Saving A Library Object

Yes, I promised.

I promised a couple of posts ago that I’d follow up on the post about Adding a Border to Your Plan.

Today I’ll show you how to take the border we created and make it into a Library Object that you can use and re-use in any plan you create.

Here’s how.

1. Open the Ez-Architect file where you saved the border.

2. Be sure your border (or other object) is selected. If it’s not already grouped, group it and then select it.

3. If you already have a library file with your own custom objects, that’s good. You can add this new border object to it. If not, go to Options/Library/Create New Library and create a new library file. Depending on the permissions on your computer, you may need to change permissions for the Library directory if you want to add your own file there. This can be done. Otherwise, just put your custom library file in your My Documents directory, or with your other Ez-Architect data files. Your Library file will be an *.aal file. Your Ez-Architect files are *.aad files.

4. Next select the object. (Read 2, above again if you haven’t grouped it).

5. Go to Options/Library/Add Object to Library…

6. The default Library directory will open. If you have placed your new library file there, find it and click. If your *.aal file is somewhere else, then navigate to it and then click the file.

7. To make sure your border is now in your library file, go to Options/Library/Manage Library.

8. When the Manage Library dialog opens, click Open, navigate to your library file via the file dialog and then open it.

9. You’ll see your border as an object in the library. You can use the Rename option to give it a name. Then save.

10. To use your border, click the Library icon Tool and draw a rectangle, the Library file dialog will open where you can select your library file (or navigate to where you saved it). Click to open.

11. Double click the library object. Click done, and it will be placed in your drawing. Drag it so it’s the size you want.

That’s it!

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Are you having trouble Registering Ez-Architect ?

We’ve had a couple of incidents where users have had some trouble registering Ez-Architect.

Did you see something like this?

Do you see this when you try to register your key?

There are reasons and solutions (not reasons and excuses…). First, solutions:

Solution A

1. Check to see what version of Ez-Architect you are using. Go to Help/About. This will operate whether you’re using the demo or have an older registered version.
2. If you have a version prior to 6.0, you should not be seeing anything like the message, above. If you do see this and you’re trying to register an old version, contact us and tell us about it. We’ll find it very interesting… and strange. And then we’ll encourage you to upgrade to version 6.
3. If you have version 6.0 or 6.1, you’ll need to download version 6.2 (see why below). You can do this here: Ez-Architect 6.2 demo download
4. Be sure to uninstall any previous version.
5. Install version 6.2
6. enter your key.
7. Ez-Architect should be in full operating mode.

Solution B

Upgrading from 6.1 to 6.2 if you’ve already Registered

You might be wondering how to get the latest and greatest and what will happen if you’ve already registered.

This is not a problem. If you’d like to upgrade to version 6.2 from 6.0 or 6.1 and you’ve already successfully registered, follow the instructions above (Solution A). But skip step 6. Your software will automatically be in full version (not demo) mode.

Why no re-registration? Because you have registered your computer. So even if you uninstall Ez-Architect, and reinstall Ez-Architect at this version level, you will be automatically registered for the newer version. That’s also why you can’t use the same key on a second computer. AND it’s why we make 2nd and 3rd key options available at a very reasonable cost ($2 bucks) when you make your original purchase. So you can use Ez-Architect on more than one computer. You just have to use the 2 or 3 key option when you purchase (or send us green rectangles after the fact). See this page for more info about getting extra keys after your original purchase:

Get more keys

But I digress.

Why the message?

Explanation 1

I promised an explanation of the message for those of you who care; And more explanation for those who are asking ‘why, if I was able to register version 6.1 a couple of months ago, why can’t I register 6.1 with a new key on a different computer?’

When you register Ez-Architect, it contacts a special server that records your email address and Ez-Architect key. A few months ago, we switched to a new server and so Version 6.2 of Ez-Architect was set to contact the new server. Earlier versions were set to contact the old server, which alas, is no longer there. So if you try to register version 6.1, it cannot do it, and you get the friendly message above when you try.

Explanation 2

There is one other possible reason that you might see the message above: Sometimes your firewall will block you from connecting with our server. If this happens, please try to set your firewall to allow the connection and try again. If it’s still a problem contact us and we’ll assist you.

