MEDUSA4 – User Interface
The User Interface
The MEDUSA4 user interface (UI) was designed to work the way engineers do, offering quick and intuitive access to the tools you need, and automating many common 2D design tasks. Its ease of use means drastically reduced learning times, and low cost of ownership for your company. The main window’s pull-down menus contain administrative tools, as well as tools for system configuration. The Quick Start menu, immediately beneath, offers access to numerous functions with a single click of the mouse. But the star of the show is the Dashboard.
The Dashboard
Mindful that most design time is spent doing modifications of existing drawings, the Dashboard at the top of the user interface offers context-sensitive editing facilities, which allow engineers to quickly modify selected geometry. Need to adjust the size of several tapped holes? No problem. Simply click on the desired geometry to select, then use the dashboard to enter new attributes. Once confirmed, these attributes are applied to all selected holes – it couldn’t be easier. Administrators can pre-set the styles available via the Dashboard, and thus enforce international or corporate standards, by determining which changes are possible.
Customisable Tool Trays
The main design tools are categorised into various tool trays, located in a vertical menu bar at the left edge of the MEDUSA4 window, and organised into tabs, guaranteeing quick and intuitive access. Related tools can thus be accessed with a single click of the mouse. This not only means reduced design effort, and more workspace on the screen, but also a reduction in training times, driving down overall production costs. The Administrator can create tool trays for whole work groups or departments. In addition, individual designers can create user-specific tool trays and store them locally.
Mouse-driven Design
MEDUSA4’s UI lets you use the mouse in an intuitive manner to quickly achieve design objectives. A context-sensitive pop-up menu in the main graphics area speeds up the design process and helps to minimise mistakes, because menu options not relevant to the current operation are disabled. It provides a number of useful tools to help with symbol placement, including load point specification and symbol orientation. On loading, symbols are automatically sized to reflect the scale of the existing design. The mouse is used for quickly placing complex dimensions: after making a single entry in the dimensions field, use your mouse to orientate dimensions by simply clicking and dragging. Time-saving drag and drop functionality is provided in many of the system’s dialogs, including the structure tree, which allows you to create assemblies and restructure existing elements in named groups for easy access.
The Structure Tree
MEDUSA4’s structure tree can be displayed on the right-hand side of the main window. Much more than just a clear structural overview of the project as a whole, it offers efficient and powerful functionality, which allows the user to make far-reaching changes to the design structure. Its familiar Windows style makes it easy to use, even for novices: simply use the mouse to select one or more elements in the tree, then drag and drop to associate them with a specific element group. With the help of the structure tree, users can navigate effectively through any complex design. There are various ways of selecting specific elements for editing, without having to break up the existing design structure. Not only does this functionality save precious and expensive design time, it also allows users to focus on tasks critical to the design process, rather than being frustrated by cumbersome working methods.
Engineers can use the structure tree to save specific geometry, or whole groups of geometry, for later or general use in a symbol library. A few simple mouse clicks allow the user to select elements, define a datum, and save them in a library, achieving cross-project access. When other engineers later load a library symbol, with the datum determining the cursor position on the symbol, it can be dropped easily into place.
Totally Platform-independent
MEDUSA4’s user interface is built with completely platform independent technology – meaning you achieve the same familiar user environment regardless of the hardware or operating system you use.
