TurboCAD Pro V17.2 Speaker Cutaway SAMPLE

Donald B. Cheke
www.textualcreations.ca
TurboCAD Pro V17.2 – Speaker Cutaway
Using an External Reference Parts and Assembly Approach
Donald B. Cheke
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Donald B. Cheke
Copyright © 2010 Donald B. Cheke
www.textualcreations.ca
TurboCAD is a registered trademark of IMSI/Design.
Published by:
Donald B. Cheke
Saskatoon, SK Canada
Visit: www.textualcreations.ca
All rights reserved
No part of this document may be reproduced, copied, stored on a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form without written permission from the author. The purchaser may, however, print one copy of the
document to paper and may make one backup copy of the downloaded material for personal safe
keeping.
Limitation of Liability
While every effort has been taken in the preparation and the writing of this document the author
assumes no responsibility for errors and/or omissions nor for the uses of the material and the decisions
based on such use. No warranties are made, express or implied with regard to either the contents of the
document, its merchant ability or fitness for a particular purpose. The author should not be liable for
direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the
contents of this document.
Special Note
All of the work presented within this tutorial is based on TurboCAD Pro V17.2. Although users of previous
versions are welcome to try the tutorial it cannot be stated what results will be achieved. Many changes,
some subtle and others not so subtle, are made with each program revision. Although many steps and
directions would be generic some may not be. The same can be said for tools between versions. Older
versions may not have the same tools as Pro V17.2 and if the same tools are available the tools
themselves may have been revised and hence, work in a different manner than they previously did.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Setup.............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Additional Setup & Template Save .........................................................................................................................22
Part: Speaker Box ......................................................................................................................................................39
Part: Speaker Case Cover .........................................................................................................................................70
Part: Speaker Wire Connector ................................................................................................................................. 82
Part: Woofer Speaker ................................................................................................................................................97
Part: Mid - Range Speaker .................................................................................................................................... 150
Part: Tweeter Speaker ........................................................................................................................................... 154
Part: 3-Way Crossover ............................................................................................................................................ 160
Assembly .................................................................................................................................................................. 161
Part: Wiring .............................................................................................................................................................. 173
Updating Parts/External References ................................................................................................................... 212
Named Views ........................................................................................................................................................... 217
Render Scene Luminance ..................................................................................................................................... 227
Render Scene Environment .................................................................................................................................. 230
Saving the First Rendered Image ......................................................................................................................... 234
Saving the Second Rendered Image ................................................................................................................... 237
Saving the Third Rendered Image........................................................................................................................ 241
Paper Space ............................................................................................................................................................ 242
Printing ..................................................................................................................................................................... 252
Visibility Fix .............................................................................................................................................................. 253
Appendix – An Important Note about TurboCAD Materials ............................................................................. 270
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Donald B. Cheke
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Introduction
There are many CAD users that make their way to the doors of TurboCAD and quite often they come with
a notion of how the program should work ("…in my previous CAD program, I could…!") and find that they
feel like a newbie (new user) once again. Yuk! Who wants to start all over from scratch? These feelings
are understandable as most of these users have spent considerable time getting to know their previous
CAD software and are quite comfortable with it. The change to the new product usually feels forced and
is likely taking place out of necessity. Perhaps the former CAD system has become too costly to
maintain, or a different CAD system is used at a new place of employ. As such, some apprehension
already exists when they arrive and it doesn’t take long for frustration to grow to levels of angry
outbursts. As a TurboCAD teacher, I have had ample opportunity to meet these people who are making
the change and I try as best I can to get them to take a few deep breaths and then look at this change as
an opportunity to learn something new and to experience the good feelings that are sure to come along
with eventual success. I encourage them to allow themselves to be that newbie once again. When they
do, learning unfolds fairly quickly and they wonder why they made such a fuss. Do they always find that
TurboCAD does what their previous software did? Well no, but they do find that there are many ways to
achieve results, some better than what they experienced with their previous CAD system and some not
quite so – but still achievable.
Why all this talk about new users and program changes? Well, it is because there is an approach to
design used in other programs, such as Solid Works and Alibre, that is not readily seen in TurboCAD and
a number of new TurboCAD users question this. In the aforementioned programs users approach design
by creating parts in individual files and then assembling these parts in a final assembly file. In TurboCAD
the usual approach to design is to create all parts and assemble them in the same drawing file. Each
process has its advantages. Using the parts and assembly process is excellent for team work, where
different users are working on a project and their contributions are assembled in a final project file.
Changes to individual part files are automatically updated and reflected in the assembly file. There are,
of course, many other benefits to this approach. Using the TurboCAD method is great too because it is so
easy to design from scratch as a user can easily build off existing components and edit on the fly all in
the same place. This is especially true in the area of materials application where a user can experiment
with various materials without having to visit each part file to make changes.
To use a parts and assembly approach in TurboCAD a user must make use of X-Refs (External
References), which is, essentially, what the other programs do. However in TurboCAD it is not quite so
automated. With the release of TurboCAD version 17, the TurboCAD user will find that X-Refs have been
developed a bit further and it is much easier to use the parts and assembly process than it was in earlier
versions.
Although using X-Refs in this tutorial will be one of the major focuses, there are many additional
processes that will be discussed that all TurboCAD users no matter what approach they use, will find of
great benefit.
I hope that you will enjoy my new tutorial.
Best regards,
Don
Within the tutorial the reader will be led through each keystroke to produce all components of the
speaker that is illustrated on the cover of the tutorial, with the exception of the crossover which has been
supplied. The reader will also learn how to set up their drawing and save it as a template. The user will
learn how to insert standard lighting and how utilize render scene luminance. The reader will learn how
to establish a render scene environment and the reader will learn how to render their drawing and save it
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in a high resolution image format. The user will learn how to create a cutaway view and the user will
learn how to use paper space to create a single page paper presentation using inserted viewports and
images.
This tutorial is in no way intended to teach the fundamentals of speaker design or construction but rather
it is intended to teach the use of some of the tools that TurboCAD has to offer and to introduce the new
user to a drawing methodology. The author feels confident that the techniques outlined within the
tutorial can help lay the foundation for future successful TurboCAD drawing and illustration for even the
newest user.
As with any technically advanced software, the user is generally faced with a steep learning curve. It is
the hope of the author that the money and time spent working through a Textual Creations tutorial will
help ease the learning and allow the reader to come away feeling confident that they made a wise
decision.
This tutorial will assume that the reader has the Platinum edition of TurboCAD Pro V17.2 with its extra
architectural and mechanical tools. Although no architectural specific tools are used, one mechanical
specific tool (the Bend tool) gets used at one point. It is not a terribly crucial area but, nonetheless, it is
used.
There are many ways to approach a project and it is likely that each person using the program would
proceed in very different ways, so be open to alternative methods as experience builds. What is
important is that the user becomes familiar with the objects that they wish to model and begin to look at
them in a different way than they might otherwise do. What primitive shapes make up the whole? What
will be required of these primitive shapes early in the drawing and how will this affect needs further
along? What component or components should be started with? Many questions can only be answered
through experience, but hopefully some of them will be answered by the time the beginner has worked
through this tutorial. There is a great deal covered in this tutorial and the author urges the beginner to be
patient, to read very carefully and to take the time necessary to do a good job. Try to enjoy the process as
much as you will enjoy the final results.
This tutorial assumes that the beginner has studied the desktop to some degree and can locate most of
the tools. Since there are endless desktop configurations that can be set up in TurboCAD the author has
opted to illustrate the required tools with the Office 2000 user interface, and the default toolbars in their
undocked format (Office 2000 theme).
Please remember that any supplied images and files are for use within the tutorial only and may not be
shared or sold to others.
