IRRICAD News Column. produced by AEI Software, the makers of IRRICAD. New. IRRICAD 8 version released

Transcription

1 IRRICAD News Column May 2006 produced by AEI Software, the makers of IRRICAD New IRRICAD 8 version released IRRICAD VERSION 8.0 upgrade has been released and is now available for you to own. If you wish to upgrade, please contact your local IRRICAD representative. Some of the benefits of version 8.0 are IMPROVED DWG CONVERSION FOR ALL VERSIONS UP TO AND INCLUDING AUTOCAD NEW IMAGE (BITMAP) FUNCTIONS AUTOMATIC LABELLING NEW LOOK REPORTS IMPROVED AUTOSAVE / AUTOBACKUP NEW NAVIGATION TOOLS (INCLUDING SCROLL MOUSE FUNCTIONS) IMPROVED HANDLING OF LARGE GPS CO-ORDINATES TOOLBARS OTHER FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS See inside for more details.

2 NEW IMAGE / BITMAP FUNCTIONS Easier importing of picture files, including Export your plans in pdf format to send them electronically to clients in a noneditable format. Overcome problems finding bitmaps when designs have moved with an option to retain the relative path of an image file. Import a wide range of image formats directly, e.g..bmp,.jpg, and tiff files. Export files in a wide range of image formats, e.g.bmp,.jpg, and tiff files. Improved scaling, repairing and rebuilding of images. AUTOMATIC LABELLING IRRICAD version 8.0 also has the facility to automatically label:- Pipes Junctions Valves Outlets Miscellaneous Hydraulic Items Contour Lines Spot Heights Spraylines Tapes Wires Electrical You can specify the :- Font and Size Layer Position Content via keywords

3 AUTOMATIC LABELLING continued A SELECTION OF DIFFERENT LABELLING TYPES Contour Lines Valves Pipes Outlets

4 NEW LOOK REPORTS A more professional look! Completely compatible with modern windows printers. Improved pagination. Customise the appearance and content of reports. Below is an example of our new look reports.

5 IMPROVED AUTOSAVE / AUTOBACKUP Have you had trouble recovering a design? IRRICAD version 8.0 saves a backup copy of each design, increasing the chances of recovery. Backup designs are now saved to a convenient folder location. NEW NAVIGATION TOOLS Pan and Zoom using the scroll wheel on the mouse. Navigate with scroll bars. Use the Dynamic panning tool to pan across the design by grabbing a point and moving it. DEALING WITH LARGE GPS CO-ORDINATES USER ORIGIN Have you ever imported an AutoCAD file into IRRICAD with very large (x,y) values and had trouble doing the design with these large values. One solution is to copy the design down to (0,0) and then move it back before exporting it, although this can be awkward. Version 8.0 allows you to set a temporary origin. This enables the design to be worked on using smaller, easier to use, co-ordinates with the original origin retained and automatically used when exporting. CUSTOMISABLE TOOLBARS Toolbars provide a fast and convenient way of accessing commonly used commands and tools, Version 8 includes many more Toolbars and Toolbar buttons than previous versions. The location, style and content of these Toolbars can be customised to suit your preferences. Contd /

6 CUSTOMISABLE TOOLBARS contd ScreenShot of IRRICAD version 8.0 main screen with default toolbars. OTHER FEATURES and IMPROVEMENTS include Object info tool can now be accessed more efficiently using the "Object Info" tool from the "Tool" menu, from the right click menu or from the button. In some circumstances the location of the min/max pressure for a tape may not be at the ends. Version 8 now reports on the minimum and maximum pressures wherever they occur along the tape (i.e. not only the start and end points). The printing function has been improved, so that IRRICAD remembers the alignment of margins and centering of the design between sessions. Printing is now completely compatible with Windows XP printer drivers. Frequently used snap tools can be set as running snaps, so that the same snaps do not have to be selected repeatedly. Many other minor improvements and bug fixes these are documented in the readme.txt file for Version 8. If you wish to upgrade, please contact your local IRRICAD representative or AEI Software

