mineCAD Release Notes

64- Added further web update options to update tab. Allows for automatic update a specified number of application starts.

61- Disconnect Design Manager in design manager context sensitive (right click) menu.

60- Window pull down menu for moving between layouts and model space in addition to other command.

59- Added ability to do dynamic rotation and general 3D manipulation into a manipulated viewport.

58- When adding a grid the default grid spacing is calculated to return between 1 and 10 grid lines. Prevents large numbers being created when the extents are large.

57- Support for vdi format. Compressed mineCAD files. Compression to about 20% of original size.

56- Write to data source command. For Mine2-4D polyline files it is now possible to simply RIGHT CLICK on the layer and select write to data source instead of selected File|Save As.

55- Command to convert polylines to lines. Lines are not supported by many processes in mineCAD so if you bring in a file from AutoCAD/DXF etc it is useful to convert these lines to polylines.

54- Added explorer vdf/vdi thumbnail viewer. When a vdf/vdi is saved a small bitmap is encoded into the file. The allows windows explorer to display this bitmap as a "thumbnail" when this option is toggled on in explorer.

53- Data sourcing capability. Allows an administrator to setup multiple data sources for plots in advance and then to have users be able to layer this information and import without having to "hunt" for information. As new data sources are added. These will be added to the data source import file list.

52- Support for Surpac polylines (saved in ASCII format). Simply drag the .str file into the design window and it is added as a layer to the design.

51- File locking capability. When a file is opened the user name and computer are encoded such that no other user may alter the file. Then the file is closed or another is opened by the user the locking is removed, freeing up the file. This feature is not enabled in the free version.

50- Support for Gemcom polylines. Simply drag the .asc file into the design window and it is added as a layer to the design

49- Support for Surpac wireframes (saved in ASCII format). Simply drag the .dtm or .str file into the design window and it is added as a layer to the design.

48- Ability to set a location for external blocks. Useful for ensuring all users and drawings share the same block database.

47- Polyhatch command. Very simple at the moment. Prompts for polylines to add and then polylines to subtract. Resulting polyhatch may then be filled to take care of "islands". Useful for showing filled stopes and the like.

46- Text scale command. Allows multiple text entities to be selected and are scaled by the specified factor around their insertion point. Saves the user from selecting each text entity and scaling about a specified point. The command is included in the standard scale command and is only invoked when one or more text entities have been selected.

45- Block Manager. Allows blocks to be grouped into save. The dialog remains open and the blocks can be dragged directly to the location in the design window.

43- Autosave command. Setup under "Tools|Options" allows a interval, backups and backup location to be set for autosaves.

42- Synchronize command. Allows an entities attributes, properties or both to be copied to other entities.

39- Multiple plots may be "checked out" by the same user on multiple computers through the plot manager. More options into the plot manager.

38- Checkbox in Tools to "Disable Entity Events". When toggled on dependencies will be shown without arrows. Arrows will have no heads. True inserts will not be rotated to the current view. But the drawings will load significantly faster. This option is saved INTO the document, however, by default it is turned off. Should only be used when loading large drawings.

36- Moving of layers can now be accomplished by dragging the node in the layer list.

35- Support for Vulcan wireframes (.00t). Can be dragged into window same as .dm and .dwg.

34- Entity synchronization. Allows the properties and\or the attributes from an entity to be copied to multiple entities.

33- Activate layer from entity. Allows an entity to be selected at which point the corresponding layer for that layer is activated.

32- Layer Presets. Allows the state of layers (visible or not) to be stored and retrieved at a layer date.

31- Added coordinate dialog to target point command to allow elevations etc to be entered.

30- Toggle for using lineweights on the screen. Toggle for using lineweights in printing.

29- Toggle to use shx fonts. By default this is turned off. See options dialog.

28- Added shx font compatibility for better AutoCAD integration. To add other SHX fonts refer to Fonts\SHX under the application directory.

27- Activating a hidden layer is now permitted, however a warning is given. Is a revision of 20.

26- Added properties to layers. Allows AutoCAD like properties to be placed on layers. Entities with a "By Layer" color number (-1) are colored according to the layer. To edit the layer properties right click on the layer in the layer list.

25- Extended flatten to elevation command to include more than just polylines.

