Quick Start
This tutorial is intended to give an overview of the process of
generating a plot with mineCAD.
The tutorial refers to data available for download
here. Once
downloaded, extract the zip file to your hard-drive.
1- Open mineCAD.
2- Once mineCAD is open click on the "Windows Explorer" button on the
sidebar. Show Me
3- Search for the file "design.dm" which is included in the tutorial
data.
4- Click and drag this file into the design window. Accept the default
layer name. Show Me
5- Search for the file "wred0tr.dm" which is included in the tutorial
data.
6- Click and drag this file into the design window. Accept the default
layer name.
Note: Each file
which is dragged into the design window is placed onto it's own layer which is
shown on the left "Layer Control Tree". Right-clicking on the layer node
will open an options menu, including the option to display or hide the layer.
In this tutorial we will be creating a number of
viewports (views) of the data which will be placed onto the plot.
7- Once the data is loaded to the design window, you can move around the screen changing the
view orientations. A number of preset views can be accessed through the 3D Views
Toolbar:
. Zooming in and out of the data can be accomplished through the Zoom Toolbar
.
All commands in mineCAD can have shortcut keystrokes applied to them. A shortcut is
generally
between 2 and 4 keyboard keystrokes. No "Enter" key is required to
initiate the functions - once the
keystroke combination for the command has been entered, the command is
executed automatically. The status bar shows the current active key presses. When a command is
executed from the toolbars or pull down menus, the associated shortcut is also
displayed for a short period in the status bar.
8- The display of data in the design window is governed by the Layer
Display toolbar
.
Toggle the different settings to show the effect of changing display styles.
9- Zoom so that the view looks similar to
this.
10- Select View|Section Definitions|From Model Space View from
the pull down menus and accept the default. Notice that a layer has been added
to the Layer Control Tree view. Show Me
A section definition is a means of saving the view that has been created so
that the view can be quickly retrieved. A spin-off advantage of section definitions
is
that they may also be used to create viewports on the plot. To retrieve a
section definition in model space, right-click on the Section Definition layer in the tree view and
select "Load Section Definition" from the context sensitive menu.
Show Me
11- Find another view similar to the one shown
here. This can be accomplished by
clicking the "View From South East" button in the toolbar.
12- Select Insert|New Layout from the pull down menu. A layout
in mineCAD is essentially a representation of the piece of paper that will be printed. Within a
layout, viewports are placed to contain views of the 3D model space data. Any number of viewports
may be created within a Layout and any number of layouts may be created within a
project. Changes to the Model Space data will automatically be reflected
in the viewports of all layouts. It is also possible to add a titleblock when creating a layout. mineCAD comes with a number of predefined titleblocks,
and these may be customized to suit individual needs, or new titleblocks may be created. Select the "ISO A4 Titleblock (landscape)"
from the templates drop-down list in the New Layout dialog. A preview
of the titleblock with respect to the page is shown in the dialog. Click OK to
create the layout. Show Me
13- Once in the layout select Insert|Viewport|From Section
Definition from the pull down menus. Select the viewport from the list and
then place it onto the page.
Show Me
14- You will notice that the viewport is showing the outline of the
section definition in it as well as the wireframes. It is possible to limit the
layers that are displayed in the viewport. Select the viewport by left clicking
on it and then right click and select "Modify" from the context sensitive menu.
Go to the Visible Layers tab, double click in the grid, and leave only the
"design" layer toggled on.
Show Me
15- Select Insert|Viewport|From Model View from the pull down
menus and place the viewport onto the page. Select Yes to the insertion of a
grid prompt. Accept the defaults. Show
Me
16- It is possible to manipulate the viewport view in much the same
ways as the
model space. Simply select the viewport, right click, then select "Manipulate".
Commands such as zoom, 3D rotation, etc. are now enabled and can be run in the
active viewport. To change the active viewport (the cursor is visible inside the
active viewport) left
click on the alternative viewport. Show Me
17- Many of the default titleblocks have been encoded with
Intellitext. To alter this text double click on
the titleblock and fill in resultant dialog.
18- To print simply select File|Print from the pull down menu.
