
TAILORS
function set for AutoCAD R14, AutoCAD 2000, IntelliCAD 2000
including functions SEW, XSLICE, LIFT, FLIP, BACKFACE, UNFOLD



Function SEW
creates a 3D polyface mesh composed of selected objects.

Points, lines, 3D faces, polygon meshes and polyface meshes
can be associated.
They don't necessarily have to be in spacial connection
(they do not need to share a common corner, edge, or area);
such a connention will not be generated by this function.
All components stay on their positions.

The first selected object determines layer and color
of the mesh created
(similar to AutoCAD 14 "union" command for 3D solids
 and "pedit" command for polylines).

Objects with a non-zero thickness cannot be selected.
The number of components of a polyface mesh is limited.

The "explode" command dismantles a polyface mesh
into its components, i. e. points, lines, and 3D faces.



Function XSLICE
slices lines, rays, xlines,
3D faces, polygon meshes, and polyface meshes with a plane.

Options of XSLICE are similar to those of the AutoCAD "slice"
command for 3D solids.

If there are objects not intersected by the slicing plane
but situated on the undesired side of the plane,
then you can choose to erase these objects.

Objects with a non-zero thickness cannot be selected.
Objects on locked layers do not get sliced.

All the sliced mesh components on the desired side of the plane
are reassembled to a polyface mesh
if their total number does not exceed 8191 (per side).
Otherwise the faces, lines, and points will remain individual objects.



Function LIFT
transforms points to lines, lines to 3D faces,
3D faces to polyface meshes,
polylines to polygon meshes,
and open polygon meshes to groups of open polygon meshes.

The displacement gets specified
like in the "move", "copy", and "stretch" commands.

Original points, lines, 3D faces, and polylines will be erased
if the "delobj" system variable equals 1.

Objects with a non-zero thickness cannot be selected.
Objects on locked layers do not get lifted.

If an edge of an original 3D face is invisible, then
the corresponding side face of the new polyface mesh is left out.
(Cf. "edge" command.)

Bulges of polylines are ignored
(as if the arc segments were straightened;
 vertices connected directly by line segments).
If the original is a polygon mesh, the LIFT function will create
five new meshes serving as "top" and "side" faces.
These meshes are combined to a group
(cf. AutoCAD "group" command; not supported by IntelliCAD).
The name of the group begins with "LIFT"
and contains date and time of its creation.

Face normals of a created polyface mesh / group of polygon meshes:
Either all normals are pointing outward
or all normals are pointing inward
(provided that there are no self-intersecting faces or meshes).

Surface fit/smooth options are not supported yet.



Function FLIP
reverses the order of vertices
of lines, 3D faces, polygon meshes, and polyface meshes.

Thereby the face normal directions are inverted.

Objects on locked layers do not get flipped.
Surface fit/smooth options are not supported yet.



Function BACKFACE
finds objects whose (average) face normal
has a negative Z value in the current UCS
and offers to flip them.
(See also the "View" option of the "UCS" command.)

Currently, 3D faces and open polygon meshes
can be examined with the BACKFACE function.
Surface fit/smooth options are not supported yet.



Function NORMALS
displays the (average) normal vectors
of 3D faces and open polygon meshes.

Block "NORMALS" (arrow) is inserted on layer "NORMALS".
Insertion points are the centers of the faces / meshes.
The color depends on the angle from the current UCS XY plane
(positive = green, negative = red).
The length of an arrow is determined by the
square root of the area of the face / mesh.

Note that the block inserts are not associative
(which means that they are not updated when the faces / meshes
 are modified).



Function UNFOLD for polyface meshes

When a polyface mesh is selected, the program will make a copy
of all non-zero area components on layer "UNFOLDED-F".
The copies get placed on the WCS XY plane and lined up along the
WCS X axis starting from the origin point.
The corners of the faces are numbered
on layer "UNFOLDED-N" (copies) and "UNFOLDED-O" (originals).
A command line message reports the number of copied triangles /
quadrangles and the total mesh area.

To convert 3D solids and regions into polyface meshes -
export as 3D studio file and re-import this file
(AutoCAD "3dsout", "3dsin" commands).
To convert single 3D faces and polygon meshes
(e. g. as created with the "rulesurf" or "revsurf" commands)
into polyface meshes - use the SEW function (see above).



