After having started MGED and created a new database, the next step is to use the units command to tell the system that you will be entering values in mm, cm, m, in or ft. For our example we will work in mm:
units mm
Now you may give your database a title using the title command as in:
title Mechanical Bracket
This title (``Mechanical Bracket'') now appears at bottom left hand corner of graphics window. Further examples:
title six wheeled tank title stub axle
At this point you can start creating your solid objects using the ``arbs'', ``sph'', ``tor'', etc, arguments to the make or in command. The make command gives you a solid to a default size, you then have to use the solid edit mode to interactively edit the solid to the desired size. make command is entered as below: Examples:
make box arb8 make cyl rcc make ball sphThe first argument is the solid name, and the second argument is the primitive type.
The in command expects you to key in a set of parameters to describe your solid; the parameters can be the x y and z of a vertex (such as the corner of an ARP8), or the x y and z of a vector (such as the height or H vector of a BOX) or the radius (such as for a torus). Below is a list of primitives with their in commands as requested by MGED and sample input. Reading an in file into a MGED data file will be discussed later. Note how providing incomplete input to the in command will result in MGED repeating the prompt for the missing information.