AllyCAD TECH TIP

View Settings

This Tech Tip explains how the user can customise/change what AllyCAD shows on screen.

Changing the View Settings

Settings Menu › View Settings

Show Coordinates, if the box is checked, coordinates are displayed in the Coordinate Display at the bottom right of the screen. Either absolute or polar coordinates can be displayed.

By default, absolute coordinates are displayed. These show the x, y location of the cursor on the screen. Whether these coordinates are shown in the order Easting, Northing or Northing, Easting depends on the Coordinate System you have chosen.

Polar Coordinates, if the  box is checked, the coordinates that are displayed will be polar. This means that each time you fix a point by pressing [Enter] or by clicking while you are drawing, for example when you have just entered the first point of a line, the two figures are set to 0. As you move the cursor away from the fixed point, the left hand figure displays the distance between the fixed point and the current cursor position while the right hand figure displays the angle. The way in which the angle is measured depends on the way you have set up the Angular Format you have chosen.

If the Show Coordinates box is not checked, no coordinates will be displayed.

Show Geometry, if you uncheck this box, any geometry you have drawn will be “switched off” and will disappear. Even though you can't see the geometry, you can still jump to it, e.g. using the Geom Intersection Jump. To switch the geometry on again, check the box.

Show Arc Centres, if the box is checked, dots marking arc or circle centre points are displayed. You can jump to these dots using the appropriate jumps and snaps.

If you uncheck the Show Arc Centres box, the dots will be “switched off”. Even though you can't see them, you will still be able to jump to them.

Control Bar font, this option allows you to change the font used on the Control Bar.





The Control Bar in AllyCAD

Background Color, this option allows you to change the background color of the Drawing Area part of the screen. When you click on the button, a color palette appears. Click on the color you want the Drawing Area to be.  

Annotation to Draw, this allows you to determine which annotations will be displayed on the screen, and how. For example, if you choose None, all the annotations you have drawn will be “switched off”. No annotations will be shown on the screen, although all will be printed or plotted out. This results in faster screen redraws. You can “switch on” the annotations again by selecting All.

Point Style, this controls the size of points and how they will be displayed.

Additionally, you can choose to display points with circles, boxes and/or diamonds around them. If you type a negative point size, it is interpreted as a percentage of the screen size. For example, a point size of -2 means that points will always be drawn at 2% of screen size regardless of magnification.  

Ruler box, this optionsdetermines if the Ruler Bar or Line will be displayed across the bottom of the AllyCAD Drawing Screen. If the Ruler box is not checked, the Ruler Bar will not be displayed.





The AllyCAD ruler

Big Cursor, if you check this option, the cursor will be attached to a cross hair extending all the way across the drawing area in the horizontal and vertical directions.

AllyCAD showing the Big Cursor.


Hatch to Draw (Displaying hatches slows down redraws), this gives options to display hatches on request only, to display all hatches or to display selected hatches.

Bitmaps to Draw, gives you the option to display all the bitmaps in your drawing as placeholders or in full detail, regardless of how you loaded them. If you select All, all bitmaps will be displayed in full detail. If you select None, all bitmaps will be displayed as placeholders. If you select Normal, the bitmaps will be displayed as you loaded them. Bitmaps that were loaded as placeholders will be displayed as placeholders. Bitmaps that were loaded in full detail will be displayed in full detail.

When you load a bitmap, you can either load it as a placeholder or in full detail. If you load a bitmap as a placeholder, it will be displayed as a cross-hatched rectangle. This speeds up redraws.

Show Data Item, gives you the option to display all the data items on your drawing, or no data items, regardless of whether individual data items have been set as visible or invisible. If you select All, all data item text will be displayed. If you select None, no data item text will be displayed. If you select Normal, each data item will be visible or invisible, depending on how you specified the visibility of that particular data item.

When you enter or edit a data item, you can specify whether the text is to be visible or not.


Display Scroll Bars, if the Display scroll bars box is checked, scroll bars will be displayed on the screen.The scroll interval determines how sensitive the scroll bar is. The smaller the interval, the smaller the distance you will be able to pan using the scroll bars.

Text to Boxes at..., Text to dots at... and Objects drawn at...

There is no point drawing text onto the screen in full detail if it is too small to read. The Text to Boxes option specifies a percentage of the screen size below which text is not drawn in full detail. For example, if the value is 1.5%, any text smaller than 1.5% of the screen size is drawn as a box, speeding up screen redraws. In the same way, the Text to Dots option specifies a percentage of the screen size below which text is drawn as dots.

Similarly, there is no point drawing objects onto the screen in full detail if they are too small to see properly. This option specifies a percentage of the screen size below which objects are not drawn in full detail. For example, if the value is 1.5%, any object smaller than 1.5% of the screen size is drawn as a box, speeding up screen redraws.

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