FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTONS
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BASIC Q: What is SeptiCAD? A: SeptiCAD is collection of CAD design
menus and tools used to create septic system designs formatted for the State
of Q:
Is there a Demonstration Movie? A:
Yes there are several Demonstration Movies Q: What are the SeptiCAD system requirements? A: SeptiCAD is AutoLISP
application designed to work on Bricscad V8+ and
AutoCAD 2000+ (non-LT). Q: Can I try out SeptiCAD? A: A fully functioning trial version is
available for Tranverse Type-B Eljen
In-drains. Some tools have limited
functionality. Q:
What does SeptiCAD do? ·
A series of menus is used to generate disposal field maps
and cross-sections. ·
Fills out all sections of the HHE-200 Form. ·
Tools to do all the rest: o
The SeptiCAD toolbar
includes all the SeptiCAD Tools and commonly used CAD drawing tools. o
Complete a Soil Log o
Label map features or addition information on the
cross-section. SeptiCAD comes with a
customizable Labels Libary. o
The Block Library. Quickly
create site plan features, such as a septic tank, d-box, survey pin, tree,
generic house, etc. o
Digitally sign the HHE-200 and print to PDF o
Open MapQuest in an internet browser using the Lat/Long
provided for the design. In a couple
of clicks you can insert the map into your CAD drawing. o
Georeferencing
tools for incorporating other CAD files (e.g. surveys) and raster
images. Raster images are TIF-JPG-etc
files obtained from a scanner or other digital resources like websites,
Google Earth, town GIS websites, etc. o
Label additional elevations on the cross-section. o
Create a well exclusion zone. o
Show the edge of vegetation with a series of arcs. Q:
Is there a Tutorial? A:
Yes, it’s located in the Help
File. Q:
How to I install SeptiCAD? A: Either AutoCAD or Bricscad
must be installed first. Then run the
appropriate installer downloaded at http://www.septicad.com Help setting up printers can be found here. PDF
Re-direct software (free) can be
installed to create PDFs. CAD Q: How do you zoom/pan in CAD. A: Use the mouse roller to zoom and
click\hold the mouse roller button to pan.
By repeatedly zooming out & in you can pan across a drawing
quickly. Q: How can I speed up CAD drafting. A: Try using more keyboard commands and
use the right click menu to rotate, scale & copy selected items. Common keyboard commands are as follows:
Use the ESC key for deselecting items and cancelling commands\menus. Use the F8 key to toggle on/off ORTHO
mode. Use the F3 key to toggle on/off
the Entity Snap Mode. Create a custom
toolbar menu by adding tools to an existing toolbar - this can drastically increase the
visible space on the screen and provide faster access to tools. SeptiCAD
DESIGN\DRAFTING Q: What if I got the name, location, town
wrong? A: You will have to change each one
independently. Double click each text entity individually to get the
properties menu. Q:
What if I put in the wrong
information and used Design Only OR Continue Design? A:
If Design Only: Select all [ctrl-a]
and delete [delete]. Re-run Septic Design.
Hit RELOAD to load last. If Continue Design: Open the SeptiCAD.DWG template file to start from scratch. Re-run Septic Design. Hit RE-FILL button to
load info from last design. Q: What is customizable in SeptiCAD? A: SeptiCAD has Label, Note and Block Libaries. The font
type for the maps and cross-section is set in the DWG template file. The arrowhead size and all text sizes are
changed in the SeptiCAD Preferences. For more information see the SeptiCAD
Preferences Help. Q:
How do I draw the other map
features (septic tanks, setbacks, wells, property lines, etc). A: The SeptiCAD Block Library is used to
draw and label commonly used map features such as septic tanks, d-boxs, generic houses, utility poles, etc. CAD tools are used to draw property lines
or other site features (driveways, vegetation, drainages, etc.). Q:
How do I do I use MapQuest to
create the location map? A: Once the Latitude and Longitude is
entered using SeptiCAD, click the MapQuest tool to bring up a road map and
use the MapQuest tools to zoom to the appropriate level. To get a copy of the
map, click on make map Printable link (pop-up window), right click on the map
and save image as BMP or JPG. Now, go
into SeptiCAD and Attach Raster Image (icon on SeptiCAD toolbar), choose the
image file, select rotate and scale on screen, press OK. When prompted for
insert point, select lower left corner of location map in MODEL space and
scale map so it fits in the box. Now use polyline
tool to trace roads, and the SeptiCAD Label Libary
tool to labels roads and the site. SeptiCAD
CUSTOMIZATION Q:
How do I change the font. A: Follow
these steps: 1)
Open an existing design or complete a temporary design. 2)
In CAD open the Text Style menu and change the font in the
SEPTICAD Text Style. Close the menu. 3)
Now all the text created by SeptiCAD has change to the
selected font. Repeat Step 2 until the
desired font is found. 4)
Examine the size of text on the HHE-200 Form and MODEL
space. Determine whether the font
sizes are acceptable. If changes are
require – determine the appropriate text heights and change the heights in
the HHE-200 Text Heights section of the SeptiCAD Preferences. 5)
To make the new font appear on all new designs, open the c:\septicad\SeptiCAD-Template.DWT
file and change the SEPTICAD Text Style to the desired font. Then, save the changes to a NEW SeptiCAD
Template DWT file. 6)
Open the NEW SeptiCAD Template file and complete a dummy
design to make sure the text sizes (heights) are okay. If they are okay, then you are done. 7)
If the font sizes are not okay, determine the correct font
size by adjusting the text size to the correct size, then adjust the settings
in the SeptiCAD Preferences. Q:
How do customize other SeptiCAD
features? A:
Open the SeptiCAD Preferences. Q:
How do I change the checkbox? A:
Change the Block -
C:\SeptiCAD\BLOCKS\CHECKBOX.DWG Q:
How do I change the North Arrow? A:
Change the Block -
C:\SeptiCAD\BLOCKS\COMPASS.DWG Q:
Is the a
faster way to modify the Notes and Labels? A:
Modify the files -
C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\SLABEL.TXT & C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\PAGENOTES.TXT Q:
Can I modify the Soil Log’s list
of texture, consistency and color mottling. A:
Modify the files -
C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\soillog_texture.txt -
C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\soillog_consistency.txt -
C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\soillog_color.txt -
C:\SeptiCAD\TEXT\soillog_mottle.txt Changing the order of these
lists will change the way Auto-Fill works in the Soil Log. |