Projects (PROJ): a catalogue of your drawings
On a large job the drawings run into dozens. Staring at a folder does not tell you “now which one was this?” from the file name.
A project is a catalogue that remembers, for each sheet, where it is and what it is.
Two ways in: the プロジェクト (Project) button at the far left of the 出力 (Output) group, or PROJ → Enter in the Command Line.
This panel greets you when the program starts
It asks, in three ways, where you would like to begin.
- ①Open a project = carry on from a catalogue you made before.
- ②Create a new project = start a new catalogue for this job.
- ③Just open a drawing = no project is made. It is the ordinary Open dialogue, and this panel closes.
※ If you had a catalogue open before, it comes up already showing where you left off.
※ If you would rather not see it, press 次回から出さない (do not show this again) on the bar. 起動時にプロジェクト (Project at startup) in the Settings panel brings it back at any time.
Putting drawings into the catalogue (four buttons along the foot)
- ＋ フォルダごと (a whole folder) = choose the job's folder and every drawing inside it, subfolders included, is brought in together. Dozens in one move. The heading each one goes under is simply the name of the folder it sits in. If you have already sorted them into folders, that is your tree. ※ PDFs are not picked up (it would bring in PDFs that are not drawings).
- ＋ 選んで加える (choose and add) = pick just the drawings you want (several at a time). PDFs do come in this way.
- ＋ この図面を加える (add this drawing) = adds the one you have open.
- 新しい図面を作る (create a new drawing) = makes a new drawing for this job, names it, lists it in the catalogue, and opens it.
Tidying the catalogue (four buttons at the right of each row)
- The up and down triangles = reordering. Press to pick a row up, then press the row you want it in front of. Press a heading and it goes to the end of that section. There is no dragging (just pressing). To stop, press again or Esc.
- The folder icon = retype which section this drawing belongs to. Leave it empty and press Enter to return it to the unsorted ones.
- The pencil = a note. Write something like “2F plan S=1:100” and it becomes the answer to “now which one was this?”.
- × = take it out of the catalogue (the drawing itself is not deleted).
※ Press a heading such as 【平面図】 (Plans) and you can retype the section's name (everything under it moves together).
※ The name of whatever tool you rest your finger on appears in a line on the panel.
Opening
Click a name = that drawing opens. A drawing already open is not opened again; you are taken to its tab (● = the drawing you are looking at / ○ = one open in another tab).
The important part
- The catalogue does not swallow your drawings. The DXF files stay where they always were, and other CAD programs open them exactly as before.
- The × on a row only takes it out of the catalogue. The drawing itself is not deleted.
- The catalogue (.kadproj) is plain text. You can open it in a text editor and correct it by hand. Notes you write beginning with “#” are kept, not thrown away. Once you have corrected it by hand, press 読み直す (Reload) at the foot and it appears on screen.
- When a drawing cannot be found it says 見つかりません (not found) in red (it has been moved, or deleted).
Opening (⌘O)
DXF, DWG, PDF, JWW and STL can all be opened.
- DXF = our mother tongue. It opens as it is and saves as it is.
- DWG = on the Mac version only, and only if the translator (LibreDWG) is present. When it will not open, asking the sender for a DXF is the quickest road by far (every CAD program can write DXF).
- PDF = a PDF containing lines can be brought in as a drawing. From a bundle of pages it chooses the one with the most lines. If it chose wrongly, type PAGE 4 in the Command Line (= swap to page 4).
- JWW = a Jw_cad drawing. The scale is translated to full size as it comes in.
- STL = opens in the 3D room, where you can turn it and look.
Saving (⌘S)
Saving is DXF itself = a form every CAD program can read.
A drawing that came from another format (DWG, PDF, JWW) always asks for a new name, to protect the original. The original file is untouched.
CAL: setting the true size
A drawing that came from a PDF or the like is not necessarily at true size.
- ①Type CAL → Enter (実寸, “true size”, calls it too).
- ②With snap, indicate exactly the two ends of a dimension written on the drawing (“1208”, say).
- ③Type its actual length into the Command Line → Enter (1208).
- ④Measure a second place, on another dimension, and you have a check = a health inspection for the drawing.
- ⑤An empty Enter = do it. The whole drawing comes to true size.
Units (changing the measure)
When a drawing from elsewhere was drawn to another measure, this multiplies the whole drawing to match. The basis of the conversion is MM = 1 drawing unit.
単位 IN = an inch drawing ×25.4. 単位 MM IN = the reverse, ÷25.4.
単位 尺 = a shaku drawing ×303 or so. Leave out the second word and it converts back to the basic 1.
The words you can use: MM, CM, M, IN, FT, YD, MIL, DM, 寸 (sun), 尺 (shaku), 間 (ken).
Automatic saving
While you draw, a copy is kept. If the program should ever fail to close properly, it is recovered the next time you start (saving asks for a new name).
Even so, a frequent ⌘S is the best protection of all.