<TIP_001> The Tip of the Day presents to you a series of tips and tricks f

or using Bricscadâ ¢.\\By default the Tip of the Day window shows each time you st
art Bricscad. Clear the 'Show on startup checkbox' below to make the tips stop a
ppearing automatically.\\Choose 'Tip of the Day' in the Help menu to view the ti
ps at any time.
<TIP_002> In Bricscad all settings variables are grouped in the Settings d
ialog. Choose Settings in the Settings menu to open the Settings dialog.\\Read m
ore about how to use the Settings dialog in the Bricscad Help under User Guide >
User Interface.
<TIP_003> Watch the Bricscad movies on the Bricsys website.\\Copy the link
below and paste it in the address field of your browser to go directly to the B
ricscad movies page.\\http://www.bricsys.com/en_INTL/bricscad/movies.jsp
<TIP_004> To control the display of the command bar, choose Command Bar i
n the View menu.\\Dock the command bar at the top or bottom of the Bricscad appl
ication window or place it anywhere. Press and hold the Ctrl key to prevent the
command bar from docking.\\If the command bar is switched off, command prompts d
isplay in the status bar.
<TIP_005> When you launch a command, a prompt menu displays listing all op
tions for that command. Use the mouse to select an option in the prompt menu.\\T
he display of the prompt menus is controlled through the PromptMenu variable. In
the Settings dialog under Program Options > Display, choose Prompt Menu, then c
hoose a location for the prompt menus to display or choose 'Don't display prompt
menu' to suppress the display of prompt menus.
<TIP_006> When you hover the cursor over a tool button a tooltip displays
and you can read a brief explanation about the tool in the status bar at the bot
tom of the Bricscad application window.\\To toggle the display of the status bar
: choose Status Bar in the View menu or press F10.
<TIP_007> Bricscadâ ¢ provides an online Help, which contains general inform
ation about Bricscad, the User Guide, the Command Reference and the Developer Re
ference.\\Choose Help in the Help menu or press F1 to open the online Help.\\If
you press F1 when a command is active, Bricscadâ ¢ displays help for that command.
<TIP_008> To open a toolbar, right click when the cursor is on a toolbar,
then move the cursor to BRICSCAD to see a list of all available toolbars. Toolba
rs that are already open are checked. Click the toolbar you want to open.\\If yo
u click a toolbar that is already open, it will be closed.
<TIP_009> Toolbars, the command bar and the properties bar can be placed a
nywhere on the screen. Press and hold the left mouse button to drag them to a di
fferent location.\\To prevent a toolbar from docking, press and hold the Ctrl ke
y when positioning the toolbar.
<TIP_010> If you are familiar to typing Autodesk AutoCADâ ¢ commands and ali
ases in the command bar, you can do exactly the same in Bricscadâ ¢.
<TIP_011> If you want to change the color of the screen background choose
Settings From the Settings menu, then under Program options > Display, select th
e color you want for the background.\\BKGCOLOR controls the background of the mo
del space background.\\BKGCOLORPS controls the background of the paper space bac
kground.
<TIP_012> To measure the distance between two points, find the area of clo
sed entity or read the coordinates of a point, use the tools on the Inquiry tool
bar.
<TIP_013> To choose a command option type the capitalized letter of the op
tion description in the command bar. E.g. type A to start drawing arc segments w
hen drawing a polyline, and type L to draw line segments.
<TIP_014> In Bricscad settings and definitions such as layers, linetypes,
text styles, dimension styles, blocks, etc. can be copied between open drawings
using the Drawing Explorer.\\Choose the type of settings you want to copy in the
Settings menu (e.g. Layers) to see the existing items of that type in the curre
nt drawing, then drag and drop the items you want to copy from the source drawin
g to the target drawing in the Open Drawings list.
<TIP_015> Choose Customize in the Tools menu, then select Aliases on the C
ustomize dialog to edit existing aliases or add new aliases.\\An alias can be a
single letter, e.g. "L" for "Line" or a different command name, e.g. "axis" for
"infline".
<TIP_016> Choose Previous Selection in the Prompt Menu or type P in the co
mmand bar to recall the same selection set for the next command, e.g. to move a
previously copied selection set.
