06. mda-interface-en

The interaction page allows the user to quickly create tactile sketches for features such as pie charts, clocks and so forth, without having to create/find the SVG file. The user enters the required information in the interface, and the interface creates the rest of the image. This way you can quickly create a table with 3 rows and 4 columns, without having to manually draw the entire table.

At the top of the page you’ll see the last image that was sketched by the MDA. If you click on this image the MDA will start sketching the image again.

Below this you’ll see the different interactive options. The options currently available are:

• Clock: By entering and submitting the time the clock should display the MDA will automatically generate an analogue and a digital clock with the supplied time.
• Table: Here you have to submit the orientation of the table, the number of cells per row and column, and the dimensions of the rows and columns.
• Coordinate system, scaled to fit page: Here you enter the range of the x and y axis, and the interval with which the indicators should appear on the axis. You can then select whether you want the indicators to sketched and if so, what you want the indicators should look like. Lastly, it will scale the coordinate system so that it will fit on the page. This means that if you enter that the x and y axis should go from -100 to +100, it will scale the image down so the entirety of the coordinate system will fit on the page. It was sketched 1:1 you’d need a page that’d be 200 by 200 cm’s to fit the entire coordinate system.
• Coordinate system, scale 1:1 : The same as above, only now the coordinate system will not be scaled. If you make a coordinate system that would be too large for the page, you’ll get an error message.
• Pie chart – 100%: A pie chart where the parts are represented as percentages. It will allow you to fill in the number of segments, and then how much % each segment will be.
• Pie chart – ratio’s: A pie chart where the parts are represented as fractions. It will allow you to fill in the number of segments, and then which fraction of the whole each segment will be.
• Measuring cup: A measurement cup will be drawn, and be filled to percentage that you submit. It is possible to first only draw the cup, and then separately draw the filling level with a second sketch.
• Text: Enter 1-5 lines of text, with a maximum of 12 characters per line. The text will be sketched.
• Rectangular block: a 2-D representation of a 3-D block. Input the main dimensions and the 3 rotation angles. The block can be sketched with and without hidden lines. There is an option for the sketch to auto-scale the sketch on the drawing foil, and an option to make the dimensions on the sketch be equal to the dimensions given during the input.

The home page of the MDA interface gives a brief explanation and links to the main pages of the MDA. Followed by an instruction on how to position the TactiPad on the MDA. At the top is a link to the MDA manual on the help page.

Thereafter, a brief explanation is given on the various sketch options, with links to the Example gallery, the Uploads page, the USB drive pages and the MyImages page.

It continues with a link to the Owner/Administrator registration page, or if a full registration has been made, information on how the Administrator can be contacted is shown instead.

At the bottom all relevant network information is shown, such as if the MDA is connected to the internet, if a wired connection or WIFI connection is established or whether the MDA is operating in WIFI hotspot mode. For all connections relevant information like IP-addresses are shown. Here you can also find a link to the network setup page.

On the last line, the version number of the MDA interface is shown.

The “Uploads” page shows images uploaded to the MDA and gives the possibility to upload new images or delete earlier uploaded images.

At the top of the page you’ll see the last image that was sketched by the MDA. If you click on this image the MDA will start sketching the image again.

Below this you’ll find the images that have been uploaded to the MDA. You can start a sketch of an image by clicking on it.

The lower part of the page shows an upload box. By clicking on Select File a file browser pops upwhich gives you the possibility to select and upload an SVG formatted image from your PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone to the upload page. Note that only files with the extension .svg or .SVG can be uploaded.

At the bottom of the page a Delete Images link is given. Clicking on this link shows a page with all images, clicking on an image will delete the image from the upload page.

Besides uploading new images with the upload procedure as described above, it is also possible to copy images directly onto the Uploads page. For this, you need to mount the MDA upload directory to your PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone, as described in chapter 7.04 of this manual. When the directory is mounted (which is a one-time action), you can directly copy images onto the Uploads page.

The “USB-stick” page shows the SVG images on an USB stick/drive when it is inserted into the MDA.

At the top of the page you’ll see the last image that was sketched by the MDA. If you click on this image the MDA will start sketching the image again.

Below this the images on the inserted USB device are shown. By clicking on an image the selected image will be sketched.

If no USB stick is present, or when there are no SVG images on the USB device, a message notifying you of this will be shown instead.

The “MyImages” page shows images downloaded to the MDA based on image requests, and gives the possibility to request new images or to delete earlier downloaded images.

At the top of the page you’ll see the last image that was sketched by the MDA. If you click on this image the MDA will start sketching the image again.

