Interface

About the PowerCADD 6 Interface Section

This section of the PowerCADD learning center is dedicated to helping you understand and maximize the use of some of the human interface features in PowerCADD version 6. Due to the similarities between PowerCADD v6 and PowerCADD v7 we have moved most of the content related to PowerCADD v6 into our PowerCADD v7 (premium content) section of the website.

Note: Premium content on this site is restricted to registered users only. If you are looking for information on PowerCADD version 7 please register or login.

Getting started is easy; just click a link below.

Known Issues

About PowerCADD 6 Known Issues

Call them what you will: bugs, problems, nuances, glitches, whatever. Bottom line is there are going to be issues with any software. Anything we've confirmed as known issues with PowerCADD 6 would normally be posted here.

However, as we've brought all our content over to the new content management system, you'll want to send us an email and we'll do our best to try and get you access to those old archives for a list of known issues and what version they were fixed in. Typically, if you are running the most recent version of PowerCADD 6 as described in related articles on this website, you should be in good shape. However -- if you're having a problem it can't hurt to double check our archives.

Making Drop Shadows for Text

Question

How to I make a drop shadow effect for text or other objects?

Requirements

PowerCADD v6 and Mac OS^? X
PowerCADD v7 makes adding shadows to any objects MUCH easier and you have a LOT more flexibility. Check out the PowerCADD 7 section of our Learning Center to find out more! The results are remarkable.

Background

Making drop shadows for any PowerCADD object is easy when you remember one simple rule. Every object is it's own unique acetate overlay (independent of what layer it is on). Put another way, objects have a unique order and can be order one in-front or behind another. PowerCADD knows and remembers the order those objects are drawn in and the order can be adjusted.

After that it's easy, simply assign the desired color to the 'shadow' object.

What to do:

Making a drop shadow for text is easy, do this:

1. type the text
2. assign it the desired pen color, for example black
3. select the text
4. choose Edit menu -> Duplicate (a copy will be made in exactly the same place and automatically selected)
5. with the duplicate text block selected, assign it the desired shadow pen color (you may choose Attr menu -> pen color or control+click on the item and choose a pen color from the contextual menu)
6. with the duplicate text block still selected, choose Arrange menu -> Send to Back (note, the item will seem to 'disappear' but it's still selected)
7. use the arrow keys to nudge the selected text block (the shadow) into the desired position

It's really very easy to do and the same technique would apply for creating a drop shadow on a box or any other PowerCADD object.

Click here to see a demo movie (658KB download) of the steps in action. (need movie help?)

Reminder: If you change the main text block (e.g. changed the text from BOB to SUE), you'll also need to edit the shadow text otherwise the shadow won't match the original object.

Hints:

• in some drawing situations you may find it easier to keep the shadow text on it's own layer
• use PowerCADD's Find and Replace text feature (Text menu -> Find...) to globally change text. This technique has the advantage of finding and replacing text in both the main text and the shadow text which can be a real time saver!

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Preference File Locations :: PowerCADD6

Question

Where are all the preference files stored for PowerCADD and WIldTools in Mac OS^? X?

Requirements

PowerCADD v6 (version 6.0.5 or newer recommended) Mac OS X ( version 10.2.8 or newer recommended)

Background

Because Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system, application preferences are unique to each user not specific to the core operating system. In Mac OS 9, application preferences were part of the core operating system folder (assuming multi-user mode was not used).

There is one core set of PowerCADD preferences which holds both the PowerCADD and WIldTOOLs application level preferences.

When trouble shooting possible problems, it can often be helpful Quit PowerCADD and remove the PowerCADD Defaults file or remove the com.engsw.PowerCADD.plist from their current locations to the desktop. The next time you launch PowerCADD new files are created with clean factory defaults. If the problem goes away, you can trash the old files you removed.

The PowerCADD preferences folder contains the following items:
- custom color palettes (your personal color palettes)
- dwg templates (your personal color to line weight and line weight to color templates)
- custom templates (your personal gradients)
- custom tool palettes (your personal tool palettes)
- PowerCADD defaults (the default locations for windows, tool palettes, etc)
- PowerCADD key commands (your personal key command assignments)
- Data Templates (your personal database entry templates)

What to Do:

Your PowerCADD Preferences are stored in this path:
Startup Disk/Users/UsersHomeFolder/Library folder/Preferences folder /PowerCADD folder/...

