TubeCAD Tech Document #1

Advanced Tubular Technologies

TubeCAD Tech Document #1:

Faster Redraw With Ctrl-C

Document For: Beginner through Advanced Users

Software Version: 5.8 Revision L

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Many TubeCAD users know that the standard TubeCAD cancel command is Ctrl-C.

But did you know that the cancel command can speed redraw significantly, especially on layouts with a large number of bends and/or dense ODMESH constructions?

TubeCAD always draws components in a certain order. The command line will show exactly what is drawing on the screen at the moment. It may look like this just after a layout is finished redrawing on the screen:

------------------------------------------------------------
Redraw: Centerline, Outline, ODmesh, CL Arcs, Bends,
Rotation Views, Chart, Header -Done
Command:
------------------------------------------------------------

For example, if your layout contains a dense ODmesh that takes a while to draw, then press Ctrl-C as soon as you see the ODmesh drawing on the screen. This discontinues the ODmesh redraw -- but TubeCAD does not stop drawing the components that follow.

When a cancel command is sensed by TubeCAD, it inserts the word *Cancel* in the command line like this:

------------------------------------------------------------
Redraw: Centerline, Outline, ODmesh,*Cancel* CL Arcs, Bends,
Rotation Views, Chart, Header -Done
Command:
------------------------------------------------------------

Other CAD programs don't do this kind of partial cancel because they don't know the difference between, for example, an ODmesh, True Bend, or Rotation View. They just know general entity types.

But TubeCAD understands that each set of layout components are unique, and that you may want to cancel the redraw of a component to get to another one more quickly.

Written by Michael Cone
Advanced Tubular Technologies

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