CADopia blog

CADopia - Creating planes

With the Plane tool, you can draw rectangular, triangular, or quadrilateral areas filled with a solid color. The default method is to specify the corners of the plane. After you specify the first two corners, the plane is displayed as you specify the remaining corners. Specify corner points in a triangular manner. The program prompts you for the third point and then the fourth point. If you continue specifying points, the third- and fourth-point prompts toggle until you press Enter to complete the command.

Creating planes in CADopia IntelliCAD is similar to the Solid command in AutoCAD.

To draw a quadrilateral plane

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Plane.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Plane tool ().

·         Type plane, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the first point.

3.       Specify the second point.

4.       Specify the third point.

5.       Specify the fourth point.

6.       To complete the command, press Enter.

After you select the first two points (A) and (B), the sequence in which you select the third (C) and fourth (D) points determines the shape of the resulting quadrilateral plane.

The prompt box provides additional options for drawing planes. For example, you can draw rectangular, square, or triangular planes.

CADopia - To draw a donut tangent to existing entities

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Donut.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Donut tool ().

·         Type donut, and then press Enter.

2.       In the prompt box, choose Radius Tangent Tangent.

3.       Specify the width of the donut.

4.       Specify the diameter of the donut.

5.       Select the first tangent entity to which to draw the donut.

6.       Select the second tangent entity to which to draw the donut.

Width (A) and diameter (B) of the donut and tangent entities (C).

You can edit donuts using the Edit Polyline tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can convert donuts into arc entities using the Explode tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can control whether donuts are shown filled or as outlines using the Fill tool () on the Settings toolbar.

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TIP:  You can control the default outside and inside diameter of donuts by choosing Settings > Drawing Settings, and then clicking the Entity Creation tab and choosing the options you want.

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CADopia - Drawing donuts

Donuts are solid, filled circles or rings created as closed, wide polylines. You can draw a donut using one of several methods. The default method is to specify the inside and outside diameters of the donut, and then specify its center. You can then create multiple copies of the same donut by specifying different center points until you press Enter to complete the command.

To draw a donut

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Donut.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Donut tool ().

·         Type donut, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the inside diameter of the donut.

3.       Specify the outside diameter of the donut.

4.       Specify the center of the donut.

5.       Specify the center point to draw another donut, or choose Done to complete the command.

Inside diameter (A) and outside diameter (B).

The prompt box provides additional options for drawing donuts. For example, you can specify the width of the donut and two points on the diameter of the donut, or you can specify the width and three points on the donut. You can also draw a donut tangent to existing entities.

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TIP:  A donut can be a completely filled circle by specifying an inside diameter of zero.

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CADopia - Drawing a closed spline

You can draw a closed spline, which is a spline for which the start point and endpoint are the same. Because the spline is closed, you specify only one tangent.

To draw a closed spline

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Spline.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Spline tool ().

·         Type spline, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the first point of the spline.

3.       Specify the second point of the spline.

4.       Specify as many more points as you want.

5.       When you have finished, in the prompt box, choose Close.

6.       To complete the command, specify the tangent point.

The beginning and endpoint (A) of a closed spline.

CADopia - Drawing splines

A spline is a smooth curve defined by a set of points. You can use splines to create sculptured shapes such as the cross section of a turbine blade or an airplane wing.

To draw a spline

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Spline.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Spline tool ().

·         Type spline, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the first point of the spline.

3.       Specify the second point of the spline.

4.       Specify as many more points as you want.

5.       When you have finished, press Enter.

You can add tangents to the spline, which are lines that give it shape.

To add tangents to a spline

1.       Specify the starting tangent point.

2.       Specify the ending tangent point.

Spline.	Spline with starting tangent point (A) and ending tangent point (B).

CADopia - Specifying fit tolerance

By default, the spline passes through all of the control points. When you draw a spline, you can change this by specifying the fit tolerance. The fit tolerance value determines how closely the spline fits the set of points you specify. For example, a spline fit tolerance value of 0 causes the spline to pass through the control points. A value of 0.01 creates a spline that passes through the start and endpoints and within 0.01 units of the intermediate control points.

To specify the fit tolerance

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Spline.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Spline tool ().

·         Type spline, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the first point of the spline.

3.       Specify the second point of the spline.

4.       In the prompt box, choose Fit Tolerance.

5.       To accept the default of 0.0000, press Enter.

To specify a different fit tolerance, type the number, and then press Enter.

