Draw Menu
The Draw pull-down menu of Excalibur CAD allows the user
to select the following drawing functions.
Line - allows the user to draw a line.
Polyline - allows the user to draw a series of connected lines
as one graphic object.
Box - allows the user to draw a rectangle.
Ellipse - allows the user to draw an ellipse or circle.
Arc - allows the user to draw an arc using two formats.
Polygon - allows the user to draw a polygon.
Import Bitmap - allows user to import a Windows .BMP
drawing as a graphic object.
When drawing objects, an orthogonal mode may be selected by
holding down the LEFT keyboard Control key while moving
the cursor. When drawing a line or polygon, the line will be
either vertical or horizontal, or at a +/-45 degree angle from
vertical or horizontal. When drawing boxes, the boxes will be
squares. When drawing ellipses or arcs, they will be circular.
While drawing any object, the drawing can be cancelled by
clicking the right mouse button or pressing the keyboard Esc
key before completing the drawing.
The cursor may be moved with the keyboard cursor keys. One
press of a cursor arrow key moves the mouse pointer one (1)
point on the screen in the direction of the arrow. Press the
“Page Up” button to make the cursor keys move the mouse
pointer ten (10) points at a time. Press “Page Down” to make
the cursor keys move the mouse one point at a time.
All drawings are done in the currently selected line style, fill
pattern, and drawing color. These are set with the Style, Fill,
and Color menus, pages 3-6 and 3-7. The current style, fill,
and color settings are shown in informational windows at the
bottom of the CAD screen (see page 3-11). Note that lines,
outlines, and text can only be drawn in “pure” colors. This is
the “solid” color shown in the Color dialog box.
Lines or objects may be copied, moved, deleted, scaled,
rotated, styles changed, fill changed, and color changed after
being placed on the map image. For information on editing
lines or objects, refer to Editing Objects, page 3-12.
Drawing Lines
When Line is selected, move the mouse cursor to the starting
point of the line and click the left button once. Move the
mouse cursor to the end point and click the left button again.
The line function allows the user to draw connected lines: the
end point of the previous line becomes the starting point for
the next line. Keep clicking the left button to draw connected
lines. After the last line has been drawn, press the right mouse
button to exit the Line drawing function.
To draw horizontal or vertical lines, hold the Left keyboard
Control key down (ortho mode) while moving the mouse.
Drawing Polylines
A polyline is a series of connected lines saved as one graphic
object. This allows drawing up to 31 line segments that are
counted as one graphic object, rather than as 31 separate
objects. Polylines are drawn similar to lines, above, except
that to complete the last segment, press the Right keyboard
Control key. To cancel the drawing, click the right mouse
button.
Horizontal or vertical polyline segments may also be drawn
using the ortho mode described above.
Drawing Boxes
When Box is selected, move the mouse cursor to the starting
corner and click the left button once. Move the mouse cursor
to the ending corner and click the left mouse button again. To
cancel the drawing, click the right mouse button.
To draw a square, after selecting the starting corner, hold the
Left keyboard Control key down while moving the mouse.
Drawing Ellipses
When Ellipse is selected the following steps are used.
1. Move the mouse cursor to the center point of the ellipse and
click the left mouse button once.
2. Move the mouse to determine the extent of the ellipse, then
click the left mouse button to complete the ellipse. The
cursor is not placed directly on the ellipse end point - move
the mouse to size the ellipse, ignoring the cursor position.
To draw a circle, hold down the Left keyboard Control key
while moving the mouse.
To cancel the drawing, click the right mouse button.
EXCALIBUR CAD
3-4
