Like most CAD systems these days you start your drafting in model space so you do not need to think about working in scaled units and then the application scales the model space (or some view inside model space) to fit the actual paper plot. You can zoom into specific areas of the drawing to see more detail which means the screen:drawing does not have to be 1:1 with the designed dimensions. The sheet metal UI scales the geometry against the paper size you intend to plot on. By going into paper mode you can then set the scale of the geometry by zooming in and out. Note you can force the geometry to be a specific scale by right button clicking on the scale panel and choosing the scale you need to plot out. e.g. 1:1 1:2 etc Then (in pan mode) you can pan the geometry around and place the pattern anywhere on the paper you need. Don't go to close the edge because your printer may have inherent margins.
The use of tablets used to be regarded as fastest way to draft but the Windows, Icon, Mouse Pointer (WIMP) has become so intuitive that even kids pre-school can use a computer. So it makes sense to design for a WIMP system. Laptop mouse equivalents like trackball's, touch sensitive pads and buttons can be nightmare to use with CAD and I recommend a scroll wheel mouse for the sheet metal UI because you can zoom in and out quickly with the scroll wheel and zoom extents by pressing the scroll wheel down.
Using the User Interface
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| Figure 1 - User Interface Screen Shot |
The application has a drawing canvas where you will see the scaled elevations and flat pattern. These will be will redrawn when the dimensions are changed via the properties pane. If you make a typo and miss-out (say) the decimal place then you can see immediately that something is wrong. If you enter a invalid entry then the input boxes will turn red to warn you that the geometry cannot be redrawn.
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| Figure XX - Invalid round diameter - a non-numeric entry |
Like a CAD application you can pan around (Pan mode) and even drop a tape measure (Tape mode) onto the canvas and measure point-to-point. The easiest way to navigate around the canvas is using a wheel mouse. Where by pressing the wheel (third button) the application will perform a zoom extents and scrolling will zoom in and out. A left button down drag in pan mode will move the drawing elements in the direction of panning or in tape mode display the distance from A to B. The tape is a ghost image over the canvas and shows the cartesian x and y dimensions and polar length and angle.
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| Figure XX - Use the tape mode to get rough measurements (free-hand) |
The segmental bend application was the first to introduce snap measurements. By going into tape mode and selecting the snap vertex tool bar button you can measure from the end or mid-point of a line.
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| Figure XX - Using the snap to make measuring easier |
To zoom in on (say) the front elevation: move the mouse to the front elevation and scroll up one notch and you'll see the front elevation get a little bigger and move a little closer to the centre of the canvas. Again move the cursor to the centre of the front elevation and repeat. With a little practice you'll be able to zoom in or out about any part of the drawing. There are, of course, also menu and toolbar options for zooming. You can set a percentage zoom factor from the view menu if the operation is too fast or slow (1 slow - 10 fast). Different PC's, mouses and MS Windows setups behave slightly different.
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| Figure XX - Zooming around using a wheel mouse - press the scroll wheel(third button) to zoom extents |
Using the Pattern Properties first introduced in STOS 1.04 you can control the pattern start and end points (the joint lines) of the development.
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| Figure XX - A full pattern Start pos. 0 End Pos 0. (or end pos. of 48 would be the same) |
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| Figure XX - A full pattern with the joint line at position 24 |
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| Figure XX - Translation and rotation of the joint line 0 - 0 |
A new feature for version 1.05 is the ability to translate and rotate the pattern to any desired position. From the above figure XX the pattern point 0 on the base curve has been translated to a coordinate of 175,50 and the joint line 0-0 is rotated to 45 degrees anticlockwise from east. Using the min. bounding box calculation (from the calculactions menu) you can now orientate the pattern either portrait or landscape. So for the specific geometry below, shown in figure xx, and rotating the joint line to 36 degrees aligns the minimum area bounding box with a landscape view.
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| Figure XX - The pattern orientated to suit landscape paper. |
Menu Bar functions
File
Open and saving files
Use File from the menu bar to access the open, save and saveas functions. The current file path and file name are displayed inside the caption bar. An asterisk is appended when any changes have occurred since the last save.
A conventional save will overwrite the existing file, where as a 'save as' will allow you save the file under another name using the common windows save dialog. e.g. Job1.tystor, Job1RevA.tystor etc.
Print Simplex: You can print out simple page containing the properties and a simple non-scaled sketch which is useful for quotations and reference etc. You don't have to include all the drawing elements in the sketch by using the layers option you can turn off (say) the pattern.
Sample PDF of simple print out.
Print Complex: The ability to plot a scaled drawing to paper. If you need then to transfer the information to the material there are various techniques to copy the pattern over to material. There's more detail below under the PaperSheet heading.
