ZWCAD >>> FAQ - Tecnical Questions

By Karl Lee

As an engineer, sometime I need to input the special symbol such as 'α' ,'ß', ' and ' ὼ' in the drawing when using ZWCAD, here are some helpful tips which I take. I hope they are helpful for you too.

1. Generally I launch character map in ZWCAD to input the special symbol (Mtextà right clickàsymbolà other), but sometime we may not launch character map because the character map is not installed in the operation system. Please try to add the character map in you operation system through either of these two ways:

a) Copy the 'Charmap.exe' file from other computer to your computer, paste it into the folder 'system 32' (C:\WINDOWS\system32).

b) Reinstall the 'charmap.exe' in the operation system.

Startà Control panel à Add or Remove Programs àAdd/Remove Windows Componentsà Accessories and Utilities à Details àAccessories àDetails à tick and choose 'Character Map' àOK. If there is no 'Accessories' component in the list, please try to copy charmap.exe from Windows 98 CD or download from website.

2. But it is also available to input the special symbol without the help of charmap.exe. Please take either of the follow methods as a solution.

a) Copy form the Microsoft office Word.

Open a Word file, insert a symbol in the word document (Insert àSymbol), then copy the symbol, and paste in ZWCAD (MTextàright clickàpaste)

b) Input the special symbol from the keyboard.

Inputs MTEXT or MT in command line to start Multiline Text Editor dialog box, Specifies the corner opposite corners to create a rectangle that defines the size and location of display of multiline text, Specifies the style for the multiline text: Symbol. Then input form the keyboard, click OK to finish.
You will find that each letter you type from keyboard come out to be a special symbol. Cause the text style 'Symbol' is a special font style. It contains mathematic formulary, Grecian letter, number, operator, set symbol and other symbol

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In ZWCAD 2009 Beta, many improvements, including enhanced commands (e.g. undo/redo) and new features (e.g. Filter and Multiple Grips Editing), enable you to operate this CAD platform more conveniently and more efficiently.

1: Undo/Redo

A history list is added to the Undo/Redo function in ZWCAD 2009 Beta, which allows you to review the actions you have done and helps you execute multiple redoes or undoes. In another word, it is more convenient for you to view the history list and apply undo/redo with several commands at a time.

2: Filter

With the Filter function, you can search for text data or graphical entities through various filter conditions - even searches of custom objects and their locations. If you want to find out some kinds of objects, you can not only apply the Quick Select function, but also the Filter function. In addition, Filter also supports searching from previous filtered results and creating selection sets.

3: Aerial View Window

Aerial View window contains a right-click menu and a toolbar. The buttons on the toolbar can be operated in some ways like the ones on the right-click menu. With the help of Aerial View Window, you can pan and zoom drawings in a window that can display the whole drawing quickly. Especially when you are working with a large drawing, you can use this function to view the whole one easily in the screen.

4: Multiple Grips Editing

With the powerful new Multiple Grips Editing function, you can work with more than one grip at a time. Objects can be stretched through multiple grips, and you can use new system variable to control the grips (Grips, GripBlock and Griptips). The grips you selected are associated. You can move and change multiple objects with great convenience.

5: Jogged and Arc Length Dimensions

In addition to improving dimensions overall, two kinds of dimensions are added in ZWCAD 2009 Beta: jogged dimensions and arc length dimensions. Dimension styles are created and modified with the Dimension Style Manager. Through the DIMJOGGED command, you can define jogged dimensions, which are also called foreshortened radius dimensions . When the center of a circle or an arc is out of the paper or located within other part of the drawing, you can use jogged dimensions to sign the circle or the arc. Arc length dimensions are used to mark the length of arcs. With this kind of dimensions, you can view the length of arcs clearly.

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Saving and Viewing Slides in ZWCAD

When working with CAD, we may find we need to show drawings in the form of images. Other times, we may need to show how a drawing progressed over time, or we may need to create simple presentations directly inside the CAD software.

In these cases, slides may be of help. ZWCAD allows you to save and view slides of the screen.

Making Slides

Slides are made with the MSLIDE command, which saves screen images as SLD, WMF, or EMF files. The command captures the current view as a slide; only visible entities are included. Slides cannot, however, be modified or plotted.

(SLD files are compatible with AutoCAD; WMF and EMF files are used by Windows and can be read by many image editing programs.)

The content of the slide varies in model and paper space. In model space, the slide captures only the visible entities in the current viewport; in paper space, the slide captures all visible entities and all viewports.

Viewing Slides

The VSLIDE command views saved slides. (You can also enter VSNAPSHOT, the older name for this command.) The command opens a file dialog box, which lets you select SLD, WMF, and EMF files for viewing.

The image of the slide replaces the current view in the drawing area. To remove the slide, enter the REDRAW, PAN, or ZOOM commands.

Presenting Slides

If you need to present a slideshow (a series of slides), you can do that directly in ZWCAD by writing and running a simple script file.

For example, you have five slide files named S1.SLD, S2.SLD, S3.SLD, S4.SLD, and S5.SLD saved in the d:\Slide folder. You need to show them one by one, five seconds apart, over and over again. This can be automated by a script, which looks like this:

vslide d:\Slide\S1

delay 5000

vslide d:\Slide\S2

delay 5000

vslide d:\Slide\S3

delay 5000

vslide d:\Slide\S4

delay 5000

vslide d:\Slide\S5

delay 5000

rscript

The two repeating lines are the primary function of the script:

vslide d:\Slide\S_n -- loads the n^th slide file (S_n.sld) stored in folder Slide on drive D. You do not need to include the .sld file extension.
delay 5000 displays the slide for 5,000 milliseconds by delaying the loading of the next slide by five seconds. Each slide remains on the screen for five seconds.

