DesignersMate Design Tutorial Version 2

8/14/2019 DesignersMate Design Tutorial Version 2

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DesignersMate Design Tutorial

Version 2


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Copyright 2003 QuisineSoftware CorporationAll Rights Reserved

This Publication or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, forany purpose, without express written permission from QuisineSoftware Corporation.

QuisineSoftware Corporation makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, includingbut not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particularpurpose, regarding these materials, and makes such materials available solely on an as-is basis.

In no event shall QuisineSoftware Corporation, be liable to anyone for special, collateral,incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of purchase or useof these materials. The sole and exclusive liability to QuisineSoftware Corporation,regardless of the form of action, shall not exceed the purchase price of the materialsdescribed herein. For conditions of use and permission to use these materials forpublication in other than the English language, contact

DesignersMate Corporate ServicesQuisineSoftware Corporation4048 So. Fairfax Rd

Bakersfield, CA 93307America

QuisineSoftware Corporation, reserves the right to revise and improve its products as itsees fit. This publication describes the state of this product at the time of its publication,and may not reflect the product at all times in the future.

DesignerMate is a registered trademark of QuisineSoftware Pty Ltd.

Item Number: 900.000.021Version 2003.11.18


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Table of Contents

Table of Contents.......................................................................................3Before You Start ........................................................................................6Getting More Help ......................................................................................7How the Lessons Work ................................................................................8Lesson 1 - Starting your Project .................................................................14

Key Topics ...........................................................................................14Open the Lesson File..............................................................................14Our First Drawing..................................................................................14Drawing Walls.......................................................................................15Moving Walls ........................................................................................17Saving Your Drawing .............................................................................18

Lesson 2 Cabinet Placement....................................................................24Key Topics ...........................................................................................24Open the Lesson File..............................................................................24Getting Started with Cabinet Selection .....................................................24Changing Cabinet Characteristics.............................................................28

Lesson 3 Placing Cabinets .......................................................................35Key Topics ...........................................................................................35Open the Lesson File..............................................................................35The Duplicate Feature............................................................................35Placing Floor Drawer Cabinets .................................................................36

Lesson 4 More Cabinet Placement............................................................42Key Topics ...........................................................................................42Open the Lesson File..............................................................................42The Zoom Box ......................................................................................42Marker Tool ..........................................................................................43Tape Measure. ......................................................................................43Placing a Cabinet Using the Marker Tool ...................................................43Editing a Cabinet before Placement ..........................................................50

Lesson 5 Adding Wall Cabinets ................................................................57Key Topics ...........................................................................................57Open the Lesson File..............................................................................57Adding Wall Cabinets .............................................................................57


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Lesson 6 Adding Appliances ....................................................................67Key Topics ...........................................................................................67Open the Lesson File..............................................................................67Placing the Cook Top and Rangehood .......................................................68Adding a Sink .......................................................................................69Adding the Floor....................................................................................70

Lesson 7 3D Navigation..........................................................................77Key Topics ...........................................................................................77Open the Lesson File..............................................................................773D Navigation.......................................................................................773D Wireframe.......................................................................................773D Textured .........................................................................................79Moving Around in 3D .............................................................................80More Dimensions...................................................................................81

Appendix 1 - List View **NEW**................................................................86Key Topics ...........................................................................................86Open the Lesson File..............................................................................86Generating the List View ........................................................................86Adding a Cabinet in the List View.............................................................88Adding an Item in the List View...............................................................88

Appendix 2 - Reports ................................................................................89Appendix 3 Settings...............................................................................92

Default Vs Drawing Level........................................................................93Appendix 4 Cabinet Properties.................................................................94Appendix 5 Pricing.................................................................................97


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Before You Start

The aim of this tutorial is to teach you as much about DesignersMate in as simple a way as

possible. It is designed to get you up and running quickly while at the same timeintroducing you to many of the key DesignersMate features.

If you are new to DesignersMate or just want to brush up on your skills, this tutorial is for

you. By the time you complete the tutorial you will be able to customize DesignersMate to

contain your company details and go from opening and starting a new drawing to adding

the finishing touches.

The Design Tutorial assumes that you have already set-up DesignersMate. If you have not

done this, please refer to the Getting Started Guide.

The Design Tutorial is set out as a number of lessons. Lesson 1 begins with the creation of

the design environment and setting up the walls. Through each lesson, we will look at the

different features of DesignersMate and how to put these into practice. You will also be

provided with some user tips.

Before you start, we suggest that you set your screen resolution at 1024 x 768, but 800 x

600 is acceptable.