Function TAILORSHELP
displays information about the TAILORS functions
by means of a browser (not yet supported by IntelliCAD).


_______________________________________________________________________


Installation

Conditions:
Basic condition is an installation of AutoCAD 14, AutoCAD 2000,
or IntelliCAD 2000.
Applying this software within former releases
probably does not succeed completely and was not tested.
In order to display the help files yous need a browser;
PNG images are supported
e. g. by Netscape Navigator (version 4.0 and higher),
Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 4.0 and higher),
Opera (version 3.51 and higher).

Simple load for temporary use:
The AutoCAD / IntelliCAD "appload" command can be used to load
the "Tailors/Tailors.lsp" file;
in AutoCAD 2000 "Tailors/Tailors.vlx" is a faster alternative.
But "appload" neither creates a toolbar, nor inserts a menu section,
nor makes the help files accessible directly.
The functions have to be issued by entering their names
on the keyboard.
Depending on the "preferences" settings, "appload" remains in effect
only during the current AutoCAD session
or as long as the current drawing is open.

Permanent installation (not available in IntelliCAD),
1st step:
Copy the "Tailors" directory to a place where AutoCAD can find it.

You are provided with information about possible places
by the AutoCAD 14 "preferences" command
or by the AutoCAD 2000 "options" command
  (last item of the "Tools" menu);
"Files" tab,
click on the plus sign standing before "Support File Search Path".
Now you may copy "Tailors" into one of the directories listed,
or you may also define a new path
  ("Add" button, "Browse" button).
Note that not the "Tailors" directory itself but its parent directory
should become a valid search directory.

2nd step:
Enable access to the "Tailors" toolbar.

In order to do this, invoke the AutoCAD "menuload" command
  ("Tools" menu, "Customize Menus..." item, "Menu Group" tab).
Load the "Tailors.mns" file from the "Tailors/English" subdirectory
  ("Browse" button, "Load" button, "Close" button).
This should have established the "Tailors" toolbar.
If not, use the AutoCAD "toolbar" command
  (last item of the "View" menu);
under the "Tailors" menu group this toolbar should be marked
for being displayed.

Pull-down menu:
If you wish to have a "Tailors" menu bar section,
the "menuload" dialog box will be suitable again
  ("Menu Bar" tab).

Uninstall:
The AutoCAD commands mentioned may also be used to uninstall "Tailors".
Before deleting a support file search path make sure that AutoCAD
does not need to find another application on this path.



Since AutoCAD / IntelliCAD has to be able to find all files needed,
you should not rename the "Tailors" directory!



Contents:
Tailors (76 files, 8 subdirectories)
   Deutsch (15 files, 1 subdirectory)
      Hilfe (10 files, no subdirectory)
      LiesMich.html
      LiesMich.txt
      Schneiderei.dcl
      Schneiderei.mnl
      Schneiderei.mns
   English (15 files, 1 subdirectory)
      Help (10 files, no subdirectory)
      ReadMe.html
      ReadMe.txt
      Tailors.dcl
      Tailors.mnl
      Tailors.mns
   Images (40 files, 3 subdirectories)
      css (2 files, no subdirectory)
      icons (28 files, no subdirectory)
      examples (10 files, no subdirectory)
   History.txt
   License.txt
   Tailors.fas
   Tailors.lsp
   Tailors.prv
   Tailors.vlx

If installing is successful AutoCAD automatically will generate
two additional files named "Tailors.mnc" and "Tailors.mnr".
It is not necessary to copy these files when redistributing this
software; but all of the files and subdirectories mentioned above
have to be included in the "Tailors" directory.

The "History.txt" file lists the changes that were made to
former versions of the "Tailors" files.
Via http://www.polyface.de/ you will find the current version
of the "Tailors" tools.



Copyright:

"TAILORS" is free software.
You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License,
or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program;
if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.



Author:
Armin Antkowiak, Berlin
info@polyface.de

31 March 2001



"AutoCAD" is a registered trademark of AutoDesk, Inc.
"IntelliCAD" is a registered trademark of the ITC
             (IntelliCAD Technology Consortium).
