options

Settings

The settings presented in this dialog box relate to user preferences and program status. These settings are automatically saved to a special .INI file, and reinstated each time the program is started. They are not saved to design files.

Units

The program can operate in either Metric or Imperial units. The user should point and click on the desired units.

Max Undo Count

Maximum number of actions which can be undone i.e. length of undo stack. Some undo actions (e.g. undo of terrain excavation for a large area) can use a lot of memory. So keep the undo stack as short as practicable for convenient work.

Load Current Design file on Startup

Provides a "hot start". When starting up the program reads the contents of the last design file of the previous session and restores the program data.

Auto Save

Regularly saves all the changes to the current design file. If the check box is selected, the user can enter the interval (in minutes) for how often the changes are to be saved. The more frequently the design file is saved, the more information is recovered if a power failure or similar problem takes place during a work session. So higher save frequency means more security, but may also slow work speed.

The user should keep in mind that the first auto saving action rewrites the design file so all the original data are replaced with the current data. To keep the original data and not lose the most recent data of the current work session, change the name of the active design file just after loading it by using the menu option File/Save as.

Warn on Exit

If the check box is selected the program will show a confirmation dialog on exit. This dialog also allows the setting of a Restart with current Design file check box to be changed. This is synchronized with the Load Current Design file on Startup check box of the Options dialog box.

Keep View Point when Data Imported

If this option is disabled, the program changes the viewpoint and zoom level when new data are imported to fit the data. Otherwise the current viewpoint is maintained. This can lead to new data not appearing in graphics windows. In this case the View/Fit all menu command will make the new data appear.

Recent File List

Number of entries in File menu corresponding to the names of recently used files. Users can load such a file by choosing corresponding menu item.

Default to Last Used Folder

This is the "standard" option. In this case, file open and save operations default to the folder (directory) which was last used to read or write full configuration files (.3dd files).

Use Fixed Folder

In this case, all file open and save operations default to the nominated fixed folder (directory). The exception to this is File/Save operations for an existing .3dd file. These will ignore the fixed directory setting and default to the directory in which the .3dd file exists.

Browse button

This button allows users to nominate the default fixed folder for file operations (see above option).

OK button

Click this to accept new parameter values and close the dialog box.

Cancel button

Click this to discard parameter changes and close the dialog box.

Help button

Click this to show the context help for the Settings dialog box.