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Getting More Help

It would be impossible to cover every feature and every aspect of DesignersMate in this

tutorial. Instead the Design Tutorial will endeavour to highlight important features

essential to ensuring that you get a good start with DesignersMate. For more help with

DesignersMate consult one of the following resources:

DesignersMate Online Help

Getting Started Guide

Contact us about training opportunities


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How the Lessons Work

At the commencement of each lesson you may be prompted to open a file. The lessons

are located in a directory within DesignersMate called LESSONS. For the lessons to

function it is important that you only select the DMate Sample Library.

When you are ready to start you need to open DesignersMate, and select the appropriate

lesson.

The Tutorial concludes with a simple guide to customising DesignersMate to hold your

information and standard set-up options.

To find the lesson folder follow these steps:-

1. Open DesignersMate by selecting the DesignersMate desktop shortcut.2. From the File drop down menu, select Open and navigate to the Lesson folder

The first Lesson we will open in called Lesson 1.

Follow the following steps to open the various lessons:

3. The default folder that will be open is called the Drawing folder.


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4. You will now see a Lessons folder. Double-click it to open the Lessons folder.5. Now you are in the Lesson folder and you will be able to see the lesson files.6. To start each lesson, click the Lesson number that you are prompted to open and

click Open.


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This is the kitchen design you will create in the tutorial:


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DesignersMate

Lesson 1


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Lesson 1 - Starting your Project

Key Topics

In this lesson we are going to learn how to draw walls, move walls and save yourdrawing.

Open the Lesson FilePlease open our first lesson so that we can start your first drawing. If you have forgotten

how to open the lessons, please refer to the section called, How the Lessons Work. The

lesson that we need to open is Lesson 1.

Our First DrawingIn this lesson you will begin to discover the different tools available to help you with your

drawing as well as the different tool bars within DesignersMate. More detailed information

on the tool bars can be found in the Online Help.

Before starting any drawing its a good idea to maximize your viewing

area by zooming out to view the entire page. The easiest way to view

the entire page is to click on the mouse wheel on your mouse or

alternatively click on the Reset View icon as illustrated to the right.

We will start by drawing our walls using the Wall Tool and the movement tool bar. Once

we have drawn our walls we will learn about saving our drawings.


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Drawing Walls

To draw a wall, you first need to click on the Wall tool as illustrated below.

Walls need to be drawn in a clockwise direction. In general, it is best to start in the lower

left corner of the drawing page, leaving enough space to later insert dimension lines etc.

There are two ways you can draw a wall.

The quickest way to draw is to select the Wall Tool, click on your starting point and simply

drag the mouse in the direction and distance you want then release the mouse button.

When you are drawing walls in this fashion, it is important to note that if you hold down

the SHIFT key the wall will be drawn automatically at increments of 45 degrees to the

starting point.

Until you are familiar with the program we recommend that you follow the method below:-

1. Select the WALL tool and click in the lowerleft corner of the drawing page to start the

wall. To help you, we have placed an image

to your right that shows the starting point.


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2. Click on the SET LENGTH box on the MOVEMENT toolbar. Type the distance of113 in the box and click on the RED ARROW POINTING UP. The wall will be

drawn towards the top of the screen (See image below).

3. Click in the SET DISTANCE box and set the distance to 152 and then clickon the RED ARROW POINTING RIGHT. It is important that you have a space

between the 152 and the measurement or the wall will not come our right.


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Moving WallsOnce the wall has been placed it can be moved to a more suitable location on the drawing

page. To do this click the Select Tool on the Edit Toolbar.

Once the Select tool is active run the curser over the area you wish to

select. You will notice that the handles get highlighted (handles are the

small boxes that appear at the ends and Centers of the walls).

IMPORTANT you can only drag a wall by selecting the

handle that is not attached to the wall or the wall itself DO

NOT drag by the corner handles. Selecting the corner or any

other handles will alter the angle of the corner. When you

select the wall, you will see a single handle like the image to

the right; this is the one you need.

When the handles appear over the wall simply click the mouse button on any part of the

wall to select the wall. The wall is grey out and the handle that you need is remote from

the wall. Now that the wall has been selected you can click anywhere on the wall (except

on a handle) and while holding the mouse button down you can drag the wall to another

location on the page. When you are happy with the placement you can then release the

button to place the wall. Click away from the wall to complete the process.


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This tool can also move more than one object that has been placed on the page. If you

wish to move the walls plus any cabinets placed then you simply run the curser over the

whole page starting at a corner point and dragging the curser to the opposite corner

therefore selecting all objects on the page.

Saving Your Drawing

At this point, it is recommended you save your drawing. To do this, select the File drop

down menu and select SAVE AS. The following screen appears.


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The default folder to save drawings is the Drawings folder. Earlier we switched to the

Lessons folder. Save the drawing in this folder, we recommend that you call it My

Lesson 1 so that you can retain the original lesson drawings.

Saving your drawings regularly is a very good idea. This way you know that if anything

should happen to your computer or drawing you know you have saved it and can start

again from the last save point.

DesignersMate has a great feature to help you save you

projects; the AutoSave feature. To activate the AutoSave

feature either use the short cut key, F10, or go to Tools

and then select Options.

When the Options window appears, you can enter the

time into the box provided, as illustrated below.

Here we have set the

AutoSave up for

every 20 minutes

(this is the default

value).


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At the end of lesson 1, your drawing should now look similar to the image below.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 2


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Lesson 2 Cabinet Placement

Key Topics

In this lesson we are going to learn how to place cabinets, rotate cabinets andformat cabinets.

Open the Lesson FilePlease open lesson number two called Lesson 2 by selecting it in the Lessons folder. If

you have forgotten how to open the lessons, please refer to the section called, How the

Lessons Work.

Getting Started with Cabinet Selection

You first need to select the tool you use to select cabinets. Click on the Cabinet Tool

button as illustrated below.

To the right of the Cabinet Tool is a Drop Down List. This is where you select the cabinet

you want to place on the drawing. DesignersMate offers you a large selection of cabinets

that can be categorized into four levels.


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Remember, the DMate Sample library offers a very small sample range of cabinets. If you

have purchased a copy of DesignersMate, you can view the entire cabinet range by

selecting the DMate Stock Library. If you are a trial user, you only have access to the

DMate Sample library, with limited colours, door styles and customization.

When placing a cabinet onto the drawing you should press and hold the Left mouse button,

after you have selected the cabinet, in the middle of the drawing page and then drag the

cabinet into place. Once the cabinet is in place, you then release the mouse button.

The first cabinet that we are going to place is a floor angled cabinet, a B3624C.

Remember, for the tutorial we are using the DMate Sample Library.

The first drop downis the library level.You can easily switchbetween libraries.

The second levelallows you choose

from the majortypes; wall, floor etc

The third drop downis where the cabinettypes can be groupinto sub-groups;corner, special etc.

The fourth levelallows you choosethe cabinets thathave remained afterthe filtering. This iswhere you select thecabinet for thedrawing.


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In the cabinet menu select; Base, Corner and then click on the B3624C .

Click on it once to select it and while holding your

left mouse button in the middle of the drawing

page, KEEP THE MOUSE BUTTON DEPRESSED UNTIL

YOU COMPLETE THIS STEP. Move your mouse to

the TOP, LEFT HAND CORNER of the drawing, and

place the cabinet in the corner. (Release the mouse

button to place it.)

DesignersMate is designed to automatically detect

the environment that surrounds the cabinets so that

when it is placed it is placed in the correct position. If the cabinet is dropped out of

position it will automatically rotate to the right direction for that wall.

It takes practice to become efficient with this feature. At times you will need to move the

mouse beyond the wall for the cabinet to rotate. Dont be alarmed if this occurs. It is done

by design to ensure the cabinet positioning is correct before it rotates.

If you need to manually rotate a cabinet, you can do so by pressing the or the +

key on the keyboard while still holding the left mouse button. (Each press

rotates 15 degrees, - is to the left, + is to the right)


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It is important that you place this cabinet in the correct position. Check the drawing

below. If your drawing looks like this you can proceed.

If you place the cabinet incorrectly, simply press the Delete key on your keyboard to

remove the cabinet, and then try again.


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Changing Cabinet Characteristics

Characteristics of cabinets can be changed after they are placed on the drawing. We have

already placed one cabinet, so we will place another cabinet and make a change.

We are now going to place a B12 cabinet onto the drawing. A B12 is a standard base

cabinet. However, we are going to assume that we do not call it a B12, instead we call it a

B12S. So we need to change the cabinet name. Normally you would do this when you set

the product up, but we are trying to show you how you can make changes.

Select the B12 from the cabinet drop down under Base, Standard; select the B12 and

place it on the drawing page to the right of the B3624C.

.

Right click on the B12 and select the Edit Cabinet option.

When the Edit Cabinet window opens you will be able to see the changes that can be

made.


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Your screen should include the dialog box show in the image below.


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To change the Cabinet Code, click into the cell where the code is and type the new code;

B12S. When you have finished click the Apply button to complete the change.

Once you have clicked the Apply button, you will notice that the change has been

highlighted. A modified symbol appears beside the change. We notify you of this because

this change will only exist on your machine.

Click OK to close the dialog. Now look at the cabinet on the drawing. You will notice that

the change has automatically been applied.


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Now you have completed this lesson, it is recommended you save your drawing. To do

this, select the File drop down menu and select SAVE AS. Remember to save the

drawings is the Lessons folder. Change the name of the file to My Lesson 2 so that you

can retain the original lesson drawings.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 3


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Lesson 3 Placing Cabinets

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to introduce additional cabinets to the drawing. We will also

going to introduce you to a new feature, the Duplicate feature.

Open the Lesson FilePlease open the lesson called Lesson 3 by selecting it in the Lessons folder. If you

have forgotten how to open the lessons, please refer to the section called, How the

Lessons Work.

The Duplicate FeatureThis feature enables you to select a cabinet that is already on the drawing and to replicate

it. This is particularly useful if you have altered the cabinet and want to replicate the

cabinet without having to go through the edit process again.


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Placing Floor Drawer Cabinets

We will now add some more base cabinets to the drawing. Since we are going to place

Standard Base cabinets, the only menu drop down that we will need to change is the final

box.

Select the B36 cabinet and place it to the right of the B12S.

Now we are going to use the Duplicate feature. Beside the B36 we want to place another

B12. Except, if you remember, we call this a B12S. So instead of editing this again,

choose the Select Tool .

Now move to the B12S and when the handles appear, right

click on the mouse button. From the drop down list, select the

Duplicate option.

Once you have click on the option, the drop down list will disappear and the cabinet will be

placed on the drawing.

The Select Tool will still be active and the cabinet greyed out awaiting the move. Move

your mouse over the cabinet and with the left mouse key depressed, shift the cabinet to

the right of the B36.

You will notice that the changed characteristic, the cabinet code, have been retained. See

the illustration below to see how your drawing should look.


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Click on the Cabinet Tool and from the cabinet drop down, select a B36 and place it to

the right of the B12S.

Note: Remember this is the DesignersMate Sample Library. There are over 600

cabinets available in the Stock library and many cabinet types that are not in this

library.

We are now going to place a Base, End cabinet to the right of the B36. Ensure that you

have the Base and Special selected in the cabinet drop down menu. In the final drop down

box, select a B12OEC.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 4


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Lesson 4 More Cabinet Placement

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to complete the placement of the Base cabinets. We will also

introduce you to three new features, the Marker, the Tape Measure, and the Zoom Box.

We will also show you how you can edit a cabinet before it is placed onto the drawing.



Lessons Work.

The Zoom Box

The Zoom Box tool allows you to highlight the area of the drawing to zoom in on so that

we can see the area more clearly. This can make cabinet placement a lot easier,

especially when we are using some of the advanced tools.

Zoom Box Marker

Tape Measure


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Marker ToolWhen the need arises to be accurate with your measurements you can use the

marker tool within DesignersMate. In our example a door way is positioned 48 to

the right on the B3624C. The Market Tool provides a snap handle to assist in the

easy placement of objects.

Tape Measure.DesignersMate has a tool that allows you to measure the distance from one point to

another. This can be useful when we have to add a cabinet between two objects and need

the exact gap measurement.

Placing a Cabinet Using the Marker ToolWe are now going to use the new features that we introduced to you; the Zoom Box, the

Tape Measure, and the Marker Tool. While they may never be used exactly like this, it is a

way for us to demonstrate their use using the DMate Sample library which is by design a

limited library for evaluation only.


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Select the Zoom Box tool from the tool bar and move the mouse towards the B3624C.

You will notice that once the mouse enters the drawing page the magnifying glass image

appears, as illustrated below.

Move the magnifying glass to the location that you

wish to start, see the image to the right.

Click the mouse and with the mouse button still

depressed, draw a box around the area that you want

to zoom in on. Once you have completed this, you

should have an image similar to the one to the right.

When you release the mouse key, the drawing image

will have increased dramatically to show you the

selected area.


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Now we have zoomed in on the vacant area, we are going to illustrate how the Marker Tool

can assist in snapping a cabinet to the marker point. The Marker Tool is great for defining

doorways and windows; we do not have these in the DMate Sample library.

We are going to create a marker point that is 48 from the left of the B3624C. Because of

a doorway, we can not extend our cabinets past this point.

Select the MARKER tool and place a marker on the back left corner of the B3624C as

shown below. For accuracy, ensure that you are still zoomed into the area that we are

working on.

.


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Then in the movement toolbar, type 48 in the set length box and click on the down arrow.

See the illustration below. Dont worry if your Set Angle box has a figure in it. This will

automatically be reset when the down arrow is selected.

Your second marker point has now been placed. You drawing

should look the same as below. If the second marker did not

appear, ensure you had the Marker Tool selected.

We are now going to place a Base, End cabinet to the right of

the second marker point. Ensure that you have the Cabinet Tool

selected and choose the Base and Special options for the cabinet

drop down. In the final drop down box, select a B12OEC.

Place the B12OEC to the right of the second marker point.

You drawing should look like the illustration at the top of the nextpage.

Set Angle

Markerpoint 1

Markerpoint 2


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Now we want to clear these marker points. To do this, open the Tools menu and click

Clear All Markers.


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If we were not sure of the distance between the B12OEC and the B3624C, we may want to

measure the distance before we choose the cabinet. This is also a good way for us to

demonstrate the Tape Measure Tool.

Click on the Tape Measure Tool .

Run the mouse over the right edge of the B3624C. Hold down the left mouse button and

without releasing the button; drag the cursor to the right edge of the B12OEC. You should

now be able to see the distance in inches from one cabinet to the other. This is also a

great time to use the Zoom feature that we previously showed you.

The illustration below demonstrates the use of the Tape Measure Tool.


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Since the distance is 36 we are going to choose a

cabinet that is set at 36. With the Cabinet Tool

selected choose, Base, Standard. From the Standard

range we can choose the B36 and place this between

the two cabinets. You drawing should now look like

the image to the right.

If there was not a standard cabinet in the library that

automatically filled the gap, it would be possible to

alter the width of the cabinet to fit the gap. However,

the DMate Sample library does not allow for this.

Over the page we are going to show you how you

would do this, as well as how you can change a

cabinet before it is placed on the drawing.


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Editing a Cabinet before Placement

Let us assume that the gap was only 30 wide and that no cabinet in the library exactly

matched this width.

As we have already seen, DesignersMate allows you to change a cabinet when it has been

placed on the drawing. However, you can change it before it is placed. To do this we

have to enable a feature that is turned off by default when the software is installed.

Go to the Tools section and select Options as illustrated below. You will notice that you

can also select F10 to bring up the options.

When you have selected Options, the dialog box over the page will appear. Click on the

Edit cabinets before placing check box and select OK. Now you are ready to edit a

cabinet before placement. You will not have to reset this option again.


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With the Cabinet Tool selected, go to the cabinet drop down and select the B36. This time

you will notice that when the cabinet is selected, the Edit Cabinet Tool dialog box

automatically appears. If you want to temporarily toggle this behaviour, hold the Control

key on your keyboard while selecting the cabinet from the list. We have provided an

illustration of this dialog on the next page.

You will notice that there are two tabs, General and Options. We want to go to the

Options tab.

If you have the full version of DesignersMate, you could now edit the Width of the cabinetto 30 to fill the space. However, as we are using the DMate Sample library, this is not

available.


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The Tabs

This is where youwould change the

width of the cabinet,once you enter thenew width, click Applyto make the change

Click here to reviewthe door style andfinish, remember theDMate Sample libraryhas only a few options.

When you click APPLY, the changes are saved but the dialogstays open. This means you can make a change and reviewit first.

When you click OK, any changes are saved and the dialogdisappears. There is no need to click Apply and then OK.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 5


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Lesson 5 Adding Wall Cabinets

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to start to add wall cabinets to the drawing. We will also

introduce you to the Elevation View.



Lessons Work.

Adding Wall Cabinets

Adding wall cabinets is no different to what you have already learnt. In this example we

are going to work with the default height of floor setting; this is 90.

The first cabinet that we will place is a blind corner wall cabinet. We are going to place

this above the B3624C. Select the Cabinet Tool, and in the drop down menu choose Wall,

Blind Corner 30. Then in the last drop down select the W3630BC as illustrated below.


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Now place the cabinet on the left hand wall above the B3624C. See the illustration below

to ensure you have placed it in the right position.

Now place we are going to place a W2436 to the right of the blind corner unit. To find this

cabinet go to the Wall, Standard 36 option and then select it from the final drop down.

The placement is illustrated below.


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Having now placed the cabinets in the corner, we can now place the remainder of the wall

cabinets to the right of the W2436.

