Tutorial Introduction

The exercises in the next chapters will familiarize you with the tools, features and commands of Graphite, proving how quickly Graphite can be learned and used for your design needs. The exercises demonstrate Graphite’s most powerful features showing how the patented Drafting Assistant simplifies Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD). Soon your own knowledge about design and drafting will integrate the software making your work faster, more accurate and more creative.

Chapter Layout

The exercises are organized in chapters according to the tools and features used. The chapters are ordered with the most basic exercises in the beginning and proceed to more complex exercises in the later chapters.

Margin notes provide alternative ways of doing a procedure or may refer to another section or chapter for related information.

Menus and Submenus

Choosing Commands

Proceeding through the exercises, you are directed to choose commands contained in submenus of other menus, like the pull down menu. For example, if asked to select Define in the Color submenu of the Pen menu, that will be displayed as Pen>Color>Define.

Margin Notes

This book includes margin notes that provide additional information for using this program. There are three types of margin notes: Tip, Tech Note and Referral. These notes are given special treatment so that their significance is instantly recognizable and they can be located for future reference.

Tip

A tip provides instructions for getting the most out of Graphite. Tips may show how to speed up an operation or how to perform some timesaving drawing technique.

Tech Note

A technical note provides additional technical information that may help when using a tool.

Referral

A referral indicates related information contained somewhere else in the manual for the particular topic being addressed.

Exploring

Some users like to explore on their own while going through the exercises of a tutorial. This is an excellent way to learn more about Graphite. For the adventuresome, open a new document for your explorations and then switch back to the tutorial document to continue with the exercises.

Occasionally, the tutorial may verify a position or entry that seems to be obvious. If the condition is vital to the next step and you might have inadvertently deviated from the tutorial path, verification (for example, “the x,y location is 0,0”) has been added to ensure that you get the correct result from the exercise.

There’s More than One Way

Graphite often provides more than one way to perform a task. This tutorial describes only one method at a time and may show a different way to do the same task later. Feel free to substitute your own method for whatever is suggested here.

Graphics

Most of the graphics in the manuals apply to both Windows and Mac platforms. In those instances that do not require a platform and software reference, a Graphite Windows graphic is used. When necessary, both Windows and Macintosh graphics are included.

Basic Terminology

This manual uses the following terms for mouse activities: 

Pointer	An arrow or any other graphic symbol that allows selection or creation of an object. Move the pointer to point to a command or an object on the screen. Depending on its location, the pointer is an arrow or may look like the current tool.
	To move the pointer, move the mouse on the mouse pad.
Point	Move the mouse until the pointer is over the desired item.
Press	Press and hold down the mouse button.
Click	Quickly press and release the mouse button once.
Double-click	Click the mouse button twice, quickly in succession.
Drag	Press and hold down the mouse button, move the mouse, then release the mouse button.

Parts of the Graphite Window

When Graphite is launched, the following window appears.

Title Bar	Includes the title of the active document and buttons for controlling the window including boxes for minimizing, maximizing and closing the program.
Menu Bar	Contains the Graphite menus of commands and settings. Make choices from the menus with the mouse or by using special key combinations.
Tool Palette	Contains the drawing and editing tool icons to be used for constructing, editing and annotating geometry.
Pointer	Shows the active position on the screen. If the pointer is in the drawing area, its shape represents the current tool.
Pointer Locator	Shows the x, y coordinates of the pointer location.
Message Line	Displays the name of the current tool and step-by-step instructions for using the tool.
Status Line	Shows the coordinate location and other geometric parameters of the current construction.
Scroll Bars	Move around a drawing to see different sections of it through the Graphite window. The scroll buttons move one line at a time.
Work Layer Indicator	Displays the name of the current layer and provides a menu for changing the work layer.