Lesson 1 - Introduction

In this tutorial you will learn how to use CADEMIA to create your own drawings. CADEMIA is very easy to install and to use. CADEMIA is written completely in Java and runs on all relevant platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux). The tutorial is divided in 12 steps.

  1. Introduction: This introduction
  2. Installation: The installation of Java and CADEMIA on different platforms is explained.
  3. User Interface: The User Interface of CADEMIA and its fundamental handling is explained.
  4. Construction: The creation of a drawing requires efficient construction tools. CADEMIA supports the construction of points, lines, circles, vectors, distances and angles. The construction processors are consistently used in CADEMIA: Whenever a point is to be constructed CADEMIA calls the point processor, whenever an angle is to be constructed the angle processor is used.
  5. Components: The database consists of a list of components of different type. The fundamental components Line, Arc, Circle, Path and Text are introduced.
  6. Graphical Attributes and Layers: The visual appearance of the components is controlled by graphical attributes like color, line pattern and line width. Components can be assigned to layers.
  7. Selection and Modification: Existing components can be selected and modified. Selection and modification not only applies to components as a whole. It is also possible to select and modify parts of components. This is mainly controlled via points -- the so called control points. It is also possible to drag whole components or control points with the mouse. Components offer different features like their color or their length. These features can be manipulated in a generic way.
  8. Dimensioning: Dimensioning is represented by the DimSingle component. A DimSingle component represents a single dimensioning. Dimensioning can be oriented arbitrarily. Horizontal, vertical, angular and parallel dimensioning is possible. Dimensioning can be optionally connected to control points. This is known as associative dimensioning and results in a change of the dimensioning whenever the dimensioned geometry is changed. Chain dimensioning consists of a set of DimSingle components placed by specific commands. Dimensioning can be manipulated via control points and via features. Typical features are the dimensioning units like [mm] or [m, cm].
  9. Drawing Settings, Printing and Interoperability: The CADEMIA drawing can be configured in various ways. It is possible to move and rotate the User Coordinate System. The user specifies coordinates in natural units like [m], [mm] or [cm]. The drawing scale can be set. Various Printing methods are possible. Interoperability with other applications is facilitated via the PDF (export) and DXF (import and export) formats.
  10. Exercise: An example drawing is presented that allows to verify your CADEMIA skills.
  11. Advanced Features: Some features are used only by advanced users. In CADEMIA the user always specifies coordinates in natural units like [m], [mm] or [cm]. To achieve the best possible accuracy the components are internally stored in so called world units. The ratio 'world to user units' can be specified by the user. Another topic is the definition of mouse strokes and macros. The CADEMIA system can be extended at runtime via Plugins. We show how to retrieve and load Plugins.
  12. Conclusions: A conclusion is drawn from the tutorial.