September 2005 Archives

Thanks to interiorCAD it is easy to create units based on polygons. In special cases some things are worth your attention to avoid unexpected results.

When using a polygon as a base for non-rectangular units, the polygon can be viewed from one of the following directions, front, top and right. A view from the left should be avoided. Better flip the polygon first:

The polygon should be rotated so the front is laid in the direction of the x-axis. Dividers will always be created rectangular to the front:

The assignment of the polygon's parts to the unit's sides is important. Sometimes it needs some experimentation. In the following example, the first assignment leads to a correct unit. The second assignment would lead to unexpected results because the left door wouldn't have a top frame part:

The polygon always should have a minimum of four and a maximum of eight sides. If you need a unit with three sides only, it is helpful to add a wee small fourth side to get a proper unit like shown in the following example:

When dealing with polygons with more than four sides, alternating assignments are not allowed. In the following example, the first assignment will not create a correct unit, the second assignment will:

We hope these hints are useful for you and help you to get even more out of interiorCAD.

interiorCAD is easy to use. But still there may be occasions where you'll need help. In this case do not hesitate to send us a support inquiry via electronic mail.

Your mail should always include the drawing on which your question is based. To prepare your drawing for mail delivery see the entry �Sending drawings via electronic mail� also posted on September 1, 2005.

Your mail should include a short description so our support people can help you quickly. Your inquiry should include the following information:

• Operating system type and version
  
• VectorWorks Type and version
  
• interiorCAD version
  

A short example:

Subject: Problems assigning a connector

Sometimes it is needed to send drawings via electronic mail. This needs some preparations.

The file to be sent should be cleaned up to reduce the file size. Especially textures and symbols which aren't used in the drawing should be removed. VectorWorks provides a command for this purpose. First save the current file. In the �Edit� menu you'll find the command �Purge Unused Objects...�:

After that, save the file using a new name like PurgedDrawing.mcd and close the drawing.

Before the file gets sent it should be compressed using a tool like Stuffit, ZIP, RAR or similar. It depends on the recepient which compression format he can uncompress:

• Stuffit is a tool well known on Macintosh machines to compress files. The Stuffit expander is a free tool to uncompress sit archives. Stuffit itself is not freely available
  
• ZIP is a compressed file format which is well known to all operating systems. Mac OS X can create Zip-files per default since OS 10.3. On Windows there exist various application to create zip files. One of the best known is Winzip
  
• Rar is a compression format which achieves better compression ratios than Zip does. Rar archives can be created using Winrar. Stuffit Expander also is able to uncompress rar files
  

To create a zip-compressed file on Mac OS 10.3 (or later versions), Ctrl-Click on the file and choose �Create Archive�. The archive will appear besides the original file:

To compress a file on Windows you need to install an application which is able to create archives. Then rightclick on the file to be compressed and choose �Compress to archive�. After the compression finished, the compressed file will appear besides the original file:

To send the file via electronic mail, open a new e-mail in your mail application. Enter a subject and the text. Then attach the file. This varies from mail application to mail application. Most often you will find an icon with a paperclip on it. Click on it and choose the compressed file from your hard drive. A second possibility is to drag and drop the compressed file into the mail composition window. Your e-mail now is ready to be sent with the compressed file attached.