And there you have it!

Adding a Border to your Plan

In some circumstances, depending on what you are drawing, you might want to add a border. In fact, you might want a standard border for all of your plans, kind of like a logo or a way for your customers/clients/friends to quickly identify that the work they’re looking at is from you. Almost like a trade mark or identifier.

There is no specific border tool in Ez-Architect. But there are plenty of tools included that make creating a border easy enough. You can even create a border and save it as a library object so you can use it over and over. You can create several different borders for different types of projects.

You can easily come up with a way to create your border. I’ll just give a couple of simple examples. (I’ve drawn these smaller than a full page so they’d capture more easily.)

First start with a simple hollow rectangle. See the fill pattern with the dash in it at the upper left. That’s your empty fill “color.”

This is simpler than you’d want for a special saved border. But it’s a good place to start.

Next, change the rectangle’s line thickness by selecting the rectangle and then clicking on the thickest line icon. Then right-click on a color in the color palette. (Be sure the rectangle is still selected before right-clicking on the color.)

Here’s the border, now in blue with a thicker line.

Note, the fill is still empty, but now your corner color indicator shows up in blue. You’ve made the simplest border of all!

Next I make an arc pie.

The little Arc Pie, selected.

Then I rotate it.

Use Ctrl 2 and Ctrl 1 to rotate the arc into a new position.

And next, I duplicate it 3 times.

Duplicated Arc Pie.

Now the fun begins. First group the new object. (Forget about the old rectangle. No one needs that any more…)

Then duplicate it again. You can experiment with difference offsets to make it interesting. I settled on 60″ to come up with this. It’s just duplicated 3 times.  The first object plus the 3 dupes. Be sure to use the duplicate tool (it’s shown in the icon bar to the left of the border) so that you have perfectly spaced duplicates. If you don’t use the tool, you’ll have to carefully place them individually which is a silly exercise, if you ask me. (You didn’t, I know.)

Duplicated group

I experimented with a variety of fills for this pattern. But I like the dynamics of how it looks “empty.”  Fills made it look flat. But you can certainly experiment, and depending on what object shape you begin with, a fill pattern may be just what you need for your own unique border. Fill the pattern if you wish and then continue to group and duplicate it until you have a complete border. You’ll have to rotate it a couple of times, too.

Here’s the complete border. After positioning everything, I did group it. I didn’t want any of the segments to go astray.

Complete Border. The right, left, and bottom were rotated and/or flipped.

One more thing (as Colombo was wont to say). Be sure to place the border on its own Ez-Architect layer. That way it won’t interfere with other objects in your drawing, nor they with it.

Next time, we’ll look at saving it as a library object that you can bring into any new plan.

What’s this about Version 6.2 (Ez-Architect)?

I was born to cause you great confusion I suppose.

Ez-Architect was updated this week to version 6.2. Notice I said updated, not upgraded. There is only one eensy, weensy thing changed. And you can’t even see it. Not really.

But it might affect you.

How can that be? I say, how can it not? We only do the things in Ez-Architect that affect you, even though we might do them for our own convenience (or perhaps for our amusement). And it affords us  this great opportunity to tell you about it.  So that you can read and hope that it never matters to you. It’s one of those kinds of things. I’m going to explain this in as complicated a way as I can so that if it ever does matter to you, you can refer back here and scratch your head again (vigorously)!

How’mi doing so far with saying nothing at all useful?

Okay, here goes.

The change in Ez-Architect 6.2 is only about the server Ez-Architect connects to when you register. If you’re not familiar with servers, they’re just powerful (hopefully) computers that live in a big server farm somewhere with lots of other servers and they serve up websites, store stuff when you register (like your serial number/PIN code), etc. Not going to say more than that here (look it up if you care). Anyway Ez-Architect 6 connected to server A and Ez-Architect 6.2 connects to server B.

