Appendix B: Glossary of Pingendum Terms
Plain-English definitions for the drafting and Pingendum-specific words used throughout this documentation.
Every term used in this documentation, explained in plain English, with a link to where it is covered properly.
A
Alias — a short code you type to start a command: L for Line, CP for Copy. Typing it on the drawing opens Find a command with it already entered; Enter runs the best match. Almost every tool has one. See Appendix A.
Annotation scale — the scale that annotative objects are shown at while you work in model space, displayed on the status bar. Inside a viewport, the viewport's own scale is used instead. See Styles and Annotation Scales.
Annotative — an object (text, dimension, leader, hatch or block reference) that carries a separate copy for each scale it should appear at, each sized correctly for paper. An object with no copy for the current scale is not shown at all. See Annotative objects.
Aperture — see Snap aperture.
Associative array — an Array kept as a single object, whose number of rows, columns and spacing can be changed afterwards in the Properties panel. On by default.
Attribute — a slot a block carries that each copy fills in differently: a door's number, a title block's "drawn by". Can be extracted to a spreadsheet as a schedule. See Attributes and Fields.
B
Base point — the point a command moves, copies, turns, scales or places objects by; the handle it works from. Pick it on a real feature with an object snap and the result lands exactly where you intend.
Baseline dimension — a stack of dimensions all measured from the same first point. Contrast continue dimension. See Chains and stacks.
Block — a named group of objects, defined once and placed as many times as you like. Change the definition and every copy changes. See Working with Blocks.
By Layer / By Block — a property value meaning "take the layer's" or "take the block reference's" colour, linetype or lineweight, instead of setting one of your own. See Working with Layers.
C
CAD — Computer-Aided Design: drawing on a computer in a way that keeps real sizes and positions, so the drawing can be measured and built from.
Canvas — the drawing area itself, the big region in the middle of the window. See The canvas.
Chamfer — cutting a corner off at an angle, leaving a flat bevel. Contrast fillet, which rounds it. See Chamfer.
Construction line — a line with no ends, drawn to lay a drawing out against. Goes on a grey Construction layer unless you turn that option off. See Construction Line.
Context bar — the strip above the drawing that shows the running command: its name, what it is asking you for, a field for typed values, and its options with their keys. It takes the place of a command line. See The context bar.
Continue dimension — a chain of dimensions placed end to end, each starting where the last one stopped. Contrast baseline dimension.
Coordinate — a point's address, written as two numbers: X across and Y up, measured from the origin. See Typing Coordinates and Values.
Crosshair — the large cross the cursor becomes when a command is waiting for a point.
Crossing — a selection box dragged right to left, catching everything it touches as well as everything inside it. Drawn with a dashed border. Contrast window. See Selecting Objects.
Current layer — the layer new objects are created on. Shown in the toolbar's properties strip when nothing is selected.
D
Dimension — a measurement written on the drawing, with its extension lines, arrows and number. In Pingendum 2D a dimension reports what the geometry measures; typing a new number into one does not move anything. See Dimensioning a Drawing.
Drafting — making an accurate, measured drawing. Here it also means something specific: geometry sits at the coordinates you gave it, and precision comes from drawing accurately rather than from a solver repairing things afterwards. See What drafting means here.
Drafting aids — the five helpers on the status bar: Ortho, Polar, Grid Snap, Snap and Snap Tracking. See Drafting Aids.
Drawing scale — what the model prints at (1:50, 1:100). Text, dimensions, hatch patterns and dash lengths are sized for paper and then multiplied by it. A sheet is always 1:1; its viewports carry their own scales. See The drawing scale.
DXF — the file format CAD programs use to exchange drawings. Pingendum reads DXF from R12 onwards and writes AutoCAD 2010 format. See Exchanging DXF.
F
Field — text that fills itself in from the drawing: the sheet number, the date saved, the file name, the scale. It stays correct when what it reports changes. See Fields.
Fillet — rounding the corner between two objects with an arc. At radius 0 it makes a sharp corner instead, trimming or extending whatever is needed to close it. See Fillet.
Freeze — a layer state that hides a layer and puts it out of reach of the editing commands. Like off, but further out of the way, and a frozen layer cannot be made current.
G
Grid snap — a drafting aid that lands points on steps of a fixed spacing. It works whether or not the grid itself is visible.
Grip — a small square on a selected object — at its ends, middles, centres, quadrants or corners — that you can drag to change it. Shown while 1,000 objects or fewer are selected. See Editing with Grips.
H
Hatch — a pattern filling a closed area, which by convention says what the material is. A hatch keeps the outline it was made with. See Hatching an Area.
I
Insertion point — the point a block reference or a piece of text is positioned by; also an object snap mode (ins).
Island — a closed shape inside another one, such as a hole in a plate. Hatching leaves islands clear automatically.
Isometric drafting — a 2D drawing convention in which the grid runs at 30°, 90° and 150°, and Ortho holds the current isometric face's directions. A way of drawing that reads as three-dimensional; not 3D modelling. See Isometric drafting.
L
Layer — a named group for the things in a drawing, like a transparent overlay sheet. Carries a colour, linetype, lineweight and transparency, and can be turned off, frozen, locked or isolated. See Working with Layers.
