How to Instantly Preserve Attribute Value when Exploding

Block Attribute is a useful tool in creating and modifying your CAD drawings. We can use Block Attribute to save text style and size as annotation block. Likewise, we will be able to set up a title block with attributes.

But the problem is, sometimes you may want to turn an attribute block into individual pieces. Generally we will use EXPLODE. But after exploding, you will find that the attributes lose their values, and which shows the attribute tag instead. How to keep the data in attributes after exploding?

To preserve the values, we suggest the use of BURST instead of EXPLODE.

EXAMPLE is practiced in ZWCAD+:

Explode attributes and use BURST to convert attribute values to text objects.

1.    Select a block containing two attributes:

2.    Block exploded and attribute values converted to text:

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How to quick select all objects in layers

How to quick select objects on multiple layers. Previously, I was using Qselect, I was trying to select all the objects on more than 9 layers, and for each layer I had to run through the command and just add it to selection set. FILTER also gets the job done, after all these practice, I thought there could be an easier way to get this done. 

Please visit the ZWCAD Forum for solutions: http://www.zwsoft.com/forum/thread-3693-1-1.html


See also:
Using QSelect in ZWCAD to Filter Selection Sets

How to convert an ellipse to a polyline

CAD users might encounter the following situation while they are using ZWCAD: They need to edit the ellipse object like polyline, but the properties of ellipse are not like the properties of polyline. So how can we do this if we want to join an ellipse arc, line and other objects into polyline? In the following content, we will give you a brief introduction on how to change an ellipse to a polyline.

Approach 1: Open ZWCAD, and then set PELLIPSE to 1 (or ON)

The PELLIPSE System Variable is used to controls whether the entity drawn with the ELLIPSE command is a true ellipse or an ellipse made up of polylines. 

0   Draws a true ellipse.

1   Creates an ellipse made up of polylines.

PELLIPSE =0

PELLIPSE =value 1

Approach 2: offset the ellipse object

After an elliptical arc is created, we can use Offset command to change it to polyline. Offset the elliptical arc to a certain distance,  and then delete the original elliptical object, after that run offset command again to offset the elliptical arc back to original position, by this way, the elliptical arc is changed to SPline object.

Then we can use command Flatten to change the SPline to Polyline, and use command Pedit to join the polylines.

Both two approach are quite easy to convert the ellipse to a polyline.

Related Questions

1.Anyway to Change an Ellipse to a Polyline?

2.Is it possible to measure area enclosed by a polyline?

3.How to Convert Lines to Polylines?

4.How to Convert Ellipse to Arcs?

5.How to Draw Lines Tangent to an Ellipse?

How to Draw a Cone with Round Top and Square Bottom

Many CAD users may be very familiar with the object—cone with round top and square bottom. Here I would like to explain to some of CAD beginners what this is and how to draw it. First of all, this special cone is often used as a transition part to join together square and circle pipeline. Next I will use ZWCAD and ZW3D to draw this object.

A:ZWCAD

      1. Draw the following graph and adopt the isometric view to finish the rest of operation.

 

2.  Lift the circle inside the square for certain height in the direction of Z axis

 

     3. Use the command Loft and the following graph will be generated.

 

    4. Solid edit the graph and then color it

Execute the command of Solidedit and choose the 3d oject. When there’s reminder that the 3 surfaces are found, hit on the ENTER button and type in “a”, choose the outside surface you would like to keep as noted below.

 

 

With the above steps, we have finished the drawing of a cone with round top and square bottom in ZWCAD.

B: ZW3D is very cost-effective CAD/CAM software. In ZW3D, we can use the same steps as above (sketch—loft—solidedit). But it is somewhat difficult to unfold this model through above drawing steps as generally speaking sheet metal will always be unfolded for measurement. When outside contour only has one surface we can use Unfold Surface in Curved Surface to achieve it, while when there are 8 surfaces in the outside contour, regardless of the thickness, we will not be able to find the way to unfold the object.

 

Users can choose either ZWCAD or ZW3D to draw this object. The two CAD software will both meet your needs.

Related Questions:

1. SolidEdit in LISP

2. solidedit -won't work ?? 

3. Loft (ing) shapes with 3ds max 9 

4. Can't loft: selected entities not valid

How to Create Custom Linetype

One of the commonly encountered problems is that the linetypes provided by CAD software can’t satisfy various demands in CAD Design. In order to make the design work easier, I will talk about how to create custom linetype in ZWCAD in today’sCAD topic,

To create the custom linetype, let’s start with the rules in customization.

In the ZWCAD, we can find a zwcad.lin file in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\ZWSoft\ZWCAD\2012\en-US\Support . Open the file by Notepad, and the linetypes provided by CAD have been listed.

                          *BORDER,Border __ __ . __ __ . __ __ . __ __ . __ __ .

A, 12.700, -6.350, 12.700, -6.350, 0, -6.350

The linetype definition is composed of two parts. The first part is name and description for the particular line. Start the definition with “*”, then we could name the line. Leave a simple description after the comma. Specify the codes of lines in the second part. “A “ stands for alignment. The first parameter value should be equal to or more than “0”. The second parameter value should be less than “0”. Positive value means drawing a straight line with certain length. “0” means draw a point. Negative value means space. The punctuation after codes should be input with half-width.

Let’s take the center line as an example. The source code for which is A,1.250,-0.25,0.25,-0.25，According to the definition rules stated above, it means drawing a line with length of 1.25, ‘-0.25’ means a space with length of 0.25, ‘0.25’ means a line with length of 0.25.

If you are still not so clear about how to customize the linetype, you could draw the line first. Here is an example for double dot dash line. Let’s see how it’s defined.