The PowerCADD folder will contain all the application level preferences, custom color palettes, etc, for PowerCADD and WIldTools.

There is a second file stored in this location:
StartupDisk/User/UsersHomeFolder/Library/Preferences/com.engsw.PowerCADD.plist

If you'd like to examine or remove files for testing or trouble shooting you can follow paths noted above to open each successive folder. If you'd like a short cut to the PowerCADD folder, do this:

1_Switch to the Finder
2_Choose the Go Menu -> Go To Folder...
3_In the dialog box type or better still copy/paste the following (include the ~)
~/Library/Preferences/PowerCADD/
4_The PowerCADD Preferences folder will open

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Printing :: OS X, PDF Error "not reading shading dictionary"

Question

When I print my PowerCADD 6 drawings using Mac OS^? X built in Print to PDF^? feature I get an error "not reading shading dictionary" when the PDF file is opened on a Mac or Windows computer. Sometimes the error is "error reading postscript" What's wrong?

Requirements

Mac OS X 10.2.x (10.2.8 or newer recommended), PowerCADD v6 (6.0.4 or newer recommended)

Update
This article was updated Nov.20, 2003. Apple appears to have fixed their Print to PDF model and shading dictionary error with the introduction of Panther!

Background

Update
Results thus far in Mac OS X 10.3.1 (Panther) indicate the problem with Apple's Print to PDF may be fixed. Drawings using PowerCADD 6.0.6 in OS 10.3.1 with both linear and circular gradients have been successful. The PDF created using Apple's Print to PDF feature no longer displays the "not reading shading dictionary" error when opened on a Mac or PC. If you are experiencing the problem described in this article an upgrade to Panther is advised (we recommend testing your particular drawings on a machine running Panther in advance if at all possible to confirm you work does not contain other nuances which may be contributing to a problem).

The specifications on how to print to PDF files was written by Adobe and is, frankly, several thousand pages long. In those pages there is 'room for interpretation' and that's what's happened in this case with Apple's implementation when printing to a PDF File^?.

In the case of "not reading shading dictionary" errors, the drawing being printed contains gradient fills. Those gradient fills contain enough color shading information that it causes Apple's print to PDF to 'choke'. (Fixed in Panther OS 10.3.1)

There are also known problems with some fonts not being correctly embedded (included) with the PDF file which don't typically produce an error message but can in some cases. In all cases, when a font embedding problem occurs, the file looks fine on the Mac OS X machine that created the PDF but doesn't render properly to screen or print when opened on a Windows machine. (Testing is underway to determine if this issue is fixed in Panther OS 10.3.1, this article will be updated as new information uncovered)

What to do

There are couple of choices in how to fix the problem.

Option A: don't use gradient fills

This isn't a pretty option and may not be practical in all cases. However, if you only have a small number of gradient fills in a drawing and don't have access to the tools mentioned in Option B then it may be worth considering to get you past this deadline.

Option B: don't use Apple's Print to PDF feature in Mac OS X 10.2.x

Rather than using Apple's Print to PDF feature (which is the essence of the problem), use Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Standard for Mac OS X to create your PDF Files. All your gradient fills will print correctly. Not only does it address the "not reading shading dictionary" problem but it also provides a great deal more flexibility and addresses potential problems with embedding fonts which can also occur when using Apple's Print to PDF Feature.

Option C: (added Nov20, 2003) : upgrade to Mac OS X 10.3.1 (Panther)

Tests thus far indicate gradient fills print fine when using apple's Print to PDF feature. We are current testing the embedded font issue and will post our findings here as they become available.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support by buying us coffee, lunch, or dinner. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Table Tool Overview

Question

What's the purpose of PowerCADD's Table Tool? How do I adjust the rows and columns after is drawn? How do I edit the text in the Table?

Requirements

PowerCADD version 4 or newer and Mac OS^? 9.2.2 (PowerCADD 6.0.4 and Mac OS X 10.2.8 or newer recommended)

Background

The Table Tool is a text tool that provides the user with the ability to make a matrix grid quickly and easily. The intent of the resulting table is to provide the user with ability to create general tables of typed data.