Marking out the pattern on the material
Printer Calibration: If you find your printer is not accurately printing the drawing then you can tweak the printer calibration factors a and b. First print out a calibration sheet and if a and b do not measure 100mm then you can set a and b to what your actual printer has produced. Most printers should be within 1mm but remember the further the scale is from 1:1 then the error is magnified. {write some more on scaling and how to check the accuracy of your plot}
Printer Order Form: Details of how to purchase the full version. (Sorry, I also use it as a nag printout)
Exporting alternative file formats
Export 2D DXF: This is useful for CAD operators who want to include a plan and front elevation within a bigger assembly drawing.
Export DXF Pattern: This is the pattern perimeter on its own. This is useful CADCAM operators who only need the pattern profile as continuous 2D poly line.
Export 3D DXF: Again ideal for 3D CAD operators. Each Triangulation is a 3D poly face which allows for immediate rendering.
Export 3D VRML: Useful for 3D graphics on the web and most 3D polygon renderers out there like computer games.
Export BMP and JPG: JPG is very suitable for web and email attachments. BMP, it's there if you need it. Note the captured width and height are the same as the canvas displayed on the screen and controlled by re sizing the application window.
Export to HTML: This one is useful for when you need to explain a transformer to someone else - maybe the other side of the world. Simply export to html and a new folder will be created containing the tystor file. All the DXF files,VRML file, and a HTML web page with a consistent filename and folder to keep things nicely packaged together. This can be uploaded to your server and then all concerned can access what parts they need. It's not a very exciting looking page but you can go on to edit the html to match the look and feel of your own web site. Any web site designer can take the core files and improve on the look.
An example of the html export
Options
Cap top and bottom - Typically a games engine will only render one side dependent on the direction of the polygon normal so it can produce a strange effect where you can see the front but not the inside back. You'll need to use double sided rendering, double skin the structure or I've got an option to cap the top and bottom off which gives it a solid appearance.
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| Figure XX - XDSOFT 3D Explorer - Single sided render and then the option for double sided rendering |
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| Figure XX - FireFox with Cortona VRML plugin - capping off the top and bottom. |
There will be a free 3D viewer available for you the check your design in 3D which has double sided rendering. Also anybody who wants to use the 3D data in their applications then the tyface file format will be fully detailed and free to use personally or commercially.
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| Figure XX - Sheet Metal transformers are best rendered both sides to give a realistic view |
View
Zooming functions are mostly self explanatory. Please note in paper sheet mode you're scaling against the paper area displayed in the canvas.
Lists: This is the house-keeping side of the software from where the graphics and the additional calculations are executed. The true lengths and the pattern points offer another way to transfer the geometry to the material or to other software applications like spread-sheets if you need to perform even more analysis.
Centre of extents: move the drawing back to the centre of the canvas.
Restore Default colours: It is possible to change everything to black by mistake so you can't see your drawing elements. This option will return to the default colour scheme if you get into a pickle.
Background,Paper and Pen colour: You can set up your own personal desired colour scheme.
Snapshot: You can capture the whole window including caption bar. I've found it useful not only for making this documentation but also for creating animations. You can press F10 hot key to take a snap and then modify the properties and take another snap and so on. The files are saved as BMP in the output folder. Use (say) Jasc Animation shop or a similar product to compile the bmps into an animated GIF or AVI file.
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| Figure XX - Snapshots animated together using JASC Animation shop |
Layers
If you only need to see the pattern then the other layers can be turned off independently - the layer names are self explanatory.
Paper Sheet
PaperSheet Mode allows you to scale the drawing against the intended sheet of paper you wish to print on. Use Page Setup from the Paper Sheet menu and choose your printer, paper size and orientation. e.g. Samsung, A4, landscape.
You will then see the paper area displayed on the drawing canvas. Now when you are zooming you are scaling against that paper size. Roughly scale your drawing and drag the drawing onto the paper in pan mode. The scale factor is shown in the status bar. Let's say the drawing fits well on your paper at 1:5.157 scale then I recommend you right button click on the scale ratio in the status bar and force it to 1:5.
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| Figure XX - Right button on the status bar to force a specific scale ratio |
Once the scale ratio is set be careful not to catch the mouse wheel when positioning the drawing on the paper. Choose file from the menu bar and print complex.
Sample PDF of a scaled complex print out.
Calculations
Show rotated min area bounding box: The minimum rectangular area required to encompass the pattern surface area.
Show bounding box: This gives you the ability to try out different bounding boxes by specifying the angle on the box . East is zero degrees moving anti clockwise positively(e.g. 90 deg north).
Clear Bounding box: Erases all the bounding boxes drawn. The bounding boxes are also erased when and geometry has been changed.
Advanced Properties: Lists out all the properties that an engineer may find useful.
Calculated properties (More information can be found for each specific development):
Mathematics behind the Square to Round (STOR)
Mathematics behind the Segmental Bend (SEGB)
Mathematics behind the Cone Transformer (CONET)
Help
The about box is useful to identify which version of the sheet metal software you have installed in case you need further support or need to see if you have the latest version.