Table of Contents

Table of Contents. iii

About this Manual 1

Chapter 1 Introduction. 7

About Section Maker 7

Section Property Calculations. 7

Interaction with Multiframe. 8

Chapter 2 Learning Section Maker 11

Starting Section Maker 11

Drawing a Shape. 11

Adding the Section to the Sections Library. 16

Chapter 3 Using Section Maker 19

Summary of Mouse Techniques. 20

Summary of Keyboard Techniques. 21

Resizable Dialogs. 22

Working with Graphics. 23

Zoom, Pan, Shrink and Size To Fit 23

Working with Tables. 24

Column Widths. 24

Text Styles. 24

Number Styles. 25

Changing Numbers or Name. 25

Selecting Numbers in Tables. 25

Copying and Pasting Numbers. 26

Copying and Pasting Sections. 26

Chapter 4 Creating Sections. 29

Working With Shapes. 30

Drawing a Shape. 30

Moving a Shape. 37

Copying and Pasting Shapes. 37

Resizing a Shape. 38

Deleting a Shape. 38

Duplicating a Shape. 38

Rotating a Shape. 38

Rescaling a Shape. 39

Reflecting Shapes. 39

Making shapes equal in size. 39

Aligning Shapes. 40

Stacking Shapes. 40

Converting Shapes to Polygons. 40

Merging Polygons. 41

Shape Properties. 41

Grouping Shapes. 41

Aligning to Centroid. 42

Generating Standard Shapes. 42

Using Existing Sections. 43

Importing a Shape. 43

Setting Materials. 44

Viewing Properties. 45

Validating the Shape. 45

Adding a Section to the Library. 46

Chapter 5 Sections Library Management 51

Working with Libraries. 52

Fields and Section Properties. 52

Creating a New Library. 52

Opening a Library. 52

Saving a Library. 53

Saving as Text 53

Group Organiser 54

Working with Groups. 56

Viewing Groups. 56

Locking/Unlocking a Group. 57

Adding a Group. 57

Editing a Group. 58

Duplicating a Group. 58

Deleting a Group. 58

Reordering Groups. 59

Adding a Field. 59

Editing Fields. 60

Deleting a Field. 61

Reordering Fields. 61

Working with Sections. 63

Viewing Sections. 63

Adding a Section. 63

Deleting a Section. 64

Changing Section Properties. 64

Custom Shape Data. 66

Section Colour 66

Reordering Sections. 67

Generating Tapered Sections. 68

Working with Materials. 70

Viewing Materials. 70

Adding a Material 70

Deleting a Material 71

Changing a Material 71

Chapter 6 Section Maker Reference. 73

Import Submenu. 78

Export Submenu. 79

Select Submenu. 80

Geometry Menu. 81

Make Equal Size Submenu. 82

Align Submenu. 83

Align to Centroid Submenu. 83

Arrange Submenu. 83

Library Menu. 85

Groups Submenu. 85

Material Submenu. 86

Sections Submenu. 86

Display Menu. 87

Properties Submenu. 87

Data Submenu. 88

Library Submenu. 88

Symbols Submenu. 88

Colours Submenu. 89

Legend Submenu. 89

Window Menu. 90

Appendix A - File Formats. 93

Section Library Text File Format 93