Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions

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F 01 - In Turbo 3D, what is the difference between "Layers" and "Objects" ?

In many CAD programs, there is confusion in the definitions of "Layers" and "Objects". In Turbo 3D, the layers are independent segments of the database. The geometry of each segment can be organized into objects that are groups of entities that are identified by a name. Furthermore, each object can be a hierarchy—it can contain other objects. This triple hierarchy—layers/parent objects/child objects—makes possible a robust structuring of 3D models. This is essential to manage large models or models that are intended to be used as synthesized realistic images.

F 02 - Everything on the screen has disappeared! What should I do ?

Press the "X" key (default keyboard short cut for "full-scale display" or" eXpand"). This causes the image to be fitted to the screen and refreshed. An other possibility: do an automatic perspective view, or open the "aerial view window" and click in it.
if you still see nothing, or if your drawing appears to be very small on the screen, this mean that one (or more) layer(s) contain(s) a piece of geometry drawn very far away from your working space. Remove such layers from the view or correct them.

F 03 - Can I use Turbo 3D to produce 2D drawings ?

Turbo 3D can be used to make dimensioned 2D working drawings and can be used as a conventional CAD program. Such drawings can be produced by confining oneself to the set of 2D drawing tools, or can be produced starting from 3D objects by means of sectioning, extractions from profiles, by projections, orthographic views, etc. Turbo 3D incorporates a dimensioning system (for plan or perspective views) that is tightly coupled to the model.

F 04 - I have just added dimensions, but I can't see them ! What should I do ?

They are really there, but they will remain invisible until you ask for them to be displayed ! Check the item "With Dimensions//All" in the "View" menu. It makes sense to do this BEFORE putting in the dimensions ! The same goes for the other entity types (nodes, vectors, curves).

F 05 - Is 3D Turbo 3D an object "oriented" program ?

Turbo 3D contains many object classes. We are getting into a highly technical area here, and it's impossible to properly answer that question in a few sentences. The short answer is: the geometrical objects inherit three kinds of operational processes : geometrical, surface type, and volume type. The class of tools that is appropriate to apply to an object will depend on which of that object's "three aspects" you are considering at that moment.

F 06 - What means the term "strokes" ?

You are already familiar with three ways for you to give commands to your computer: click and make selections from the menus, click on an icon, and type on the keyboard. in 1984, JP Harmand has invented a fourth way: use the mouse to trace your own "gestures" on the screen (e.g. a diagonal "stroke" to invoke the display of a "perspective view", an "s" for geometric similarity). It's easy, quick, and above all very effective. By using such strokes, you will increase the speed of your work by a factor of five, as a direct consequence of the greater economy of movement employed.

F 07 - What is the "Planes List" ?

Turbo 3D can remember the description of any number of 3D Planes. The planes in the Planes List correspond to the UCS in AutoCAD, but they are also used for two other purposes: a "Reference plane> makes it possible to define a non-orthographic working plane or any desired rotation of the current working plane; and Cut planes or Projection plane.

F 08 - For an entity that is visible on the screen, how can one know to which layer it belongs ?

If the entity's color is not enough to reference it to its layer, click on the "Inter-Layer Selection" item from the "Option" menu. From then on, any click on an entity in the image will cause the current layer to toggle to the layer that contains this entity.

F 09 - Why is linear measure (distance) so important ?

The simple act of measuring the distance between two points gives the program more than one type of important information. It gives not only the value of distance: it gives, as well, the direction of the straight line passing through the points and also the direction of the segment that connects the points in the order of the mouse clicks made. These 3 elements define a 3D vector. A 3D vector underlies the displacements used to effect translations, duplications, extrusions, etc. This vector is permanently stored in memory and can be introduced at any time when the parameters of functions are needed or when the "Numeric Help " is invoked.

F 10 - Is Turbo 3D exclusively a 3D CAD program ?

Turbo 3D is the only true 3D program that has not sacrificed anything when it comes to the production of 2D drawings. It was designed from the start for 3D. Working in 2D is only a matter of using a limited number of the available drawing tools and restricting viewing to orthographic views. Turbo 3D, thanks to its exceptionally efficient and versatile user interface, can function as both a 2D drawing program and a 3D design program.

F 11 - Does 3D Turbo have terrain specification functions ?

Thanks to its surfacing functions, 3D Turbo enables the creation and manipulation of different terrains: import of relief maps from surveyors or IGN databases (BD Topo, BD alti or Trapu); automated Delaunay triangulation; forming of a surface on a cloud of topographical coordinates; 3D cadastral mapping; longitudinal and transverse cuts; extraction of topographical contour curves, cut/fill by means of Boolean operations.

F 12 - The arrows in my Pilot window are scrambled and unusable - What should I do?

Open the "Appearance" control panel from the Apple menu. Select the "Option" tab. Uncheck the "Smart Scrolling" box. Close the control panel, close the pilot window and re-open it from the View menu.

F 13 - The TrueType text block are sometimes troncated in my printouts - What should I do?

The problem is inside the MacOs which sometime does not measure properly the texts. To overcome this problem, add blank characters at the begining or the end of the widest line.

F 14 - I cannot print on my Canon BJC 85 printer - What should I do ?

The v3.4 BJC 85 driver from Canon contains a bug which causes a system crash when the line width must be changed on the printer. Download the version 4.23 (or later) of Turbo 3D /XtaZ which contains a modification to overcome this Canon problem.

F 15 - How can I transfer the selected geometry from a layer into an other layer ?

