To modify or create a model the "place mode" has to be active!
To create a new model activate the menu "File/New" or use the corresponding button on the standard toolbar. Eventually loaded models are unloaded. If modified projects are loaded you will be asked to save it.
The program creates an empty model with some comments at the beginning, these comments should not be moved or removed and stay at the beginning of the file. This is some kind of standard information which should be available in this projects.
When a new model was created the program always activates the "Place mode".
To modify an existing model load it into MLCad. Either from the menu "File/Open..." or from the toolbar. Depending on the program settings the "place mode" or the "view mode" is activated now. If later is the case you will have to activate the "place mode" by hand (see place mode).
MLCad supports a two different ways for adding parts to the model:
First search the part to be added from the "Preview area" or the "Available part list". Now click on the part with the left mouse button and hold it. Move the mouse over to the "Drawing area" - a rectangle will be displayed which shows the outer limits of the part and which follows the mouse. It displays the position where the part will be placed to. When you release the mouse button it will be added to the model. In the list the part will be inserted after the currently selected part, or if there is no at the end of the part list.
You can use the same methode but move it to the "Model part list", but then no rectangle is displayed. Instead the part will be added after the part where the mouse cursor is over, or if there is no at the end of the part list.
You can add a part by activating "Edit/Add/Part..." from the main menu or "Add/Part..." from the popup menu which apears when you right click into the "Drawing area".
A dialog will be opened where you see a list of part numbers and theire descriptions. Select a part from this list or enter a name of a part in the field below the list.
The part is inserted after the current selection, or if there is no at the end of the part list.
Selected parts are drawn with a rectangle arround them and with a cross in the center of the part. If multiple parts are selected, then a rectangle surrounding all selected items will drawn additionally.
There are two possibilities to select parts, but only one to select commands (like Steps, Comments ...).
To select single items or parts click
somewhere on the line of that item.
To cancel any selection and unselect all items click into the
free area at the end of the list.
To select multiple items hold down the CTRL key while selecting
additional single items.
To select a range of items, select the first item of the range by
clicking it, then scroll to the end of the range and click the
last item while holding down the SHIFT key.
To select a single part click on it.
To select an additional part hold down the CTRL key while
clicking on the new part.
To unselect all parts click on a free place inside a pane (into
the background).
Selecting multiple items using band selection: Click with the
mouse on a free portion in the "Drawing area", while
holding the left mouse button down, move the mouse. A rectangle
will be drawn from the point where you pressed the button to the
point where the cursor is currently. If the mouse button is
released everything in the rectangle will be selected.
Select the part(s) to be moved first. Click one of the six buttons at the left, from the "Edit bar" to move the part(s) now.
Select the part(s) to be moved first. Now click with the mouse on a selected part (inside the selection rectangle) and hold the button down. While the mouse is moved the selection rectangle follows the movements. When the mouse button is released the drawing will be updated. The parts can be moved on a virtual grid only. Therefor the part cannot take any position on the screen but snaps to a certain position when moving.The grid can be switched to coarse, medium and fine (see "Aligning Parts" for more information).
To position parts on a specific location independed from the grid, the "Position and Rotation Dialog" has to be used. Select the part(s) to be moved or positioned first, then activate this dialog from the menu "Edit/Position & Rotation" or select the corresponding button from the toolbar. The "Position & Orientation Dialog" will appear.
Rotations depend on the active rotation point, all points of parts beeing rotated are rotated arround this point.
Select the part(s) to be rotated first. Click one of the turn buttons, from the "Edit bar" to rotate the part(s) now.
Select the part(s) to be rotated or oriented first. To activate this dialog select the menu "Edit/Position & Rotation" or select the corresponding button from the toolbar. The following "Position & Orientation Dialog" will appear.
Moving:
Make sure the boxes "Use position
values" and "Absolute" are checked. Enter the new
position for the part and press the "OK" button. The
drawing will be updated now, with the part beeing set to the
entered position.
In case multiple parts have been selected the check box
"Absolute" will be unchecked and disabled by the
program, in this case the values entered do not specify an
absolute position but an offset from the current location of the
parts. For a single part this check box is active and can be
deselected to move the part instead of positioning it.
Rotating:
To perform a rotation you can select one or more parts, and if enabled disable the check box "Absolute". To set the orientation you have to select exactly one part and the check box "Absolute" has to be checked.
There are two fields which cannot be used together:
Rotation Vector: The part(s) will be rotated on a specified line which points are (0,0,0) and the point you enter in X, Y and Z. The "Angle" specifies how many degrees the part will be rotated on this line.
Rotation Matrix: You can enter a 3 times 3 matrix into the field which will be used as the rotation matrix.
The program allows to set individual rotation points for the rotation of parts. To change or define a rotation point activate the rotation point dialog from the menu "Settings/Rotation point" or use the button on the "edit bar".
You can activate on of the following rotation points:
The check box "Show Rotation Point" enables or disables the display of the rotation point in the "Drawing area".
Creating a custom rotation point: Select "Custom Point" and enter it's coordinates as well as a name for it. Multiple custom rotation points can be defined by pressing the New button. The Del button removes a custom point. For each custom point screen modification can be turned on or off. If enabled and the check box "Show Rotation Point" is check as well, the rotation point can be moved in the drawing area.
This program supports the standard windows copy, paste and delete methodes as well as other methodes. Items copied or cut are put into a copy buffer. Items in the copy buffer can be pasted.
To delete items select the items to be deleted. Now press the "Del" key. Items deleted are not stored in the copy buffer and therefor cannot be pasted later!
