DynaCADD

Introduction

Over the course of the past year, we have taken DynaCADD version
1.5 through many changes, improvements and enhancements. The
last update prior to this was version 1.84. We all know that
DynaCADD has long been in a class on its own in CADD on the
Atari platform and we continue to do our best to insure that it
remains on the leading edge of CADD technology. To this end, we
are proud to announce the release of DynaCADD version 2.0. We
have added many new state of the art features, redefining the
meaning of excellence in CADD applications.

We have tested DynaCADD 2.0 and its functions quite thoroughly.
Although not impossible, it is quite difficult to test each and
every single possibility inherent within this kind of
application. In the event that you discover functions that do
not perform as they should, please advice us and we will address
them immediately. We do welcome and encourage all suggestions,
presented in a positive and contructive manner.

Allow us to take this opportunity to offer our thanks to you for
your support of our product in the past and your continuing
support in the future.

Note:  From the last major upgrade of DynaCADD, version 1.50,
       many improvements and enhancements have been added to
       DynaCADD which post-dated the printed manual. Be
       adviced that the online context sensitive HELP
       documentation is completely up to date.

We would appreciate receiving a letter from you indicating how
you use DynaCADD and your opinion about the product itself.
Please indicate if you mind if quotes from your letter are used
by us in future advertising and point of sale material.

We would also appreciate receiving any drawings of which you are
inordinately proud, for the same reason. So please insure that
any that you choose to send to us are not in violation of
anyone's copyright.

We are currently looking for DynaCADD owners with prior
programming experience that would be interested in writing
applications for future versions of DynaCADD. If so, please
include information on the type of application that you would
like to write along with your qualifications and experience in
the field.

  **************************************************************
  ** Due to the number of changes we have made to DynaCADD,   **
  ** parts and drawings created with Versions 1.5 to 1.84 are **
  ** not compatible with Version 2.0.  These files must be    **
  ** converted using the 150_200.PRG found on disk #3.  This  **
  ** program will convert both 2D and 3D files so they can be **
  ** used Version 2.0.                                        **
  **************************************************************

Sample Files

A number of sample files have been included with this package.  Once the
package is installed onto your hard drive they will located in the Parts
folder.  The 2D and 3D tutorials found in the manual have been included
along with three additional sample files.  These files are called
3D_CUP, 3D_SHOW and 3D_SPYDR.  There is also a macro file that accompanies
these drawings.  To activate the macros copy the MACRODEF.INF file found
in the Parts folder into the Config folder.  The correct command sequence
to activate the macro specific to that drawing will be displayed on the
screen. Please note that these macros are tailored only for the included
drawings and will not function properly with other drawings.

DynaCADD version 2.0 list of enhancements:

1.  The 3D math has been rewritten using  improved algorithms.
    As such, old 3D planar entities converted over using DEF 2.0
    may be improperly rotated. We do apologize for this but felt
    it was preferable to change now than at a future date, given
    the sudden, unexpected rise in the use of the 3D mode.

2.  A new entity type ( 3D Face / Solid ) has been added.
    All appropriate selection and transformation commands have
    been upgraded to work with the new entity type. Plotting,
    printing and PostScript have also been upgraded.

3.  Entity Snap : End has been updated to allow snapping to
    2D solid corners and 3D face corners.

4.  Once selected, an entity may be deselected by clicking
    the mouse button while the entity selection cursor is
    positioned on the entity and the [Shift] key is held down.

5.  Hidden line removal has been added. The command icon is
    found in the EDITVIEW sub icon pad. Clicking on the
    HIDEFACE command will remove the hidden lines from all
    selected views.

    A new Set Hidden Line Parameters dialog has been added
    to the Set-Up menu.

    The options are:

    Generate Entities:
        Create 2D lines from the edges of the 3D faces after
        the hidden portions of the edges have been removed.The
        entities are created with the following attributes :

        Layer :    Active
        Weight:    #1
        Style:     Continuous
        Color:     If inheritance is active the line is
                   created using the color of the face,
                   otherwise the active color is used.

    Display Entities:
        Will display all other entities after the hidden lines
        have been generated.

    Blended Planes:
        If two or more faces share a common edge and the two
        faces are coplanar, the edge will be removed and the
        two faces blended into one. Note that only the hidden
        line is changed, the defining entities remain
        unmodified.

    Hide Views 1-2-3-4:
        Only selected views will have hidden lines removed.