Place a W1236OEC to the right of the W2436. Sometimes, when placing cabinets it is a

good idea to view your drawing in the Elevation View. This will enable you to see details

that are hidden in the plan View. In the Elevation View you may pick up something that is

wrong, like you have not sealed the benchtop. If you look at the illustration below you will

note that the last cabinet we placed is by default, set up with the Left End being the

exposed end. In Plan View, other then noticing the red L, there is no obvious problem.

This is a good example for us to illustrate how the Elevation View can assist you with your

design and how you can edit cabinets in the Elevation View. It is also possible to place

cabinets in the Elevation View.

To move to the Elevation View, click on the Elevation View icon in the

tool bar. Once selected the Elevation View the screen will

automatically move from the Plan View to the Elevation View.


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When the Elevation View appears, use the Next Elevation arrows to navigate to the correct

view. You could also use the drop down menu to view the available elevations before you

select one. The tool bar is illustrated below.

The elevation that we want you to navigate to is illustrated below. When you look at the

elevation you can see that the last cabinet placed has not been set-up correctly. We need

to change it so the exposed end is the Right End.

This is simple to do. Ensure

that the Select Tool is active

and within the Elevation

View, click on the cabinet.

When it is selected, the

cabinet will appear grey.

Now right click on your

mouse, select Edit Cabinet,

and within the General Tab

change the orientation to

Right. Click on OK to apply

the change and then click anywhere on the page to remove the grey appearance of the

Click on the arrows tonavigate through theviews

Choose from the dropdown.


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cabinet. You will see that you have edited the cabinet in elevation

and correct the error. Now click on the Plan View, as illustrated to

the right and you will see that the cabinet name has automatically

reflected the change.

We are now going to place the following three cabinets to the left of the last cabinet we

placed; W1236OEC, W3630 and another W1236OEC. Remember the last cabinet is always

by default set to have an orientation of Left. Instead of customising the cabinet, we will

duplicate it, when we need it, and place it into position.

Select the W1236OEC and place it above the B12S.

Select the W3636 and place it to the right of the W1236OEC and above the Base cabinet

called B36.

With the Select Tool active, choose the W1236OEC

which we placed and altered earlier. Once selected

right click on the mouse and choose Duplicate. See

the illustration to the right.

Once you have selected Duplicate, the cabinet will

appear on the screen. With the Select Tool still

active, drag it into position beside the W3636.


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Your drawing should now look like the illustration below.

We are now going to complete the cabinet placement exercise. To do this we are going to

place a W3624 to the left of the W3636BC cabinet. After this is placed we are going toplace a W1236OEC to its left.

Congratulations, you have now completed the cabinet placement.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 6


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Lesson 6 Adding Appliances

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to add a hotplate, rangehood, sink, and the floor.



Lessons Work.


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Placing the Cook Top and RangehoodWe are going to place a Cook top on the B36 which is on the

left hand wall. If you look at the illustration to the left you will

easily see which one we are talking about.

Appliances can be found by selecting the Appliance Cabinet

Type in the cabinet drop down menu. Once selected, you

move them into place the same as you would a cabinet, with

one exception. Turn the Snap to Handle feature off so that

the object can be easily centered.

You can either click on the icon or use the Alt+S key to turn

the Snap to Handle feature on and off.

With the Snap to Handle off, select the Cook top and move it

into position. Once you are finished, make sure to turn Snap

to Handle back on.

Now we are going to place a Rangehood above the Cook

Top. From the same library drop down menu, select the

Ranghood and center it above the Cook Top. Your drawing

should look the same as the illustration to the right.


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Adding a SinkOnce again to add a sink is a simple as selecting it from the cabinet drop down menu

(Shown below) and with the Snap to Handle turned off, moving it in to place.

We are going to place the Sink on top of the B36 which has no wall cabinets over it. You

can see the position in the illustration below.


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Adding the FloorAgain, when you want to add the Floor, you can select the Floor from the cabinet drop

down. Once selected, simply drag it into position. As the Floor will need to be adjusted

for size, place the Floor squarely into the top left hand corner of the wall.

Once it is in place, click on the Select tool and you will notice that the Floor handles

appear. If the handles have not appeared, click on the floor. To correctly size the Floor

we need to right click and edit the characteristics.

We are going to make the Floor size the same as the wall dimensions. This is a great

opportunity to introduce you to the Dimension Tool. We are going to apply dimension lines

to the walls to determine the length and width.

To do this we will use the Dimension Tool.

IMPORTANT: When using the Dimension tools to dimension between cabinets

make sure Snap to Handle is turned on. If the Snap to Handle is not on, you

will not be able dimension.


