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ZWCAD Flex
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Get Started with ZWCAD Flex Calculation and Measurement Tools

Whether you want to check the length of a line, find the angle between two walls, or locate a point’s coordinates, ZWCAD Flex offers several easy-to-use commands to help you gather geometric data from your drawing.

 

Obtain Distance, Angle and Positions

DIST: Measure Lengths and Angles Between Points

Use the DIST command when you want to:

 

· Measure the distance between two or more points

· Find the angle between a line and the X-axis or XY plane

· Get the difference in X, Y, and Z coordinates (called “delta”) between points

 

This is perfect when checking if your drawn lines are the right length or aligned properly.

 

Measuring lengths and angles in ZWCAD Flex

 

ID: Get a Point’s Coordinates

The ID command tells you the exact X, Y, and Z coordinates of a point you click in the drawing. Useful for finding anchor points or checking alignment.

 

MEASUREGEOM: All-in-One Measuring Tool

The MEASUREGEOM command bundles several measurement tools together:

 

· Distance: Same as the DIST command

· Radius: For circles and arcs

· Angle: Between two lines or three points

 

Use this if you prefer one command to do it all.

 

LIST: See Details About a Selected Object

The LIST command displays key data based on what you select. For example:

 

Object Type What You Get
Line Length, start and end points
Circle Radius, circumference, center point
Spline Length, control points, fit points

 

This is great for verifying object properties quickly.

 

PROPERTIES: View Info in a Palette

Use the PROPERTIES command to open the Properties palette. Select an object, and you’ll see key info such as:

 

· Lines: Start/end points, length, angle, X/Y/Z delta

· Circles: Center, radius, diameter

· Splines: Control and fit points

 

 

QUICKCALC: Built-In Calculator

Use the QUICKCALC command to open the calculator panel, you can:

 

· Do math operations

· Convert units

· Calculate expressions

· Access point coordinates, angles, and distances

 

You can access QuickCalc by:

 

· Typing QUICKCALC

· Right-clicking in drawing area

· Clicking the calculator icon in the Properties palette

· Typing 'QUICKCALC during another command

 

Obtain Area and Mass Properties

AREA: Measure Enclosed Areas

Use the AREA command to measure the space inside:

 

· Circles, ellipses, polygons

· Closed polylines and splines

· Regions and 3D solids

 

You can also define an area manually by clicking points to enclose a shape. Just make sure they lie on a flat plane.

 

ZWCAD Flex Define Area

 

The information you obtained differs depending on the type of solid object:

 

Object Type Info Measured
Circle Area, circumference
Ellipse Area, perimeter
3D Solid Total surface area
Open Polyline Area (auto-closes shape), length

 

For a non-closed object, a line segment is used to join the start and end points to calculate the area, but the length of the line segment itself will not be counted in the area.

 

ZWCAD Flex Non-closed Object Calculation

 

For a wide polyline, its centerline is used as the boundary to calculate the area.

 

ZWCAD Flex Centerline Area Calculation

 

The AREA command can also be used to calculate composite areas, combining or excluding multiple shapes.

 

· Add: Use this option to sum the area of several objects or closed areas defined by points.

· Subtract: Use this to subtract the area of a selected object or defined region from the total.

 

Please note that the Area option of the MEASUREGEOM command can also obtain the area composed of specified objects or points, which has the same functionality as the Area command.

 

MASSPROP: Get Mass and Volume Data

The MASSPROP command gives you physical properties of 2D regions or 3D solids, including:

 

· Volume

· Surface area

· Centroid (center of mass)

· Moments of inertia

 

Results can be saved as a .txt file for records or analysis.

 

The Mass Properties option of the MEASUREGEOM command can also obtain the mass properties of a specified object, which has the same functionality as the MASSPROP command.

 

AREATABLE: Organize and Display Area Info

Use the AREATABLE command to:

 

· Create Area Dimensions for closed areas

· Create a table listing the area info

· Export the data in CSV format

 

 

Area Dimension

 

The area dimension can display the dimension name, the area value, or both, but please note that the area dimension is not associated with closed area.

 

ZWCAD Flex Area Dimension

 

You can specify the area boundary in three ways:

 

· Pick a point inside a closed area to automatically detect and use the enclosing boundary.

· Select a closed object (such as a polyline or circle) to use its shape as the boundary.

· Specify multiple points to form a custom boundary by connecting them in sequence.

 

You can also create a boundary set in advance, and then choose a boundary from this set when defining the area.