6.  DXF Import has been upgraded to include the layer color and
    style information. A new color transformation dialog
    appears during a DXF Import requesting the color
    transformation preferred. The various transformations
    available are:

    Dark:    Sets color palette to AutoCAD Dark Background.
    Light:   Sets color palette to AutoCAD Light Background,
    None:    No palette transformation.

    In order to set the colors properly without distorting the
    colors of the DynaCADD interface, a color translation table
    is employed. If no color index translation is desired, use
    the "None" option on the Transformation dialog.

7.  The DXF In translator has been enhanced and improved.
    These improvements include :

    - Support for 2.5D entities
    - Support for 3D entities
    - Proper evaluation of $Flatland header variable for 2.5D
    - Proper evalulation of $Fillmode header variable for Trace entities
    - Elevations are supported
    - 3D Extrusion using 3D Faces are supported.
    - All six AutoCAD text justification modes are supported.
    - UCS Tables are converted to DynaCADD GCP's
    - Polyline line bulge factors are now converted to DynaCADD arcs.
    - Translator upgraded to AutoCAD Release 10
    - Insert Block repeat counts are supported

8.  The DXF Out translator has also been enhanced and improved.
    These improves include :

    - Upgraded to compatibility with AutoCAD Release 10
    - More detailed DXF Header file.
    - Passing of 3D UCS Table mapped from DynaCADD GCP Table.
    - Layer color and style have been added to the Layer Table.
    - Bspline and Bezier curve are interpolated using spline fitting.

9.  A DXF Out 3D option has been added. When DXF Out 3D has
    been selected, all DynaCADD 3D entities, including the new
    3D face, will be output. Planar entities such as arcs and
    text have their coordinate planes converted from DynaCADD
    GCP to AutoCAD UCS.

10. DEF Export has been upgraded to version 3.00. A quick
    summary of enhancements include:

    Global Variables:
        Version
        ColorByLayer
        StyleByLayer
        WeightByLayer
        Mask
        Unmask
        Viewmask
    3D View Tables
    Color Tables
    GCP Tables
    Image Tables

    Layer Tables have been extended to include color, weight
    and style information.
    Layer Tables output unnamed layers.
    Bsplines and Beziers no longer add an extraneous point.

    Note :  The inclusion of the Version global in DEF 3.00+
            files is mandatory and is now required for the
            proper importation of DEF.

11. DEF 3.0 Documention has been included on the disk as a
    text file DEF300.DOC.

12. The cartridge port dongle has now been replaced with a
    joystick port key.

13. A new TT and ST version of DynaCADD 2.0 is now included,
    that takes complete advantage of both the math coprocessor
    and the Motorola 68030. The memory manager has been upgraded
    to detect and use additional TT FAST RAM memory, if installed
    allowing DynaCADD to operate twice as fast.

14. A color PostScript option has been added to the set
    PostScript parameters dialog. When this button is
    selected, color information for each entity is included in
    the PostScript file, otherwise a monochromatic image is
    generated.

15. A page counter has been added to the set PostScript
    parameters dialog. The number of pages ( 1..99 ) is
    displayed in the page size area of the dialog.

16. A new hard drive installation program has been added.
    The new installation program will automatically perform an
    intelligent update on all future version of DynaCADD.

17. When trying to exit DynaCADD or cancel background
    output, an alert has been added requesting confirmation.

18. Inserting figures now uses the inheritance flag to
    determine the color and layer information the figure will
    use. If inheritance is turned on, the figure will have the
    same color and layer as the parent figure had when it was
    created, otherwise the figure will be inserted on the
    currently active layer using the current color.

19. A new Set Layer Attributes dialog has been added to
    provide quicker access to all layering information. The
    dialog is accessed through the Layer menu item found under
    the Set Up menu title.

20. Color, Style and Weight By Layer toggles has been added
    in the layer icon pad. When these switches are turned on,
    entities are drawn in the color/style/weight associated
    with the entity's layer, otherwise the entity is drawn
    using the color/style/weight with which it was created. The
    plotting, printing and PostScript routines have also been
    modified to work with the new flags.

21. A new Color Palette dialog has been added to modify the
    setting of the RGB color indexes for each drawing pen. The
    dialog is accessed through the Color Palette menu item
    found under the Set-Up menu title.

22. The color palette is now saved when DynaCADD starts up
    and restored when DynaCADD shuts down.

23. A new Paper Color dialog has been added to set the
    color of the drawing background.

24. The screen buffer icon has been placed in the Tools
    menu. The menu item Screen Buffer is checked when the
    buffer is active.

