SpaceCAD Frequently Asked Questions
A lot of questions are recurring, so we decided to
put the answers online. If you have a question regarding SpaceCAD
that is not listed here, please send me an email.
| Most
of these questions are already answered in the SpaceCAD
Manual or the README.TXT document that comes with
every SpaceCAD installation.
» You can find the SpacCAD manual in the SpaceCAD
start menu.
|
Questions:
How do I get started
with SpaceCAD?
First of all, read the SpaceCAD manual. It gives
you an excellent overview about SpaceCAD, and helps you with your
first steps.
Another way to get aquainted with SpaceCAD is to
launch it and open the provided example rocket (example.roc, comes
with every installation). Play around with the design to find
out how SpaceCAD works, how to enter data etc. Then you can start
your own design.
I was wondering how to get motor updates?
Simply go to www.thrustcurve.org
- they have the latest motor updates (or, you can search the Internet
for .eng files). You can easily import them through the SpaceCAD engine database (Tools -> Database editor and select the engine db. If you click on Import you can specify a eng-file that
will be added to the SpaceCAD engine database).
How do change metric / U.S. output?
SpaceCAD uses the Windows settings to determine
whether it should use metric or U.S. units.
You can change SpaceCAD's
default settings in the SpaceCAD options dialog (Menu bar: Tools -> Options -> Localization)
How do I enter licensing information?
It is important that you enter both your name and
your registration key to activate SpaceCAD. The best way to do
this is to copy-paste the information from your registration email:
Here's how to enter your licensing information:
Start SpaceCAD - and the Reminder window appears.
1. Click on "Enter Key"
2. Enter your name exactly as it appears in the registration e-mail
3. Copy/Paste the key from your registration e-mail
4. Then click on "OK"
It is very important that the key is exactly the same as in the
registratin e-mail. If you get an error message like "Invalid
key", please try again.
How can I run SpaceCAD without
giving the user admin rights?
You need admin rights to install SpaceCAD, but you
do not need them to run SpaceCAD.
How can I import third party
database files?
You can find many sources for database files on
the internet (typically named "RockSim Parts Files"
- for example at EMRR,
or vendor's web sites). You can import these directly from the database dialog.
Is there anyway to compute drag using SpaceCAD
or do we have to enter it after computing it ourselves?
The default cd value in SpaceCAD is 0.75, which is a good rule of thumb.
SpaceCAD does not compute the coefficient of drag of your model rocket, because
the available simulation mathematics are not very reliable (at least those that could be used
in SpaceCAD).
But you can use SpaceCAD's cd derivation tool to find the exact cd value of an existing rocket:
Here's how to proceed:
1. Load your rocket design in SpaceCAD
2. Click on "Calculations" -> "Derive CD"
3. Enter the measured altitude of your rocket
SpaceCAD then derives the actual cd value of your rocket.
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