Topic

Sometimes we just can't get around to writing a whole article addressing a particular topic. However, we often toss together quick demonstration movies to help folks out. This article has some demonstration movies and slide shows illustrating various techniques found in daily design practice... they're not perfect but until we get around to dotting the i's and crossing the t's, these will have to suffice

Requirements

Minimum: PowerCADD v6, Mac OS^? 9 or OS X (movies created using PowerCADD v6)
Recommended: PowerCADD v7 and Mac OS X

Insert Door and Heal Wall Demo [110KB]: This brief movie demonstrates how doors can be inserted into a wall. The door is inserted onto it's own layer and the wall lines are automatically healed to provide a clean opening. This type of opening is essential when sending data back and forth via DWG^? or anytime a true opening is required. To learn how the door was inserted onto it's own layer read about the Layer Tools feature in the PowerCADD manual.

New Hatch Tricks in PCadd 6 [490KB]: We don't show you all the tricks about what's new, but this is worth looking at. It shows a few key things. In particular, notice we're using contextual menu's (control click on an object or right click with a multi button mouse) to assign the various hatch patterns and we're changing the hatch origin! In case you're wondering, the hatch pattern is something we created using a Wacom Tablet and PowerCADD and Mac OS X (WildTOOLs Sketch Tools was not required) --interested to find out how we did it? Drop us an email.

Change Hatches and Filling Walls [1.1MB]: This quick flick demonstrates a few key elements. First, we use the parallel line tool and door tool to create a quick and dirty floor plate. You'll note the hole is automatically cut in the wall and the ends are healed when the door is inserted. Second, we used the Selection Filter window to select only lines (we pressed Option and clicked on a check box - read the manual for more info). Third, with only the lines selected, we were able to create a hatch which filled the wall voids. Last, we selected the hatched polygon and changed the pattern to something different by pressing Control and clicking on the polygon to bring up the contextual menu.

Export Graphics Demo [1.7MB]: This was one was created in PowerCADD 2000 (v5) but the same basic approach applies today. Notice we can specify the region we want to export and we can choose from a variety of QuickTime file formats when saving. By the way, the renderings were prepared for the most part in PowerCADD -- we did some tweaking in PhotoShop for a special client presentation and to show off how PowerCADD and PhotoShop can work together. This movie uses the Mac OS X Victoria voice for the english voice over and has french subtitles. The reason for a computer voice? It uses less bandwidth and we used Applescript to convert our type written script into French and to create the spoken text!

Hatch a Region [320KB]: This was prepared in PowerCADD 2000 (v5) but the same technique applies in PowerCADD v6 or v7. You do not have to create a single polygon to define a region to be hatched. In fact the region to be hatched can be composed of any type of boundary as this movie shows.

Swimming Pool Demo [11MB]: We had someone ask us how to do a free form, arc/tangent and arc/arc pool layout. They also wanted to find quantities for different materials. This is a very quick and dirty demonstration where we simply captured our screen as we created this shape live for the client. This movie starts from the basics of performing a drawing setup and choosing a scale so if you're new to PowerCADD this may be worth a look. We also demonstrate how the edit window can be used to enter data on the fly and even accepts formulas for converting units. Notice we change our mind and delete items which is a natural part of the digital design process. We use snapping, trimming, lines, arcs and even use the Set Data menu item to insert a small table with key data for area and perimeter of the pool deck. This can be confusing without the live audio but it's worth a look as it uses a variety of tools and techniques and applies them to a real world situation.

Creating an Oval Mask [2MB]: We use a few different techniques using PowerCADD or WildTOOLs to mask out part of a photograph. Sure we could have cropped the photo or applied a bitmap effect to mask it. Truth is for square or rectangular shapes, cropping is better (and non destructive in PowerCADD). For special shapes, bitmap effects are good but the modify the original bitmap. So, when a client asked how to mask part of a photo with an oval, and still keep the original, we tossed together this demo.

We hope that helps
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