Leader — an arrow pointing at something with a note on the end of it. See Leaders.
Linetype — the dash pattern a line is drawn with: solid, dashed, dash-dot. Dash lengths are paper sizes, multiplied by the drawing scale.
Lineweight — how thick a line prints. On paper it is the real millimetre value.
Lock — a layer state that keeps a layer visible and snappable but refuses every edit. The right choice for a reference drawing you are working against.
M
Model — the space you draw in, at full size. A wall 4400 long is 4400 units long. Contrast sheet. See Model Space and Sheets.
O
Object snap — catching an exact point on existing geometry: an end, a middle, a centre, a crossing. Ten kinds, which can run together or be asked for one at a time by name (end, mid, cen). In a program with no solver, this is the mechanism that makes geometry exact. See Precision Object Snaps.
Offset — a parallel copy of an object at a set distance, as if traced alongside it. How wall thicknesses and kerbs get drawn. See Offset.
Ordinate dimension — a dimension giving a coordinate from a datum, rather than a distance between two features. Set the datum with User Origin first.
Origin — the drawing's zero point, 0,0, where the green vertical axis crosses the red horizontal one.
Ortho — a drafting aid restricting each point to straight across or straight up and down from the previous one. Holding Shift flips it for a moment. Cannot be on at the same time as Polar.
P
Pick box — the small square that picks objects. Its size is set in Preferences ▸ Cursor and Mouse.
Polar tracking — a drafting aid holding directions to steps of an angle, 15° unless you change it. Cannot be on at the same time as Ortho.
Polyline — one object made of joined straight and curved segments, with optional widths and tapers. Rectangle, Polygon, Slot and Revision Cloud all produce polylines. Contrast Line, which makes a separate object for each segment. See Polyline.
Properties panel — the panel showing what is selected, its general properties and — when everything selected is the same kind — its editable geometry. Derived values such as length and area are shown but cannot be typed into. See The Properties panel.
Properties strip — the four lists on the toolbar (Layer, Colour, Linetype, Lineweight). With nothing selected they set what new objects get; with a selection they change it.
Purge — removing layers, blocks, linetypes, styles and hatch patterns that nothing in the drawing uses. Worth doing before sending a drawing out.
R
Recovery copy — a snapshot Pingendum writes a minute after any change to an unsaved drawing, so work survives a crash. It never touches your own file. See Saving and Managing Projects.
Reference — (1) a placed copy of a block. (2) An option on Rotate and Scale that takes the angle or length something has now and what it should be, instead of an absolute amount.
S
Sheet — a piece of paper, measured in paper millimetres and laid out for printing, carrying viewports onto the model plus a title block and notes. Always printed at 1:1. See Model Space and Sheets.
Snap aperture — how near the cursor must be to a point before an object snap catches it. 10 pixels unless changed in Preferences ▸ Cursor and Mouse.
Snap tracking — resting the cursor on a snapped point to acquire it, then lining things up with the dotted guides that run out from it. Up to seven points at a time. See Snap tracking.
Style — a named set of settings that objects share, so they can all be changed together. Text styles (font, width, slant) and dimension styles (arrows, text, precision, tolerances) are named; the point style is one per drawing. See Styles and Annotation Scales.
T
Tangent — touching without crossing. A circle is tangent to a line where it just meets it; tan is the object snap for such points.
Template — a drawing that new drawings start from, carrying your layers, styles, units and title block. Pingendum2D Standard is the built-in default: millimetres, 1:1, one layer called 0.
Tool palette — the panel down the left holding every drawing, editing, annotating and measuring tool, in Draw, Modify, Annotate and Inquiry sections. Toggled with Ctrl+Shift+T.
Trim / Extend — cutting an object back to something crossing it, or lengthening it until it meets something. Two directions of one tool: Shift-click does the other. See Trim and Extend.
U
User origin — axes of your own that coordinates are typed and reported in. It moves and rotates the coordinate system, which is what makes drawing along a skewed wall practical. See The user origin.
V
Variation — one particular way of drawing with a tool: Circle's 2 Points, Arc's Continue, Slot's Overall Length. Reached by holding the tool's palette button, from its submenu, or by searching for it by name. Each is a command in its own right.
Vertex — a corner point of a polyline or polygon.
Viewport — a window on a sheet that shows the model at a scale. Carries its own scale, rotation, lock state and layer visibility. See Viewports.
W
Window — a selection box dragged left to right, catching only what is wholly inside it. Drawn with a solid border. Contrast crossing.
Wipeout — a shape that hides whatever is drawn beneath it, to clear space for a note. Its outline can be hidden before printing. See Wipeout.
Words you will not find here
These belong to parametric sketching, which Pingendum 2D does not do:
Constraint, degree of freedom (DOF), fully constrained, over-constrained, driving dimension, solver, sketch plane, feature tree, parametric update.
Precision here comes from object snaps, typed coordinates and the drafting aids instead. See What drafting means here.
That is the end of the documentation. For a page on every command, plus four step-by-step lessons, open Help ▸ User Guide (F1) in the application.