Now if you’ve already downloaded version 6 (I don’t know if there was ever a version 6.1) and already registered all of your serial numbers and you never get a new computer, and your hard drive never breaks down, and you have no desire to upgrade to yet another version of Windows, you can ignore this whole post. (Yes. I know that’s kind of like saying …the NSA respects your privacy…)

If, however, you ever need to reinstall Ez-Architect, for whatever reason, you’ll probably want to read on.

First, you might want to check your Help/About menu to see what version you have. What version you already have can matter, just a little, and it’s about how carefully you should read on.

Now a few of you have already gone through this with me:

“I got a new computer/OS/drive and now I can’t register my Ez-Architect serial number. It tells me it’s already in use.”

When this happens We have to contact the “keeper-of-the-keys” and request them to unlock your serial number so you can register again. This has worked for everyone so far with version 6. So far so good.

Now, let’s say you have version 6 and you dutifully saved it to a DVD or CD so you would ALWAYS have a copy of what you purchased (following my excellent instructions in our welcome email). But next week or next month or even next year it’s reinstall time (for whatever reason).

So you reinstall Ez-Architect (ver 6) and try to register again. And we ask the “keeper-of-the-keys” to unlock your key. Wellllllll, that would have worked until last Thursday. And even if the keeper unlocks your key, your version 6 will not connect to the new server.

Sooooo, what you have to do is download version 6.2, install it, try to connect to the new server, whereby you will get a message that your key is already in use, so you’ll have to request that it be unlocked.

This will all work: download and install Version 6.2, request that we unlock your key at the new server if you get an error message (you will) when you try to register, then when we notify you that your key’s unlocked, register again.

So you might want to download version 6.2 right away and never have to think about this again (except if you get a new computer/drive/OS). But then you’ll all be plaguing me to get your keys unlocked so you can register the new version.

But hey, I’m here to serve. Just go ahead on it.

Using Photos to Show Modifications to Ez-Architect Elevation Plan

It’s easy to add a photo to your plan. This is especially useful if you’re doing some remodeling and you want to see how the remodel changes the look of your elevation(s).

Here’s how to do it:

Take Some Shots

Take some photos of each side of your house (or just the sides that will be affected by the remodeling). Make those photos as square to the house as you possibly can. You might have to go across the street or into your neighbors’ yards. (Maybe that’s a good excuse to meet your neighbors…)

If you can’t get a square shot, you can use an angle shot, but your plan will be more of a drawing than a true elevation. But that’s okay. There are no laws about this!

Take a bunch of shots so you don’t have to shoot them again. (You don’t want to wear out your welcome at your neighbors!)

Choose Your Photo(s)

When you get back to your computer, look over your photos and decide which one you like best for showing how your elevation(s) will change; not that you’ll modify the photo itself in Ez-Architect. But you’ll be making a sketch of it. Modify the photo, if you feel the need, in any photo editing program (like Irfanview, for example). Save your photo as a jpg, jpeg, tif, tiff, png, gif, or bmp. Be sure to remember the name of the folder where you save it.

Bring Your Photo(s) into Ez-Architect

Start a new Ez-Architect plan. Open a second layer. Call it Photo (or whatever you prefer). Use the Library/Image Tool (lower left corner of the left icon group). Drag an outline and a dialog will open. Use the lower dropdown and select the file type of your photo. Then navigate to the folder where you saved it.

Select your photo file to insert it into your plan. Stretch it appropriately so that it has the same aspect ratio as your original (as your house, that is). That means you want to make it look as much like your real house as possible; don’t stretch it too wide or too tall.

Sketch Your Elevation

Create a new layer. Call it Sketch or whatever you like. Then go back to the photo layer and choose Layout/Layers/Disable Selected. This will change your original photo to gray scale. Add the Sketch layer by clicking on Layer 2. You’ll still see your gray scale photo. But when you start sketching you will only be drawing on Layer 2. Draw as much detail as you like. Draw enough detail so you can (next step) change the sketch adequately to clearly show the changes you’re planning Don’t go into too much detail; do just enough so that you can easily modify the sketch and still have useful “before” and “after” sketches.