With the help of RScript, the entire script repeats itself. Pressing ESC quits the presentation. By copying the two lines multiple times, more slides can be displayed.

Running the Script

Enter the above script in a text editor, such as Notepad. Save it as a text file with the file extension of .SCR. Now the script file is ready to run.

In ZWCAD, start the SCRIPT command, and then open the SCR file. Notice how the slides are displayed in the drawing area, in sequence, for five seconds each, automatically.

SLD slide files cannot be edited. If you need to modify the contents of the slides, make new ones to replace the originals with the same filename.

Slides are a small tool in ZWCAD. They are useful for demonstrating your drafting work particularly when accompanied by scripts. We tend to rely on professional presentation software, so it is good to remember that slides in ZWCAD can also help us out

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Typically, drawings are arranged in paper space before plotting. How can you use the original drawing in model space without making too many modifications? Viewports can help.

Let's take an architectural design that's been drawn in model space, such as the floor plan of an apartment. To show the details clearly, some areas should be shown at different scales. The question then arises: Do we need to copy these portions elsewhere in model space and scale them respectively, or can we manage them directly in paper space? Possibly, but not necessarily. We can readily make do with viewports. Follow along with these steps:

Count the number of views needed for the layout.
Enter paper space, and then use the MVIEW command to create multiple viewports. A maximum of four viewports can be created at a time. If more viewports are needed, repeat the command.
To adjust the view, activate the viewport by double-clicking it. Then use the ZOOM and PAN commands to achieve the desired view inside the viewport. When zooming the drawing, use the XP option of the ZOOM command, because it zooms the viewport to a size relative to model space. For instance, 3XP makes the viewport view three times larger than the one in model space.
Once the view is established, lock it so that it will not be changed accidently. The Lock option is found in the MVIEW command.

After all views of the layout are adjusted, notice that the viewports have rectangular frames that are visible but are not necessary. How can we hide viewports' frames? Here is a trick:

Create a new layer named "Viewport Frame," for example.
Select all viewport frames, and then assign them to the "Viewport Frame" layer. You can use the Properties palette or the Layer droplist to do this.
Freeze the "Viewport Frame" layer, and the frames become invisible.

For other layouts, apply the same steps, and you will find yourself saving a lot of time. Viewports are a helpful tool, and can help improve your drafting efficiency when applied properly.

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Processing speed of CAD software is one of the most concerned issues of every user. Fast speed can be achieved directly by either software or hardware upgrade. In case of ordinary PC configuration, how can we further raise the speed even without software update? Here are some tips.

If we frequently specify the color or linetype for certain entities instead of using Bylayer or Byblock features, data will increase dramatically in our drawing, and it will take more time to process these data. Before you start to draw, it is suggested to make appropriate assignments of the layers you are going to use, ensuring that entities of different meanings or properties are assigned to corresponding layers respectively. By doing so, the option of Bylayer and Byblock can help to reduce the amount of data stored.
If there are lots of layers in our drawing, some of which contain complicated entities seldom used, then we can freeze these layers, so that they would not regenerate with other layers, and result in processing time saving.
Hatch (Fill) is a kind of entity occupying much RAM. Too many hatches would significantly drag down the processing speed. To maintain high speed, we can try the following three approaches.

(1) Do the hatching at the last step, so that there are no hatches affecting the speed during previous drafting steps.

(2) Assign all hatches to a single or some specific layers and freeze some or all of them if possible. Then they will not regenerate with other entities.

(3) In the Config dialogue box, select the Display tab and check the option Not display hatch while zooming.

Entities such as Solid, Donut and Trace have another kind of fill. They can be displayed faster by setting OFF for FILLMODE.

4. Text also has influence on the speed of ZOOM, REDRAW and REGEN. Simplifying the display mode of text could help to increase the speed to a large extent. Here are two ways to try.

(1) Use a simple text font during the preliminary drafting work, and then replace this font with desired ones at the final stage when there are no more modifications to other graphic entities.

(2) Use QTEXT to enable quick display of text. After the command is activated, boundary frames of text areas are displayed instead of text themselves. But when we are going to plot the drawing, the function must be turned off, or the text plotted would appear as frames.

5. In the case that we have to insert raster images, here are two suggestions.

(1) Go to the Config dialogue box, select the Display tab and check the option Pan and zoom with raster & OLE, if it is not necessary to view raster images while doing PAN and ZOOM.

(2) Use the command IMAGEQUALITY to choose a low quality display mode, when we don t need to view images with high quality. But we might need to set the high quality mode for plotting.

6. When REGENMODE is set as ON, ZWCAD will regenerate graphics automatically after executing some commands. Turning the mode off can help to save the time spent on automatic regeneration of graphics.

7. Entities often turn into dash line type for the purpose of highlighting when they are selected for modification. Sometimes such highlights take lots of time to display. So we can think of closing HIGHLIGHT if necessary.

Not all methods might suit each specific case, but they do help if applied properly. When we get familiar with these features, drafting work could never be a difficulty in terms of speed, and we may find it easy and convenient to use ZWCAD in any situations.

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Blocks are widely used in drawings and the manipulation of them could be complicated sometimes. With additional tools for blocks operation, efficiency is expected to increase significantly and greatly simplify ordinary procedures. The following are examples to explain the advantages of some of these tools provided by ZWCAD. The same results could be obtained by ordinary operations, but need more steps. A simple comparison is demonstrated in each example.

