The Quad cursor menu

The Quad cursor menu, aka the Quad is an alternative to grip-editing of entities, offering a (much) richer set of editing operations while requiring fewer clicks, without cluttering the screen with loads of grip-glyphs.

While the Quad was initially conceived for easy and fast editing of 3D solids, the Quad is extended to allow enhanced editing and creating of all entity types.

To activate the Quad

Activation of the Quad is controlled by the QUADDISPLAY system variable.

To toggle the Quad On/Off, do one of the following:

• Click the QUAD field in the Status bar.
• Press the F12 function key.
• Edit the QUADDISPLAY system variable in the Settings dialog.
• Type quaddisplay in the command bar, then choose an option.

Editing the Quad settings

1. Right click the QUAD field in the Status bar, then choose Settings in the context menu.

The Settings dialog opens, showing the Quad settings:

2. Quad display: Determines when the Quad displays.
3. • Negative: Switches the Quad off.
   • 1: When the cursor is over an entity. The entity under the cursor highlights.
   • 2: When entities are selected
   • 4: On right click when no entities are selected and there is no entity under the cursor.
4. Quad default command launch: Sets the action to launch the default Quad command.
5. • 0: Click the button.
   • 1: Right click
6. Quad command sorting:
7. • 1: Sort commands within groups:
     ON: Set the most recently used command first.
     OFF: Command order as defined in the current CUI.
   • 2: Sort command groups:
     ON: Set the most recently used group first.
     OFF: Command group order as defined in the current CUI.
8. Quad popup corner: Controls the popup position of the Quad relative to the cursor position: Upper, Center or Middle Right.
9. Quad width: Defines the number of commands in a row. Default = 6 commands.

10. Quad icon size: Small icons (16 x 16 pixels) or Large icons (32 x 32 pixels)

    Small Icons	Large Icons

11. Quad icon space: Defines the size of the Quad tool buttons: narrow, normal or large.

    Narrow	Normal	Wide

12. Quad show delay: Sets the time lap in milliseconds between the highlighting of the entity and the Quad display.
13. Quad hide delay: Sets the time lap in milliseconds to hide the Quad when the cursor is outside the Quad hide margin limit.
14. Quad hide margin: Sets the distance in pixels the cursor can move away from the Quad. If the cursor moves outside this limit, the Quad is hidden.
15. Quad go transparent: Defines whether the Quad becomes transparent when the mouse moves outside the Quad, but within the Quad hide margin.
16. Quad tooltip delay: Sets the delay time in milliseconds to display tooltips. If the value is negative, no tooltips display.
17. Quad expand delay: Sets the time lap in milliseconds to expand the Quad after mouse-enter.
18. Quad expand tab delay: Sets the time lap in milliseconds to expand a group tab after mouse-enter.
19. Rollover tips: Specifies whether entity properties display in the Quad while hovering.
20. Rollover opacity: Specifies the degree of opacity when the Quad is in rollover state. Values between 10 (very transparent) and 100 (fully opaque) are accepted.

2. To edit a setting, select the setting then do one of the following:
3. Type a new value.
4. Click the check box.
5. Choose an option.

3. Close the Settings dialog.

The Quad layout

The layout of the Quad cursor menu depends on:

• The entity type under de cursor.
• The current Workspace.
• Geometric events such as intersection or tangency.

• When the cursor hovers over an entity, the entity highlights and the Quad displays the command most recently used with this entity type.
  When multiple entities are under the cursor, hit the TAB key to highlight all entities one by one.
  
  
  
  If QUADCOMMANDLAUNCH = 1, right click to launch the command.
  If QUADCOMMANDLAUNCH = 0, click the command button.

• If Rollover Tips = ON the properties of the entity under the cursor display in the Quad if ROLLOVERTIPS = 1
  
  
  
  or on entering the Quad title bar if ROLLOVERTIPS = 2.
  
  If the Quad display is off, rollover tips display if:
  - SELECTIONPREVIEW = 1 or 3
  - ROLLOVERTIPS = 1 (Show properties on hover).
  
  
  
  Which properties display for each entity type is specified  in the Properties tab of the Customize dialog box.
  