Yet Another Layer

Now that you’ve got your photo sketched on its own layer, add another layer. Call it New View or whatever. Select Layer 2 (your first sketch), and now disable that layer. It will turn gray. So when you select Layer 3, you’ll see your gray scale photo and your gray sketch. I suggest that you un-select Layer 1 so that your photo doesn’t show up at this point. You can leave it if you wish, but you might want to keep what you’re seeing as uncluttered as possible. So guess what’s next. You’re looking at Layer 2 which is disabled (gray) and you’re about to draw on Layer 3. Start drawing your modifications by using Layer 2 as a guide and take off point.

Let me know how this works for you. Keeping layers separated can be tricky. So if you don’t see gray when you expect to, just select that layer only and click Disable and it will change to gray once again.

Have you Used your Ortho Today?

And I’m not talking about something you put on your lawn… or find at Home Depot…

Truth is, I recently learned the term “ortho” from a customer.

I didn’t do any research on it. But the customer inquired about how to find this tool in Ez-Architect. I wrote back and honestly said I didn’t have a clue what it was. The reply described a tool that would draw straight lines East, West, North South, without a struggle.

“YES! ” I wrote back and explained our term for them “constrained lines.”

If you haven’t made use of this handy tool in Ez-Architect, you’ll want to do it soon. It will make much of your drawing quicker and easier.

So how does it work?

First our ortho lines go in eight directions. Not just the 90 degree angles, but 45 degrees as well.

If your diagonal lines look a little jaggy, like this:

Not quite 45 degrees, a line may look like this. Perfectly acceptable if you need this angle. But what if you want 45 degrees.

Look at the difference here:

The perfect 45 degree line is smooth as silk in any resolution.

Again, if you need the odd angle, the non-45 degree-er is perfectly acceptable. But if you want 45 degrees, you don’t have to struggle to get the angle. “How” you ask, “can I draw perfect ‘ortho’ lines?”

“Easy.” I say, “Just press the Shift key while drawing any line.”

Here’s a little sample I drew with the most delicate lines:

Hold the shift key in line mode and your line will snap to these angles.

Here we go again with thicker lines:

You can also use lines with special ends, dotted, dashed or any type of line. Just press Shift while drawing! Easy!

Have you used ‘ortho’ lines in your Ez-Architect plans? Or is this one of those things you wish you’d known a long time ago?

What other “hidden” tools have you discovered? (They hide in every application AFAIK. And we all discover the ones we need eventually, or finally some kind friend shows us. Right?)

You can share your Ez-Architect discoveries here.

 

 

Crazy Fun with Dimension Lines in Ez-Architect

Ah, you might get confused when you start using dimension lines, especially if your lines have arrows on the ends. Here’s how it goes.

You draw a simple line:

Here’s a simple line without added dimension lines.

Now it gets a little interesting when you add a dimension line. You see the plain line on the lower left, then dimension line above and to the upper right. It’s relatively clear what’s what, especially if you know that you’ve set dimension lines to be “below/right” in your preferences. Here “right” takes precedence.

Add a dimension line to a plain line and it gets interesting.

Now what happens if you’re working with double-arrow lines. Here’s the double arrow:

The double arrow without a dimension line.

And now, the thrill comes when you add a dimension line to the double-arrow line.

Here’s a double-arrow line with its neighboring dimension line. Which is which?

If you know what you’re doing, you’ll know that the dimension line is the one with the measurement info in the middle. But this could get confusing in a detailed plan. You do have a few options you can play with when you need to have dimension lines:

Some Options for Dimension Lines

You can select whether to have auto dimension lines or not (Yes/No). You can select how far they sit from the object. You can also decide whether you want to group them with the object or not. And for rectangles, you can have them in- or outside.

If you don’t group them, you can separate them so there’s no confusion:

Because these are not treated as one object, I can easily add distance between the dimension line and the object line.

Of course, you can always ungroup a dimension line set should you need to.

And finally, there’s always the option of using the dimension line item instead of an auto-dimension line. This depends on what you need in your drawing:

The line itself has a label, so a dimension line isn’t needed.

Again, depending on what else you’ve got going in your plan, this can be very handy. You’ll find this line type at the bottom of the line palette. This is especially useful if you want to draw dimension lines that aren’t directly associated with one particular object. This line type always has some kind of end on it. So you’ll likely use it to set down measurements unrelated to individual objects.