You can do this in 3 ways :

1) Copy or Cut the selection (Ctrl+X) and paste it in the destination layer (Ctrl+V).

2) Holding the Option key down, drag the icon of the layer which contain the selection onto the icon of the destination layer. The selection is duplicated in the destination layer (equivalent to Copy/Paste).

3) Translate the selection and end up the translation movement onto the icon of the destination layer (This is a hidden funtion of Turbo 3D !).the original selection is erased (equivalent to Cut/Paste).
If you end up the translation movement onto the trash, the selection will be deleted.

F 16 - How can I display the nodes numbers on the screen and on the print out ?

I am using Turbo 3D to prepare complex 3D metalic structures for stress calculations. I need to display the numbers of the nodes on the screen and on the print out.

This function is included in Turbo 3D / XtaZ since version 4.14. Verify that your software is v4.4 or later.
Pull down the "Options" menu and select "Preferences". The Preferences dialog is displayed.
Check the box " Display nodes numbers".

This option works along with the option "Display points in all layers". If this option is also checked, the numbers of the nodes are displayed in all layers. If not, the numbers of the nodes in the current layer are displayed.

The font (face, size, style,...) used to display the nodes numbers is the last one selected under the Text mode.
The color used is the current color, as it appears in left tool bar.

F 17 - I want to use ArtLantis™ but this software does not understand Layers and Objects- What should I do ?

With 3D Turbo you can design perfectly structured models with layers and objects. But ArtLantis knows nothing about layers or objects. When it imports a 3D scene from DXF or DWG, ArtLantis considers each layer as a material. Therefore you must organize your model in such a manner that every object (or piece of object) wearing the same material be in a same layer. in ArtLantis a texture = a layer= an object.
This simplist approach is unacceptable to those who want to keep their model perfectly structured.

May we remind you that the XtaZ photorealistic rendering module integrated in 3D Turbo does not suffer from such a deficiency and preserves the structures of your model. Hierarchical objects can be stored in/extracted from object libraries with their textures. Textured hierarchical objects can be manipulated in the modeler (Translation, rotation, scaling, duplication,..) and even be used in boolean operations with their textures. Please visit the 3D XtaZ page. Thank you !

F 18 - I need to exchange files in the DWG and DXF format - What should I do ?

3D Turbo is 100% DWG/DXF compatible. It is supplied with a utility , the DWGConvertor which allows you to convert any AutoCad native DWG or DXF file into a 3D Turbo file and export a 3D Turbo/XtaZ file to a DWG/DXF file (DWG rev 10 ,2,13,14,2000).

This utility can be found in the "Utilities" folder on the CD-ROM and is available on this site for download

F 19 - The DWG convertor produced doubles lines, unusable for 3D construction - What should I do ?

The LWPOLYLINES can be used to describe line width (to simulate various pen sizes on printers). When converting such entities, the convertor produces double parallel lines, whose distance equals the pen width at a given drawing scale, therefore reproducing exact pen width on printers. If you want to build a 3D model from such a 2D drawing, then the double lines must be erased througout the drawing, and the remaining lines are not at the correct coordinates ( they are sligtly displaced)
In the 1.9 version ( and later versions) of the DWG convertor, we have added a new option "ignore LWpolylines thickness". If you check this option, the convertor will produce lines centered on the theorical thick lines. Line are at exact 2D coordinates and immediatly available for extrusion or other 3D generators.

To update your DWG convertor, please download the latest version.

F 20 - Downloads from this site do not produce executable files - What should I do ?

If you click on a download link in our site, your Internet browser starts transfering a compacted file on your local disk. This compacted file is in the .zip format (e.g. DWGConvertor203.zip). When the download is finished, according to it's options, your browser may automatically invoke a software to inflate the file. (If you use Internet Explorer, the option can be found at Edition/Preferences/files/Downloads). If the option is to automatically inflate the received files, "StuffIt Expander" is likely be used . According to it's revision level, "StuffIt Expander" may inflate the file partially. This produces a file which looks to be a Text file, and therefore not recognized as an application by MacOS.

To fix this, you have 2 solutions :

1) Do NOT let your browser automatically inflate the dowloaded files. Do it yourself with ZipIt. (ZipIt can easily be found on the Internet).

2) Inflate the pseudo Text file a second time with StuffIt Expander...The executable file will now appear correctly. Some bugs are funny.... arent' they ?

F 21 - Rendering with BSP (level4) crashes my machine - What should I do ?

Version 4.26 (and above) of 3D Turbo / XtaZ fixes this problem which appeard only on machines with 512 Kb of memory or more. Please dowload the 4.26 version. (Turbo) (XtaZ)

F 22- I cannot create a dimension block without a witness line - what shoulld I do ?

If you have opened a document coming the DWG/DXF convertor, as soon as you have clicked on a dimension, you will no longer be able to create dimension block having no witness lines,even if the menu option "with witness lines" is properly checked.

To fix this, proceed as follows :

1) Download version 4.27 of Turbo 3D or 3D XtaZ (according to your licence). (Turbo) (XtaZ)
2) Download version 2.4 of the DWG/DXF convertor (DWG/DXF)
3) Delete the preferences file of Turbo 3D in the Systel/preferences folder
4) Using version 4.27 of Turbo 3D / 3D XtaZ, load the converte documents ans display all dimensions in every layer, for every views.
This will repair the document. Save it and delete the old version.
5) From now on, use version 2.4 of the DWG/DXF convertor.