6.       Specify the additional points you need to draw a spline or a closed spline.

CADopia - Drawing polylines

With CADopia IntelliCAD, a polyline is a connected sequence of arcs and lines that is treated as a single entity. You can draw a polyline with any linetype and using a width that either remains constant or tapers over the length of any segment. When editing a polyline, you can modify the entire polyline or change individual segments.

After you specify the start point of a polyline, a prompt box provides several options as you draw, such as Distance, Halfwidth, and Width. You can specify different starting and ending widths to create a tapered polyline segment.

After you draw at least one polyline segment, you can use the Undo option to remove the previous segment. After you draw two or more polyline segments, you can use the Close option to complete the command by drawing a segment that ends at the start point of the first polyline segment you drew. Choose Done to complete the command without closing the polyline.

Curved polyline with tapered width.	Polyline with straight segments.	Closed polyline.

To draw a polyline with straight segments

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Polyline.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Polyline tool ().

·         Type polyline, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the start point.

3.       Specify the endpoint of each segment.

4.       To complete the command, choose Close or Done.

Polyline start point (A) and segment endpoints (B).

With the Draw Arcs option, you can continually draw arc segments until you select the Draw Lines option to go back to drawing line segments. When you draw arc segments, the first point of the arc is the endpoint of the previous segment. By default, you draw arc segments by specifying the endpoint of each segment. Each successive arc segment is drawn tangent to the previous arc or line segment. If you choose Close while in the Draw Arcs option, the closing segment is created as an arc.

You can also specify the arc using any of the following methods:

• Start point, included angle, center point

• Start point, included angle, radius

• Start point, center point, endpoint

• Start point, included angle, endpoint

• Start point, center point, included angle

• Start point, center point, chord length

• Start point, direction, endpoint

• Start point, radius, included angle

• Start point, second point, endpoint

CADopia - To draw a line segment followed by an arc polyline segment

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Polyline.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the
Polyline tool ().

·         Type polyline, and then press Enter.

2.       Specify the start point.

3.       Specify the endpoint.

4.       In the prompt box, choose Draw Arcs.

5.       Specify the endpoint of the arc segment.

6.       To complete the command, choose Done.

Polyline start point (A), line endpoint/arc start point (B), and arc endpoint (C).

You can edit entire polylines and individual segments using the Edit Polyline tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can convert the polyline into individual arc and line entities using the Explode tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can control whether wide polylines are shown filled or as outlines using the Fill tool () on the Settings toolbar.

CADopia - Drawing polygons by side

The side polygon drawing method creates an equal-sided polygon defined by its center point and the distance to the midpoint of a side. You specify the number of sides, the center point, and the location of the midpoint of one side, which determines both the size and orientation of the polygon.

To draw a polygon by side

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Polygon.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the Polygon, Center-Side tool ().

·         Type polygon, and then press Enter.

2.       Type 3 to specify three sides for the polygon.

3.       Specify the center of the polygon.

4.       In the prompt box, choose Specify By Side, and then press Enter.

5.       Specify the midpoint of the side.

                                       

The center (A) and midpoint                      Resulting polygon.
of one side (B).       

You can edit each side of a polygon individually using the Edit Polyline tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can convert the sides into individual line entities using the Explode tool () on the Modify toolbar. You can control whether wide polygon lines are shown filled or as outlines using the Fill tool () on the Settings toolbar.

CADopia - Drawing polygons

Polygons are closed polylines comprised of a minimum of three and a maximum of 1,024 equal-length sides. The default method for drawing a polygon is to specify the center of the polygon and the distance from the center to each vertex. You can draw a polygon using any of the following methods:

• Center - by vertex () on the Draw 2D toolbar

• Center - by side () on the Draw 2D toolbar

• Edge () on the Draw 2D toolbar

The vertex polygon drawing method creates an equal-sided polygon defined by its center point and the distance to its vertices. You specify the number of sides, the center point, and the location of one vertex, which determines both the size and orientation of the polygon.

To draw a polygon by vertex

1.       Do one of the following:

·         Choose Insert > Polygon.

·         On the Draw 2D toolbar, click the Polygon, Center-Vertex tool ().

·         Type polygon, and then press Enter.

2.       Type 5 to specify five sides for the polygon.

3.       Specify the center of the polygon.

4.       Specify the vertex of the polygon.

   

                         

The center (A) and vertex (B).      Resulting polygon.