  
• Move the cursor to the Quad to display the most recently used commands with this entity type.
  A number of command category tabs display at the bottom.

The number of buttons is controlled by the QuadWidth user preference.

Which command group tabs display depends on the current Workspace. See To edit the workspace command groups to switch closed command groups on.

Click an icon to launch the command.

• Move the cursor over the tabs to expand the command group under the cursor.

Click an icon to launch the command.

Using the Quad

1. Move the cursor to the entity you want to manipulate.
   The entity under the cursor highlights and the Quad displays the most recently used command with this entity type.
2. (option) Select more entities.
   See Selecting multiple entities.
3. Do one of the following:
4. Depending on the value of the QUADCOMMANDLAUNCH system variable, either right click or click the Quad to repeat the most recently used command.
5. Move the cursor to the Quad and select a different command.
   See The Quad Layout.

4. Execute the command.

Selecting multiple entities

1. Move the cursor over the first entity, then click when the entity highlights.
   The entity is selected and remains highlighted.
2. Move the cursor to another entity, then click when the entity highlights.
   The entity is added to the selection set and remains highlighted.
3. (option) Repeat step 2 to select more entities.
4. (option) Move the cursor to a selected entity, then press and hold the Shift key and click.
   The entity is removed from the selection set.

Selecting edges of faces or solids

Command: DmSelectEdges

1. Select the faces and or solids.
   See Selecting multiple entities.
2. In the Direct Modeling command group of the Quad cursor menu, click the Select Edges tool ().
   All edges of the selected faces and solids are selected.
3. (option) To remove edges from the selection set: press and hold the Shift key, then click the edge(s).

Using the Quad to create entities

If the flag of the QUADDISPLAY system variable is set, entity creation commands are available in the Quad.

To set the Display the Quad on right click option: Right click the Quad field in the Status Bar and check the option in the context menu.

The available entity creation commands in the Quad:

• The most recently used commands. The number of available commands depends on the QuadWidth user preference.

• A number of command group tabs, depending on the current workspace.
  
  

Customizing the Quad

The Customize dialog box, which is opened by the Customize command, has two section tabs that are involved:

• The Quad section:
  In this section, the name and content of all Quad Tabs can be specified, similar to the way Ribbon Tabs are customized. Quad Tabs can be created, copied, renamed and deleted. Manage the content of a Quad Tab by dragging buttons from the right side of the dialog, or by using the right-click context menu to add, rename, move or delete Quad Buttons. The right side of the dialog contains the full list of all buttons which can be shown in the quad. These include the tools defined in the cui file, plus all internally defined Quad Buttons, which are listed under the new 'Built-in' branch at the bottom. These built-in buttons are similar to the tools, only they can not be edited: their name, icon, command string etc.. are read-only. The condition which specifies whether a certain Quad Button will appear in the quad when the cursor hovers on an entity, is specified for each Quad Button individually in the 'Object Filter' property, similar to the way Object Context Menu Items are configured. It is not possible to modify the Object Filter of a built-in Quad Button.

• The Workspaces section:
  This section defines which Quad Tabs will be available in the Quad, in which order, and in which workspace. In this interface, the user can add/move/remove entire Quad Tabs. The contents of the Quad Tabs is not shown nor editable in this section, as this is now done in the 'Quad' section of the dialog. When a new Quad Tab is created in the Quad section, this Quad Tab is automatically added to the Quad in all workspaces.

To edit the Quad tabs of a workspace

1. Move the cursor over a toolbar, then right click and choose Customize in the context menu.
2. Click the Workspace tab on the Customize dialog box.
3. Expand the workspace you want to edit.
4. Expand the Quad Tabs list.
   Tabs that are currently switched off display in grey.

5. To set the availability of a tab, select the tab then click the Display field in the Properties grid and choose Yes or No.
6. To add a tab do one of the following:

7. Right click the Quad Tabs node and choose Appand Quad tab in the context menu to add a tab at the bottom of the tab list.

8. Select a tab, then right click and choose Insert in the context menu to add a tab above the selected tab.

On the Select Ribbon Tab dialog select the tab you want to insert and click the OK button.

7. To remove a tab, select the tab, then right and choose Delete in the context menu.
8. To change the tab order: drag and drop the tabs in the list.