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Do you have a question you want to ask an existing QCAD user about QCAD and what you can do with it? Do you want to know if a particular feature exists? This is the place to ask.

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Audio God
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Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 6:10 am

Black background.

Post by Audio God » Mon May 10, 2010 7:34 pm

It is really hard for me to visualize objects against a black background. Is there anyway to make it look like paper? Black on white, like the print preview window?

Drawing with what looks like an orderly version of the night sky in background is too disconcerting.

Also, against the purist cad folk I want to see the borders of my paper.

There are just too many things that ignore the intuitive MAC interface. It's like they've turned my Mac into a window machine.

Can the printing of a large drawing be tiled so I can tape several printed pages to make a large one?

Thank you,
George Kaye

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andrew
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Re: Black background.

Post by andrew » Mon May 10, 2010 7:51 pm

Audio God wrote:It is really hard for me to visualize objects against a black background. Is there anyway to make it look like paper? Black on white, like the print preview window?
You can change the background color in the Application Preferences (QCAD - Preferences).
Audio God wrote: Drawing with what looks like an orderly version of the night sky in background is too disconcerting.

Also, against the purist cad folk I want to see the borders of my paper.
This could be an indication that you should probably be looking for a drawing application for illustration (such as Inkscape, Illustrator, etc.), not CAD. In CAD, you should not worry about paper sizes until you print to scale.
Audio God wrote: There are just too many things that ignore the intuitive MAC interface. It's like they've turned my Mac into a window machine.
Point taken. The Mac interface of QCAD can certainly be improved.
Audio God wrote: Can the printing of a large drawing be tiled so I can tape several printed pages to make a large one?
No, this is planned for QCAD 3 though.

Audio God
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Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 6:10 am

Other stuff

Post by Audio God » Mon May 10, 2010 9:17 pm

Thank you for your help. I couldn't finish typing a reply before I was logged out of this forum and then I just lost everything I typed.

A few things I've noticed & more questions:

1. No search in the save dialogue box? This is the first program I've seen where the save as dialogue box looks like an ancient windows box. We Mac folk like Mac our Mac features.

2. Despite my old draw habits of working inside the boundaries of my printing paper I don't think that is too much to ask for. For one thing it can avoid zoom mistakes and keep me from becoming disoriented. For now I am just dedicating a layer just for that.

3. Any way to change the default zoom level for a new document?

4. Any way to turn off zooming with my mouse scroll wheel? I prefer scrolling with it. There are just too many other programs that scroll with the mouse wheel to break the habit easily.

5. Can I move layer "0" up or down in the order?

6. The drag (pan) tool will not disengage when I am through with it unless i pick some other tool I don't want or need. Anyway to toggle out of it?

7. I drew a rectangle. I wanted to resize it without it falling apart into lines. Is there anyway to resize an object like that without it falling apart?

8. Do Qcad's entities = draw program's objects?

9. Is a block = to grouped objects or entities?

Thanks again,
George

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andrew
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Re: Other stuff

Post by andrew » Tue May 11, 2010 9:21 pm

Audio God wrote:1. No search in the save dialogue box? This is the first program I've seen where the save as dialogue box looks like an ancient windows box. We Mac folk like Mac our Mac features.
The standard Mac dialog does not let the user choose a file format. We might have a better solution for QCAD 3.
Audio God wrote: 2. Despite my old draw habits of working inside the boundaries of my printing paper I don't think that is too much to ask for. For one thing it can avoid zoom mistakes and keep me from becoming disoriented. For now I am just dedicating a layer just for that.
A layer for the paper border sounds like a good idea.
Audio God wrote:3. Any way to change the default zoom level for a new document?
No
Audio God wrote:4. Any way to turn off zooming with my mouse scroll wheel? I prefer scrolling with it. There are just too many other programs that scroll with the mouse wheel to break the habit easily.
No. The mouse wheel zooms, the middle mouse button pans. Scrolling up and down is dominant for text documents but seems not any more appropriate for graphical applications than scrolling left/right.
Audio God wrote:5. Can I move layer "0" up or down in the order?
No. The order of layers in the layer list is alphabetical. Note that layers have no influence on the display order of entities (what is at the bottom and what is at the top).
Audio God wrote:6. The drag (pan) tool will not disengage when I am through with it unless i pick some other tool I don't want or need. Anyway to toggle out of it?
The right mouse button or Escape.

It's strongly recommended to use the middle mouse button for panning: press middle mouse button, move mouse, release middle mouse button. If your scroll wheel does not alternatively act as a middle mouse button, you might want to consider getting another mouse.
Audio God wrote:7. I drew a rectangle. I wanted to resize it without it falling apart into lines. Is there anyway to resize an object like that without it falling apart?
There are no rectangles in QCAD (as most CADs), just lines. Use blocks to group entities.
Audio God wrote:8. Do Qcad's entities = draw program's objects?
Entities are objects with a graphical representation. Layers, line styles, etc. are objects without their own graphical representation in the drawing.
Audio God wrote:9. Is a block = to grouped objects or entities?
In short, blocks are named, reusable groups.

Recommended reading:
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad_book.html

Audio God
Newbie Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 6:10 am

Post by Audio God » Tue May 11, 2010 10:19 pm

I just spent a half hour crafting a response to you and this damn forum timed me out and erased the letter. I was forced to have to log in again. I have seen this same forum software on other sites and this doesn't happen. There is no good reason to time someone out of this forum. The niche audience is way to small to worry about it. Would you please fix this?

Here was my response in short:
Feature requests:

Polygons that stay together and are editable.

Access to finer grid subdivision without having to zoom in so much.

User assignable scroll and zoom function shortcuts or hot keys or mouse keys.

Autoscrolling when drawing an object goes beyond the window border.

"Save as" dialogue boxes for Word, Excel, and Canvas X all have the option of choosing a file format to save. And search capabilities. QCad is the only program I've seen in my 25 years with the Mac that lacks these features. They are doable.

In general please put a lot more MAC in the program. We Mac heads pay more money for a more intuitive OS so we don't have to go through a windoze like environment. You could get more $ for a program like that. MacDraft retails for $315, though I've seen it as cheap as $227 US.

Thank you,
George Kaye

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