The following blocks are created.

1. Copy Nested Objects
Usage: to copy nested objects without exploding the original block.

Command: NCOPY
Without NCOPY, more steps are needed to achieve the same result:
(1) Explode Block 3
(2) Explode Block 2
(3) Copy Block 1 to the destination
(4) Create Block 3 again

2. Trim to Nested Objects
Usage: to trim an object using the edges of any objects within a block.

Command: BTRIM
Without BTRIM, more steps are needed to achieve the same result:
(1) Explode Block 3
(2) Explode Block 2
(3) Trim
(4) Create Block 3 again.

3. Extend to Nested Objects
Usage: to extend an object to edges of any objects within a block.

Command: BEXTEND
Without BTRIM, more steps are needed to achieve the same result:
(1) Explode Block 3
(2) Explode Block 2
(3) Extend
(4) Create Block 3 again.

4. Replace Block with Another Block
Usage: to replace any block (including nested ones) with another block.

Command: BLOCKREPLACE
Without BLOCKREPLACE, more steps are needed to achieve the same result:
(1) Explode Block 3
(2) Copy or insert Block 5 superposing its base point on the centre of the green circle.
(3) Delete Block 2
(4) Create Block 3 again with new objects..

5. Change Block s Color
Usage: to change the colour of blocks without altering their layer properties.

Command: CHGBCOL
Without BLOCKREPLACE, more steps are needed to achieve a similar result with changes of corresponding layer properties meanwhile:
(1) Explode Block 3
(2) Explode Block 2
(3) Explode Block 1
(4) Change the colour of these objects.
(5) Create Block 3 again with changed colour

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Do your drawings contain dozens of layers? Do you find it confusing or even annoying to manage a set of layers in a complicated drawing? Have you think of some other means by which you can manipulate the layers readily? Well, guess what we suggest you. That is, to try the Express Tools. There are all kinds of tools with expanded functions for you to better manage your drawings. Here, we will present some useful functions for layers, which are based on normal operations but a little bit different and more interesting.

Layer Manager

With Layer Manager, you can edit layer properties of your current drawings and save it. Several layer configurations can be set and stored for the same drawing. So you can have various sets of layer configurations in a single drawing and restore to any status you desired as long as you have saved those states. Layer states can also be exported to or imported from a LAY file.

Layer Match

To change configurations of one or more layers, you can either use the Layer Properties Manager or the command LAYMCH. When you are going to use a certain layer as a template which you would like some other layers to be, then the Layer Match function could be very helpful and efficient.

Change to Current Layer

You can use this command to change the layer of one or more objects to the current layer.

Layer Isolate

The command LAYISO will help to isolate the layer(s) of one or more selected objects by turning other layers off.

Copy Objects to New Layer

By using this command, selected objects can be copied to a different layer, leaving original objects not modified.

To specify the destination layer, you can either select an existing layer from the list or type a new layer name in the text box. If you enter a new layer name, a prompt will appear to ask you whether to create a new layer. The new layer created here will inherit the properties of the first selected entity to be copied.

Tips: You can use COPYTOLAYER to achieve the effect that the same objects would appear to be different in different viewports. Here is how to make it.

1. In the new viewport, use COPYTOLAYER to copy the objects you want to a new layer.
2. Use LAYISO to isolate the original layer in the original viewport and the new layer in the new viewport respectively.
3. You can now change the color and/or line type of the new layer, adjusting its appearance as you want. Since you are just copying the objects, you need to repeat the COPYTOLAYER command anytime the objects in the original layer are modified.

The above are only some of the useful tools for layer management, and there are much more for you to try. Actually you can achieve these functions by manipulating the standard Layer Properties Manager, but the express tools provided definitely can help you facilitate your design jobs.

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When I first heard of Batch Plot (Pltplot), I was confused by its similarity with Publish. But finally the advantages of Batch Plot demonstrate its usability and utility gradually during my daily drafting work.

Generally, there are two ways for plotting drawings with a plotter. It could be very simple when a computer is connected to a plotter. But the case would be different when there are lots of drawings to be plotted in a local network, as it might cause conflicts and hence is inconvenient in management. A solution is to plot these drawings to .plt files, and then let the plotter handle them together. Two advantages are obvious. First, it enables convenient management. Second, there is no need to install ZWCAD on the PC if it only controls the plot duties but not responsible for drafting, as .plt files can be sent to a plotter by DOS commands. Therefore, files of .plt format are widely applied in cases of heavy plot duty such as at institutes or factories.

May be some people would point out a problem in using .plt files, which is efficiency. But this is what I want to emphasize because the solution is a highlight of ZWCAD. How can we specify and plot several shares of drawings as fast as possible in a single plot duty? To my delight, such a function is available on ZWCAD, and it is the unique solution integrated with a CAD platform among hundreds of CAD softwares.

In the Pltplot dialogue box, names and paths of each drawing are list clearly. Users can add or remove any drawings and change the plotting order. These settings can be also saved as a file for use in the future. In addition, users can choose to plot certain drawings within current selection set and even specify plot shares.

To use Batch Plot function, we can follow the steps below.

1. Set the plot configuration: printer, plot scale, number of copies, etc.;

2. Plot to file (All *.dwg files to be plotted must be assigned to the same printer);

3. Run the command PLTPOLT, and add files in.

4. Select the plotter as assigned in step2, and press OK to start.

(Note: all plot files must be assigned to the same plotter in your settings, otherwise the file won't be plotted.)

