### Adding Custom Report Objects

The CAD tab (or CAD report pages in the Report tab) provide you with tools to add, position, and size custom report objects into your report. The following objects are supported:

Custom TextBox Object

Right-click on the page and select Add TextBox. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Simultaneously press both the left and right mouse buttons and then drag a box. A box appears allowing you to type your own text. To add your own text, double-click on the object, and type what you want it to display.

Click and drag the object to reposition it. Drag the small square handles that bound the box to size it. Right-click on the object and use the shortcut menu to modify its background color, change its shape, set its font, or set transparency as desired. See the "Report Objects Shortcut Menu".

Custom CAD Object

Right-click on the page and select Add Cad. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Simultaneously press both the left and right mouse buttons and then drag a box. A box appears with the CAD image inside.

Click and drag the object to reposition it. Drag the small square handles that bound the box to size it. Additionally, you can pan, zoom, or rotate this new CAD image by following the directions discussed in the "Manipulating the CAD Image" topic.

Custom Trihedron Object

Right-click on the page and select Add Trihedron. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Simultaneously press both the left and right mouse buttons and then drag a box. A box appears with the trihedron inside it.

Click and drag the object to reposition it. Click on the small square handles that bound the box to size it.

Custom Section Cuts

Right-click on the page and select Add Section Cut. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Simultaneously press both the left and right mouse buttons and then drag a box. Click and drag the object to reposition it. Drag the small square handles that bound the box to size it. Double-click on the object to activate it. Once activated you can rotate the section cut and access the shortcut menu for it.

- Edit - This opens up the Section Cut Settings dialog box. This is the main dialog box you will use to define your section cut. It lets you anchor the cut plane to an XYZ position and define the vector of the plane. A preview window shows the image that will appear in the section cut object based when you click OK.

Anchor - This defines the location of the cut plane.

Norm Vector - This defines the vector used by the cut plane.

Load - This button refreshes the display of the section cut in the preview window.

Flip X - This flips the X axis to go in the opposite direction and redraws the section cut preview to match.

Flip Y - This flips the Y axis to go in the opposite direction and redraws the section cut preview to match.

OK - This accepts your changes, closes the dialog box, and updates the section cut with the section cut preview image.

Cancel - This closes the dialog box without applying any changes to the section cut.

- Transparent - This sets the transparency state of section cut object's background. Setting it transparent making it easier to position the section cut closer to other objects without its background getting in the way. The All button on the menu item applies the change to all section cut objects on that page.

- DrawSlicesOnCad - In addition to the section cut visible in the floating box, this menu item causes a section cut to be projected onto the main CAD image. In essence the section cut appears on the CAD image where the actual cut plane cuts the image. This slice is visible as a white line on the CAD image. The All button on the menu item applies the change to all section cut objects on that page.

Example of a section cut object (floating box in upper left) and its resulting section cut slice (white line on CAD)

PrintAsActualSize - This sizes the section cut so that it appears in actual size in a printed output. The All button on the menu item applies the change to all section cut objects on that page.

Add Label - This adds a custom label with an adjustable red leader line onto the section cut object. Once activated, by double-clicking on it, you can add text into this custom label much like a standard text box object. Right-click on the object and use the shortcut menu to modify it's background color, change its shape, set its font, or set transparency as desired. See "Report Objects Shortcut Menu".

You can adjust where the red leader line points by clicking on the tip and dragging it to a new location.

Example of a section object with a custom label and a leader line

Note: Initially, the floating section cut object may appear empty, if so, it is because the imaginary cut plane is positioned away from the part and hasn't yet intersected with the CAD model to generate a section cut image; or you may just need to click the Load button inside the Section Cut Settings dialog box to refresh the image.