<TIP_017> In each drawing you can define your own user coordinate sytems (
UCS), which can then be saved and recalled as you need them.
<TIP_018> In the Properties bar you can:\\- set the current entity propert
ies (color, layer, ...) if nothing is selected.\\- edit the properties of a sele
cted entity.\\- edit the shared properties of a selection set.
<TIP_019> You can use any drawing you want as the template for your future
drawings. Apart from you favorite settings, a template drawing might contain bl
ocks, borders or any other geometry.\\You can set your default template drawing
in the Settings dialog under Program Options > Files > Templates > Template.
<TIP_020> You can resize the height of the command bar by dragging its top
edge (when docked at the bottom) or its bottom edge (when docked at the top).\\
Press and hold the Ctrl key while dragging the command bar to place it anywhere
on the Bricscadâ ¢ application window and prevent it from docking.
<TIP_021> Documents from other programs (e.g. a text document or a spreads
heet) can be dragged from the Windowsâ ¢ Explorer window into your Bricscadâ ¢ drawi
ngs.\\Double clicking the document opens the source application.
<TIP_022> Using Entity Snaps you can draw fast and accurately by snapping
to existing entities (e.g. endpoints, midpoints, ...). Click the tools on the En
tity Snaps toolbar to quickly set the Entity Snaps: a recessed toolbutton indica
tes the entity snap is active. Click again to deactivate.
<TIP_023> To recall a previously used command in the command bar, press CT
RL+K to move backward or CTRL+L to move forward to the desired command. Press En
ter to repeat the selected command.
<TIP_024> When using flyoversnap over high densities of entities it is pos
sible to cycle through possible snap points by repeatedly pressing the tab key.
The entity that is snapped to hightlights.
<TIP_025> To see the current length and angle of the line or line segment
when drawing lines or polylines, right click the coordinates field in the status
bar and choose Relative from the context menu.
<TIP_026> Polylines are a chain of line and/or arc segments. Polylines hav
e properties that ordinary lines lack, such as width, elevation and thickness.
<TIP_027> Use the Follow option if you want to continue drawing lines, arc
s or polylines from the last point and in the same direction.
<TIP_028> In the Drawing Explorer, you can see a thumbnail image of all bl
ocks in the drawing. Double click a thumbnail image to insert the block in the c
urrent drawing.
<TIP_029> Use the Match tool (the 'brush') on the Standard toolbar to appl
y the properties of an entity, such as color, linetype, and thickness to other e
ntities.
<TIP_030> Choose New Wizard... in the File menu then choose 'Use a Wizard'
to create a new drawing from scratch. The new drawing wizard guides you through
all the basic drawing settings.
<TIP_031> Click ORTHO in the status bar or press F8 to toggle the Orthogon
al setting.\\Pressing the shift key while you draw temporarily reverses the ORTH
O setting.
<TIP_032> Double click the left side of the status bar to toggle the displ
ay of the command bar.
<TIP_033> Menus, toolbars, keyboard shortcuts and aliases can be customize
d.\\From the Tools menu, choose Customize, then define the changes you want.\\To
restore their default state, click the Revert to defaults... button.\\To learn
more about customization see User Guide > Customizing Bricscad in the Bricscad o
nline Help.
<TIP_034> The Explode command breaks complex entities, such as blocks and
polylines, into their component pieces.
<TIP_035> Purging unused definitions might reduce the size of your drawing
s dramatically.\\Type Purge in the command bar, then choose All to purge all unu
sed definitions.
<TIP_036> Many settings can be changed by clicking or right-clicking on ea
ch of the fields in the status bar at the bottom of the window.\\Click the small
down arrow at the right hand side of the status bar to control the display of t
he various fields in the status bar.
<TIP_037> The Center entity snap recognizes the center point of closed pol
ylines.
<TIP_038> To copy or move entities between drawings, start the command in
the source drawing, then switch to the target drawing when prompted for the disp
lacement point.\\Press and hold the Ctrl key, then hit the TAB key to cycle thro
ugh all open drawings.
<TIP_039> The Bisect option of the Ray command can bisect angles, lines, a
rcs and polylines. The Vertex option bisects an angle; the Entity option draws t
he ray perpendicularly in the midpoint of the entity.