The PowerCADD Table Tool is sufficient for what it’s intended and should not be looked upon as an overall scheduling capability. After all, it is just a text tool that provides a different text formatting capability with the ability to tab from field to field.

What To Do

To adjust the rows and columns:

1. ensure the Table Tool is selected using your Pointer tool.
2. press Apple+R (or choose Edit Menu > Reshape).
3. position the cursor over a row line or column line.
4. Mouse down on the target line and drag.

To edit the text of a Table created, use the Text tool or the Table Tool.

To change the text Font, use normal "select and change" editing - by selecting the Table or by cell.
Note: If you use bold for Column or Row headings, a change of the text Font by selecting the Table will not undo the Bold style.

To change the text Style, use normal "select and change" editing - by cell or by selecting the Table.

You can change the Pen and Fill color and pattern of Table as a whole using normal "select and change" editing and change the text Pen color individually cell by cell.

Hint: To change text Font, Style, or Pen Color cell by cell, use Tab to navigate from cell to cell.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support by buying us coffee, lunch, or dinner. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Tinting Bitmaps with Transparent Backgrounds

Abstract

I'd like bitmaps to maintain their transparent backgrounds after applying certain QuickTime Effects such as Tinting. PowerCADD 6.0.4 makes them opaque (solid white), how do I get around that.

Requirements

PowerCADD v6 (v6.0.4 or newer recommended), QuickTime 6.x (6.4 or newer recommended), Mac OS^? X 10.2.x (10.2.8 or newer recommended)

Background

It's important to remember what's really going on here. Once a bitmap is selected, and Apply Bitmap Effect is chosen, Apple's QuickTime takes over for everything including interface, previews, etc. In the current context there really isn't a way for EngSW to create a one button solution. However, that's not to say it's not possible given QuickTime is what's being accessed and there are likely a number of ways to set those hooks.

Just having the ability to call QuickTime and have transparent background and pixels that don't bleed and ,and , and... are all huge strides in the right direction. The current tools are certainly a quantum leap from what we have had in the past +12 years!

Versions of PowerCADD 6 prior to v6.0.4 maintained transparent (nil filled) bits after applying a Bitmap Effect (that is a QuickTime Effect). However, changes in v6.0.4 now renders the previously nil (transparent) bits as solid white but it's an easy fix to correct the problem.

What to do

Following is a picture of our understanding of the problem. Essentially you need to use the Apply Bitmap Effect a second time (i.e. once to apply a Tint or desired effect, another to restore the transparent background).

[inline:PCD6_X_NilBckGrnd.jpg]

There are few methods to achieve the transparent background. Brightness and Contrast is one but it has the unfortunate effect of only being able to adjust in 1 unit steps and can, if not used carefully, lighten or blow out the entire image.

There are other Apply Bitmap Effects options (QuickTime Effects) which are worth exploring which can create a nil/transparent background without compromising the foreground image. Assuming you have already applied your desired Bitmap Effect (perhaps you applied a tint as shown in the example above), you then need to do this to clean up the background:

1. select the bitmap
2. choose Tool Menu > Apply Bitmap Effect
3. choose Filter > General Convolution
4. enter a value of 0.025 in the Field 1 (leave all other fields untouched)
• (note: we recommend a starting with a small value of 0.025, your particular image may require a larger value, it will depend on the specifics of your case. Generally, always start with a very small amount and work up.)
5. Press OKAY and the image is now rendered with a transparent background (see our earlier screen shot for an example of the results)

[inline:Convolution.jpg]

Here's a simple example of how the effects can be combined to integrate hand drawn graphics (e.g. Pencil strokes), then tint them using Apply Bitmap Effects in PowerCADD v6. The results can be fun.

[inline:TintedHandGraphics.jpg]

Remember, start with small increments and if you are going to try and use the brightness and contrast settings to adjust the image be careful you don't 'blow out' your main image. Work in very small increments like +1 or +2 and look at the results carefully. While there may be cases when the color shift is minor or won't matter (after all the printer will adjusted the colors too), it's best to be careful. We recommend Convolution but it can be a bit daunting to look at that numbered dialog and figure out what it all means!

Enjoy and remember this is fun so treat it like that. Experiment!

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak