Settings

Settings

One of HiCAD's advantages consists in the numerous customisation options it offers. This applies to the user interface or the drawing background as well as to the most diverse system parameters. The Settings menu that you activate via the icon at the top right of the HiCAD window offers the following customisation functions:

• Configuration

Use this function to start the Configuration Editor ISDCONFIGEDITOR.EXE. This tool for central configuration management enables a customer-specific configuration of a wide range of functionalities, such as dimensioning, annotation, workshop drawing creation, insertion of vertical ladders etc. Once you have adapted these configurations to your company-specific requirements, you can directly use them in the corresponding HiCAD applications without having to specify any further settings.

• Catalogues

• Catalogue Editor (CATEditor)
  Various Standard Part catalogues are supplied with your purchased HiCAD product. These are located in the KATALOGE directory of your HiCAD installation. This directory contains a wide range of standard parts, sheets, plates, beams, profiles, standard processings etc., arranged by sub-directories, e.g. VERBINDUNGSELEMENTE (bolts, screws, nuts etc.) or HALBZEUGE (beams, profiles, gratings). In some cases you will not need all of these standard parts, or require additional parts with particular dimensions. For such cases you use the Catalogue Edito, an external program that enables you to edit the parts that are supplied with HiCAD, or define your own factory standard catalogues.
• Reload
  In the Configuration Editor at System settings > Catalogue > Track catalogue changes you can now determine how to proceed in case of catalogue changes in HiCAD. The default setting is Do not track, that is, the catalogue data will be loaded only once when you start HiCAD. After this, HiCAD will no longer check whether newer data exist. The reason for this is that a check for up-to-dateness of catalogues in HiCAD can significantly deteriorate the performance in some situations. The Reload function offers the option to update catalogues after applying changes to them without having to close HiCAD, and without having to put up with drops in performance due to repeated checks for up-to-dateness.

• Settings

Use this function to individually preset various system parameters, e.g. line types, colour combinations and directories.

• Colour settings

These functions enable you to

• change the appearance of the drawing background by colour gradients or BMP files,
• set light sources (OpenGL functionality),
• change the colouring of the ICN and
• save/load colour settings.

• Activate Start Centre

When you start HiCAD for the first time, the Start Centre that was designed to facilitate your first steps in HiCAD will be displayed. You are enabled to preset options for the starting of HiCAD as well as for the creation and loading of drawings. If you do not want to use the Start centre, activate the Switch Start Centre display off option.

• Activate space mouse

Use this function to activate/deactivate an additional space mouse for the processing of 3-D models.

• GUI representation

Use this function to select your preferred representation of the HiCAD user interface.

• Ribbon categories

This function enables you to hide and redisplay the tabs of the multifunctional toolbar (Ribbon).

• Plug-Ins

The new plug-in mechanism on API basis enables a creation of interfaces with other systems to HiCAD. If such plug-ins are implemented in your system, they are displayed in the new Plug-in Navigator. Examples of this are the templates for the new Metal Engineering planning grids.

• Customize UI

Slect this function to start the UserInterfaceEditor.exe tool, which allows you to customize the QuickAccess Toolbar, and derive your own Ribbon tabs from the already existing, predefined Ribbon tabs.

• Toolbars

Opens the Customise dialogue window. You can use the tabs of this window to define your own toolbars

• Docking window

Use this function to hide or show the various components pf the user interface (except for the Ribbon). This function can be applied to the ICN windows, the docking windows Drawing and Panoramas, the Plugin Navigator, the Info bars and the Surface/Line/Edge parameters.

User Interface • Multifunctional Toolbar (Ribbon)