### Adding Custom Report Objects

The CAD tab and the 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 object on CAD | TextBox. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Drag a box to create the control. The control 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 object on CAD | Cad. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Drag a box to create the control. The control 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 object on CAD | 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 object on CAD | Section Cut. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Drag a box to create the control. 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 anchors the cut plane to an XYZ position and defines 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 the 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 its background color, change its shape, set its font, or set its 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.

Custom Graphic Controls (for Graphical Analysis)

From the sidebar, set the feature variable list to Dimension. Right-click on the page and select Add object | Graphic Analysis Control. Your mouse cursor changes to a cross-hair. Drag a box to create the control. From the left hand sidebar, drag and drop a profile dimension onto the control.

Left Hand sidebar for selection of Profile Dimension

Note: The Graphical Analysis Control only works with Profile Dimensions.

Once you click OK, the Graphical Analysis Control (GAC) is included in the CAD tabbed window.

Sample Graphical Analysis Control of a Profile Dimension

Select the added control, and drag the small square handles that bound the box to size it. Double-click on the control to activate it. You can then use the mouse-wheel to zoom in and out on the control.

If selected but not activated, right-click on the control and choose Options that determine the information displayed. The Graphic Analysis Options dialog box opens.

Graphic Analysis Options dialog box

The dialog box contains these options:

Display Options:

Show lines between measured hits - This connects the measured hits together, drawing a blue line.

Show lines between nominals - This connects the nominal hits together, drawing a green line.

Show lines between nominals and measured hits - This draws orange lines between the measured hit line and the nominal line at each hit point.

Show tolerance lines - This draws red lines showing the minimum and maximum tolerance lines.

Show rotation and translation value - This hides any graphics in the control and instead provides the rotation (Rx, Ry, and Rz) and translation (Tx, Ty, and Tz) values in X, Y, and Z directions respectively.

Multiplier - This magnifies the GAC by the specified factor. This doesn't increase the size of the lines, but essentially magnifies the space between the lines, making it easier to see the individual lines.

Hit Filters: This area determines what hits are used and how to filter them if you don't want to display all of them.

Hit List - This displays all the hits. Initially all are selected. You can focus your GAC on just a subset of all the hits if you like by using this list.

Hit Interval - This filters all the hits by a hit interval. For example, if you typed 5 then every fifth hit would be included in the GAC.

Worst - This filters all the hits by a specified number of worst hits. If you typed 5 then the five worst hits would be included in the GAC.

Deviation Above - This shows all hits with a deviation beyond the defined value. If you typed .03, any hit that had a deviation greater than .03 would be included in the GAC.

Out of tolerance - This filters all the hits to only include those hits that exceed the allowed tolerances.

Min/Max - This filters all the hits to only include the two hits with the maximum and minimum deviations.

Label Template: This field determines the full file pathway to the label template you want to use with the GAC. The Browse button lets you easily navigate to and select the label template to use.

Custom Graphic Controls - Best Fit Settings

If selected but not activated, right-click on the control and choose Best Fit to display the Best Fit Settings dialog box.

Best Fit Settings dialog box

The dialog box contains these options:

Fit Type:

Fit Type - This field allows you to select from the available drop-down options:

Rotation and Translation - The Rotation and Translation option allows maximum freedom in the calculation of the alignment, letting it rotate and translate freely.

Rotation Only - The Rotation Only option limits the alignment to calculate only the rotation.

Translation Only - The Translation Only option limits the alignment to calculate only the translation.

User Defined 3D - The User Defined 3D option allows you to select the 3D alignment that is rotated but not translated and vice-versa.

2D plane - The 2D plane drop-down list changes the plane.

Degree Of Freedom - The Degree Of Freedom area defines which of the six degrees of freedom (rotation about X, Y, or Z axis, and translation in the X, Y, or Z direction) will constrain the 3D or 2D alignment.

Best Fit Method: This area contains several methods you can use to compute the best fit alignment.

Least Squares - The Least Squares option causes the average squared error for the input features to be minimized in the alignment.

Vector - The Vector option snaps the errors in the input features onto the theoretical errors before minimizing the average squared error.

Min / Max - The Min / Max option attempts to orient the part so that DataPage+ minimizes the maximum error in all of the input features.

No Fit - The No Fit option does not use any fitting in the alignment.

Datum selection: This list determines how to select datums. It contains the following options:

All Points - Use this if you want all the points to define the datum.

Defined Range - Use this if you want a subset of points to define the datum. Click the first points from the list of points. Press SHIFT and then select another point to get the range of points between the two. Alternately, you can type the Hit From and To values to select a range of points.

Defined Area - Use this if you want a subset of points to define the area. You can type the From and To values for X, Y and Z hits respectively to select points for defining area.

Custom Graphic Controls - Operations

The following table shows how you can use mouse and keyboard operations to perform different transformations on the control.

Object | Transform | Mouse or Key Operation
Graphic Analysis control | Translate | Right-click and then drag the mouse.
Zoom | Move the mouse wheel away from you to zoom out and towards you to zoom in. Alternately, press CTRL + UP ARROW to zoom out and CTRL + DOWN ARROW to zoom in.
Rotate | Hold down CTRL, then right-click and drag the mouse.
Zoom on a portion | Hold down both mouse buttons and drag a box with the mouse. Release the buttons to zoom in.

You can also use the Area Definition dialog box to zoom in on the area within the activation box. To access this dialog box, right-click on the control. Then under the Zoom menu, select Define Zoom Area.

Area Definition dialog box

The From and To values for each axis define a precise area to zoom to in the control.