Open the file zwcad.lin in ZWCAD installation path. And enter the name of this linetype as “double dots”. The source code for the line should be

 *DOUBLE_DOT,double_dot  ______..______..______

A,1.0,-0.1,0,-0.1,0,-0.1

Save the file after we add the source code.

With the same method, we could customize the linetype in design.

You may like more about “linetype” on CAD forum:

1.       Why the curved line break into straight line segments?

2.      Create Linetype with texts

3.       Linetype and linetype scale

4.      How to get the dot linetype spaced?

5.      Linetypes for dot drawings

6.      How do I create a linetype with shapes

CAD Insight:getting a product from screen to store

You have been playing about on ZW3D and have come up with an incredible product. How has no-one thought of this before? It’s going to be huge? But what next? It is a long, tough journey to get from this stage to the shelves of Wal-Mart, but these tips will be able to guide you on your way.

Prototyping

To be taken seriously by any investor, manufacturer or buyer you will need a physical representation of your product. Ideally this would be a fully functioning model but if not, something that you can use to help explain your vision.

The first step would be to construct a basic version of your product with cheap materials or things lying around the house. The aim of this would be to get a better idea of your product, and allow you to make small changes before you invest fully in pre-production prototyping. Moldable plastics, such as Instamorph, can be used to design and test any plastic products, and can be remolded over and over again until you have perfected the design.

The pre-production prototype will be a more professional version of your product and will be used to attract investors and buyers to your product before you enter in to manufacturing. If the product is based on plastics, you can use a 3D printer to cheaply and easily make a one off version. If you do not own a 3D printer, makexyz.com offers a directory of printers available to hire in your area. For metallic products, you may need to enlist the help of a prototype engineer, find-able through a Google search, however this could considerably increase costs. If you are aiming to keep costs low, you could enlist the help of a local tradesman.

Patenting

After working so hard on the design of your product, the last thing you want is for someone to come along and steal the idea. Patenting can stop this; however it can be a long and costly process.

Patenting laws are different for every country so you should research closely in to your own local laws. Generally, however, you can receive a provisional patent or a non-provisional patent. A provisional patent will be far cheaper but will only last one year, giving you time to decide whether your idea is worthy of your investment.

The patent application can be done individually or through a patent lawyer. Undertaking this task individually will involve submitting sketches of your idea and a brief description. Once this is done, you will be able to label your product as “patent pending’ and will spend the next year or so convincing the patent office that your idea is truly new and non-obvious.

Employing a patent lawyer to undertake this task for you will undoubtedly cost a significant amount more, however they will be able to create a much broader patent, making it harder for other firms to design around your product.

Having successfully gained a patent for your product, it will then be up to you to identify if any competitors are violating that patent. A tough task for a small company.

Licensing or Manufacturing

Once you have covered points one and two, it moves to the hardest but most rewarding stage, but first you must make the choice between manufacturing and selling the product yourself, or licensing your idea out to another company.

This choice is largely up to you. If you have the passion for your product, as well as the financial backing and business know-how to enter the market on your own, it could be one of the most rewarding things you could do. This, however, comes at a high risk and could result in major financial losses so is certainly not a decision that should be taken lightly.

Licensing is also hard to achieve. Large companies have a long waiting list of products to produce and will only accept products with great potential. They also lack the passion that you would have having followed the product from idea conception to this stage. Having said this, the financial risk is vastly reduced and if your product is taken on, the distribution channels and marketing budgets of larger businesses can result in royalties greater than any income you could have received on your own.

Within these stages, you will also have to construct business plans, conduct market research and locate financing along with a variety of other tasks. Bringing your product to market is certainly not an easy option, but it could be both financially and personally rewarding if it is done successfully.

How to set up layout to make plotting easier

Aren’t you a little curious about Layout in CAD? Layout is a basic but powerful tool in design. With Layout, CAD users can better control their drawing scale and represent the drawing with several viewports, showing different area of the model. Also, layout has made plot setting up easier than ever.

In ZWCAD+, users can view and display the drawings with one or several models by setting up viewports in Layout. By default, there will be 2 layouts for 1 graphic, layout 1 and layout 2. Users can set up multiple layouts as they want. Each layout is with different plot setting up and paper size.

Let us show you how Layout works in the following steps.

l  In the model space, draw object with 1:1 scale, the same size as actual.

You can draw in full scale regardless of different scales in one sheet.

l  Switch to Layout 1 space, input the PAGESETUP command and Enter to the page set up dialog box, click on the Modify button. Complete the setting up for the printer, paper size, plot scale and drawing orientation, etc. And click on OK to complete set up.

l  Switch to layout space and this is the plotting area, make sure that all the graphics are within the printable range.

l  Insert the title block, you can copy or draw a title block in the Layout 1. Please be sure that the dimension of the title block should match with the paper size. The plotting area of the title block should be moved in the area of the dotted lines.

l  Input VPORTS and enter to the viewport dialog box, choose to create a single viewport. In the viewport, you can see the graphics in the models. Double click on the inside part of viewport and enter the model space. In the model space, you can edit and set up the viewport showing area of the graphics. Double click on the outside part of viewport to go back to the Layout.

l  Select viewport and input the command PROPERTIES, enter to open the property bar, set up a suitable Standard Scale and make the object present  appropriately within the viewport.

l  Annotate drawing with 1:1 annotation scale in the Layout.

l  Create a new viewport, set the viewport scale as two times to the last viewport scale. Dimensioning the objects in this viewport using the same dimension style. The dimension value will not change regardless of the viewport scale.

l  Select viewport, change its layer to Defpoints.

This way, the line boundary of the viewport will not be plotted as you plot out the drawing.

l  Now, the page setup is finished. If you plot drawing in this layout, the printer, paper size and other settings will be the same to the page setup, no need to setup the layout in model space again by manually, it will save you a lot of time to plot drawing.

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