 

The dimension name can be manually entered, or automatically numbered in sequence. For automatic numbering, the names increase incrementally starting from a user-defined start value. The start value can be:

 

· Arabic numerals: e.g., 1, 2, 3...

· English letters: e.g., a, b, c..., continuing to z, aa, ab..., or in uppercase A, B, C...

 

Mixed-case formats (e.g., Aa) are not supported.

 

Area Table

The area table is used to collect and display area information from closed regions in your drawing. When creating an area table, you need to specify the following:

 

· Table title

· Header content

· Insertion point in the drawing

 

Additionally, the area table can be exported in CSV format to a specified file path, allowing for further data analysis and processing in external tools like Excel.

 

ZWCAD Flex Area Dimension Table

 

Divide and Measure Object Segments

MEASURE & DIVIDE – Place Marks Along an Object

These two commands help you place points or blocks at even intervals on an object—without splitting it.

 

· MEASURE: Set spacing between each mark (e.g. every 100 units)

· DIVIDE: Set how many segments to divide the object into (e.g. 5 segments)

 

When using point marks to divide an object, the divisions are displayed as single points by default. To clearly visualize these division points in the drawing, you can adjust their appearance using the DDPTYPE command to set a different point style.

 

When using block marks to divide an object, the blocks must already be defined in the current drawing. During the division process, you can choose whether the blocks should be aligned with the object.

 

The illustration below shows two scenarios: Not Aligened (Left) and Aligned (Right)

 

ZWCAD Flex Aligned and Not Aligned Scenarios

 

When you use blocks as marks to divide a selected object, variable attributes within blocks are not available if you use MEASURE and DIVIDE commands. The basepoints of block definitions are on the selected object and break the object. 

 

In the figure below, if you insert the attribute block on the left as a separator into the third bisector of the right line, the attribute of the block is not available.

 

ZWCAD Flex Attribute Block

 

Command Prompt Calculator

The CAL command lets you perform math directly in the command line. It supports:

 

· Real number and integer math: abs(5-3), (10+4)/2

 

Operator Example Description
+ x + y Addition operation
- x - y Subtraction operation
* x * y Multiplication operation
/ x / y Division operation
^ x ^ y Exponentiation
- -x Negation operation

 

· Vector math: [1,0,0]*[0,1,0]

 

Operator Example Description
& [a,b,c] & [x,y,z] = [(b*z) - (c*y), (c*x) - (a*z), (a*y) - (b*x)] Vector product
* [a,b,c] * [x,y,z] = ax + by + cz Scalar product
*, / a * [x,y,z] = [a*x, a*y, a*z] Multiplication and division of vectors and real numbers
+, - [a,b,c] + [x,y,z] = [a+x, b+y, c+z] Vector addition and subtraction
^ x ^ y Exponentiation
- -x Negation operation

 

· Function reference: Grouped by Category

 

Function Example Description Category
sin sin(x) Sine Trigonometric Function
cos cos(x) Cosine Trigonometric Function
tang tang(x) Tangent Trigonometric Function
asin asin(x) Arcsine (inverse sine) Trigonometric Function
acos acos(x) Arccosine (inverse cosine) Trigonometric Function
atan atan(x) Arctangent (inverse tangent) Trigonometric Function
sqr sqr(x) Square General Math Function
sqrt sqrt(x) Square root General Math Function
abs abs(x) Absolute value General Math Function
ln ln(x) Natural logarithm (base e) General Math Function
log log10(x) Common logarithm (base 10) General Math Function
exp exp(x) Exponential (base e) General Math Function
exp10 exp10(x) Exponential (base 10) General Math Function
round round(x) Round to the nearest integer Rounding / Truncation
trunc trunc(x) Truncate decimal (integer part only) Rounding / Truncation
r2d r2d(x) Convert radians to degrees Unit Conversion
d2r d2r(x) Convert degrees to radians Unit Conversion
pi pi Pi (≈ 3.1416) Constant

 

Example:

Command: CAL

Expression or [? (for help)]: abs((56.32+2.97)/3.51-8.93*9.26)

 

Quick Calculator

Use the QUICKCALC command to open the calculator panel. You can:

 

· Obtain geometric information

· Do math operations

· Convert units

· Calculate expressions

· Access point coordinates, angles, and distances

 

In ZWCAD Flex, you can access the QuickCalc through following methods.

 

· Execute the QUICKCAL command to access QuickCalc

· Right click menu in drawing area to access QuickCalc

· Use transparent command 'QUICKCAL to access QuickCalc during command execution

· Click the calculator button in numerical bar of Properties palette to access QuickCalc