24- Zoom all and view from top alterations. When zooming all our "view from top" the elevation is always set the middle of the drawing data. Helps in preventing users putting information on elevation zero.

23- Change data source in refresh dialog. Allows a new data source to be used or relocated. New data source MUST be of the same type as the current.

22- Added command in shortcuts to get the ID of the command. Prompts the user to select a valid command from the toolbars or menus and then highlights this command. Helps in locating the command.

21- Added command to insert layer from selected file. Once inserted the system is aware of the data source and can be refreshed much like other mineCAD data. If the layer which is inserted is from another MineCAD drawing then, if the source drawing's layer data has been inserted from another data source, then the data source is used as the current drawings data source and NOT the source drawing layer.

20- Prevent user from activating a hidden layer as well as prevent user from hiding an active layer. Similar to AutoCAD.

19- Previous command. After a command has been executed, press the spacebar or the enter key will repeat the command.

18- Printing using API (windows application programming interface) calls is default on layouts. To change (send to printer as a bitmap) select "File|Print Area" from the pull down menus. Printing using the API drastically improves the speed of printing. However, many printers do not support this method of printing. If printing problems are experienced, firstly try toggling this value. Always ensure that the latest version of your printer's driver is installed.

17- Point annotation is only performed on points which are visible. Allows a filter to be applied and then the annotation generated.

16- "Include Fieldname" toggle in point annotation. field name followed by ":" is then displayed along with the annotation value.

15- When changing page sizes the a prompt is displayed to "scale the plot items". Selecting yes will scale all plot items by the maximum amount between the X and Y axis.

14- Each layout may have a different printer applied to it. The printer assigned to the current viewport is shown at the bottom of the paper outline. To change printers select "File|Printer Setup" from the pull down menus.

13- When loading a "points" file from Mine2-4D the "eval" fields up to a maximum of 20 fields are joined to each point. This facilitates the annotation of grade and\or tonnage information. The 20 field limit is imposed due to the extremely high memory usage associated with large numbers of "attributes" on an entity in mineCAD. Will implement an option for setting this value at later date.

12- Modified create section definition from view to allow multiple section definitions, at fixed and variable distances, from the current viewplane to be created.

11- Clipping distances are stored on section definitions. Loading a section definition loads the clipping settings.

7- Lines can be displayed on all rendering modes. Is now a toggle in the toolbar and pull down menu.

6- List box in label property for intellitext purposes. When typing in the label field of the properties box with a single entity selected, if a "%" is typed the list of available tags is display. User no longer has to refer to help file.

3- Section definitions applied directly to viewports. When printing each section definition selected is printed. Results are that for a single layout multiple views data may be generated.

2- Layer parse by attribute command. Allows a selected layer to be parsed out to children layers. The names and entities in the children layers are governed by unique occurrences of attributes within the parent. The option to delete or retain the original entities is also supplied.

1- When loading a "walls" file from Mine2-4D all attributes from the "points" file are placed on it.

7- Cancel command when swapping between Model Space and layouts.. Should stop crashing.

6- Properties dialog. Fixed hatch block pick lists. Setting to image allows you to select an image. Setting to block allows you to select a block.

5- Linestyles. Picklist is colored yellow for linestyles which do not support linetype scale.

3- When saving as a dxf all layers are renamed to "MineCAD" then the layer number. Fixed problem with dxf files not being able to be opened in other systems.

Enhancements

52- Added move and copy selected entities command.

51- Added capability to alter section definition manually.

50- Moved license manager button from drop down to about box. Added enter registration key button to about box. Previously this dialog was only ever displayed if NO Mine2-4D license was visible.

49- Entity display mode is now a toggle button in the toolbars. The display of lines in render and shade model is also an additional toggle. This brings the model space display modes closer to the viewport display modes. Transparencies still need to be added.

48- Explode command (shortcut "exp"). More...

47- Added "Insert selected entities from file" command. This allows vdf or dwg files to be imported, a separate window is presented and the user may select any of the visible entities in this document (layer control is also supplied). All selected entities are then placed into the current documents ACTIVE OBJECT.

46- Intelligent block text. This function allows users to put text into blocks which are updated and can be different between inserts. Tags have also been added such that information can be updated from variables such as %Date% (today's date). To edit the intellitext select a single insert and double click. Titleblocks will be updated to reflect the new intellitext capabilities. More...