Below this, the images downloaded because of image requests are shown. By clicking on a image, the selected image will be sketched.

The lower part of the page shows a link to the “MyImages overview” pageof the Thinkable website. First enter an email address, which can be either the email address of the Owner/Administrator, or can be the email address of any user of the MDA, and continue by clicking on the MyImages overview button.

You’ll now enter the MyImages overview page of the Thinkable website. The New Request part of the page allows you to start a new image design request by clicking “Start a new design request”. Enter a short and a long description of your requested image, and either Submit the request to the Designer Community (all designers who are registered on the Thinkable website and volunteer to make SVG images), or, alternatively, you can Submit the request to selected designers. Do this by selecting registered designers or adding the email addresses of potential new designers along with your request.

The Design requests (new-open) part of the MyImages overview page shows your submitted request which still need to be accepted by designers, you have the possibility to modify the descriptions, or to delete the request.

The Design requests (accepted) shows an overview of accepted design requests, and the email address of the designer processing your request. Upon completion by the designer of an image request, the image is automatically downloaded to the MyImages page on your MDA. This automatic download is triggered by either a refresh of the MyImages page, or by entering the MyImages page from another page of the MDA interface.

On the bottom of the page, a Delete images link is given Clicking on this link shows a page with all images. Clicking on an image will delete the image from the MyImages page.

The Examples page shows various categories of example images.

At the top of the page you’ll see the last image that was sketched by the MDA. If you click on this image the MDA will start sketching the image again.

Below this the page shows the various categories of example images. By clicking on a category, you can see all the images that belong to that category. By clicking on an image, the selected image will be sketched.

At the bottom of the page, you have the possibility to return to the category overview page.

The “Setup” page is password protected, you must submit your password to enter this page (default password is admin). If you have registered your MDA and have forgotten your password, you can request a new password on this page as well. Also, if you have obtained an MDA from someone else, and this owner has not removed his/her password, you can request a factory reset password from Thinkable. For details on password protection of the MDA, see chapter 12.02 of this manual.

After logging in the Setup page provides links to the Owner/Administrator registration page, Global data setup and the Network setup page.

The Setup page also provides a Logout button. It is advised to logout from the Setup page as soon as you are finished with (modifying) the setup, in order to prevent that others make changes to the system.

Owner/Administrator registration
You can register your MDA with Thinkable by providing the requested information on the Owner/Administrator registration page. Upon registration you will receive information on developments and on updates of the MDA. Note that a number of the fields are mandatory. The password you enter will not be send to nor be stored by Thinkable. If you forget your password, you have the possibility to request a new password, which will be send to the email address you have provided during registration. If you have registered earlier, you can modify any of your registered data at any time by making changes to the appropriate fields any than resubmit your registration data.

Global data setup
You can select the language of the interface and the dimensions (metric or imperial).

Here you can also enable “Sketch on Click” or “Confirm to Sketch”. After selecting an image to be sketched, there are two options depending on the setting:

• After clicking on the image the sketching is kept on hold until the sketch is confirmed or cancelled (Default).
• Click on the selected image and the MDA will start sketching immediately.

In a multi user environment or when the MDA is not under direct control/ in direct proximity, you want to make sure the TactiPad is placed on MDA and ready to receive a new image or that the new sketch will not cross over into the previous one.

However the setting ‘sketch on click’ will save some operation time.

Network Setup
The upper part of the Network setup page shows information on whether or not you have a wired connection, a WIFI connection, displays the network name (SSID) of the WIFI connection, or shows that the MDA is working as a WIFI hotspot.

If the MDA is connected to a WIFI network, you have the possibility to disconnect from this network. When the MDA is not connected to a WIFI network, it shows the available WIFI networks. You can select the appropriate network, and by providing the network credentials (either password for a home network, or user name and password for an Enterprise network), your MDA will connect to this network.

On the lower part of the Network setup page you have the possibility to change the name the MDA will has on the network (default is mda), as well as change the name of the WIFI hotspot network (default is mda-hotspot) and the wifi password of the hotspot (default is 12345678). You also have to provide the two-digit country code here (see chapter 7.03).

Note that there is no need to change the MDA’s name or hotspot name in case of a single MDA. Only if there are multiple MDA’s connected to your network, is it important that MDA’s do not have the same names nor broadcast on the same hotspot SSID’s.

The help page gives the link to the MDA manual on the Thinkable website. Note that the MDA should be connected to the internet in order to make use of this manual from the MDA interface.