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Batch plotting is a highlight of ZWCAD. Although the Publish command is available to plot several files at one time in AutoCAD, ZWCAD's batch plotting is better at managing the job of plotting on local networks. With the help of batch plotting, I can specify and plot several copies of a drawing as fast as possible in a single plot job. My only regret is that I cannot start batch plotting by simply clicking a button on the toolbar.

Of course, I could access batch plotting from the File menu through the Batch Plot item, or by entering the PltPlot command at the keyboard. But I would like to use it from the toolbar. I learned that I can create a toolbar button for batch plot, because ZWCAD supports customized toolbar buttons!

Let me show you how to create a toolbar button for batch plotting:

First, you need to know the name of the command. For batch plotting, it is PltPlot. (If you are unsure of a command's name, select its function from the menu, and then look for the command's name in the command line).

Second, add an already-existing button to a toolbar. Follow these steps:

1. From Tools menu, choose Customize | Toolbar.
2. Select the Command tab.
3. From the Commands list, drag any button to any toolbar. For example, I dragged the QNew button to the Standard toolbar.

Finally, modify the new button to make it work with the command you want, like this:

1. Move the cursor over the QNew button, right click, and then choose the Modify option from the shortcut menu.

2. In the dialog box, change the text of the Command area from "^C^C_qnew" to the following:
^C^C_pltplot

3. Click the OK button.
4. To change the icon image of this button, right-click the button, and then choose Change Button Image from the shortcut menu.

5. Choose another image from the submenu that appears.

You can now click the button to start batch plotting.

You can repeat the steps shown above to create more custom buttons for toolbars. Here is one example I've thought of: drawing circles through tangent-tangent-tangent entity snaps. This is a command that is not easily entered at the command line. In this case, you can find the command code from the Customize dialog box: from the Tools menu, select Customize | Toolbars, and then choose the Menus tab. Find the Tan-Tan-Tan item on the tree menu, as illustrated below.

ZWCAD has toolbar buttons for most of the features that I used frequently. But it also supports customization of toolbars, something that I like very much.

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As a long-time user of ZWCAD, I always longed for the day when ZWCAD would be able to export more raster file formats, such as TIFF, PNG, and JPEG. ZWCAD is pretty good for my drafting purposes, except for the inconvenience of not being able to export drawings in raster formats.

This is actually a big inconvenience for those who use ZWCAD for GIS drawings (geographic information systems). I would have to use another program to convert my work to raster images, like JPEG; sometimes, I had trouble with the conversion program.

After waiting half a year, however, it’s finally here: JPEG and PNG are available as plotter outputs in the Printer selection droplist. In addition, something like 16 raster formats can be output from ZWCAD 2009i, including TIFF, GIF, JPC, PMN, MNG, TGA, and PCX.

In ZWCAD 2009i, the JPEG and PNG "plotters" are added to the list of printers automatically. Beside those two formats, you can add more raster formats by following these steps:

1. First, start the Add-A-Plotter Wizard, and then click Next.
2. Choose Raster File Format, which lets you select raster formats on the right hand side. (Note that you can select only one format each time you run this wizard.)
3. Click Continue. Notice that a .pc5 file is added to ZWCAD.
4. Finally, specify the plotter settings, if necessary. I usually customize the paper sizes, and change the output to monochrome.

With so many raster formats, ZWCAD provides more options than some other software packages. At present, ZWCAD can export drawings to many image programs; I am thankful that the Plot command eliminates the boring work of converting file formats. Besides, compared with DWG files, images of drawings can make your design look good, and allows you to hide parts of the design that should be kept confidential. On the whole, the new feature benefits users a lot, for it make their work easier.

Thanks to the improvements in raster support, I have no doubt that ZWCAD will be more favored by users, especially those who often work with raster images. They can use ZWCAD to create a design, and then use the raster plotter to generate the image files, which can be more convenient for reviews and delivery.

ZWCAD 2009i is now more attractive to engineers, providing them an efficient alternative.

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Former AutoCAD® users are very familiar with paper space, also known as "layouts": white sheets of "paper" located in layout tabs. In the past, when they turned to ZWCAD, they might have felt a bit of pain: "Where is my lovely paper space?"

Actually, paper space has always been available in ZWCAD, but silently as a blank, black sheet -- somewhat different from AutoCAD. And users had no choice but to create viewports on their own. Now, ZWCAD puts an end to their pain, for it has implemented its own paper space with viewports.

In ZWCAD 2009i, you can view the following elements in paper space:
1. Paper Background
2. Paper Shadow
3. Plot Area
4. Default Viewport

It certainly is good looking! However, I was used to the old black sheet. Fortunately, by following this procedure it is easy to change the background to any color you like:
1. Config > Display > Window elements > Color.
2. And then select the background color you want.
Thanks to these new features, you can see what you get -- provided you set the paper size correctly. That is, what is shown in paper space is what will be plotted, precisely.

About the Plot Area
The plotable area is marked with dashed lines, and is simply the frame that provides a border to the drawing when plotting. You could think of plot area as the virtual piece of paper on which you plot your drawing, with the margins cut off.
Most importantly, you can select the part of drawing to be plotted by the Layout option. This useful tool specifies the part of the drawing you wish to plot. The drawing can be enlarged or reduced in the plot area, as well as moved by paning. The parts of drawing shown in the plot area will be plotted by the printer.

