FLUID DESK CAD 2024

Welcome to FLUID DESK Help. Help includes descriptions and instructions for all the features and functions in the software. With FLUID DESK, you can easily create professional CAD drawings. With DWG as its primary drawing file format, FLUID DESK provides compatibility and exchange capabilities with a wide range of graphics and construction software all over the world. Release 2024 can read and write DWG files up to the latest version of this format (R2018). The same applies to DXF (Drawing eXchange Format) files, which store the drawing database contents unencrypted.

You can choose between a classic user interface (UI) or a ribbon-based user interface. The ribbon-based workspace which is organized by tabs and logical groups of commands can replace the classic workspace which provides the traditional menu bar and toolbars.

This chapter introduces basic features and functions used with drawings: Creating, Opening, Closing, and Saving Drawings, Setting Up the Drawing Environment, Using a Template Drawing and Working with Sheets

The following topics describe techniques and instruments for drawing with precision and accuracy: Coordinate Input and Coordinate Systems - How to enter coordinates and use coordinate filters Using Drawing Tools and Methods - How to use snap, grid, Ortho, EntitySnaps, ETrack, and polar guides Inquiring and Calculating - How to examine drawings by identifying coordinates, retrieving distances and areas, and analyzing geometries

This chapter describes the commands for creating, opening, and saving drawing files. You can open drawing files created in other CAD programs or save files to open them in other applications.

In this section you learn how to control the graphics area and views. The graphics area is the space in which you draw and place entities. A view is the area of the graphics area that appears on your screen.

You can use 3D viewing tools to visualize your drawings from any point in 3D space.

Formatting means associating properties with drawing entities and using styles for different categories of entities. Entity Properties All drawing entities, such as Lines or Circles, have several properties. Some of the properties like Layer, LineColor, LineStyle, LineWeight, and transparency are common to all entities. Entity Properties introduces the basics of properties. Organizing the Drawing with Layers explains the concepts of working with Layers.

You can use drawing tools to create new entities such as Lines, PolyLines, Arcs, Circles, Ellipses, and Splines. You can use InfiniteLines, Rays, and Points as constructing tools. As you sketch, you might be prompted to specify points such as the center point of a Circle, or the start and end point of a Line. You can enter coordinate values at the command prompt or in the graphics area. To use the sketching tools efficiently, use the coordinate input methods and EntitySnap options.

You can modify entities in many ways. Use these basic editing methods: Selecting entities for modification; Modifying entities using EntityGrips; Correcting mistakes; Using the clipboard; Changing entity properties;

This chapter describes how to: Create and Insert Blocks. Blocks bind entities together to form a single entity. You can insert internal Blocks and external drawings as Blocks into drawings. Link BlockAttributes to Blocks. BlockAttributes are entities that let you link labels or variable text information to Blocks. Group Entities. EntityGroups are collections of entities (similar to Blocks) that are treated as one. Unlike Blocks, EntityGroups are not designed for repetitive insertions. Use References. References attach a separate drawing to the current drawing. Edit Components. In-place editing lets you modify the definition of referenced Blocks or externally referenced drawings.

You can enhance drawings with Hatches and color fills. You can add Text notes and Tables to geometric entities and dimensions in drawings. VoiceNotes let you record audio notes and replay them as needed. Hyperlinks associated to entities provide jumps to Web sites, email addresses, drawing files, or user-defined views.

You can extract information from a set of entities using the Data Extraction wizard. This topic discusses: About Data Extraction; About Linking Microsoft Excel Files; Using Data Extraction Wizard;

There are several dimension tools to display entity measurements or relations between entities.

Constraints specify geometric and dimensional properties of entities. Use Constraints to control drawing entities parametrically. Constraints specify geometric and dimensional properties of entities. Applying Constraints forces geometric assemblies to modify their shapes and positions. Constraints let you maintain design intent and improve the consistency of drawings. You can apply Geometric Constraints Dimensional Constraints When working with Constraints, you can control the visibility of: Constraint Icons, Dynamic Dimensions.

Wireframe models consist of linear edges and curves that represent the edges of 3D entities. You create them with standard draw commands to draw Lines, Arcs, Circles, PolyLines, or Ellipses, for example. Surface models consist of entities with edges and surfaces between those edges. You can create surface models by using specific 3D entity-creation commands.

This chapter introduces you to creating 3D solid objects: Boxes, Wedges, Pyramids, Spheres, Cylinders, Cones, Tori, PolySolids.

When a drawing is complete, you can apply Sheet tabs to design layouts from which to print. Annotative scaling lets you have consistent sizes and scales of text, dimensions, and hatches in printouts.

You can organize drawing sheets into drawing sheet sets in order to manage and publish them as a unit.

You can open several drawings at once. The Window menu contains functions to work with multiple drawings simultaneously.

This section provides information about adjusting and customizing the user interface and program environment.

This appendix contains two variants of command reference.

Keyboard shortcuts.

System variables store settings and preferences for commands and functions as well as for drawing, editing, and viewing modes. You can use some system variables like a command (especially those that turn on and off certain states of the drawing environment).

XtraTools provide a set of additional commands to increase productivity in many ways in design process.