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. ====END====