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You may have experienced this problem: After finishing a set of drawings in CAD, you plot them on paper for other people to review. When they have some changes or corrections, you then have to find the original drawing file on your computer and make the requested modifications. As a CAD designer, you may have thousands of drawing files stored with different file paths on your computer. You may find that searching for them is a painful waste of your precious time. Searching for files should be a trivial task!

I have found that ZWCAD's PlotStamp command is really very useful for such requirements. A “plot stamp” is one or two lines of text added to the edge of the plot. Information included with the text can be the drawing's file name, the name of the layout, and the date and time. With this information on the printed plot, you can quickly find the original drawings on your computer. This command is especially helpful for big projects with large numbers of drawings, or where many designers take part, or even when strict checking procedures must be applied.

The PlotStamp command is new to ZWCAD 2009i; despite being a new feature, it worked perfectly in my experience. It operates very well compared to a similar feature in AutoCAD.

Besides applying the drawing/layout names, dates and times that I mentioned above, you can choose from other flexible stamp fields, such as device name, paper size, plot scale, and login name. In addition, you can even define your own fields with the “Add/Edit” option.

Furthermore, ZWCAD's plot stamp provides advanced options. These allow you to specify the location and offset of the plot stamp on the printout. Even the font type and size of the text are under your control.

Actually I am very a precise drafter, and so I like to specify every tiny aspect. Each time I plot a drawing, I specified settings that show off my own style.

But then one day one of my coworkers asked me why I just didn’t load the plot stamp settings file. I discovered that all of the plot stamp settings can be saved as PSS files. Whenever I need to plot a drawing, I just need to load the PSS file, which specifies all plot stamp settings automatically.

ZWCAD's plot stamp function helps me to easily sort my plotted files, and to conveniently locate the original drawings. I don’t know if other CAD software users have noticed this little tool; if not, then you will find it very helpful in your CAD design work, and I just wanted to share it with you!

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We know that CAD drawings are made of vector graphics, and that we can insert raster images in drawings. But it is also possible to create raster images of our CAD drawings, which become useful in working with other software. For instance, if you export drawings as EPS files, then you can use them with PhotoShop to further manipulate the image to make it look better. Raster images are widely used to show design proposals in presentations. ZWCAD and other CAD software is great for making accurate drawings, but when comes to presentations, I think most of us refer to work with raster images.

There are several methods by which you can do this in ZWCAD:

Method 1: Export

You access ZWCAD's export function with the Export command. In the Export dialog box, choose a format from the Save Type droplist. For example:
 Choose "Bitmap file (bmp)” to export the drawing in Windows BMP (bitmap) format.
 Choose "Encapsulated PostScript Files (EPS)" to output the drawing in EPS (encapsulated PostScript) format, which can be edited with PhotoShop to improve the drawing's appearance.

Note that the export function is limited in trial versions of ZWCAD, so this method may not work. In any case, this export method limits raster images to only the BMP format.

Method 2: Plot

To meet the various needs of its users, ZWCAD supports many raster image formats, such as JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, MNG, TAG, and PCX through the Plot command. But you must first add the appropriate driver to the plotter list. To do this, run the Add-a-Plotter Wizard, and then configure a new plotter to plot the raster images: choose “Raster File Formats” as the manufacturer.

Now when you use the Plot command, you will find one more item in the list of printers. Using the Raster File Formats "printer," you can print your drawings as raster files. Not only does this let you generate images for presentations, but it is also a good way to improve the resolution of the raster image over the export method.

Note that the trial version of ZWCAD imposes no limits on the plot function. As well, the Plot command outputs raster images in all kinds of formats, such as JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF, MNG, ICOCUR, Targa, PCX, BMP, JP2, JPC, PGX, RAS, PNM, andSKA.

Method 3: Render to File

For 3D drawings, the Render and RenderFull commands generate with 3D raster images, as displayed on the screen. But these disappear when you zoom or pan the view, or when another window pops up in front of the ZWCAD window. The solution is to save the rendered images as raster files.

To save rendered images as raster files, follow these steps:

1. Open a 3D drawing, and then enter the Render command. Notice the rendered image. (If you were to click the mouse now, the image would disappear.)
2. Entering the RPref command to display the Render Settings dialog.
3. Choose Save Last Image.
4. In the save file dialog box, enter a file name and path, and then choose a file format: JPEG, BMP, TIFF, Targa, or PNG.
5. Click Save.

The result is that the rendered image is saved of the 3D drawing as a raster file. This shows a realistic version of your drawing.

Note that you can also get at the Render Settings dialog box from the menu bar: Choose View * Render * Preference. In the Render Settings dialog box, you can generate image files directly with the Render to File option: click Render, and then OK. In this way you can set the size of the image as you need.

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Q: ZWCAD's drawing functions are so good that they fulfill most of my drafting needs. It is a pity, then, that it cannot create tables, as AutoCAD can. Tables are very important, because I need them to add project information to drawings. I don't care to create tables manually by drawing vertical and horizontal lines, because that is too time-consuming, and I find it difficult to position the text in each cell of the table. Is there a more convenient method available?

A: ZWCAD supports OLE objects (short for Object Linking and Embedding), which lets you insert tables in drawings created with spreadsheet programs, like Excel and OpenOffice. You can enter the table data in the spreadsheet, and then copy and paste the cells into the ZWCAD drawing.

This method is not perfect, however. If you want to modify the OLE-pasted table in ZWCAD, you have edit the table back in the spreadsheet program. To do this, you have to double-click the OLE object, which opens it in the spreadsheet program to be edited.

