mCAD doesn't do a good job of memory checking. It may crash or exit without returning allocated memory if it finds that there isn't enough memory to do whatever it wants to do. This has never happened to me, even with large drawings, but you should know that it is BOUND to happen sometime in a multi-tasking system with a ram disk. This IS going to be fixed! Tim Mooney 120 Purefoy Rd. Chapel Hill, NC 27514 If you have a modem, you can leave me mail at the following bulletin board which I monitor regularly. "Deep Thought" (919) 471-6436 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Registered users: I plan to move sometime in the fall of '87. When I do, I'll leave a forwarding address on the bulletin board mentioned above and with: Department of Physics and Astronomy Phillips Hall University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27514