25. A Transform : Copy icon has been placed in the top icon
    bar. The icon and help message toggle with the state of the
    global flag. Duplicate entities are created when Transform
    : Copy is active, while only one set of entities is shown
    on the icon when the flag is deactivated. The command to
    toggle the Transform: Copy flag is TRANCOPY.

26. The maximum number of rotation copies has been
    increased from 360 to 3600.

27. The maximum number of revolution copies has been
    increased from 360 to 3600.

28. Coordinate tracking has been extended from 5 to 6
    digits on both sides of the decimal providing a tracking
    range of +/- 999999.999999.

29. The TRIMINTOF command has been changed to TRIMCORNR.
    The functionality remains the same.

30. A new command TRIMINTOF has been added. This command is
    functionally identical to Trim Corner with one exception.
    The second entity selected is used only to determine the
    intersection location and is not trimmed or modified in
    any manner.

31. The POINTFILE command has been moved from under the
    CREATE icon submenu to the OUTPUT icon submenu.

32. The "Output Screen Dump" command has been been removed
    from under the OUTPUT icon submenu. To output a screen
    dump, press the Help key while simultaneously holding down
    the Alternate key.

33. The Translate command has had an icon submenu added to
    it with 3 entries. Move, Copy and Copy Multiple. The
    Transform : Copy flag is no longer evaluated for
    translations.

34. The TRANMOVE command functions identical to the
    TRANSLATE command with the Transform : Copy flag disabled.

35. The TRANCOPY command functions identical to the
    TRANSLATE command with the Transform : Copy flag enabled.

36. The TRANMCOPY flag is similar to the TRANCOPY command
    except the original entities selected to be copied are not
    deselected once the translation is performed. The first
    translation location ( the "from" location ) is retained.
    To deselect the current group of entities, press the right
    mouse button before selecting the second translation
    location ( the "to" location ).

37. The TRANSLATE command now has a Translate with 3D Faces
    option. When the 3D Faces options ( found under the
    TRANSLATE icon ) is selected, all Translated entities are
    joined with 3D Faces. Faces are created only when copies
    are done.

38. The PROJECT command now has a Project with 3D Faces
    option. When the 3D Faces options ( found under the
    PROJECT icon ) is selected, all projected entities are
    joined with 3D Faces, otherwise projection lines are used.

39. The PROJECT command now honours the "inheritance" flag
    when contruction projection lines / 3D faces.

40. A selectable cursor size option has been added to the
    Tools menu. When Full Crosshairs is disabled, a smaller
    cross is used. Entity selection will now always use the
    entity selection box without adjacent crosshairs. Window
    selection is unchanged regardless of the currently selected
    mode.

41. The REVOLVE command now has a Revolve with 3D Faces
    option. When the 3D Faces options ( found under the
    REVOLVE icon ) is selected, all revolved entities are
    joined with 3D Faces.

42. The SWEEP command now has a Sweep with 3D Faces option.
    When the 3D Faces options ( found under the SWEEP icon ) is
    selected, all Swept entities are joined with 3D Faces.

43. The DYNACADD.RSC file should now be placed in the
    CONFIG folder. The RESOURCE folder is used for the Font
    Editor and the MakePlot programs.

44. The PLOTTER.PLT, PRINTER.PNT and PSTSCRPT.INF have been
    moved from the DRIVER folder to the CONFIG folder and
    renamed PLOTTER.INF, PRINTER.INF and POSTSCRT.INF.

45. The HATCH.FNT file has been moved from the FONTS folder
    to the CONFIG folder.

46. All overlays in DynaCADD have been incorporated into
    the main program. The OVERLAY folder is no longer used.

47. A new dialog showing the last active part and drawing
    has replaced the old autostart alert. In addition, an
    "Exit" button has been added. This button will exit
    DynaCADD and return you to the Desktop.

48. ASC file transfer has been removed.

49. The DEF 1.0 In file transfer option has been removed.

50. For users of the Calcomp PCI and 907 format drivers the
    following settings must be active on the plotter's
    intelligent controller :

    Sync char :        1 sync char = 2
    End of Message :   13
    Checksum :         disabled
    Flow Control :     Xon/Xoff

    Note:    The Calcomp 907 format plotter must be using an
             intelligent controller or rotation of a plot will
             generate a plotter logic  error.

    Serial port configurations for most plot drivers
    are as follows:

    8 bits / character
    Stop bit(s):     1
    Parity:          None
    Baud:            computer and plotter must match
    Flow Control :   None

    Exception:    Users of the Calcomp 960 Extended driver
                  must set Flow Control to RTS/CTS

51. 3D text can be revolved, swept, projected and copied to
    create 3D faces.

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