A better solution is the Paste Special function. To use it, follow these steps:

1. Input the information into the cells of a spreadsheet, as before.
2. Add borders to all rows and columns. Note that it is important to add borders, because otherwise the text will appear with no border lines in the drawing – and it will not look like a table.
3. Right-click, and then select Copy from the shortcut menu. The spreadsheet table is copied to the Windows Clipboard for pasting into ZWCAD.
4. Open the drawing in ZWCAD. From the Edit menu, select Paste Special.
5. In the dialog box, select ZWCAD Entities, and click OK.

After pasting the table as ZWCAD Entities, the borders are drawn as 2D polylines, and the text is placed correctly in each cell. It is easy to modify the text: simply double-click it, and then edit it with ZWCAD's text editor.

While AutoCAD's Table command is powerful, I find that ZWCAD's Paste Special function is a good solution. My drawing needs some data which is stored in BOM(short for bill of material). BOM data includes items like material, price, and quantity. By exporting data from BOM to excel, I can easily add the data to the drawing by copying from excel. And the spreadsheet does an excellent job operating with data, because it can include formulas, sort data, and format the text.

With the help of a spreadsheet program and the Paste Special function in ZWCAD, you can conveniently add tables to your drawings.

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I recently received messages from several customers that indicated they could not find ZWCAD's Virtual EPS Plotter v1.0 in the Plotter/Printer name list of the Plot dialog box. (EPS is short for "encapsulated PostScript.") If you have the same problem, the solution below can help.

If your computer uses Windows XP, try the following method:

Log on to Windows as an Administrator, and then restart ZWCAD.
With the Plot command, open the Plot dialog. You should see the ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 in the Plotter/Printer name list.
Without closing ZWCAD, switch back to the user account you usually use. From the Start button, choose Log Off and then Switch User.

If your computer uses Windows Vista, follow the steps below:

1. Start ZWCAD by right-clicking its shortcut icon on the desktop, and selecting Run as Administrator from the shortcut menu.
2. Open the Plot dialog. You should see the ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 in the Plotter/Printer name list.

At this point, you can keep on working with ZWCAD, and the ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 will be always in the list; you do not need to repeat the steps listed above.

Please note that the step of opening the Plot dialog (executing the Plot command) is not merely to check whether the ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 is there, but is an important step to ensure this solution works.

(The ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 is loaded when the Plot command is executed, but the loading process sometimes fails when the privileges of Administrator are not present. For this reason, both cases above -- for Windows XP and Vista -- require you to run ZWCAD logged in as Administrator, and then opening the Plot dialog to load the ZWCAD Virtual EPS Plotter 1.0 before it is available for non-Administrator user accounts.).

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Some of my friends have recently installed the program of ZWCAD 2009. But later they told me that they did not enjoy the 30-day evaluation period or even could not start ZWCAD. I asked whether they were using a Windows Vista system. They said “Yes”. In this case it is not a real problem of ZWCAD. With just some steps, you can make everything work.

First of all, please ensure that the Vista system is up to date. And it is very important to login Windows as an administrator before installing ZWCAD, as other non-administrative accounts are not fully authorized to make necessary settings to Windows for ZWCAD. Of course, the available disk space should be adequate as specified.

After the installation is completed, right-click the shortcut icon of ZWCAD 2009 on the desktop and select “Run as administrator” to start ZWCAD 2009. Next time you start ZWCAD, you just need to double-click the shortcut directly.

Perhaps you can also try another way. Right-click the shortcut icon of ZWCAD 2009 on the desktop and select Properties, choose the Compatibility tab in the ZWCAD 2009 Professional (or Standard) Properties dialog box, go to the Privilege Level section and check the check box of “Run this program as an administrator”, and then click OK to confirm the setting. To start the program, you can simply double-click the ZWCAD 2009 shortcut icon on the desktop.

With the settings above, ZWCAD can run normally with a 30-day full-functional trial period (if ZWCAD is installed for the first time). However, there might be some special cases, to which the solution above does not apply. For example, some special security applications might block ZWCAD. In this case, please check the setting of the security application or contact its provider for possible solutions.

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Q: Ordinate dimensions are essential elements of geographic drawings. Ordinate dimensions enable you to indicate positional information of objects and geometry. For my work, I almost always need to place x and y ordinates at the same time. Is this possible?

A: Fortunately, ZWCAD makes it possible to create new commands through the use of the LISP application interface. With the help of the following LISP routine, it is possible to place x and y ordinate dimensions in a single step.

(User-defined variable names are boldfaced.)

(defun c:OXY()
(setq pt (getpoint "Input point:\n"))
(setq zg 5); text height is 5)
(setq x (car pt))
(setq y (cadr pt))
(setq xzb (strcat "X="(rtos x 2 2)))
(setq yzb (strcat "Y="(rtos y 2 2)))
(setq num (strlen xzb))
(command "text" (list (+ x 2) (+ y 2)) zg "" xzb "")
(command "pline" (list (+ x 2) y) (list (+ x 2 (* (* zg 0.85) num)) y) "")
(command "text" (list (+ x 2) (- y 5.5)) zg "" yzb "")
)

To use this code, follow these steps:

1. Copy and paste the above code to a Notepad file.

2. Save the file as OXY.LSP. (Be sure to modify the txt extension to lsp.)

3. Load the LISP program into ZWCAD using the AppLoad command.

4. Enter OXY to execute the function, like this:

Command: oxy

5. At the prompt, pick a point in the drawing.

Input point: (Pick a point.)

This routine uses a fixed text height of 5 units. If this height is too tall or too short, modify the number in the code, and then reload the routine into ZWCAD:

(setq zg 5); Change text height from 5

I hope that many AEC designers find this function useful, especially in the surveying and mapping Industry.