Place tutorial images in a permanent location on the hard drive.
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An HDRI image is used within the tutorial and it has been supplied. uffuzi_probe.hdr was found at by the
author at http://ict.debevec.org/~debevec/Probes/
Special Note:
There are several issues that will be encountered during the tutorial due to some program bugs in the
External Reference arena. There is some discussion about these issues during the tutorial and
workarounds are offered. Hopefully IMSI/Design will issue additional fixes for V17.2 in short order and
these issues will be moot. There is always good learning in workarounds as it helps a user to feel
comfortable when issues do arise, knowing that there are likely ways around most issues.
Also note that the author found in this version that when External References were inserted the filtered
layers did not always list in the same order each time. This is not an issue, but a reader may find that the
odd image of layers on the Design Director may not be the same as what is viewed on screen.
Lastly, there is a bug that randomly switched the Box tool from Solid to TC Surface. It may become
apparent when a user is performing Boolean operations on the speaker case. If this occurs, convert the
TC Surface objects to Solids, by selecting the objects, opening the Properties dialogue and selecting
Solid. Change the tool Properties as well, if need be.
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Select the Box tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
G SEKE snap the first point of the box to a grid intersection in the drawing. Tab into the Inspector Bar and
enter 24 in the Width field, 14 in the Length field and .75 in the height field. Press Enter.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the panel. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 270 in the Y Rotation field. Press Enter. Do not
deselect.
Select the Make Copy tool from the right mouse click local menu or from the Inspector Bar (providing the
user has a large enough monitor) to turn it on.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 13.25 in the Delta X field. Press Enter to move a copy into place.
Press and hold the Shift key down. Left mouse click the other panel to add it to the current selection.
Release the Shift key.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 90 in the Z Rotation field. Press Enter.
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Select the Make Copy tool to turn it off.
Press Esc to deselect the selection.
Select the front panel. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 23 in the Size X field, 13 in the Size Y field
and .75 in the Delta Y field. Press Enter to resize and move it into its correct location.
Select the back panel. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 23.5 in the Size X field, 13.5 in the Size Y
field. Press Enter.
Select the Box tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
V SEKE snap the first point to the upper outside front corner of the left panel.
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Assign the selection to the 2D layer.
Select the 3D Subtract tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Select the front panel as the object to subtract from and then select the 2 inch extrusion as the object to
subtract. In progress below.
Select the front panel as the object to subtract from and then select the quarter inch extrusion as the
object to subtract. In progress below.
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Select the Ellipse tool from the Circle/Ellipse toolbar.
Left mouse click in the central upper area of the speaker cover to place the first point of the ellipse.
Move the cursor in a right upwardly direction for a short distance and then Tab into the Inspector Bar and
enter 2 in the Major field and .75 in the Minor field. Press Enter.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the ellipse.
Select the Make Copy tool to turn it on.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter .125 in the Delta X field and -.125 in the Delta Z field. Press Enter.
Select the Make Copy tool to turn it off.
Select the 2D Subtract tool from the Boolean & Facet toolbar.
Select the upper ellipse as the object to subtract from. Select Finish.
Select the lower ellipse as the object to subtract. In progress below.
Select Finish.
Select the Text tool from the Text toolbar.
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Right mouse click on the Text tool icon to open the Properties dialogue. Under the General tab select
Speaker Branding from the Text Styles dropdown (this is the style that was established while prepping for
the template). Click OK.
V SEKE snap the lower left point of the ellipse remnants to place the text. Type ECHO Trance and then
select Finish.
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the text. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter .25 in the Delta X field and .75 in the Delta Z field.
Press Enter.
Press and hold the Shift key down. Select the ellipse remnants to add then to the current selection.
Release the Shift key.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter -3 in the X Position field and 20 in the Z Position field. Press Enter to
move it into place.
Switch to Isometric SE view.
Select the Simple Extrude tool from the 3D Objects toolbar.