<TIP_040> The Save Block tool in the Drawing Explorer can save a block to
a separate drawing.\\Choose Blocks in the Settings menu, the select the block an
d click the Save Block tool.
<TIP_041> In the Drawing Explorer, you can click in the first column of an
item to make it current. For example, to set a layer as the current layer, clic
k in the first column of the layer.\\A check will appear in this column to mark
the layer as current.
<TIP_042> Choose Send Mail in the File menu to compose a mail with the cur
rent drawing in attachment.
<TIP_043> To turn an arc into a circle, choose Circle > Convert arc to cir
cle in the Draw menu.
<TIP_044> Scroll bars allow to pan horizontally and vertically.\\Choose Sc
roll Bars in the View menu to toggle the display of the scroll bars.
<TIP_045> To create keyboard shortcuts, choose Customize from the Tools me
nu, and then click the Keyboard tab. You can use any key on the keyboard and com
binations with Shift, Alt, and Ctrl.\\See User Guide > Customizing Bricscad > Cr
eating custom tools in the Bricscad online Help for more information.
<TIP_046> Using the Join command collinear lines and arcs sharing the same
center and radius can be joined to a single entity.
<TIP_047> The Plan command restores the plan view of the current coordinat
e system, the World Coordinate System (WCS) or any saved User Coordinate System
(UCS).\\Choose Plan View from the View menu.\\If the UCSFOLLOW variable is on, p
lan view is restored automatically when the coordinate system has changed.
<TIP_048> Select an entity, then type List in the command bar to display t
he information about the selected entity on the Prompt History window.
<TIP_049> Block attributes can be exported to an external file.\\See User
Guide > Blocks, attributes and external references > Working with attributes in
the Bricscad online Help for more information.
<TIP_050> Select the explode option on the Insert Block dialog to break a
block into its component pieces upon insertion.
<TIP_051> Quick Select creates a selection set using a variety of criteria
such as such as layer, color or entity type.\\See User Guide > Modifying Entiti
es > Selecting Entities in the Bricscad online Help for more information.
<TIP_052> You can change the Hatch Pattern Style of an existing hatch in t
he Properties Bar. Select the hatch, then choose Pattern name in the Properties
Bar and click the browse button to select a different hatch pattern in the Hatch
Pattern Pallette window.
<TIP_053> LISP functions in on_start.lsp are loaded automatically each tim
e Bricscadâ ¢ starts.\\LISP functions in on_doc_load.lsp are loaded automatically
each time you open a drawing.\\Save on_start.lsp and on_doc_load.lsp in the Bric
scad installation folder (e.g. "C:/Program Files/Bricsys/Bricscad V10")
<TIP_054> Bricscadâ ¢ automatically saves your work at a specified time inte
rval. In the Settings dialog, under Program Options > Open and Save, choose Save
time interval, then specify the time interval in minutes.\\In the Settings dial
og, under Program Options > Files you can specify the folder to store automatic
saves.
<TIP_055> Click the Set Layer by Entity toolbutton on the Entity Propertie
s toolbar to make a layer current by selecting an entity on that layer.
<TIP_056> You can easily find any variable or program setting using the se
arch field in the Settings dialog. To open the Settings dialog, choose Settings.
.. in the Settings menu.\\Click the binoculars button to define the search targe
t: variable names, titles and/or help text.
<TIP_057> Select Customize from the Tools menu to change menus and toolbar
s. You can modify the currently active customization file (CUI file), or load an
other CUI file (for example, from Autodesk AutoCAD).\\See User Guide > Customizi
ng Bricscad in the Bricscad online Help for more information.
<TIP_058> To override the currently active entity snaps while you are draw
ing: press and hold the shift key, then right click and choose an entity snap fr
om the context menu, which will then be used to specify the next point.
<TIP_059> Bricscadâ ¢ provides dynamic view control using the mouse.\\See Us
er Guide > Viewing your drawing > View manipulation using the mouse in the Brics
cad online Help for more information.
<TIP_060> You can read through all these tips, and you can add your own. O
pen the file "tipofday.txt" as a text file:\\under "/Documents and Settings/[cur
rent user]/Application Data/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/Support/" (Windows Xp)\\o
r "/Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/Support/" (Wind
ows Vista, Windows 7)