45- Interactive text command (displays text on the screen as you type), renamed previous text command to "Multiline Text"

44- New command, slice wireframe along polyline. Useful for creating true sections.

43- Plot template functionality. In options a template directory may be specified. Whenever "New Document" is selected all a list of mineCAD documents in this directory are displayed to the user. The user can then select one of these templates and it is made into the current document (NOT THE SAME AS SELECTING OPEN FILE).

42- Added command to create an arc by 3 user defined points in addition to the current centre, start, end method.

41- Added commands to create circles by 2 and 3 user defined points in addition to the current center, radius method.

40- Initial run at applying group and permission control onto objects. Interacts with the Mine2-4D user list and manages users in much the same fashion as Microsoft exchange. Permissions can be applied to different objects (layers).

39- Added annotation command to quickly create safety bays using interactive method.

38- Implemented licensing.

37- Added stretch command.

36- Added recent file list in the file menu (Maximum of 4 files).

35- Added functionality to the way that model space can be activated. Under tool menu there is a command "Activate Model Space" (shortcut "tms").

34- Added functionality to the way that layouts can be activated. Another layout may be "Right Clicked" and activated through the context sensitive menu. Very useful when there are MANY layouts.

33- Command to generate annotation from a Mine24d point.

32- To delete rows from the viewport inclusion list the delete key may be used.

31- Added ventilation markers. Prompts for direction and flow value and annotates print.

30- Added survey advance markers. Creates a advance value and date on print.

29- Added command to generate a drift wireframe from selected polylines.

28- Added command to generate a drift outline from selected polylines.

27- Altered polyline annotation to work like other dialogs and added facility for selection and filters to be applied to the annotated polylines.

26- Altered grid command to allow name to be set. This facilitates multiple grids being placed onto a viewport.

25- Added a extend polyline interactive command as in Mine2-4D.

24- Re-added modify polyline annotation command which was lost between version 0.2 and version 0.3.

23- Added set object to front and send object to back command for layout.

22- Exposed ability to set snapping marker size and color.

21- Exposed ability to set design window background color.

20- Exposed ability to set cursor cross-size and cursor pick-size.

19- Exposed ability to set grip size and color in options.

18- Dependency support. Dependencies are displayed in 3D with the arrow ALWAYS orthogonal to the view.

17- Added option to set maximum bitmap size when printing without windows API toggled on.

16- Added option to use windows API when printing (greater detail).

15- Renamed previous pan command to "pan dynamic" and added command "pan by 2 points" to allow panning of large drawings, as per request from Martin Raffield (Placer Dome).

14- Customizable command and toggle shortcuts.

13- Ability to crop a viewport to a circle, polyline, or ellipse entity.

12- Undo on insert and delete point commands.

11- Translate command similar to Mine2-4D. Allows translation and multiple creation of any object.

10- Angular dimension command.

9- Altered layout of viewport settings dialog to reduce confusion.

8- Wireframes within a viewport may be rendered to include transparencies or be projected to 2D.

7- Viewports (within Layouts) also support clipping.

6- Changes to dynamic rotation so that rendered/shaded wireframes are shown during rotation.

5- Changes to dynamic rotation so that clipped data is shown during rotation.

4- Improved WYSIWYG plotting in paper space.

3- Changes to dynamic rotation to accommodate large datasets. A box is drawn around the extents of the data and a subset is shown during rotation.

2- Improved memory management.

1- Model space clipping of data with lock feature in order to allow the clipped data to be seen from different directions.

Bug Fixes

1- Fixed bug in grid dialog which caused pick lists to form incorrectly.

Enhancements

13- Change of gradient tool now supports a "greater than" value. Allows only changes of grade greater than this value to be annotated.

12- Command to create multiple ramp scenarios between start, end and radius position points, as per spec from G.K.

11- Toggle to display polyline directions.

10- Revamping of text to fit into the object framework. Now supports multiple lines and rotation within the current viewplane.

9- Reverse string direction command ("rev" shortcut).

8- Change of gradient tool.

7- Ported the ramp tool from Mine2-4D to mineCAD. Allows ramp arcs and straights with transitions to be created using a mining methodology.

6- Double clicking on a single entity will open up the properties dialog.

