6. Tips and Tricks  
 


This chapter contains some tips that want to help you to use CYCAS as quickly and effectively as possible. Tips on how to use layers are found in 3.6 Layers.  

Angle input using a directional line : You want to place text along existing elements. However, the angle of those elements is not known. Select Text from the text function list. Specify the angle for the line of text by snapping-to two points of the existing elements (See 3. Basics, Angle input.) You could use the same procedure e.g. for dimension chains.  

Creating a spiral stairway : Enter a 3D element that forms the first step of the stairway. Now, use the function Edit / Series -Polar. Activate the first step and enter the information necessary for the polar series. CYCAS automatically recognizes whether the element is a 3D element or not. So, CYCAS will ask you for a "Z offset:" Enter the Z value for the offset from one step to the next. (See 5. Basics - 3D, Keyboard input.)  

Creating a rounded wall. Create a wall and use the Edit / Series -Polar function to rotate and copy it around a center point. (See 4.11 Edit, Edit function list, Polar.) You can connect the single wall segments now.
An alternative method is to use the prisms in the 3D menu. Using a polygon function, you can take advantage of hardly seeing the segmentations of the prism. Prepare entering a prism by drawing a 2D sketch of the rounded wall using arcs in the menu Circle. A second arc must be added as a parallel arc describing the wall thickness. Onto these arcs, you enter the 3D prism. (See 3.7 Polygons.) If that round wall shall have an opening, you compose this out of several prisms.

Wall connections : When editing several walls that are already connected, the wall connections might not be correct anymore. Use the Separate and Connect functions to correct this.  

Create rounded openings by using prisms. The idea is this: you enter that wall element that shall have the arc-opening as if it was lying flat on the ground. You make a 2D sketch of the wall with 2D lines first. And you also make a sketch of the round opening using arcs. Onto that sketches you enter prisms in the 3D menu. If you want to create an opening in the form of a circle, you must enter 2 arcs, each representing one half of the circle. You counter draw one half with prisms and mirror it onto the other side afterwards. Finally, you rotate those prisms upright in any isometric view.  

Profile : The unit profile consists of several 3D elements and it can be placed in wall openings. If you need a profile without a wall, you delete the wall after placing the profile. You may edit the bars of the profile using the moving of points. When creating openings, you should use the "Stop depth" options right from the start. Enter a stop depth of e.g. 11.5 cm in the openings dialog box. If you now place a profile in this opening, it will not be flush with the outside wall edge. It will be offset to the inside by the value you specified for the stop depth instead.  

Render perspective : Choose the position of the eye point in a way you would position yourself photographing the building with a camera. The target point is the end point of a view vector originating to the eye point. Vertical edges will be drawn as vertical lines in the perspective view, if the eye point and the target point are located on the same height above the ground.
If you want to render several scenes using POV-Ray, you can place different cameras as well as light sources on different layers. Activate the appropriate layer combination per scene.  

Save your data on a per-project basis. For each project you could create a new directory containing the data of the dialog boxes, materials and drawings, possibly even that of the symbols. The advantage is that you have a much better overview over your data. This proves useful in case, your data may be re-used for similar projects.
If you change the paths for saving the data, you must use Settings, Local in order to point to the new paths correctly. These new paths may be saved in the "default.prefs" or in other file names. Refer to chapter 1.2 Installation on Linux regarding the structure of the user specific data or chapter 1.3 Installation on Windows regarding the structure of data.









 
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