dxfhelp.txt

java dxfapplet package

November 2002                                                    (Version 1.20)
                              ===========
                              HELP & INFO
                              ===========
                              

 


                               0. Content
                               ==========

         1.  What's DXF?
         2.  How to use the viewer
         3.  Supported DXF features / Outview
         4.  Acknowledgements
         5.  License
         6.  Bugs





                              1. What's DXF
                              =============

   DXF is an exchange format for CAD data.  It was originally created by
Autodesk, Inc. for their well-known product AutoCAD(tm) some 15 years ago 
and developped further with every new AutoCAD(tm) version.

   Nevertheless today there are several thousands of applications around 
which claim to import or export DXF. Among them are nearly every CAD program 
(of course), many DTP and paint programs and lots of others. This viewer is 
one of them.



                          2. How to use the viewer
                          ========================

                           2.1 Getting started
                           -------------------

   You will need a JDK 1.1.x (or newer) compatible version of Java to run 
this program.

   For JDK 1.2 or newer: You can view a DXF file by typing
        java -jar dxfviewer.jar dxffilename

   For JDK 1.1.x: add the jar archive with the viewer classes to your 
class path. Then you can view a DXF file by typing
        java de.escape.quincunx.dxf.DxfViewer dxffilename

   If you want to preset the language you can set the property dxfview.language,
e.g.
	java -Ddxfview.language=de_DE -jar dxfviewer.jar

or for Java 1.1.x:
        java -Ddxfview.language=de_DE de.escape.quincunx.dxf.DxfViewer 

will start the viewer with German user interface without loading a file. 
The default is English.

   For your convenience it's strongly recommended to put this into a script or
batch file. You should have gotten a DOS batch file (named DV.BAT) and an
Unix script (named dv) with the jar archive. With that you can start the 
viewer using 
        dv dxffilename

The viewer can load plain DXF files and DXF files packed with gzip und 
(pk)zip. The files don't need a special extension like .dxf.

   The other way of viewing a file is to load it via the File menu -- as 
usual. The progress of file loading and converting is shown by a growing 
(or sometimes moving) bar.


There are two other properties which you can set via the -D command line switch:

dxfview.reducelines -- an integer value representing the number of lines
                       displayed in reduced display mode.

preview.reducelines -- an integer value representing the number of lines
                       displayed in print preview. 0 selects all lines!


                               2.2 Handling
                               ------------

                                 Moving
                                 鞍鞍鞍
The content of the DXF file is shown as a wireframe model. You can rotate,
move, and scale this model by dragging the mouse over the view window
('dragging' means moving the mouse while pressing a mouse button).
Use different mouse buttons or press CTRL or SHIFT for the different
actions. The active action is shown in the status line below the model
view window.

Use LEFT   mouse button (with no modifier key) to rotate the model.
           While rotating, there is a circle shown. You can imagine a
           trackball lying in this circle. When you drag in the circle,
           you rotate the model like dragging the trackball with the
           mouse. If you drag outside the circle, you rotate the
           model around the view axis. Once you get used to this it
           allows for a perfect control of the view.
Use MIDDLE mouse button (or LEFT with SHIFT) to move the model.
Use RIGHT  mouse button (or LEFT with CTRL) to scale the model and
           to change the distance to the model.


You can change the complexity of the model shown while moving with the
choice in the top right corner.

[Move full]    All lines are drawn while moving (slowest)
[Move BBox]    Only a bounding box of the whole model is moved (fastest)
[Move reduced] Only some of the lines are moved (default)

   
You can step through previous points where you released a mouse button
with the two buttons named [Previous]/[Next].
Reset to [X-Y] resets the view to a view direction parallel to the z axis,
         [Y-Z] parallel to the x axis and 
         [X-Z] parallel to the y axis.


                                 Layer
                                 鞍鞍