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Q: I am a mechanical engineer and I frequently need to bisect angles in my drawings. I have used a number of different methods over the years. I am wondering if ZWCAD has an easier method than any of these ways I have bisectored angles in other CAD packages?

Method A: Using Construction Lines to Bisect Angles

This method is simple, but I have to trim away unwanted parts of the construction line:

1. Start the XLine command, or click the Construction Line icon.

2. Enter B for the Bisect option.

3. Choose the vertex of the angle.

4. Snap to the start and end points of the bisection angle.

Method B: Using Angular Dimensions

This method is practical, but I have to create an assistant angular dimension and then delete it after finishing the bisection of the angle:

1. Start the DimAngular command, which creates angular dimensions between two sides of an angle. (The value of the angle is not important.)

2. Draw a line by specifying the following two points as the start and end points:

· the vertex of the angle

· the midpoint of the angular dimension.

This line becomes the bisector of the angle.

3. Delete the angular dimension.

Method C: Using Circles

This method is similar to the second method but a little more complex:

1. Draw a circle, and then specify its centerpoint at the vertex of the angle.

2. Intersect the circle with the two sides of the angle.

3. Trim off the part of the circle that are inside the angle.

4. Construct a line by specifying these two points as the start and end points:

· Vertex of the angle.

· Midpoint of the reserve part of the circle.

The line becomes the bisector of the angle.

A: ZWCAD has a special command just for bisecting angles, which is simpler to use than the methods you described above. I like this function because it is simple to draw a bisector of angle, and its saves me time. Here is how it works:

1. From ZWCAD's Express menu, choose Draw -- > Draw Bisector of Angle. (Or, you can input the AngDiv command directly.)

2. Choose the sides of the angle and the intersection point of these two sides.

This Express function is specially meant for drawing the bisectors of angles. If two lines are parallel with each other, then bisector line is drawn parallel with them.

By the way, there are 86 more express tools in ZWCAD's Express menu.They provide many useful functions that are practical and easy to use, such as for drawing arc-aligned text and automatic text numbering. They replace complex steps by one or two simpler ones

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Generally, I use SolidWorks for finished 3D drawings and ZWCAD Standard for 2D drawings. But ZWSOFT indicates that ZWCAD Professional has basic 3D functions that are lacking in ZWCAD Standard. So I tried out the Professional version, and found that its solid editing and 3D operations are useful for fulfilling simple 3D solid model drawings.

Here is an example of how I used ZWCAD Professional to draw springs. The Torus, Slice, Rotate3D, and Union commands are required for this tutorial.

1. From the View menu, select 3D Viewà SW Isometric.

2. Enter the Torus command, and then specify the center of the torus at 0,0,0.

Specify the radius of whole torus as 200 units.
Specify the radius of body of torus as 20 units.
The result is a thin torus that looks like this:

3. Start the Slice command, and then select the torus.
Choose the ZX section plane for slicing the torus in half: specify point 0,0,0 on the zx-plane.
Input B to save both sides.

4. Selecting the origin of the UCS, move the UCS to the location indicated by the figure below:

5. From the Modify menu, choose 3D Operation à Rotate 3D.

Select the left side of the torus to rotate.
Specify the y axis as rotation axis.
Specify point 0,0,0 on the y axis.
Specify a rotation angle of -8 degrees. (You can specify any rotation angle as you wish.)
The result is as below:

6. Now start Copy command, and then select all objects to copy.
Select the red point (indicated in the follow figure) as the base point.
Select the yellow point (indicated in the following figure) as the second point to copy.
Repeat this operations several times, and then exit the command.

7. Finally, use the Union command to combine all of these objects as one.

8. Run the RenderFull command to get beautiful renderings of the completed spring.

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Computing areas is a function widely performed among the designers in the fields of AEC and manufacturing. Can the area computation functions of ZWCAD meet the requirements of these designers? The answer is definitely “Yes,” and can be proved easily by the following examples.

1. Computing the Area of a Single Object

Areas can be found through three commands in ZWCAD: Area, List, and MassProp, Let’s look at each of them.

Ø Area Command

1) Draw a circle with a radius of 40 units.

2) Enter the Area command, and then follow the prompts to type E (for entity) to select the circle. The final result is displayed in the command prompt bar, as shown below.

Ø List Command

1) Draw a rectangle with sides of 100 and 80 units.

2) Select the rectangle, and then enter the List command.

3) When you press Enter, the final result is shown in the Text window (highlighted in the figure below).

Ø MassProp Command

1) Draw a hexagon inscribed in circle with a radius of 100 units.

2) Apply the Region command to turn the hexagon into a region object.

3) Use the MassProp command for a result like the one highlighted in the figure below.

Notice that this command finds not only the area of the hexagon but also its moment of inertia. (Note that the Standard version of ZWCAD does not include the Region command, which is provided with ZWCAD Professional version.)

The commands described above were used to find the areas of single objects. But what about calculating the total area of several objects?

2. Calculating the Total Area of Several Objects

The commands AreaSum, Area, and CalArea are used to sum the area of selected objects. Although they all appear to perform the same function, each has particular advantages and disadvantages. Let’s have a look.

AreaSum

1) Use the Polyline command to draw a closed polygon with a random outline.

2) Also draw circle with a radius of 50 units and a rectangle with sides of 100 x 200 units.

3) Select the three objects, and then enter the AreaSum command. The result is shown below.

