I just upgraded to MSCAD 2005 - What do I need to know

Q) When I open a DWG from MSCAD2004, when I go to print the print style tables are only showing STB files. How can I get CTB files to show again?

Exit the Print command and type in the following: CONVERTPSTYLES

Pick on OK to complete the process. Now run the Print command and the CTB styles will be available.

Q) When I try and draw a line or move something, or even just list a point, I get the following message ¢‚¬Å“Selected point is outside limits. Please select another point.¢‚¬ How do I get rid of this?

A) Type in LIMITS at the command line, and choose OFF or type OFF.

Q) In MSCAD2004 I could simply pick on a Line to bring up my CADLines dialog, or on a piece of Text to Edit it. Now in MSCAD2005 it does not seem to work. How do I correct for this?

A) Go to the Settings menu -> Turn Grips On or Off. Grips must be off to allow the picking as described.

Q) In MSCAD2004 there was a command INTERSECT. How do I get it in MSCAD2005?

A) Run the FILLET command with a Radius set to 0 (zero).

Q) My arcs and circles do not look smooth. They are like octagons. How can I correct this?

A) Type in the command VIEWRES and answer YES to fast zooms, then set the value to 20000. This will need to be done once in each drawing, unless set in a template drawing.

Q) In MSCAD2004 the MTEXT dialog had an import button. Does MSCAD2005 have one?

A) No there is no import button for MTEXT in MSCAD2005 but you can simply copy and paste text from any text editor into the dialog. Go to the text editor and open the desired file ¢‚¬€œ then highlight the desired text. Now copy it to the clipboard (CTRL-C). Switch over to MSCAD2005 and in the MTEXT dialog place your crosshair in the dialog and type CTRL-V. The desired text should now appear in the dialog.

Q) I used the Pan arrows, on the left side of the screen in MSCAD2004, all the time. How can I do it in MSCAD2005?

A) You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard instead of on screen.

Q) I keep getting those little yellow point numbers on screen. They do not erase, they do not print, they stay there no matter what I do. What are they? How do I get rid of them?

A) Those are Independent Point Numbers (IPN) and are on by default in each drawing session. They were there in MSCAD2004 but did not default to on. They are there to assist you when zoomed in tight on points, when the normal point number can no longer be read. They should be turned off when you are zoomed out so as to not obscure the drawing. The best solution is to load the IPN Toolbar (bottom of the MsPoints menu), then press the N button on the toolbar to toggle them on/off.

Q) I went looking for the OFFSET command, where is it?

A) Under the Modify menu run the command PARALLEL instead.

Q) How can I set the Point Style to something other than a dot?

A) You can use the PDMODE command, or go to the Settings menu -> Drawing Settings -> Entity Creation Tab -> set the Change Settings For to Points. Set it as desired. When done, run the REGEN command to see the screen update.

Q) When working in Layout Mode, I can not see the linetypes in the viewport or they are at an incorrect scale. They do appear in the Model Mode correctly with the LTSCALE set as required. What do I need to do to get them to come up in Layout Mode correctly?

A) Type in the command PSLTSCALE and set it to OFF

Q) I can¢‚¬„¢t find the TCORRECT command to mass edit how my text looks in MSCAD2005. Does MSCAD2005 have this command?

A) No the TCORRECT command is not available in MSCAD2005. The best way to do mass edits is to run the Properties command (under the Modify menu) and select the text. Then do the changes required in the dialog.

Q) MSCAD2004 had a middle mouse button with a menu on it. Can I get this in 2005?

A) No the middle mouse button has been set to Dynamic Zoom (roll the wheel up and down), Dynamic Pan (pick with the wheel and hold it down while moving the mouse on screen) and Zoom Extents (double click the mouse wheel). The SHIFT key and Right Mouse button will bring up the Entity Snaps.

Q) I see the Option bar in some of the movies in 2005. Where is it? How do I get it up?

A) Not all of the movies were redone for MSCAD2005 so some of the movies are still showing the old MSCAD2004 (you can tell by looking at the top left corner of the movie when it is running). MSCAD2005 does not have an Option Bar but it does have a floating menu which is very similar. This menu can be turned off, if you wish, by typing in OPTIONS then go to the DISPLAY tab -> set Display Prompt Boxes on/off as desired.

Q) OK, I have the Autosave set to 10 minutes and it is using the SV$ extension. I went looking for the files and can¢‚¬„¢t find them. Where do they get saved?

A) Type in OPTIONS and pick on the Paths/Files tab. Under User Paths, Temporary File, it will show something like this: C:\DOCUME~1\Glen\LOCALS~1\Temp

The full path is actually C:\Documents and Settings\Glen\Local Settings\Temp.

The ¢‚¬Å“GLEN¢‚¬ folder will be the name of your local computer when you login.

Q) MSCAD2004 had a command ARENDER which was handy to look at surfaces in 3D. Does MSCAD2005 have this same command?

A) MSCAD2005 does not have the ARENDER command but it has something similar called Real-Time Sphere. You can run this command by typing in RTROT or by going under the View menu -> Real-Time Motion -> Real-Time Sphere. You can also get the command off of the Zoom toolbar (found on a flyout button) or by holding down the CTRL key and picking and holding the left mouse button down, as you move the cursor.

Q) The copy to clipboard (CTRL-C) / paste from clipboard (CTRL-V) command does not have the ability to pick the location of the insert in the second drawing. MSCAD2004 did have this option. How can I do it in MSCAD2005?

A) The CTRL-V (paste) command uses the exact same coordinate system to paste the items from the first drawing into the existing drawing. You can not change them.

You can use the normal Copy command to copy entities from one drawing to another, allowing you to pick the location of the insert. Just open both drawings, tile them vertically (under the Window menu). Then pick in the original drawing so it is active and type in COPY (or pick it from the Modify menu). Select the items to copy (just like you would if you were copying them from one location in that drawing to another location in the same drawing), but when it asks you for the Displacement Point, take your cursor and pick in the other drawing, then place the items as desired in the second drawing.