Introducing the n4ce CAD GUI

The graphics view of a CAD model is designed to provide an interface to allow 2d editing and drafting of CAD entities.  These models or drawings can be imported from external DWG or DXF files. Or, created wholly within n4ce to compliment a survey or to detail an elevation from scratch.

Most of the icons in the second row are standard throughout n4ce, but the following are unique to the CAD engine.

• Deletes the selected CAD entities honouring the current pick mode.
• Moves the selected CAD entities honouring the current pick mode. Having selected the elements you will then be expected to indicate the start point to move everything from, and finally the target point to move to. Both times the current Lock mode will be honoured.
• Copies the selected CAD entities honouring the current pick mode. Having selected the elements you will then be expected to indicate the start point to move everything from, and finally the target point to move too. Both times the current Lock mode will be honoured. Each time the mouse is clicked a new copy of all the entities will be generated. Right-click will cancel the operation. Pressing 'Spacebar' will restart the copy routine so the source object(s) can be re-specified.
•  Crops the CAD data down to an area specified by a selection rectangle.
• Makes a hole in the CAD data to an area specified by a selection rectangle.
•  Generates a text report detailing every property of the selected entity.
•  If this is enabled Lock 3d ensures that when new detail is added, the Z element is set to that of a selected object, and lock mode dictates.

The last row of icons primarily deals with layering, as well as the current draw settings.

• Shows the Parameters pane. This control changes depending on the currently selected draw mode. For instance, when in Relative mode, DX & Dy boxes are made available, however in Polar they change to Angle and Distance fields. Beneath these Drawing parameters, are the Edit parameters. This is where Scale factors and Angles of rotation are specified when they are needed.
•  Displays the CAD Layer Status Dialog. Click here for more details.
• Searches the current layer only. Forces only the current layer to be used for all operations including querying, deleting, editing etc...
•  Changes the current layer to that of the Entity which is subsequently selected.
•  Turns the layer off, of any entity that is subsequently selected.
• Indicates the current layer and also allows the current layer to be set by clicking it and selecting a new layer from the drop-down list.
•   Displays Pen settings via the button and sets and displays the current Pen used to render any new CAD entities.
•  Shows the Line Styles via the button and sets and displays the current Line Style.
• The button allows the current point style and size to be configured. The drop-down allows the current point style to be set.
• The button allows the current Text defaults to be set or overridden. Whilst the drop-down allows the current text style to be set.