To cut items, select the items and press CTRL + "X" or the corresponding button from the toolbar.
To copy items, select them and press CTRL + "C" or the corresponding item from the toolbar.
To paste items, use the "Model part list". Items pasted are inserted after the last selected item. To paste items to a specific location select the item before this location and press CTRL + "V". To paste items at the end of the list, unselect all items and press CTRL + "V".
Select the parts to be copied from the "Drawing area". Hold down the CTRL key and click with the mouse inside the selection rectangle. Move the mouse - the rectangle will follow the mouse moves. At the right position release the mouse button. The parts will be copied to the new position. Now release the CTRL key.
For simplifying the operations on multiple items, item-groups can be used instead. The same operations as with normal parts can be done (e.g. copying, moving, ...), but it is enough to select a group instead of all items itself.
To create an item group the items have to be selected first. Then select "Edit/Group/Create...". In the dialog displayed enter a name for this group (this is used for the future) and click the OK button. Now the items grouped are removed from the list and are replaced by a single group entry.
To ungroup an existing group, select it and use the menu "Edit/Group/Ungroup" or the corresponding button from the "edit bar".
NOTE: The group is an internal representation of multiple parts, when saving a project containing groups the items are saved but not the group information. That means when loading such a project there are no groups, but the items itself are available.
If a project contains a high number of parts, working with it can be hard due to the fact that all parts are displayed all the time. Therefor the program allows to hide parts from the display - however they still will be present in the "Model part list".
To hide items, select them and activate the menu "Edit/Visibility/Hide" or the "edit bar" button. The parts are removed from the display and get a special icon in the model part list.
To redisplay hidden items, select them and activate the menu "Edit/Visibility/Show" or the toolbar button.
Using the menu "Edit/Visibility/Show All" or the corresponding button from the "edit bar", will redisplay all hidden items again without the need to select them.
NOTE: This hidden state information will not be saved.
When parts are inserted, copied or moved using Drag & Drop they will be aligned automatically. Using other methods for this actions or after rotating them can cause misalignment.
When parts are aligned they are positioned on a virtual grid. This virtual grid depends on the actual grid beeing used and on the grid settings itself.
The menu point "Edit/Snap to grid" or the button on the "edit bar" will do a realignment of the selected parts.
To set the color of selected items, click on a button of the "colorbar". To assign a different color than shown on the toolbar use it's "More" button or select the menu "Edit/Change color...".
The dialog allows to select a shown color by clicking on it. In this case you will see the "Color number" beeing updated. If you like you can enter a number in this field as well for selecting a color by it's number.
The slider on the right side of the dialog can be used to navigate through all 256 possible colors. The boxes will show the color for the actual range.
MLCad now allows to pre-define colors with values from 64 till 255. If you select the right range and color the "Define" button gets activated. Defined colors will be maintained by MLCad even if the program is restarted.
You also can assign a custom color (which is not bound to a button or in the range of 256 colors) by clicking the "Custom" button.
The "Save as default colors"
button, stores the actual color table as the default for new
models, while the "Load default colors" button would
restore this default color table and replace the current table of
the model.
The default color table is stored in the configuration file,
which means once defined it is always available even after a
program restart!
Clicking the "Custom" or "Define" button will open another dialog:
MLCad knows three kinds of colors:
- Solid colors = Colors representing
exactly one color and hiding anything under parts having this
color.
- Transparent colors = Colors representing exactly one color but
which are transparent, that means parts being behind parts with
this color will be slightly visible.
- Dithered colors = Colors which consist of two colors which are
mixed during the drawing operation and cheating and third color
or special effects.
The dialog shows two color-definition fields near by. The left field (called the primary channel) is used for all types of colors, while the secondary channel is used for dithered colors only. For that reason the secondary channel field is disabled when creating solid or transparent colors, and enabled only for dithered colors.
Below the primary channel field you may select one of the three possible color-types (solid, transparent and dithered).
Below the secondary channel the color you create is previewed.
Below all that you find the name field, which is enabled when redefining colors in the number range from 64 to 255, where you may enter a new color name for this color number. This name is show everywhere where colors are displayed (e.g. part lists).
To define a color, select the color type first.
Now define the primary color channel for this color. You may either enter RGB values directly (each value has a range from 0 to 255), or you can enter HSV (Hue-Saturation-Volume) directly (each value has a range from 0 to 255). The most comfortable methode of defining the color is using the boxes on top of the field. Select the color itself from the bigger box, and the lightness from the smaller box to the right of the bigger one.
Eventually repeat this process for the secondary channel if enabled.
For none custom colors enter a name now and press the "Ok" Button.
Please see the section "View Control commands" for information on this topic.
Following a list of usefull options and settings which make working in place mode even more powerfull:
Using the following menu "Edit/Sort" you will receive the following dialog:
 |
Select first how to sort the parts: Ascending - if checked will sort ascending, otherwise descending Selections only - Limits the sort to the selected parts if checked |
Sorting by color:
This will sort the parts by the number which represents a color (e.g. black
is 0 and blue is 1). If "Ascending" is checked then a black part will
appear before a blue one, if "Ascending" is not checked the order
will be reversed.
Sorting by position:
In this case MLCad computes the center position of each part and sorts them
to be from bottom to top, back to front and left to right order if "Ascending"
is selected. This order is reversed if the "Ascending" box is unchecked.
Sorting by number:
Each part has it's own file name (e.g. 3001.dat) which is used for sorting in
this case. Note that MLCad sorts alphabetically and not numeric. This results
in beeing 40.dat after 3001.dat!