Create Primitives

To understand basic primitive generation and the Boolean operations we will create a new design.

Create a design

1. Select FILE \ NEW from the pulldown menus.

   The New Design dialog opens

   

2. Enter a name for the design, for example, primitives.

3. Select New to create a new, empty design.

   Note: The existing design will remain open. A new (empty) tree will be created together with a new graphics window. (One can switch between models at any time by clicking on any of the graphics windows.)

4. Open another graphics window by selecting the new graphics window icon, . Position the windows side by side such that they do not overlap.

5. The first primitive we will create is a block of length 10, width 10 and height 10.

   1. Select SOLIDS\ BLOCK from the pulldown menus or click the icon, .

      The user can move the dialog to a convenient position, using the standard windows operations.

   2. Enter the values in the relevant boxes and click the adjacent OK button.

      The block will be stored on layer 1, as this is the default current layer.

6. Select the Reset View icon to scale the view to fit the extent of the block.

   If the user looks at the patch list in the tree, it will be noticed that the block has automatically been given the name BLO. If the user created a second block, this would get the name BLO1.

7. Next we will create a cylinder, we will use radius of 1 and length 20.

   1. Select SOLIDS\ CYLINDER from the pulldown menus or click the icon, .

   2. Enter the values and click the OK button.

      The cylinder is given the name CLN.

8. We will now move the cylinder so that it is positioned in the center of the block.

   1. Select the right graphics window and use the pop-up menu to set the STERN (S) view in this window.

   2. Use the OPTIONS pulldown, select the Modes page and click Drag with pointer.

   3. In the right window, click and hold the Left Mouse button within the perimeter of the cylinder (clear of the block) then drag the cylinder down and to the left so that it extends through the block from top to bottom and is approximately in the centre of the face.

   4. Access the pop-up menu and assign a STARBOARD (B) view to the right window.

   5. Click and hold the Left Mouse button within the perimeter of the cylinder and drag the cylinder to the right so that it is in the center of the face.