Drill Types: ICA, Image, and Hybrid

Not all drills behave the same in ICATS.
The type of drill determines what you can move, edit, rotate, and save.

If something doesn’t behave the way you expect, the drill type is the first thing to check.

ICA Drills (.drl) — Fully Editable (Recommended)

ICA drills are the native ICATS format and provide full functionality.

Use ICA drills when you want:

• True 2.25" balls
• Fully editable layouts
• All ICATS features to work as designed

What you can do

• Move, add, or remove balls
• Edit targets, aiming balls, text boxes, and lines
• Flip layouts with keyboard shortcuts:
  • h → horizontal flip
  • v → vertical flip

Bottom line

If you want full ICATS behavior, use ICA (.drl) drills.

Image Drills (.jpg / .png) — Fixed Background

Image drills are static images displayed on the table.

Think of an image drill as cloth printed with a diagram.

What ICATS does

• Removes the rails from the image
• Scales and aligns the table surface
• Displays the image as a fixed background

What you can do

• Rotate the image 180°
  • Menu → Table → Image → Rotate

What you cannot do

• Move balls that are part of the image
• Resize or edit targets in the image
• Change lines or annotations in the image

Important

• Balls in image drills may not be true 2.25"
• Image drills are intentionally non-editable

If something won’t move, check whether the drill is an Image drill.

Hybrid Drills — Image + ICA Elements

A Hybrid drill combines:

• A fixed image background
• Editable ICA elements layered on top

This allows partial editing.

What you can do

• Edit ICA elements (balls, targets, aiming balls, text boxes)
• Leave the image untouched

What you cannot do

• Edit the underlying image itself

Hybrid drills are common when adapting diagrams from books, videos, or screenshots.

ADVANCED: Understanding Rotation, Flips, and Gotchas

Why Hybrid Drills Can Be Confusing

Hybrid drills contain two independent layers:

1. The image layer
2. The ICA elements layer

Keyboard flips (h, v) affect only ICA elements, not the image.

Correctly Rotating a Hybrid Drill (180°)

To rotate both layers so the entire drill appears rotated:

1. Rotate the image
   • Menu → Table → Image → Rotate
2. Flip the ICA elements
   • Press h
   • Press v

This produces a true 180° rotation of the entire drill.

Why this matters

• Useful in tight rooms
• Necessary when projector mounting forces reversed orientation

Image Requirements (for Imported Images)

For best results, imported images should:

• Show only the table surface (approx. 2:1 aspect ratio)
• Have rails of equal width (if present)

Poorly formatted images may scale incorrectly.

Quick Comparison

If Something Doesn’t Work as Expected

Ask yourself:

1. What type of drill is this?
2. Is the behavior coming from the image layer or ICA elements?
3. Do I need to rotate the image, flip the ICA elements, or both?

Understanding drill types will save time and frustration—and lets ICATS work the way it was designed to.

Related Topics

• File Manager: Copy, Delete, Rename, Favorites
  Learn how different drill files are organized and managed on ICATS.

• Loading Drills
  Step-by-step instructions for loading ICA, image, and hybrid drills.

• Shortcut Keys Reference
  Keyboard shortcuts for flipping, rotating, and navigating drills quickly.

• Common Visual Aids
  Understand ghost balls, tangent lines, and cut angles used in drills.

• Updates and New Modules
  How new drills and purchased modules are downloaded to your system.