It can be moved, rotated, scaled (along either or both axes), slanted, centered and placed by relative or exact location. Text is treated as an entity, much the same as the other "primitives": point, line, circle, arc, fillet (an arc placed between two lines), polygon, bezier curves, ellipse and ellipse arc, except for the special commands required to deal with it.
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For the professional, it does everything you need, plus a lot more. The program simply has more features than any of its competitors: 360 commands at the last count. It would be easy to simply list DynaCADD's features, but that would consume the rest of this article.
It would be better to offer a two-step process: a box for simple entries, and the calculator called up by the user only when the user desires it. This seems like over-doing things when a simple numeric entry is required. Numbers can be entered and manipulated as on any calculator, or stored in four calculator memories. This always appears whenever DynaCADD expects a numeric value. This process can be avoided by typing the commands directly.Īnother part of the user interface is a scientific calculator. It requires backing up, then going forward several steps to the right command. Going from one level of the interface to another is sometimes time-consuming, especially when you're deep within one part of the tree and want to back go to another branch. The text screen can be viewed anytime, or input can be echoed to the printer or a disk file. The command line interpreter not only accepts input, but records the program's messages and the X/Y/Z coordinates of the cursor (in the units of the drawing). Finally, for those who prefer, commands can be typed in. To counter this, as you pass the pointer over any icon, the text version of the command is echoed in the top left corner, above the drawing area. While the icon approach makes the user interface easy, it can also lead to great confusion as you try to remember what the pictures stand for. There are also several unchanging icons along the top of the drawing screen. That is, when you click on one, it changes the display of the lower pad(s) to show appropriate subcommands.
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These pads can be hidden to show the drawing screen at full size, if desired. Most of the commands are displayed as icons on the "menu pads" along the left of the screen. Only global commands and utilities are available through the pull-down menus. Basically, the user interface is quite straightforward, though it takes some getting used to, since the screen is visually very "busy."ĭue to the complexity of the program, the typical GEM menu tree isn't large enough to contain all of the commands and subcommands. It makes good use of the ST keyboard for Help and Undo features, although the latter is only good for the last action and does not permit backward stepping. The user interface follows all of the familiar GEM conventions, including windows, scroll bars and the mouse. The screen can be subdivided into four windows, each of which can be used to display a different "view." Views can be rotated, moved or zoomed independent of one another. In 2-D mode, it supports up to 256 layers. It makes no concessions for amateurs, tinkerers or hackers.ĭynaCADD is both a two- and a three-dimensional CAD package.
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DynaCADD is meant for the professional market: engineers, architects, designers, draftsmen. And if that doesn't deter you, the almost-bewildering array of commands and features should convince you. The price alone should be a warning to casual users. At $695, DynaCADD is also in the stratosphere of ST pricing. In fact, its real competition doesn't even come from within the ST market, but from AutoCAD, the best-selling PC/MS-DOS program. It is easily the most complex, fully featured program available in its category. It isn't a cross-breed or a port from another system, with features and commands sorely limited to suit the impression that the ST market isn't a serious place to develop in. It is designed and implemented uniquely for the Atari ST, for the professional user. Our thanks to ISD's Nathan Potechin and David Fletcher for their time and efforts and the hours spent in patient demonstration and answering questions.ĭynaCADD is one of a rare breed of software. They bought their Mega ST specifically for CAD and paint programs. He and his architect wife, Jennifer, both use AutoCAD in the office and DynaCADD at home. Thom Weeks is an architect for the firm of Zeidler Roberts Partnership, Toronto, Canada. Ian Chadwick is a freelance technical writer and editor who specializes in desktop publishing and word processing, and is a columnist for ST-Log.
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