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Click OK to exit the Material Editor and click OK to exit the Properties dialogue.
With the push button still selected, open the Materials palette. Locate the Flat Paint category and double
click the Black Plastic A thumbnail to apply the material to the selection.
Press Esc to deselect the selection after the screen renders.
Select the Wireframe tool on the Render toolbar to end the render.
Create a new layer called Speaker Wire Connector.
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Click OK to exit the Material Editor and click OK to exit the Properties dialogue.
Press Esc to deselect the selection after the screen renders.
Open the Materials palette. Locate the Metals category.
Drag the Iron thumbnail to the outer curve on the cone and once there release the mouse button to
assign the material to the facet. In progress below.
Drag the Iron thumbnail to the inner curve on the cone and once there release the mouse button to
assign the material to the facet. In progress below.
Drag the Iron thumbnail to the flat facet between the two curved facets on the cone and once there
release the mouse button to assign the material to the facet. In progress below.
Another way to apply materials to more than one facet at a time is to engage the Facet Editing tool,
press and hold the Shift key down, select the desired facets, release the Shift key and then double click
the desired material thumbnail to apply the material to the selection.
Double click the dust cover to open the Properties dialogue. Under the 3D tab select Metals from the
Category dropdown menu and then select Edit Material.
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Left mouse click on the reference point of the selection to pick it up. Move the cursor to the top right line
of the bottom panel and M SEKE snap the selection in place. In progress below.
Right mouse click and select Default Reference Point from the local menu.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 0 in the X Position field and 10 in the Y Position field. Press Enter.
Press Esc to deselect the selection.
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Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the box. Press D SEKE and relocate (V SEKE) the reference point to the first placed corner of the
box.
Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 6 in the Size Y field. Press Enter to make the box a bit deeper.
Select the 3D Spline by Control Points tool from the 3D Object toolbar.
Select Red from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
C SEKE snap the first and second points of the spline to the female wire spade at the right wire
connector, as indicated in the picture below.
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Using about six more N SEKE snaps and two C SEKE snaps at the opposite female wire connector, place
the next points of the line. Select Finish after the last C SEKE snap. The author has selected the line with
the Edit Tool so the reader will see where the author snapped.
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Left mouse click the Wireframe icon twice, once to stop the render and once to turn off perspective.
Switch to Isometric SE view.
Under the Speaker Case layers, turn off Right Panel and turn on Right Panel Cut-out.
Under the Crossover layers, turn on all layers, except 2D.
Under the Speaker Wire Connector layers, turn on all layers, except 2D.
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Under the Speaker Wiring layers, turn on all layers, except Wire Paths & Profiles.
Right mouse click on one of the Standard View icons to open the Named View dialogue. Select Back
Perspective in the Name field and click Go to. Click Close.
Press Ctrl + A to select all visible objects.
Select the Quality Rendering tool on the Render toolbar to render the selection.
Allow time for the screen to render (58 seconds on the author's off the shelf HP).
Press Esc to deselect the selection after the screen renders.
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Using two G SEKE snap place the image box as indicated in the pictures below. In progress below.
Several times running through
this tutorial the author found that
'keep aspect ratio' was not
working even though it is on by
default while inserting pictures.
Saving the drawing and closing
and reopening the program
seemed to fix it most times. If
this does not work, try resizing
the saved renders (make smaller,
say 2500 x 1500).
Press the Space Bar to exit the tool.
Select the image. Tab into the Inspector Bar and enter 9 in the Delta Y field. Press Enter.
From the Tools menu at the top of the TurboCAD desktop select Raster Image / Image Manager.
Select the Echo Speaker file name and then select Embed and then Apply and then OK.
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The image will now be clipped so that the white background in not visible.
Select the Polyline tool from the Line toolbar.
Select Red from the color dropdown menu on the Property toolbar.
Using left mouse clicks, trace around the speaker, as indicated in the pictures below.
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