When I change the seat tube or head tube angle, the changes appear, however when I attempt to input any other changes there doesn't seem to be a way to apply these modifications. For example, I can not change the BB drop. It always remains constant even after I input a new value. Am I missing something?
Bicycle Design Software
This does throw a lot of people off. Fortunately, the solution is very simple. Just hit the enter key after changing a value.
From either the Quick Start or from the archive I can't seem to figure out how to input any dimensions. I've tried single, double, and control clicking dialog boxes but have never been able to delete or write over existing dimensions for effective top tube and various others. At one point in time I did manage to highlight the dialog box for effective top tube but was still unable to type the new dimensions in the box. I just started using yesterday so I am very new to the program I'll keep messing with it and hopfully figure it out but any help to shorten my struggles would be greatly appreciated.
I would suggest checking if the frame is locked. The lock frame icon is described at: bikecad.ca/lock_frame.
When the frame is locked, the dimension input fields are disabled. You can generally tell when the fields are disabled because the text is shown in a faint grey instead of black.
One thing that can be awkward about the free version is that dialog boxes can be opened but then become hidden behind the browser as other dialog boxes are opened. It is possible that one of the text fields in one of the hidden dialog boxes has focus and is unwilling to give up that focus. While BikeCAD Pro is capable of managing several dialog boxes at once, I'd recommend only using one dialog box at a time when using the free version of BikeCAD.
The frame is showing that it is unlocked. I don't know what I did but it started to work but then stopped when i switched to the seat stay controls and when I switched back to the frame I was back to where I started with not being able to do anything except highlight the effective top tube box and nothing else. I just checked to see if any other boxes where open but there were'nt the only box open is the primary dimensions. I'm running on a mac with firefox 18 and java 7. I've tried changing the jave settings, reloading, restarting, do you have any other suggestions? thx
I've just repeated this several times and it is the only way I can interact with any of the text boxes. After openning a new applet box I have to click on a new tab in my browser then click back to the bikecad tab and click the applet box. then and only then am I able to interact with the text boxes and I have to repeat this process everytime I open a new applet box.
Thanks for the feedback. I will investigate ways to change this strange behaviour. In the meantime, rest assured that BikeCAD Pro would have no such issues as it runs as a standalone Java application and does not need to run inside a web browser.
I'm having much the same experience -- I can only intermittently get the dialog box to accept edits for new values (seat tube and effective top tube length, for example). I've tried rerunning on both Safari and Firefox, no difference. Frame is unlocked. Dialog box isn't hidden behind browser window. Running Mac OSX 10.8.3 on a MacBook Air, with Java 7.17. I realize it's a free 'sampler' version of the real app, but I can't really produce a design with it as is. The set of features, 'as designed' does look great, though. Enjoyed chatting at your booth at NAHBS.
Every once in a while the program will behave oddly and won't accept text inputs. I've seen this happen with other Java applets so I don't think it's specific to BikeCAD. Here's what you do: type somewhere else. Go to a text field not associated with the program (I use the search field in my browser) and press a couple keys to make text appear. That always fixes it for me.
I was switching back and forth between the browser window and the applet window to see if I could shake it loose -- I'll try going to another window and coming back. Thanks for the quick reply.
also had this issue, my solution is to switch through the different java applet windows with apple and arrow "<". When there is only one, open another one and switch through them. Even with a new window i have to switch through them, this way everything works fine :-) Best regards, Gunnar