Faq

What is DigiCad 3D Used For?

DigiCad 3D's Dynamic Attachment Feature

How to eliminate perspective distortion from a building photo

• Import a photo
• Set scale and unit of measure
• Set the four origin attach points on the photo. The bottom-left point first, the top-left point second, after the top-right and the bottom-right. The Attach points are represented with red markers on the screen.
• Open the Destination Attach points dialog from the Trasnfrom menu
• Insert the real coordinates correspondent to the Destination Attach points. The reference system isn't important, it's sufficient that all the coordinates are in the same reference system (ex. the left corner of the building and the ground line). The Destination Attach points are represented with blue markers on the screen.
• Select the picture
• Choose Transform Picture from the Transform menu
• Choose resolution, number of colors and Opaque or Transparent option
• Click the Ok button

Is it possible to eliminate perspective distortion from a photo without any measured point?

How DigiCad 3D's Attach Functions from files Work

In the case of a dam, what is the best way to consider the hydraulic pressure on the upstream face?

Do you use a water bed which is above the ground surface (will this then compute the hydraulic load on the upstream face?) or do you use a trapezoidal load to represent the water?

It is possible to use two different methods depending on the result wanted.

First case:

We have a dam with water on one side (let's suppose on the right side). We want to verify the dam from right to left.

The best method is to consider a water stratum. A water stratum has 0 porosity, O cohesion coefficient, 0 Fi and 0 weight.

The water bed is on the top of this stratum.

The slide surfaces must continue inside the "water stratum" until the surface.

In this case Geo-Tec B considers the weight and the pressure of the water bed correctly.

In this case it isn't possible to apply the first method and it's necessary to consider the water as a triangular or trapezzoidal load on the terrain (to consider the effect of the water on the terrain surface) plus the water bed (to consider the effect of the pressure of the water inside the terrain).

There is a special case to simulate a quick emptying of a lake. It's possible to simulate this case deleting the loads on the surfaces and maintaining the water bed on the top level. This because some time is needed for the water inside of the terrain to come out and in the meantime the internal pressure of the water corresponds to the top level of the water bed.

How does grahic import work in Nonio C? Nonio C imports graphic images in several formats. The PICT import command uses QuickTime and can import all the graphic formats handled by the installed QuickTime Other methods to import an image in Nonio C are Copy and Past and Drag & Drop.

How does DXF import work in Nonio C? Nonio C imports single points,  polygons (in DXF Polyline), faces, which it inserts as points to eventually be united by breaklines. It does not import other elements, such as lines, text, circles, etc. The primary use of DXF importation in Nonio C is to import contour lines from maps and complete 3D models. If you want to import a drawing for other purposes (such as to serve as the base document for a survey project), it's better to import the document first to another program, for example DigiCad 3D, then to Nonio C using Copy and Paste or Drag and Drop.

How can imported images be used? Imported immages can be used for a number of objectives, among which some are listed below: - Digitalization of a map with contour lines - Superimposing a design on the survey - Superimposing a survey drawing on an aerial photo - Use of a design as a guide for infill or excavation - Comparison of the terrain model with the map - Comparison of the terrain model with map of property lines

How does Nonio C calculates the terrain model? Nonio C constructs a mathematical surface connecting points with line segments to construct triangles. The generation of triangles is also regulated by the maximum distance for triangulation entered in the Preferences dialog box, which requires the program to search for and construct triangles only among points falling between the set distance. For any number of points, there are several possibile ways in which they may be joined by triangulation. If the general guidelines given above are followed and a reasonable maximum distance for triangulation set, the generated model should represent closely the actual terrain conditions. When there are certain discontinuities in the surface, a more detailed modeling process is required. In these situations, connections can be somewhat ambiguous, even for a simple case involving only four points. If automatic triangulation is used in situations like the one above, it can cause erratic results. Nonio C offers the user the ability to impose breaklines (representing lines of discontinuity, such as ditches, ridges, or streets) from which the triangulation can then be completed automatically. The user can locally correct the automatic triangulation and Nonio C recalculate the modified model immediately and automatically.

Is it possible not to have walls fuse together? If so, how do you do that? I am thinking of this in terms of making timber beams and rafters with the wall command, but such a way that they don't fuse but remain as separate elements. Set the Attach Maximum Distance at zero in the Wall Parameters Dialog box.

My staircase has suspended treads which rest on two metal beams. I drew the treads, the IPE in 2D and I gave my slab a thickness of 2 meters. Now I want to rotate the beams and align them under the stair treads with a slope of 17 cm / 25 cm or 68 %. How can I do this? Follow the steps below:

• Select the IPE
• Separate it into faces
• Select all the faces (slabs)
• Group the faces into an Object
• Set the origin on a corner of the object
• Select the object
• Execute the command RotObj from the Modules menu and rotate it around the mostappropriate axis (probably X)

The Getting Started Example begins a roof with two rectangles, which are assigned a material but appear semi-transparent in the documentation. I cannot find a way to change the transparency of rectangles; they are not included in the PARAMETERS menu with other elements. Do you have patterned or hatched rectangles in plan? If this is your case, just assign a "No Fill" to the rectangle. You can do it before drawing the rectangles of after. Before: select the rectangle icon and the pen icon. Click on the Fill tool on the attributes palette and choose No Fill. The No Fill option is assigned to all the rectangles, circles, polygons and curves drawn after the choose. After: select the rectangle icon and the arrow icon. Select the rectangle, Click on the Fill tool on the attributes palette and choose No Fill. The fill of the rectangle is removed and it appears transparent.

