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VScad3 Guided Tour.
Part 11 - Introduction to VScad3.
From the main VS3D Edit menu, select "Cad Geometry Builder -> Start...". This will start VScad3. If you are currently running VS3D in unlicensed DEMO mode, then click on "Demo" in the licensing pop-up dialog. Note that you can make VScad3 the default startup program (rather than VS3D) by changing the preferences in VS3D. Once VScad3 is started, you can exit VS3D, or just leave VS3D running in the background. The main VScad3 menus ("Edit", "Resources", "and "Workspace") appear at the top of the VScad3 window. Below that is the main mode setting ("Annotate", "Symbol", "Polyline", "Polygon", "Surface", "Solid", "Select", "Edit", "Transform", "Replicate", "Probe", or "View").
The area below the mode setting is where widgets for each different mode will appear. Below that is a prompt area which will inform you of what actions are currently possible.
At the bottom of the window is the draw area where the CAD model will be drawn. If started from VS3D, the size of the model window, in pixels, will match the size (in grid points) of the current sculpture grid in VS3D. If VScad3 is started from VS3D via the "Cad Geometry Builder -> Export to..." menu, then the current VS3D sculpture grid is also exported to VScad3 as a rectangular surface entity.
VScad3 can work with and manage several classes of items:
Lights: Light sources for illuminating the model.
Colors: Predefined and custom colors for entities.
Fonts: Font styles for annotations.
Patterns: Crosshatch fill patterns for polygon entities.
Symbols: Collections of entities representing a symbol to be placed multiple times in the model.
Entities: Annotations, Polylines, Polygons, Surfaces, and Solids (fully-enclosed surfaces).
Model: All the current entities.
Drawing: The background (page border, title block, etc.) that one or more views of the model are placed upon.
Session: A session consists of everything above.
All of these can be created, saved, and loaded. All items except the Session can be selectively deleted. |