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The dimension tool works in a three-click process. The first click defines where you want

the dimension to appear, the second click represents where you want the measurement to

start from, and the final click defines where you want to measure to. Refer to the

illustration to the right

We now want to repeat this process for the

second wall. Be careful though. To start a new

dimension line you must first click on the

Dimension Tool again, otherwise the product

thinks that you are continuing the current

dimension.

A dialog will pop up asking you if you want to

start a new dimension, choose YES.

Now you are ready to dimension the second wall,

using the same three click process; click 1 where

you want the dimension to appear, click 2 is

where you want to start to dimension from and

click 3 is where you want to dimension to.

1

2

3

First click, after

you haveselected the tool

Third Click

Second Click


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Now that we know the dimensions, we can change the Floor. Your dimensions should have

come out at: top wall is 152 and the side wall is 113. Enter the width and length into

the Floor Dimension box and with the Select Tool active, shift the floor into place, if it is

not in the correct position.

You will notice that you

have many options with the

Floor. You can change the

category and style of the

surface as well a applying a

chamfer and radius.

For this tutorial we are not

going to change the Floor.


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DesignersMate

Lesson 7


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Lesson 7 3D Navigation

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to introduce you to the 3D environment before we complete

the dimensioning.



Lessons Work.

3D Navigation

There are three main tools that appear when you are in the 3D View. These are

highlighted below.

3D Wireframe

We are going to focus on the wireframe option first. In the wireframe mode, lines are

drawn representing the bounding edges of solid sections. Over the page we have an

example of our drawing in wireframe mode. This is the mode that you should use when

first generating a 3D image or for checking that the cabinet placement looks right.

Wireframe

Textured

Smoothing


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Wireframe mode is the simplest of the 3D view modes and is generated in the shortest

amount of time because no textures are used. It is useful for correctly positioning an

image before you create the fully smoothed and textured image because it is quick to

move around. To ensure you get a good Wireframe image, click on the Smoothing icon

once the image is on the screen.


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3D Textured

An image generated in Textured mode is almost the same as Wireframe except with

textures added. The textures are automatically applied to the appropriate faces, giving

them a very realistic look. Textured view takes the longest of all to generate, because each

texture has to be loaded, decompressed, and then "painted" on each face. However, with

current 3D accelerators this delay should be minimal, and once the textures are loaded

moving around the 3D object is possible in real-time. Again, once drawn, click on the

Smoothing Tool to improve the images appearance.


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Moving Around in 3D

It is always recommended that you turn the smoothing off before you start to move the

drawing around. Lets turn the Smoothing off and start to investigate some of the ways

you can move and zoom in on the 3D image.

If your mouse has a mouse wheel you can zoom in and out by simply rolling the wheel.

Alternatively, click and hold the right mouse button and move the mouse up and down.

Notice that when you zoom in and out, the program automatically switches to Wireframe

mode. This is to speed the process up. You can change this behaviour by ticking Full

quality while moving on the Tools Options dialog (press F10).

By holding both the right and left mouse buttons down, you can move the drawing around

on the page. Remember to keep the buttons depressed as long as you wish to continue to

move the image.

By clicking and holding the left mouse button, you can rotate the drawing to change the

perspective.

While you are playing with these features, you may lose the image off the screen. Dont

forget that you can either click on the mouse wheel or click on the Reset View icon to

return the image to the center of the screen.


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More Dimensions

Now we are going to add more dimensions to your drawing. Return to the Plan

View.

This time we are going to work with the cabinets that are against the horizontal

(or the top) wall on the page. With the Dimension Tool selected, click below the

wall dimension to indicate the height of the dimension line and from left to right,

click on the edge of each cabinet. Because we want to have one continuous line

of dimensions, we do not have to hit the Dimension Tool between each point. At

the end of the run of cabinets, your drawing should look like the illustration

below.

Repeat this for the cabinets placed on the wall that runs vertically. Remember,this is a new dimension line, so click on the Dimension Tool and choose YES.

After this you can start your next dimension line. A little tip: depending what end

you start from will decide the direction of the text. We drew this from left to

right.


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We have now completed the design aspect of the Design Tutorial. The next chapters

relate to reporting, and customising DesignersMate.


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DesignersMate

Appendix


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Appendix 1 - List View **NEW**

Key TopicsIn this lesson we are going to introduce to you to a new feature in DesignersMate2, the

List View.



Lessons Work.

Generating the List ViewTo generate the List View, click on the List View Tool on the toolbar as illustrated below.