5- Added "Fetch From Section Definition" command to viewport dialog. Allows the user to get the viewport settings from a section definition after the viewport has been created.

4- North arrow can have additional rotation.

3- Major changes to the selection of objects. If a command such as copy is instantiated and no objects are selected then the user is prompted to select.

2- Lock scale command for viewports. Prevents rescaling when resizing viewport or altering parameters.

1- Command to open up license manager. Help|License Manager.

Bug Fixes

2- If the number of copies is set on print then this is honored.

1- Now locking a Mine2-4D license on startup.4- Drag drop of dxf files into the design window.

Enhancements

24- Drag drop of dxf files into the design window.

23- Scale bar tool for layouts. Scale may be dynamically extracted from the viewport or set to a user defined value.

22- Auto connect command. Takes the currently selected polylines and attempts to connect the ends together to create single polylines.

21- Replace with Current View command for section definitions. Appears on right click of the object. Takes the current design window view and places it into the selection section definition.

20- Added multiple hide select command. Allows objects to be selected through a toggle method.

19- Option to allow the tree views to automatically expand and collapse. Toggle in options dialog.

18- Added small cross on inset block dialog to represent location of insertion.

17- Major changes to printing. Page sizes and margins may be changed on layouts. Borders and margins are hidden when printing layouts.

16- Update button on rows and columns of tables to replace change event.

15- Ability to add a north arrow to model space or viewports (with around 25 different styles). Once added to a viewport (in a layout) it is tied to the direction of the viewport, i.e. rotating the viewport rotates the north arrow.

14- Added insertion of seismic information from ESG. Built framework for addition of ESI seismic events (to be serviced from the same dialog).

13- Added more functionality to the layout of grids.

12- Grids may be tied to the viewport in layouts.

11- Tooltips on objects. The tooltips may be generated from attributes on the entities and are shown as the mouse is moved over the entity.

10- Hyperlink property and toggle. When activated clicking on an entity with a hyperlink that hyperlink is activated. To edit a hyperlink select the entity and modify the property.

9- Text styles fully implemented.

8- Auto snapping in polyline creation to speed up tracing.

7- Defaults dialog to set how new entities are created. Settings are saved with the document.

6- An m2d or m4d file may be dragged (imported). And the project is added as a child of the active node.

5- Added smooth gradient command for polylines.

4- Embedded "Windows Explorer" type interface.

3- Mapping of bitmap textures and transparencies to color numbers for solids (Color Map).

2- Polyline dialog for creating relative and absolute points.

1- Microsoft Office XP Style toolbars and pull down menus.

Bug Fixes

6- When dwg and dxf files were being placed the icons were coming in as folders.

5- Printing issues on various printers.

4- Prevented delay on right click in object list.

3- Fixed crash in XP menus on some machines (new ocx in install).

2- When developers make changes to the program the toolbar settings are reset. Prevents problems with new toolbars not ever being visible.

1- Prevented redraw of design window when moving between menus

Enhancements

50- Added commands to change the drawing order for 2D objects such as plots within the entity type.

49- When adding a layout with a template. The system now checks to see if the template is larger than the paper size and prompts the user to scale automatically. Replying yes will scale the title block to 95% of the page's width.

48- Increased speed of rotation and general data display.

47- Command to generate text between two points. Prompt the user for both points and then create aligned 3D text which contains user definable text such as azimuth, dip and length.

46- Command to generate symbols at the intersection of polylines (or boreholes) and a section definition. Useful for ring design.

45- Dimension styles may now be edited to allow sizing of dimension text.

44- Drag drop of Datamine section definitions.

43- When in 3D Orbit (viro shortcut) the target point has an axis placed on it.

42- Create wireframe slices command.

41- OpenGL optimization settings in Options dialog to allow different hardware capabilities to be utilized.

41- Drag/drop/import of Datamine boreholes.

40- Plot management for multiple user environments. Implements a similar methodology to the Mine2-4D Design Manager but for plots only. Intelligent refresh to the planning data is encapsulated within mineCAD plots.

39- Delete and insert polyline points. Same command as is present in Mine2-4D.

38- Command to extend polylines by distance. Extends the selected polyline(s) by a user defined distance. The azimuth and dip are taken from the last segment of the polyline. The direction is governed be the point on which the user clicked for the case of a single polyline and by the response to a message box for multiple polylines.