7 New IRRICAD support address We now have a new address for support. You can still use the old irricad@lincoln.ac.nz address, but eventually it will be discontinued. Our new address is :- Support@IRRICAD.com USB hardware protection device (HPD) Many new computers do not have parallel ports as standard. We now have USB HPD s available. You can now exchange your old parallel HPD for a USB one, at cost plus a postage and packaging fee. For further information, please contact your local IRRICAD representative. When ordering a new IRRICAD or FastQuote package, please specify whether you would like a parallel or USB HPD. Network multi-user HPDs In some situations it may be an advantage to have IRRICAD licenses controlled by a single HPD. The advantages include a higher level of security as there is only one HPD, for all IRRICAD licenses, which can be located at a central point. The major disadvantage of this option is that you cannot use IRRICAD on a non-network machine (e.g. a laptop) in the field while also utilizing the remaining licences at the office. The network version requires a dongle that connects to a PC that acts as a server machine. The IRRICAD session needs to be connected to this server continually while running. Network HPDs are now available on request in 1, 2, 5, 12 and 25 user configurations. Note it is possible to have a combination of IRRICAD and FastQuote licenses loaded on a single network dongle. If you are interested in this option, please contact your local IRRICAD representative. FAQ's & Upgrades on the Web Check out the Frequently Asked Questions on our web site these can help to solve minor problems and troubleshoot certain warning messages. If you can t find the answer there, feel free to contact your IRRICAD Support team for help. Minor upgrades are always available from the IRRICAD website free of charge. Check this regularly to keep your version up to date. You can check what version you have by looking at the About item under the Help menu of IRRICAD or FastQuote. Currently the upgrades and patches available for download are:- IRRICAD version 7.47: Quite a few changes have been made since version 7.38, with version 7.47 having much improved file importation and printing on systems running Windows 2000 & XP. If you are running an earlier version, we strongly recommend upgrading to this version. FastQuote Version 3.47: This includes the printing and file importation changes made to IRRICAD. IRRICAD version 8.08: This patch can only be used to update version 8. Enhancements include the ability to save designs in Version 7 format and additional fields made available in the report template editor. Of course you are encouraged to upgrade to IRRICAD version 8.0 so you can take advantage of the many new features, please contact your local IRRICAD representative to do this. Newsletters If you have a short article or tip you would like to contribute or ideas of what you would like to see in forthcoming newsletters, please pass these on to your IRRICAD or FastQuote support team. Current and past newsletters may be downloaded from our website. User Tools "User Tools" is one of the new features added in IRRICAD version 7.4. This feature allows you to add menu items to IRRICAD for commonly used external programs (for example the Windows Calculator). To add a new entry do the following: 1. Select the Customize menu item from User Tools. 2. Click the Add button. 3. Give the menu item a name in the Menu Text field. 4. Type or browse to (with the button) the executable file of the required program. For example the windows calculator is normally located in c:\winnt\system32\calc.exe. Note that the executable files for some windows utilities may be hidden. If you are unsure how to get a utility to load, contact your systems support. 5. Add any required command line arguments and set the initial working folder (directory). Normally you will not need to add anything into these fields. 6. Click the OK button. To delete an item simply select it in the Menu Contents area and click the Delete button. The

8 order of menu items can be altered with the Move Up and Move Down buttons. Handy Tips Adding your company logo to the plot template To add your company logo to the plot template, you must first create a symbol of your logo and secondly add it to the plot template. This is an easy two step process. The steps you need to follow are: 1 - Creating the logo symbol To use your company logo, you must first have imported the file in dxf, dwg, vcd vcs or gcd format, or drawn/digitized the logo into IRRICAD or imported the file as a bitmap, draw the logo over the top of the bitmap, move the bitmap to a separate layer and turn that layer off. Then you must select the logo and save as a symbol (Tools Create Symbol). From here you can now add the logo symbol to the plot template. 2 Adding the logo to the Plot Template This step involves editing the plot template, adding the new item and then saving the plot template. Editing the Plot Template Editing plot templates allows you to change a layout and save the changes for future use. The Plot Template menu has the option 'Edit Template'. When this is selected, IRRICAD starts a new design and prompts you to select an existing template file to modify. Company logos can be inserted in the template. Select Plot Template Edit Template. You will then be able to select a plot template from those available. These plot templates have either come with the program or been made by you. Select the plot template to change and click Open. Note that although plot templates are actually a symbol they are automatically exploded into their constituent parts during this process. Tips for working with Plot Templates It is a good idea to change the background color of your screen slightly (you do this in the Drawing tab of the Settings menu). For example if it is white, change the background colour to off-white or grey. This enables you to see the fills in the template. Being able to see the fills can unfortunately present another problem in that they can obscure other items in the template (text, lines etc.). There are two solutions to this:- turn off the display of fills (in the Display section of the Drawing Tab under the Settings menu), you will need to Redraw after doing this; or select all items in the template and use the Move Fills to Back option on the Plot Template menu. Another useful tip is to use the Select Window tool rather than Select Object to select text in the template which ensures that any fills are not selected accidentally. Adding New Items To add your logo (or any other symbol) to your template use Draw Symbol and load the symbol you wish to use. Place this on the layout where required. When positioning a symbol you should take care not to place it on/over pipe and sprinkler legends. Doing so could result in the symbol being obscured when items are added to the legend during the generation of a plot layout. The legends can be identified as symbols containing a fill, the #text# keyword and a line or placeholder symbol. Saving the Changed Template When all the necessary changes have been made select all the objects making up the template and select Plot Template Move Fills to Back. Now reselect all objects (using a select window is easiest) and select Plot Template Save template. The plot template may be saved with name as the original in which case it will overwrite the original or with a new name which will create a new template. We recommend that a any templates that are altered are saved with a new name. Checking your new Template Open one of your designs and check that your new plot template appears in the dropdown list when you select Draw Plot Layout (if you have saved the template to a new name). Make a plot layout and confirm that the changes you have made appear. What developments are coming next for IRRICAD / FastQuote? Stay posted for the next release of FASTQUOTE! Many of the new features in IRRICAD version 8.0 will be added to the next release of FastQuote. We have plans to add many other new features to IRRICAD some of which may be issued as free patches to version 8.0. Please keep checking our website. Kind Regards, The IRRICAD Team