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    Contents
    • Basics
      • User Interface
      • Drawing and System tabs
      • Rotating and Panning
      • Selecting Objects
      • Toolpaths and Gcode
      • Drawing Units
      • File Menu
      • View Menu
      • Tools Menu
      • Simple Example
      • Keyboard Shortcuts
    • Machining (CAM)
      • Machining Basics
      • Profile
      • Pocket
      • Drill
      • Engrave
      • 3D Profile
      • Lathe
      • Creating GCode
      • Machining Options
      • Edit Gcode
      • CAM Part
      • CAM Styles
      • Lead Moves
      • Holding Tabs
      • Side Profiles
      • Post Processor
      • Nesting
      • Back Plotting
      • Tool Libraries
      • Speeds and Feeds Calculator
    • Drawing (CAD)
      • Entities
      • Script Object
      • Bitmaps
      • Layers
      • Transformations
      • Operations
      • Edit Polyline
      • Edit Surface
      • Edit Points
      • Creating Surfaces
      • Region Fill
    • Tutorials
      • Profile
      • Pocketing
      • Drilling
      • Bitmap Heightmaps
      • Text Engraving
      • 3D Profile
      • 3D Profile - Back face
    • Automation
    • Configuration
    • Appendix
      • What's New?

    CAD Entities

    icon Polyline

    Polylines consist of multiple straight line and circular arc segments.

    Polylines are used internally to represent toolpath shapes as they correspond well to gcode G1 (line) and G2,G3 (arc) moves.

    The polylines are drawn with the mouse, making a left click to place the points. A double click on a polyline enter in edit mode and allow to see and to move the points which constitute it.

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    Properties

    Closed

    True | False

    Open polylines have two ends and no defined inside or outside.

    Closed polylines are where the first and last points are the same and have a well defined inside and outside.

    Note Polylines with first and last points having the same coordinates are not necessarily closed. The closed marker should be set to True for these shapes otherwise unexpected results may occur.

    Points

    This property contains a collection of polyline points. Clicking the [...] button to the right of the property will open up a window where the points can be edited directly.

    Each point contains an X,Y and Z coordinate and a bulge parameter.

    Bulge is defined as tan(sweep angle/4) for arc segments, where bulge=0 is a straight line.

    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon Region

    A region consists of a closed outer shape and a number of internal holes.

    To create a region, select inner and outer shapes then use the Edit - Convert - To Region menu option, or press CTRL+R

    icon Circle

    The circles are drawn with the mouse, making a left click to place the center, then after releasing the left button, moving the mouse to define the radius followed by a new click of the left button to finish.

    New 1.0

    A double click on a circle enter in edit mode and thus to see and move the center; click / move the center point to move it ; click / move around the circle to change its diameter.

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    Properties

    Center

    The coordinates of the center of the circle.

    Diameter

    The diameter of the circle.

    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon PointList

    Point lists are useful for defining points to be used for drilling operations.

    A double click on a pointList allows you to enter in edit mode and to move or add points; click / move a point to move it ; click on a the drawing area to add a new one.

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    As well as drawing directly, they can be created from the Draw-Point List menu operations

    Divide Geometry

    Evenly divides a selected shape into a given number and inserts a point at each division.

    This is useful for generating a bolt hole pattern.

    Step Around Geometry

    Inserts a point at given distances around a selected shape.

    Fill Geometry

    Fills a closed shape with points.

    Offset Fill Geometry

    Fills a closed shape with points where alternating rows are offset by half the stepping distance.

    Centers

    Inserts a point at the center of each selected object.

    Extents

    Inserts a point at the extremities and center of a boundary rectangle enclosing each selected object.

    Properties

    Points This property contains a collection of points. Clicking the [...] button to the right of the property will open up a window where the points can be edited directly.
    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon Rectangle

    The rectangles are drawn with the mouse, making a left click to place an angle, then after releasing the left button, moving the mouse to define the diagonal followed by a new click of the left button to finish.

    A double click on a rectangle enter in edit mode and alow to move the points of angles (the object remains rectangular)

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    Properties

    Corner Radius

    This will round the corners of the rectangle to a given radius.

    Height

    The height of the rectangle.

    Lower Left

    The coordinates of the lower left corner of the rectangle.

    Width

    The width of the rectangle.

    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon Text

    Properties

    Bold Bold Font Style.
    Char Space

    This option scales the width used for each character. The default is 1. A setting of 2 would double the space used for each character (but not the character itself).

