Basic capabilities

Use this forum to ask questions about how to do things in the QCAD Community Edition.

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garydale
Newbie Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:57 am
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Basic capabilities

Post by garydale » Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:46 am

I'm no stranger to drawing programs but QCad has me stumped on several basic issues.
1) I "draw" an image from a file. Afterwards I can't seem to move it anywhere else.
2) I created multiple layers, each with an image on it. I can only see the image on layer 0 unless I make layer 0 invisible. That would make sense if layer 0 was the top layer, but when I have a vector layer in between, sometimes it shows and sometimes it doesn't.
3) Why isn't there a capability for restacking layers?
4) I traced from an image I scanned in and wanted to touch up the lines. However, I can't seem to move the end points of the line segments. All I seem to be able to do is delete lines and redraw them. How do you adjust line segments, combine segments into a (possibly open) polygon, and other basic operations? Is it even possible to fill a closed polygon with a colour?
5) How do I access the parts library?

The manual is OK as far as it goes, but it rarely strays beyond stating the basics about menu options. Is there anything more in depth that I can read?

hpp3
Junior Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:11 pm

Post by hpp3 » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:25 am

I don't have all the answers, but I have some tips for some...

#3-If you did a trace with something like AutoTrace or Adobe Illustrator's trace function, you will have Splines rather than lines and there will be extra control points, so watch out. To move the endpoints of lines, select a line and it will turn red with blue dots at each end. The blue dots are movable. If you select two lines with a common terminus at a blue dot, moving it will affect both lines.

#5-I don't know if the community edition comes with a parts library, and I haven't got it to actually work on my system, but try this anyway:
1-Make a directory named "library" in your qcad directory. (usually ~/.qcad or /usr/share/qcad if you're running linux...)
2-Draw something simple like a box or circle, save it as "part.dxf" and put it in the "library" directory you just made.
3-From the top menu bar, click "View -> Views -> Library"
A split window should show up, and if you're fortunate ,your part will appear in the bottom half. Dock it under the 'layers' block on the right-hand side of your qcad window for further convenience.

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