October 2006 Archives

interiorCAD 3.5 fully supports MacOS on Intel and MacOS on PowerPC. All plug-ins are delivered as Universal Binaries.

On Windows XP, interiorCAD 3.5 takes advantage of Windows XP themes.

As the interiorCAD NC output always is based on workpieces, it will fail if there are no workpieces at all. There are two ways to get workpieces:

• Creating a workpiece manually, applying borings and grouping them together
• Creating an automated part layout based on a unit

To make the latter one more straightforward, we will move the part layout command from the menu »interiorCAD« to the menu »Shop« in interiorCAD 3.5.

interiorCAD 3.5 beta-testing is about to start. Anybody interested should contact us at interiorcad@extragroup.de (Note: You will need to run VW 12.5 on either MacOS or Windows to beta-test interiorCAD 3.5).

interiorCAD 3.5 is not only a mere compatibility update with VectorWorks 12.5, it features an impressive array of new features, too:

• Unit plug-in objects (instead of symbols) - double-clickable, 3D-reshapable und editable via the object-info palette - Including tools for insertion in both 2D & 3D views
• New, substantially improved functional hardware selection dialogs
• Visualization of material used in every dialog
• Windows XP look & feel of all dialogs
• Bifold doors
• New lists outputting whole units and work instructions for each part
• More information on unit (# of doors, materials used etc.) in quotes

Of course, it will be a free update for all existing interiorCAD users.

Watch this space for more details on interiorCAD 3.5!

Adjusting the prices of functional hardware can be done using two different methods. Either choose the »Import Materials...« command which simply imports a TAB separated CSV file with supplier IDs and prices, or edit the configuration files directly. This entry is about the latter method for advanced users.

We recommend to use a spreadsheet application. As there are some odds and ends which can cause serious troubles, we will not be able to help you if something goes wrong. OTOH, the method explained below is very efficient. After the following steps have been performed, it is necessary to (re)run the »Configure supplier data« command.

• Open your spreadsheet application (we use Microsoft Excel in this example). Do never right click on the files to run the »Open with...« convenience option. Your files would be damaged!
  
• Instead, now choose the file open command of your application
  
• Navigate to the VectorWorks application folder. On Windows, it reads something like c:\Program files\VectorWorks Designer 12. On Macintosh machines, it usually is located in the folder Applications of your main hard drive
  
• In the VectorWorks folder, choose the subfolders Plug-Ins, XG Resources. You will find further subfolders like the ones below:

  

• Depending on the hardware you want to edit, choose one of the folders like Bought-In, Connectors, Hinges, Levellers or Sliders. In this example, we will edit the hinges files. The hinges directory contents look like the following:

  

• Choose the MountingPlates or Hinges subfolder to edit hinges or mounting plates. You will find a subfolder called Sales:

  

• Enter this subfolder. It seems to be empty, but it isn't. Switch the file type filter to display plain text files:

  

• Before editing one of the files, make a backup copy for later reference
  
• Select the file of the desired manufacturer. In this example, we have chosen the Blum file.
  
• Press Open to load the file. An assistent will appear, providing some options. Usually, the options of the first dialog are preconfigured as needed so you simply can proceed:

  

• Even the next dialog usually provides reasonable preconfigured settings:

  

• The next dialog will appear, where you have to perform some very important steps:

  
  

  
  
  • Move the horizontal slider to its rigthtmost position
    
  • Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard
    
  • While still holding down the Shift key, click on the rightmost column above the slider. All columns now need to appear as selected
    
  • Leave the Shift key
    
  • Now change the option Standard to Text. This is a very important step. If you omit it, your data will be damaged:

    

• The contents of the file will now appear in your application. Editing the prices now is very simple, using standard spreadsheet techniques:

  

• After you have done your edits, save the file. You will be promted by a dialog which remarks that some spreadsheet features will not get saved in your text file. Confirm this dialog by pressing the button Yes:

  

• Now close the file. Your application will complain again; simply cancel this message by pressing the button No:

  

One further issue: Never ever click into an empty cell outside the data array. Excel will then assume that it contains data and will later export those cells as empty fields into the text file. This may cause severe troubles when using such damaged files in interiorCAD afterwards.

That's it. Don't forget to (re)run the Configure supplier data command again. You can now assign hinges to units and the updated prices will appear in your costings.

If you are in need to apply different materials to one and the same unit group, use the custom unit groups the carcase editor provides. Try the following:

• Visit the material dialog
  
• Create a custom unit group. For your convenience, choose to create a copy of the existing drawer unit group:
  
  
• Adjust the settings of the new unit group to your likings
  
• Now go to the drawer dialog and assign the new unit group to the front of this drawer:
  
  

Since interiorCAD 3, you can influence the appearance and contents of the various lists. All lists use a template worksheet which describes the appearance of the output worksheet. Try this:

• Open the interiorCAD template drawing
  
• In the resource browser, locate the worksheet »XGST-Classic«
  
• Right-click and open it:
  
  
• For example, see the field containing the variable »[FinishedSizeLength]« and replace it by »[FinishedSizeMinusEdgeBandingLength]« to get the sawn length instead of the finished length. For a list of all available variables, just send us an e-mail inquiry
  
• Use the formatting options the worksheet provides for all cells and set it to your likings. Even the column width gets read and used by the cutting list created by this template
  
• Now run the command Shop, Lists, Cutting list
  
• If you want the list to be in centimeters, you can try to set the drawing units to be in centimeters. The cutting list will then use the drawing units as well. But to be honest, we highly recommend to stay in millimeters instead.
  

interiorCAD is able to output NC programs for various different systems & machinery.

Each system or machine is described by a template file (a text file located in the folder Plug-Ins/XG Resources/NC-Export), which specifies how the different machinings are carried out on the machine. Though interiorCAD comes with some well preconfigured template files, it needs tweaking them to get the best output results.

Additionally, there is a tools file (a text file located in the folder Plug-Ins/XG Resources/NC-Export/Tools) for each template file. With the standard interiorCAD installation, the tools file has the same name as the template file. While the template file describes the syntax of a particular machine, the tools file contains information about the tools available.

If interiorCAD doesn't find a matching tool for a drilling, it automatically converts the drilling to a pocket.

Further documentation on tools files can be found in our Wiki. If you don't know the password, just click on the "interiorCAD manual" link on your desktop. It will open a web page where you can find the needed login information.