This command operates simply: select several objects, and then input the command’s name (AreaSum) to arrive at the final result. But this command cannot be used to compute the area of a single object, and is limited to calculating the area of closed objects such as circles and rectangles. If the closed object is drawn with the Line command, this command will not work.

Area

From the screenshot below, we see that the Area command computes not only areas of single objects, but also the sum of several objects. The sum of the areas is listed correctly after following this operation:

1) As an example, let’s draw two circles with radius of 50 and 100 units.

2) Start the Area command, enter A (Add option), and then enter E (entity option). When you choose the larger circle, its area is computed.

3) Again enter A, and this time choose the smaller circle to get its area. When done, the total area is shown in the command bar.

How about subtracting one area from another? Here are the steps involved:

1) Restart the Area command, enter A (for addition), and then E (for entities).

2) Choose the larger circle, and get its area.

3) Press Enter to confirm.

4) Continue with S (for Subtraction), then E, and finally choose the smaller circle. From this, you get the difference in area of the two circles.

The steps above show how Area can be used to compute both the total and the net areas of objects. However, the many steps involved make it less than practical.

CalArea

The CalArea command is a more practical but is found only in ZWCAD Mechanical. Here is how to use it.

1) Draw two circles with radii 50 and 100 units.

2) Start the CalArea command, and then click any part of the 100-radius circle.

3) Right-click, and this dialog box appears:

From the figure, we can see how adding and subtracting areas involves merely clicking the Add or Subtract buttons. Let’s sum the areas of the two circles.

4) Click Add, then pick any place inside the 50-radius circle.

5) Right-click to see the result, as shown below.

6) Directly, we can also get the net area: just click the Subtract button.

From the screenshot, we see that the CalArea command can not only be used for area calculations, but also for determining the weight and specifying the material selection. For example, when we chose the material of Carbon Steel, the Density (kg/dm3) automatically adjusted to 7.8500. When we changed the Height (mm) to 100, again the weight updated automatically to 30.8269.

The above examples show how practical CalArea is, and so it is no wonder that it is popular among designers. But remember: the function is available only in the ZWCAD Mechanical, and not on the regular ZWCAD platform.

To sum up, all five functions -- AreaSum, Area, List, MassProp, and CalArea -- show clearly that the area calculation function of ZWCAD meets the requirements of designers.

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By Karl Lee

As an engineer, sometime I need to input the special symbol such as ‘α’, ‘β’ and ‘ω’ in the drawing when using ZWCAD, here are some helpful tips which I take. I hope they are helpful for you too.

a) Copy the “Charmap.exe” file from other computer to your computer, paste it into the folder ‘system 32’ (C:\WINDOWS\system32).

b) Reinstall the ‘charmap.exe’ in the operation system.

Startà Control panel à Add or Remove Programs àAdd/Remove Windows Componentsà Accessories and Utilities à Details àAccessories àDetails à tick and choose ‘Character Map’àOK. If there is no ‘Accessories’ component in the list, please try to copy charmap.exe from Windows 98 CD or download from website.

2. But it is also available to input the special symbol without the help of charmap.exe. Please take either of the follow methods as a solution.

a) Copy form the Microsoft office Word.

Open a Word file, insert a symbol in the word document (Insert àSymbol), then copy the symbol, and paste in ZWCAD (MTextàright clickàpaste)

b) Input the special symbol from the keyboard.

Inputs MTEXT or MT in command line to start Multiline Text Editor dialog box, Specifies the corner opposite corners to create a rectangle that defines the size and location of display of multiline text, Specifies the style for the multiline text: Symbol. Then input form the keyboard, click OK to finish. You will find that each letter you type from keyboard come out to be a special symbol. Cause the text style ‘Symbol’ is a special font style. It contains mathematic formulary, Grecian letter, number, operator, set symbol and other symbol.

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There may be cases where you might need to export DWG drawings as raster images so that others can only view them, but not edit them. Formats like JPEG and TIFF are used in this case.

ZWCAD allows you to convert drawings to raster images easily enough with the Export command. We might not, however, find it sufficient when special settings are required. For instance, when you print drawings, we typically set the plot area, plot style, drawing orientation, and so on; these parameters contribute to professional-look printouts. If you want to make exported raster images take on the same appearance, how do you manage it? The answer is to plot it in the same way.

In the Plot dialog box, click the Printer/Plotter Name droplist, and then notice the entry named “Add-A-Plotter Wizard.” This guides you through the steps in setting up specific printer configuration.

There are two types of printers available with the wizard, virtual printers and physical ones. The virtual printers are what you need, because they are capable of exporting drawings as raster files in any of the following formats: JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF, MNG, ICOCUR, TGA, PCX, WBMP, JP2, JPC, PGX, RAS, PNM, and SKA.

Some of the more commonly-used formats include the following:

· JPEG – used by digital cameras and for images in Web sites.

· TIFF – used in desktop publishing.

· PNG – royalty-free replacement for JPEG files.

· BMP – Windows format used for icons and desktop backgrounds.

· GIF – used for creating simple animations in Web sites.

If you just need to create JPEG images, then you only need to configure a JPEG virtual printer. Its configuration will be added into the Printer/Plotter Name droplist and then can be used whenever you need it. In a similar manner, any other available type of raster format can be configured as a virtual printer for exporting drawings.

Remember: Printing CAD drawings doesn’t just mean “exporting” them to pieces of paper, but also means converting them to raster images for viewing on the screen. In addition to the Export command integrated into ZWCAD, you can also try printing CAD drawings with virtual printers as raster images.

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