instruct

Instructions for BlockCAD

(Last updated: 1999-04-10)

As the program was made for my kids, there is not much text in it, you have to figure out the symbols instead.

You can build (small) constructions, using basic blocks, roof blocks, and some specialized pieces like windows and doors. I have also included some wheels, but they are not very good, and needs a fast computer. You can choose the color of each piece (and change them later).

The primary method for building is with the mouse, selecting blocks from the block bar to the right, and placing them in the 3D view by left clicking. In the normal mode (Safe mode), every block is placed immediately on top of the location you are pointing at, and it is impossible to place blocks in the air, inside each other, and so on. The Safe Mode can be turned off from the 'gear' menu.

The top bar

Door	Exit the program
Empty doc	Clear the drawing, no warnings, no questions (warnings in 1.4)
Open folder	Open a saved model (1.4 also: Open a sub-assembly)
Diskette	Save a model to a file on (hard)disk. In 1.6 also: save selected blocks to a file.
Camera *NEW in 1.1*	Save the current view as a .BMP file
Printer	Print a screen dump (simplistic)
Gear *Moved in 1.3*	Settings menu
Fat arrows	Rotate the view
Stud	Studs on/off. Redraw is faster when studs are off.
Wire frame	Wire frame on/off. Naturally, redraw is faster with no surface rendering.
Eye	See through base plate (from bottom). You can look into a model from the bottom side.
Magnifying glasses	Zoom in/out
Brush	Redraw the screen. Might be necessary after playing with the Z-level cut off.
Pointer	Cancel insert mode
Eye	Transparent blocks
Stud	Studded/Flat blocks
Rainbow *NEW in 1.4*	Choose any color
Edit box with a number *NEW in 1.1*	This shows the current viewing Octant. It's useful for those that design their own pieces (To determine drawing order).
Question mark *NEW in 1.1*	About BlockCAD - here You can find my address

The bottom bar

Dot	View from top. Does not affect the other angle.
Thin arrows	Select predefined view
Dash	View from front. Does not affect the other angle.
R	Restore view. The current view is saved together with the model, and can always be restored.
Scroll bar	Z-level cut off. Using this you can 'build' the model, by showing (or hiding) one level at a time. Also useful when you need to fix something after the model is done.
Base plate dimensions	Enter zero to eliminate the base plate. Press ENTER to effectuate.
Check box	Choose thick or thin base plate

The side bar

Colored squares	Choose color for new blocks (And for repainting already inserted blocks)
Arrows	Flip the pages with building blocks
Blocks	Left click to select
Small boxes *Removed in 1.5*	Show the page of 'most recently used bricks' 1.5: it's now a choice in the Name listbox instead.
List box with page names *NEW in 1.5*	Quick selection of piece selection page

Mouse commands - note: Ver. 1.5 switch the meaning of the first two!

**1.5: Shift Left Click** Left click in previous versions	Select a block in the model for moving it. Be careful - when Safe Mode is active (Default), the clicked block is immediately placed on top of every other block at the same XY coordinates. Normally you should only select blocks in the uppermost layer.
1.5: Left Click Shift Left Click in previous versions	Select a block (or the whole group a block belongs to) without moving it. Another Left Click deselects the block/group again. More than one block/group can be selected.
Ctrl Left Click NEW in 1.5	Select/unselect the block pointed at, regardless of any groupings
Ctrl Shift Left Click NEW in 1.4	Cut out all the selected blocks. You can now move them all and place somewhere else.
Alt Shift Left Click NEW in 1.4	Copy all the selected blocks. You can now place as many copies of them as you like.
Right click CHG in 1.1 CHG in 1.4	Turn the block (sub-assembly) You are currently placing. In 1.4 the right click on the background does not paint it any more. Right click on the color boxes instead. The Advanced Options have been renamed, and are invoked by a menu command instead. The Advanced Right Click setting has been removed. In previous versions: Paint the indicated block (or background) with the current color, or activate the Advanced Options Window, depending on the setting of Advanced right click)
Control-Right click	Turn the indicated block 90 degrees.
Shift-Left drag *REMOVED in 1.4*	Translate (move) the drawing. Same as using the large scroll bars. 1.4: Only the scroll bars work.
Shift-Right drag	Rotate the model. Same as fat blue arrows on top.
Alt-Right click	Toggle the studs on the indicated block.

Right Click in the Block Selection Pages	Bring up a menu for editing the pages and the blocks.

Keyboard commands

Backspace	Delete the current block. Same as pressing the Pointer button
Escape	Deselect all selected blocks.
Arrow keys	Move the current block one block increment in X or Y.
Shift-Arrow keys	Move the current block one stud increment in X or Y.
Insert key	Turn the current block 90 degrees.
Page up/down	Move the current block one block increment in Z (only when Safe Mode is off).
Shift-Page up/down	Move the current block one stud increment in Z (only when Safe Mode is off).
Enter	Place a block. Same as Left click.
F1 - F10	Corresponds to the View buttons in the bottom bar.

Settings

Advanced Toolbox. Activates the Advanced ToolBox Window. In this window You can adjust all parameters for the currently selected blocks: color, direction, transparency, position - even Z.

Ldraw this view. If You have Ldraw installed, and have set up the path in blockcad.ini, this menu choice is enabled. You can launch Ldraw to render the current BlockCAD model, in the same viewing position. NOTE BlockCAD can have blocks which don't exist in Ldraw - those will be left out. There can also be some errors in the file bc2ld.lst, in which case the wrong block is rendered in Ldraw, or it is positioned wrong

POV (Via L2P). If You have Ldraw, L2P and POVRay installed, this can launch a rendering directly from BlockCAD. You need to edit the file L2PGO.BAT, and place a copy of that in the Ldraw directory.

POV (Via L3P). If You have Ldraw, L3P and POVRay installed, this can launch a rendering directly from BlockCAD. You need to edit the file L3PGO.BAT, and place a copy of that in the Ldraw directory.

Make group. Join all the selected pieces to a group. From now on all the blocks in the group are selected/unselected when You Left Click any block in the group. Ctrl Left Click always work on individual blocks. Groups are persistant, ie. they remain after saving/loading. When inserting a Sub-Assembly, it is automatically made into a group, so You can Left Click it, and move as a whole.

Break group. Only enabled if at least one group is selected. Makes all the blocks in the selected group(s) individual blocks again.

Fast Studs, Better Studs, Best Studs. Self explanatory. Also used for Ldraw rendering.

Safe positioning (default ON). With this option on, You can only put pieces on top of other pieces, never under or inside them

Don't render covered studs (default OFF). Activating this option can make the redraw a bit faster.

Slow rendering (default OFF). Redraw the whole picture for every piece rendered. Very slow on my old computer (486/50), and You can see how the model builds up. Much faster on my new computer (PII/266), but You still get a glimpse of the buildup.

Restore background color. Restores the background color to the default value (from Windows settings). Normally this color is not available in the color boxes in BlockCAD.

Background picture… Select a picture to show on the background. Pressing Cancel in the file dialog removes the background picture from the screen.

No details. (Still in experimental stage)

More detail (decorations). (Still in experimental stage)

Most detail (bitmap). (Still in experimental stage)

Hints. Turn on the small textual hints on buttons (hold the mouse pointer over a button to see it's description)

Shading. Turn on/off the simulated shading.

Adjust light. Adjust the position of the simulated light source. NOTE: the way shading works means that you always have two lights opposite of each other, so if the light shines mainly on the top side, the bottom side is also lighted.