About this manual
The Command List (?) is a roster; this manual is something to read.
It explains in words how to move the cursor, which keys to press, and the steps of each command.
There are three ways to open it.
- The book-shaped button in the 案内 (Guide) group of the ribbon
- Type 教本 in the Command Line (the input box at the bottom of the screen) and press Enter
- From the note at the foot of the Command List (?).
Add a chapter number in the Command Line — 教本 9 — and it opens at that chapter.
The same text with pictures added is published as the Illustrated Manual on the Engawaya site: open it with the 【ヘルプ/HELP】 button in the 案内 (Guide) group of the ribbon
(engawaya.com/kad/tebiki/ — open it in a separate window and keep it beside you as you work).
The layout of the screen
- Top row = the ribbon. The tool buttons live here, each with its Command Line word beside it (L, TR) — the buttons are your language teachers. The order of the groups (Create, Dimension, …) can be rearranged under “Ribbon order” in the Settings panel (there is a Restore defaults button). Press the small handle at the right end of a group's bar and that group alone floats free, close to your hand. A floating panel can be dragged by its bar, and × sends it home to the ribbon. The grid button on a floating panel shrinks it to icons only (rest the pointer on a button to see its name). Drag it to the edge of the screen and let go and it docks there (left and right = a vertical strip, top and bottom = a horizontal row; grab the ⋮⋮ and pull to set it floating again). The handle to the right of the Layer control floats the layer bar on its own.
- Just below the ribbon = the Linetype / Dimension / Text bar. The dash spacing, the dimension style (▼ and text height), the height of the text you are about to place (in paper mm or in drawing units) and the font — all visible and adjustable on the spot. It can be floated too, and × returns it to the ribbon.
- Below that = the tabs, one for each drawing. + opens a new drawing.
- The middle = the drawing area. Your drawing sits here at full size.
- Just below the drawing area = the space tabs (Model | Layout1). The tabs above say which drawing; the tabs below say which sheet of that drawing. Model = where you draw at full size. Layout = paper. Chapter 14, “Layout (paper space)”, has the details.
- Beside the cursor = the prompt. It tells you what to do next, in the future tense.
- The bottom bar = the Command Line, and the toggles for constraints (規律), dynamic distance input (距離DYN), object snap (スナップ) and grid (グリッド). The Command Line has its name plate above it — 小窓：CommandLine — and a note on how to type just below: this is where words and numbers are received. It is three lines high: the top two are the history (what you just did, in the past tense) and the bottom one is where you type. Roll the wheel over it to scroll back through the history. To see more, right-click over it and the full history window opens.
- The right side = the Layer, Blocks (部品箱) and Properties panels. Drag them by their title bars, close them with ×. They remember where you left them.
Our measure: 1 is 1 drawing unit
You draw in drawing units. 1 is 1 drawing unit.
Whether you read that 1 as a millimetre, a metre or an inch is up to you. CAD itself carries no units — nowhere in a DXF file does it say “these are millimetres”.
So K'Ad does not claim a unit either.
A line you drew as 1000 is a line of 1000 drawing units. If you meant millimetres, that is one metre; if you meant metres, one kilometre. You decide.
Dimensions, coordinates and text heights are all counted in those same drawing units.
Only when you print do you choose a scale (1:50, and so on).
Draw at full size; scale when you print. That is the backbone of this program.
※ The paper side of things — sheet size A4, line weights, dash spacing — is in true millimetres, because that is the length you would measure with a ruler on the sheet that comes out of the printer.
If you get stuck
- The prompt beside the cursor always tells you what comes next.
- Esc means “one step back”. It lets go of whatever you were holding and closes whatever was open. When in doubt, press Esc.
- If you get something wrong, press U (Undo). You can go back as many times as you need.