Utilities

ABILITY TO CONTROL DRAWING UNITS WHEN OPENING A DWG/DXF FILE

The drawing units can be controlled when opening a AutoCAD file.

Previously, TurboCAD did not understand the original scale of the drawing and used to assume units in English|Architectural with a strange scale. As a solution, a new option “Use plot units as drawing units” has been added to the dwg/dxf import setup dialog.

File > Open > Set ‘Files of Type’ to DXF > Setup

 

Geo Location

Ribbon | Options | Drawing Styles | Geo Location

Default : Options > Geographic Location

This feature sets the geographic location in physical latitude, longitude and elevation coordinates in the current drawing.

It also displays a non-selectable marker to indicate the compass position in relation to the current geographical coordinates.

 

Example

In this example, the geo location of the drawing is set to the latitude and longitude coordinates shown in the illustration, below.

Additionally, the Angle of the South Direction has been changed to 15 degrees to reflect the correct orientation of the layout.

The marker has been displayed in an on-screen position of Top Left, and the rosette marker is displayed as a normal size.

Marker displayed in top left

The result is shown below.

Drawing Compare

Tools | Drawing Compare

This facility flags changes between 2 drawings of the same original source where changes have been made and cannot be easily located.

Changes are mapped and are displayed either by highlighting the modifications, or by activating a ‘blink’ mode to display the modified items.

The modifications can also be zoomed to in complex drawings, while standard zoom tools allow for the zooming in and out of areas to compare.

An animated image in the form of a .gif file can be saved of the changes identified by the ‘blinking’ mode.

Drawing DC_01 with inner circle radius of 4

Drawing DC_02 with inner circle radius of 8 

Example

Select Tools| Drawing Compare and use the Select File 1 and Select File 2 fields shown below.

For a 2D drawing, the Plan view angle can be selected, shown above, but for a 3D design, an isometric view angle can be selected. Click OK if differences have been detected.

Use the Zoom Out tool so that most of the drawing is visible in the viewing pane. Both drawings can be toggled between using the 1 and 2 options, shown below.

By selecting the Diff option, shown above right, the difference between the 2 drawings will be displayed in isolation in the viewing pane.

By selecting the Blink option, shown above right, the entire drawing will be displayed in the viewing pane, with the modifications shown in a slow-blink mode.

To save an animated file of the changes in the blink mode, click onto the Save tool, shown below. Click onto the File option below for a demonstration of the animated file.

In the exercise below, 2 bitmapped images of exactly the same frame size have captured the design changes of the cylinder and blade of the propeller, shown below.

When using the Diff option, the image shown below is displayed.

Bitmap image DC_03 with no modifications to cylinder or blade

Bitmap Image DC_04 with cylinder top and bottom edges blended and top edge of top right blade blended

DrawingUnderlay

Ribbon : Format | Underlay Manager

Default | Tools | Underlay Manager

This utility allows a scanned drawing or image to be used as an underlay to an existing drawing.

Drawings or images which are inserted as an underlay, if captured in a compatible format such as pdf, allow snap modes to be used so that the object can be ‘traced’ using normal line and circle geometry.

This is particularly useful for capturing design intent as the finished sketch can be modified or constrained using the normal Sketch or Modify tools. 

Objects which have been inserted as an underlay can be converted to drawing objects.

When a pdf is inserted as the underlay, the objects which form the underlay can be converted to vector-objects, depending on the integrity of the original image. After the underlay is inserted, select Tools | PDF Tools | PDF Underlay to Objects.

 

Creating an Underlay

Use this sample drawing or create a similar sketch in the workspace.

Download and save the underlay for this design.

From the Format > Underlay menu, select Underlay Manager. To create a new underlay, click onto New, then navigate to the file called 06_Drawing Underlay.pdf which was previously downloaded.

Importing a file to use as an underlay

Inserting an Underlay

An underlay can only be inserted once it has been defined as a style, shown above.

From the Insert menu, select Underlay, then select the newly created style shown below.

Inserting the underlay into the drawing

Purge

Ribbon : File | Utilities | Purge

Default : File | Drawing Utilities | Purge

This utility purges all unused items in the current drawing, with the facility to select known unused items. This is particularly useful when using multiple underlay drawings, or drawings which have been consolidated from other sources.

Drawings can frequently reflect a high file size in relation to their content and purging the drawing of all unused or redundant content can significantly reduce the file size.

In the example below, all unused layers are selected and will be purged from the current drawing.

Purging unused layers from the current drawing

 

Take Note

When using Purge All, the process of removing redundant content cannot be reversed. Care should be taken when removing externally referenced files which have been inserted as Blocks, or parametric parts which are referenced from an external source.

 

ePack

File | ePack

The ePack tool is designed to create a deployment kit of resources when packaging a drawing which has specific properties or external resources such as externally referenced files.

This tool collects all layers, text fonts, dimension styles, hatch patterns, viewport information and associated media, such as title block logos which are contained in both the model and paper space layouts.

In this example below, the Pulley Mechanism drawing contains a variety of internal and external references. As can be seen from the Blocks Palette, two externally referenced drawings, the Wheel and the Pin were used to create the Assembly, shown in full in the blocks palette.

Text has been added to the model space area and a viewport with a title block and logo has been created in the paper space layout.

The sample drawing ePack Example can be used for this exercise.

Drawing with Blocks & External References

To create a deployment kit of this drawing containing all its available resources, the ePack tool is used by selecting File | ePack.

As can be seen from the illustration below, all available exportable resources within this drawing, including the externally referenced files (Wheel, Pin) and the inserted file (logo) are packed into a package which can either be deployed as a folder or a zipped file.

A zip file can also be created for deployment with the drawing and its associated resources, shown below.

Zip file created with the associated drawings 

3D Print repair tool

Tools | 3D Print Repair

Before sending your design to your 3D printer, gain valuable information about your 3D model regarding its printability

This new tool will effectively identify any issue in your design before sending it to the printer, and allow you to then fix it in TurboCAD. A great tool for saving you time and unnecessary wear and tear on your 3D printer.

File Converter

Tools | File Converter

This utility converts multiple drawing formats to another drawing or image file.

In the illustration below, a selection of AutoCAD^© dwg drawings have been selected for conversion to TurboCAD tcw file formats.

A destination file type and output location is required.

By selecting the files to be converted, shown selected in the left column above and using the Run function, the files are converted to the output type and destination defined in the second column. The process runs the conversion in the background, with no interference to the current drawing and the message shown below is displayed with the conversion is finished.

Selected files converted and shown in right column

Contact Manger & File Sharing

Ribbon | Tools | Run Contact Manager

Default : Top Right corner of editor

This facility allows the user to create and maintain contact lists and send files to individuals or groups.

By selecting the Share option, above left, the current drawing can be shared by members of the Contact Manager. Add and remove contacts using the Contacts Manager to create a shared mailing list.

By checking the Everyone option, all contacts in the Contacts Manager will be copied. Contacts can also be imported from an external source using the Import Contacts, shown below.

The current drawing can be shared in the original drawing format or output to several sources, including a screen-shot, image or pdf file.