Please explain how to illuminate the interior of a building. I would like moderate lighting with one illuminated wall, opposite a wall in shadow. Are you using Interactive renderer or Ray Shade? The two renderers work differently. The Interactive renderer doesn't support cast shadows. This means that the light "penetrates" inside the objects and the building, lighting internal objects too. The Ray Shade and OpenGl renderers  support cast shadows. This means that if you have an external light, the internal parts of a building aren't lighted and you must insert some point lights inside. When you insert point lights, pay attention to the Z coordinate. Light coordinates are calculated overall, not by layer, so if you put a light on the second floor, the Z starts from ground level, not from the 2nd floor.

Pictures can't be rotated in Domus.Cad. so I tried saving the picture as an object, then rotating it, but it doesn't work. Any suggestions? P.S. - the scanning software and graphic converter only allow rotation in 90 degree increments. What scanning software are you using? What are the supported exporting formats (PICT, GIF, JPEC, TIFF, ... )?   To rotate the picture, you can use the PictRot module from the Module-PlugIn menu, In Macintosh there are two kinds of pictures: Bit-Map (ex. scanned images) and Vectorial (ex. those exported from a CAD software). If you have vectorial pictures, then it's possible to transform them into Domus.Cad objects and to rotate the objects. Basically each vectorial element of the picture (lines, polygons, texts etc.) is transformed in a correspondent Domus.Cad element. If you try to transform a Bit-Map picture in an object, then the picture disappears.

I want my wall to be 100 cm wide at the base, narrowing to 80 cm at the top. It is 150 cm high. How can I draw this lopsided wall? Draw one 80 cm wall and one 20 cm wall. Change the height of one side of the 20 cm wall to 0 (you obtain a triangular wall). Move the 20 cm triangular wall close to one side of the 80 cm rectangular wall.

I have difficulty with putting furniture in my drawings. When I choose a piece of furniture, it appears in the bottom left of my screen in a "fade" Grey color. I then move it to the place I want it, but once I click on it, it disappears. The same happens with windows also.  You have to press the space bar or the Return key to fix a library object on the drawing. When you import the object you can see it grayed in the bottom left corner of the window. Drag it where you want and press the space bar or the return key. By dragging with the mouse and pressing again the Return key, you can insert several copies of the same object.

I would like to know how to draw a grid and something about scale and measures in general. Double click on the Grid icon on the right of the working window. Set the grid values for X and Y directions. This is the active grid. If the icon is enabled (pressed), the mouse is attached to the grid while you are drawing. The active grid can be visible or not. The visible grid is drawn on the screen, but if it is too small, Domus.Cad displays a multiple of the grid. In this case the grid lines are different. You can test this activating the grid and zooming in and out. If both the Snap to Grid and the Snap to Hot Points are activated, the cursor first attaches to the points, intersection, perpendicular, center, border etc,, then if it doesn't find anything, attaches to the grid. We suggest leaving the grid active by default. Look at the coordinates and distances boxes on the Coordinates palette. When you click on any point of the window, the relative and polar coordinates are zeroed on this point. Moving the mouse, the relative and polar coordinates refer to the last point clicked. You can visualize the last point clicked at any time by pressing the W key. In Domus.Cad you use real measures and you can choose the unit of measure and decimals. Anyway the Window title shows the current video scale and you can set a reference scale, called Natural scale. An icon on the bottom of the working window allows you to see the drawing with the Natural scale. The Natural scale is important for font size. When you choose a text size, it means that the text will be printed with that size if the printing scale is the same as the Natural Scale, otherwise the text will print out bigger or smaller.

Why does a light inserted in one room illuminate the adjacent rooms as well?

Shadows are not an available option for Interactive rendering, therefore the elements themselves (such as walls and floor slabs) are merely shaded according to their relationship to the light source and do not have the ability to cast shadows on other objects, making it seem as if the light passes through them. It is not possible, for example, to create a completely dark room, even if it has no doors or windows. Use OpenGl and Rayshade renderers for casting shadows.

What purpose does ambient light serve?

Ambient light's primary purpose is to lighten the shaded areas. Without ambient light, all shaded areas would be completely black. A lack of ambient light creates a greatly contrasting image, while a predominance of ambient light creates an image with little contrast. Another purpose is to create a certain atmosphere by changing the ambient light's color.

How do you print the 3D view?

The easiest way is to transfer the view to an unused layer and page it using the normal DomusCad procedure, after which it can be printed.

Is it possible to make a QuickTime film from the 3D view?

It is not possible to make a QuickTime film from inside Domus.Cad, but it can be done using other programs, such as Snapz Pro and Screenium, it is possible to film everything from the 3D View window.

When paging, Domus.Cad opens the layer too far to the right of my screen and too far down. Every time I have to move the layer over to the left, so that I can click on the bottom right corner and reduce the layer size. And then I move it back to the right again! In order for the page to correspond exactly to the printer page, do the following:  - Go to pagination - Click on Page Setup button and choose your page dimensions, orientation and page scale in the Page Format dialog window - Click on Drawing Size button and cli