Some examples of different line ends and thicknesses

These line ends you see above can, of course, also be used with nondimensional lines. Just select any line thickness and then double click the line palette to cycle through the different types of ends.

Lots of different ends are available

You’ve got two types of hollow arrows, two types of line arrows, slashes in two directions, ball ends and a lovely “X.” What more  could anyone ask for more!

Have some crazy fun with lines!

 

Modifying a Pattern in Ez-Architect

Even though Ez-Architect includes a ton of patterns, you can also either modify an existing pattern or make a totally new one.

First review all the patterns on the pattern bar. Use the Left and Right arrows on the right side of the bar to scroll it left and right. The default position of both the pattern and color bar will always be to the left. So if you haven’t looked before, have a look at both bars to see what you might have been missing.

Notice that the patterns and colors on the right tend toward gray, black & white

The left side of the pattern and color bars are full of a variety of colors.

View a few patterns to see which ones you might want to edit. They look very different and simple in the editor, so it’s a good idea to get a full view of any pattern on the screen before you begin editing.

Start by selecting Options/Edit Pattern:

Select Edit Pattern from the Options menu

You’ll see this working dialog:

Here’s where you start to either create a new pattern or edit an existing one.

Select a pattern from the scrolling bar at the bottom. In this shot I have scrolled so that the pattern I’m editing is at the far left. Double-click the pattern to make it appear in the work window. Or select it and click Load. Alternately, you can start from nothing and create a totally new pattern by clicking Add New or Clear.

You can start with any pattern and make simple or complicated changes.

You will likely need to test your new pattern several times as you edit. But handily, you can see the full pattern in the editor window (to the right) and determine what your changes will look like. Below, I’ve  added some  light green.

First select Color from the menu on the right.

After clicking Color from the menu, you’ll see the color dialog where you can select any color to add to the pattern.

Here’s the pattern with Green added.

You can see the green in the pattern and subtle changes to the full pattern on the right.

Here’s a shot of the changed pattern on the right side of the dialog (not much bigger, sorry).

Subtle, in this case, but now the pattern has green.

Next, save the new pattern (it will replace the pattern you’re editing) and then you can test it out in your Ez-Architect plan.

If this isn’t clear in your browser, be sure to click on it to see the full pattern.

Other options in the Pattern Editor allow you to Delete a pattern (select it from the pattern bar, below) or Clear to start over, Add New to create a new pattern, Color to select colors for editing or creating a pattern and Saving to save your work.

Remember, if you’re editing a pattern Saving will replace the old pattern.

What uses can you think of for creating unique patterns?

Next time: Fun with Dimension Lines.

What other functions would you like to see me highlight in this blog?

A Kalidescope of Patterns in Ez-Architect

The pattern bar in  Ez-Architect is obvious, underneath the colors. But the variety it offers is pretty much endless. You can easily modify these patterns by cleverly using colors, but you can also edit them and make your own unique variation.

This pattern is the 16th pattern from the left in the color bar. I’ve selected this one because it’s easiest to see that changes since the components are larger than some of the other more subdued patterns.

Here’s the default for this pattern. It’s the 16th from the left in the pattern bar.

You can easily modify this pattern by using the Control Key along with mouse clicking.

NOTE: if the following patterns look kind of mushy on your screen, click on them to see the true colors (resolution, browsers, etc. may not show you the true colors I have placed here).

Control+Left Mouse button on yellow changes the pattern like this:

Control+Left Click on yellow changes one color.

If we Control+Right Click on the first (Lavender) pattern, we get this:

Same colors, but different juxtaposition.

The difference in these two is that in one we’ve changed the background, in the other we’ve changed the foreground. But they are both lavender and yellow. But look quite different.

Now to have some fun, control+right click to change the line color within the pattern. So here we have lavender, and yellow with red lines.

Another control+right click changes the line colors within the pattern.

Play with the mouse and the control keys to see what interesting combinations come up.

Next time we’ll experiment with changing the pattern itself. Although many many patterns are already included in Ez-Architect, it has plenty of room for your own special constructions.