    Font

    This is the name of the font to use for the text.

    Height

    This is the text height in drawing units.

    The height is based on the em square, which is a property of the font that describes the largest dimensions possible of the font.

    To obtain an accurate height, given the text and font entered, the Edit - Resize command should be used.

    Italic

    Italic Font Style.

    Line Space

    This scales the distance between each text line. The default is 1.

    Location

    This is the first and at the moment, only alignment point. The TextAlignmentH and TextAlignmentV options are all relative to this point.

    Regular

    Regular Font Style.

    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Text

    The text to enter. To enter multi line text, click the [...] button after this property.

    Text Alignment Horizontal

    Left, Center or Right (relative to Location).

    Text Alignment Vertical

    Top, Center or Bottom (relative to Location).
    NOTE: Bottom is actually the baseline of the text.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon Arc

    The arcs are drawn with the mouse by clicking the two extreme points, then by positioning the center with a third click.

    New 1.0

    A double click on an arc allows you to enter in edit mode and to move its center start and end points.

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    Note: While drawing or editing an arc, pressing the Shift key will invert the direction of the arc when moving the center.

    Properties

    Center

    The center of the arc.

    Radius

    The radius of the arc.

    Start

    The start angle in degrees of the first arc point. Angle = 0 is along the positive X axis.

    Sweep

    The sweep angle in degrees from the first to second arc point. Positive angles are counter clockwise and negative angles clockwise.

    Tag

    A general purpose, multi-line text field that can be used to store notes or parameter data.

    Transform

    A 4 x 4 matrix of numbers used for general transformations of the drawing objects.

    The transform matrix can be used for rotations, translations and scaling about all 3 axis.

    Identity indicates no transformations will be applied to the object.

    icon Line

    Lines have multiple segments, similar to polylines, but can only contain straight sections.

    New 1.0

    Lines can be edited by double-clicking on it, like polylines

    icon Surface

    These are triangular faceted 3D meshes imported from an STL or 3DS file

    New 1.0

    They also can be created in CamBam with Draw/Surface/extrude solids and Draw/Surface/Fill

    Surfaces are triangle face meshes imported from STL and 3DS files.

    icon Spline

    Splines (or NURBS) are curves that are defined by a series of control points and weights.

    New 1.0

    The splines are drawn with the mouse, making a left click to place the points of inflection.

    A double click on a spline enter in edit mode and thus to see and move the control points that constitute it, as well as the points that make it possible to modify the curvature locally.

    Pressing the Ctrl key while moving a control point (red circle) temporarily breaks the link with its curvature control points (yellow squares)

    Click the middle mouse button (wheel) or hit Enter to confirm, or Esc to cancel.

    icon Script object

    New 1.0

    See here

    icon Bitmap object

    New 1.0

    See here

    Draw/More

    Tangent

    Draws a line between points of tangency of circles or arcs (or arcs contained in a polyline)

    After choosing the Tangent function, move the mouse over the first circle / arc; the end of the line will follow and stick to the curve ; click the left mouse button to fix that first point (which will “slide” along the curve depending on the orientation you give to the line)

    Then move the mouse cursor on the second circle / arc; a triangle will appear at the nearest point of tangency. This triangle will change places depending on the position of the mouse.

    Hook the end of the line on the triangle, then click on the left button to finish.

    Note: It may be easier to “feel” the magnetization to the curve/triangle if you disable grid snapping

    Flat Spiral

    Draws a flat spiral.

    The Stepover is the spacing between the turns in current drawing unit.

    The Direction is the winding direction of the spiral, and can be clockwise (CW) or counter-clockwise (CCW)

    After filling in these two informations, draw the spiral starting at the center and then defining the radius (as if to draw a circle)

    Spiral Path

    Draws a spiral along a path.

    First, select a shape that will serve as path, then choose the Spiral Path command from the menu.

    The same window as for a flat spiral will open. It allows to choose the Stepover and Direction, as before, but also to specify the radius of the spiral.

    Trochoidal Path

    Same principle as above, but this time it is a succession of arcs that follow the path, and not a spiral.

    Combined with an engraving operation, this path allows you to quickly remove material with less stress for the tools.

    Ellipse

    Allows drawing ellipses by drawing a bounding rectangle with the mouse.

    The ellipse once drawn becomes a polyline, consisting of arcs and lines.

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