37- Increased public application methods to assist in Rings integration.

36- Create viewport from model space view command. Places a viewport into the current layout using the view which is currently in the model space.

35- AutoCAD properties (and attributes) editing of all object. Just select the objects you wish to edit and type "PP" or pull-down from Modify menu

34- Command. Flatten to elevation. Prompts user for an elevation and then places selected polylines at that elevation. Useful for simplifying plots.

33- When creating a layout a title block template may be selected to be placed on the page as the default schema. A number of mineCAD titleblocks are supplied, however an external titleblock directory with titleblocks (setup in Tools|Options) in a vdf, dxf or dwg format may be used.

32- Ability to write blocks files out (.vdf, dwg, dxf). Added this functionality for Intelli-titleblocks planned for development.

31- Command "Fill from Color". Fills selected polyline entities with a color equal to the current line color.

30- Command break polyline. Prompt the user for an entity and two point on that entity. Polyline between two points is deleted.

29- When data is loaded from the design manager structure it is placed into the current plot document. This is in preparation for development of the plot management utility.

28- Changed data load methodology. Now when data is imported or placed into the document, the source and import routines are saved so that the data may be "refreshed". To refresh an object simply right click on it and then select the "Refresh Data" command.

27- Added scale entity function. Increases size of selected entities by a factor from a base point.

26- Added software update facility as in Mine2-4D.

25- Added support for gif and tif files in the insert picture function.

24- Offset polyline now prompts for a distance instead of waiting for interactive input.

23- Draw arrow command (very basic at the moment).

22- Mirror command.

21- Viewports can now be interactively changed (in addition to the alteration dialog). Simply right click on a viewport and then click "Activate". The border of select viewport darkens and then pan, zoom, 3D view commands work like in model space. Right click and select another viewport to change it's view interactively. Right click and click activate again to return to normal mode.

20- Perspective view toggle in view menu.

19- Set "za" shortcut to do the same thing as "ze" as it is confusing and NOT the same as Mine2-4D.

18- Added modify viewport command in pull down menu. Previously modifying of viewports was only accessible through right clicking on the viewport itself... made it very difficult to find for new users.

17- Deselect of objects occurs by clicking on the grip with the shift key down.

16- 3D walkthrough design by clicking on a polyline. Allows adjustment of step distance, camera position, focal length and lens angle.

15- External reference file (XREF) capability as in AutoCAD, with Detach and Reload capability.

14- With the mouse in the design window, holding the control key while moving the mouse wheel zooms in and out re-centering the view on the mouse position with each movement.

13- With the mouse in the design window, moving the mouse wheel scrolls the view north to south.

12- Options for auto connect to Mine2-4D Design Manager

11- Added this alpha development help system with autostart of release notes on version change.

10- Tip of the day.

9- Quick toolbar for snapping modes in addition to pull down menu. Important user interface to have.

8- Embedded custom tree view (object explorer) into application to prevent conflict with other applications (previously ran as an active-x control).

7- Implemented shortcut commands similar to Mine2-4D.

6- Altered the manner in which information from the design manager is fetched. Now the structure of the Mine2-4D database is loaded and a small is placed over the icon to indicate that the object has NOT loaded. Right clicking on the object now brings up a context sensitive dialog to load the object. Using this methodology drastically increases the speed at which objects from the database may now be loaded. The main advantage being that only the data required is loaded. Previously all data from the Mine2-4D database was loaded when the project node was expanded.

5- Reconciliation data is reached through design manager

4- Snapping can now have multiple modes active at the same time, e.g. Midpoint/Endpoint

3- Table creation and editing in 3D. Includes FILLED cells based on a color number.

2- When swapping between section definitions the view does not have to go into plan first.

1- When creating a table the azimuth and dip of the table is taken from the current view.

Bug Fixes

6- Grids now correctly generated within section definition.

5- When titleblocks are added they are now in the centre of the page instead of with the bottom left corner at 0,0

4- When writing values to the registry caused crash.

3- When deleting an object with the keyboard delete key the system checks to see if the object has any entities in it. If it doesn't and is a.. deletion allowable object it is removed from the object browser.

2- When cancel is pressed after adding a viewport for the first time the viewport is deleted.

1- Section definitions are now correctly extracted from the current view.