Once you have selected the List View the screen will automatically display the items that

have been placed on the drawing.


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Your List View should be the same as the illustration below.

When you are in the List View you can:

Remove an item by un-checking the checkbox to the left Sort any of the Columns Change pricing Add a cabinet Add an item, like freight, plumbing etc View the price of the project Edit an item by double clicking on it Delete a line by selecting it and hitting the DEL key


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If you know your customers budget, it is also possible to enter an item called budget. If

you enter it as a negative cost, the Total Price will represent the difference between the

budget and the value of the project.

Adding a Cabinet in the List ViewTo add a cabinet to the List View, it is similar to adding a cabinet to the Plan or ElevationView. Select the cabinet from the cabinet drop down list and then click on the Add Cabinet

button.

Adding an Itemin the List ViewAn item is a general line entry

that you wish to include in the

project, like freight.

To add an Item, click on the Add

Line Item. To create information

for this line item, double click on

the item and then enter the

information in the Edit Item

dialog box as illustrated to the

right.


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Appendix 2 - Reports

DesignersMate has the ability to create reports based on the drawing properties

and details. There are two reports that are available; invoice report and a

proposal report. We provide you with areas to customize the comments

contained in these reports and add your company logo.

We have included a sample of these on the following two pages. The reporting is

simple, fast, and flexible.

There is an advance tutorial on reporting. Contact support if you would like to

receive a copy.


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Appendix 3 Settings

DesignersMate holds settings at two levels; Default Level and Drawing Level. It

does this so that you can set-up a standard for your business while still being

able to customize for

individual jobs that may

fall outside of your

standard practices.

The image to the right is

the dialog box where

you can enter your

default settings.

You can access this

dialog from the Edit

menu by selecting Edit

Default Set-up.

When these have been

set-up they will remain

for every drawing unless

you choose to override

them at Drawing Level.


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Default Vs Drawing LevelThe default level settings are those that will be automatically applied every time

you start a new project. However, when you start a new drawing you can

override these by going into the Drawing Level settings.

For example, lets say that 98% of the work that we do, when we place Wall

cabinets, we use a default height of the floor of 90. But then we get a job that

requires the cabinets to be 95 off the floor. In this example we would set the

Drawing Level height off the floor to 95. This will remain a setting for this

drawing but the default height will be 90 when we start the next drawing.

We would always put the Customer Information in the Drawing Level settings

(because they change for each drawing) while we would keep our company

details in the Default Level settings.

The proposal / contract would be set-up at the Default Level and it may be

modified at Drawing Level. For example, we may need to alter the instalment

payments on a job by job basis. However, the business may have a standard

70%/20%/10% payment policy based on pre determined milestones.

Settings are not to be confused with attributes of a cabinet that can be changed.

In other words, you edit the cabinet and choose for a list of options. We discuss

this in more depth in the next section.


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Appendix 4 Cabinet Properties

Cabinet properties can be changed by selecting a cabinet either before or after it

is placed on the drawing.

There are two tabs; General

and Options.

Within the General tab you

can customize the cabinet

code and edit the

comments. You can also set

your price for the cabinet.

This price will only be active

if you choose to price at

cabinet level instead of per

foot.

We discuss pricing in the

next section.


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Within the Options tab you can customize the cabinet dimensions (not available

with the DMate Sample library), Countertop Settings, and the Door Style and

Finish. Click on the

Change Door Style and

Finish button to

override the default

door style for this

cabinet.

As we have already

said, you can do this

before or after the

cabinet is placed.

If you open up Lesson

8 and with the Select

Tool, highlight the

cabinet to the right of

the cabinet with the

Sink placed on it (B36)

we will illustrated howyou can change a Door

Style and Finish.


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Appendix 5 Pricing

Pricing within DesignersMate can be set at a Default Level and as always over

written at Drawing Level

should you need to change

from your default setting.

You can choose to show or

hide the price on the various

cabinet pages.

You can price based on; Per

Job, Per Cabinet, Per Linear

Foot, and Per Cubic Foot.

Once you choose one of

these options, you will be

able to enter the relevant

information.


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For example, if we choose to price based on Per Linear Foot the illustration below

shows where you would enter the information required to price the project.

DesignersMate also allows you to add additional items, and price them within the

List View. You can also set-up default extra costs like delivery, plumbing,

removal of scarp etc, so that they are automatically applied to your quote /

invoice.

And, if you want to check our calculations at any time, click on the Tools menu

and select the Calculator.

Documents

DesignersMate Design Tutorial Version 2