==Introductory Notes==
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===Operational Modes of CubeCAD Tools===
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Each of CubeCAD tools performs a certain operation or transformation on one or more selected CAD objects. [[EM.Cube]] provides a number of different ways to use these tools. First, you have to activate a CAD tool. Each tool has a button with a particular icon on '''Tools Toolbar''', which you can click to activate. If you hover your mouse on one of these buttons before clicking, a small tooltip shows up displaying the name of that tool. You can also enable a tool from '''Tools Menu''' at the top of the screen. Many tools have a keyboard shortcut, which you simply type on your keyboard to enable that tool. You can also access some tools from the contextual menu of individual objects either by right-clicking on the surface of an object in the project workspace or by right-clicking on the object's name in the navigation tree. When you access a CAD tool from Tools Toolbar or Tools Menu, one or more '''Help Tips''' appear on the upper right corner of the screen, which guide you along the different steps of usage of the enabled tool.
The first step in using each CAD tool is to select one or more objects. When you activate a tool from Tools Toolbar or Tools Menu, a help tip prompts you to select an object by clicking on it. If the enabled tool allows the selection of more than one object (e.g. Group Tool), you can select the objects one by one and then press the '''Enter Key''' to finish the object selection. At this point, another help tip instructs you to take the next action. For most tools, alternatively, you can first select the object(s) and then activate the tool in one of the ways mentioned earlier. This is often more convenient and spares a few mouse clicks.
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===Working with Generic Objects===
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[[EM.Cube]] offers a large selection of parameterized native objects. Many of CubeCAD tools, such as translate, rotate or mirror, transform native objects to other objects of the same kind or result in the creation of other types of native objects like polylines and polystrips. Some other CAD tools result in the creation of a generic solid object, a generic surface object or a generic curve object. [[EM.Cube]]'s generic objects have a limited number of parameters. They have three '''LCS Coordinates''' and three '''Rotation Angles''', which determine their location and orientation in the project workspace. You can change these parameters by accessing the property dialog of a generic object. They also have '''Dimension''' parameters, which represent the size of the their bounding box along the three principal directions, but they are not editable. Most CAD import operations bring in external CAD files to your project workspace as generic objects.
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===Working with Transform Objects===
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Many of CubeCAD operations and transformations result in the creation of either native objects like polylines and polystrips or in generic curve, surface or solid objects. Each of the following tools, however, creates a special "Transform Object":
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# Group Tool
# Array Tool
# Subtract Tool
# Union Tool
# Intersect Tool
# Extrude Tool
# Loft Tool
# Revolve Tool
# Polymesh Tool
# Random Group Tool
# Roughen Tool
Each transform object has a special property dialog. The Group tool and the three Boolean operation tools, Subtract, Union and Intersect, have similar property dialogs and allow you to access their constituent objects. The property dialog of composite or Boolean objects has a '''Member List''' containing the names of all constituent objects. You can highlight and select any member from this list and click the '''Edit''' button of the dialog to open up its property dialog, where you can edit its properties.
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The property dialog of Extrusion, Loft, Revolution, Polymesh and Rough objects has an '''Edit Primitive''' button, which lets you access the property dialog of the original object used for the generation of the selected transform object. After you finish editing the primitive object, you will return to the property dialog of the transform object. Array and Random Group objects are arrangements of clones of an original key object. In these cases, the '''Edit Primitive''' button opens up the property dialog of the key element.
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==Angle Tool==