## Working with CAD GD&T Callouts

PC-DMIS lets you display CAD GD&T callouts that are part of your CAD model in the Graphics Display window:

Note that the CAD++ and GD&T Selection options in your portlock must be enabled to use this functionality.

Sample CAD GD&T Callouts Displayed in the Graphics Display window

Note: These callouts are not the same as PC-DMIS's GD&T FCF dimensions. These CAD callouts are stored directly in your CAD model and are simply CAD elements. They do not initially perform any function inside of PC-DMIS other than providing visual information in the Graphics Display window. However, you do have the ability to import them as GD&T FCF dimensions into your part program. See the process detailing importing these below.

Showing the CAD GD&T Callouts

The ShowCadGDT registry entry, located in the Option section of the PC-DMIS Settings Editor, controls whether or not these callouts are displayed by PC-DMIS. If this value is set to "FALSE", then PC-DMIS will not display the callouts, and the entire GD&T callouts area of the Rotate Options dialog box will be disabled. The default value is "FALSE".

You can also show these callouts by enabling the Toggle GD&T Items icon .

Moving the CAD GD&T Callouts

To reposition a CAD GD&T callout, place PC-DMIS into Text Box mode , and then click and drag the callout to a new location.

View options for CAD GD&T Callouts

CAD GD&T callouts often become difficult to read when the image is rotated in the Graphics Display Window. The callout view can be updated to be displayed normal to the screen.

1. Change the Screen Mode to GD&T Selection Mode by selecting Operation | Graphics Display Window | Change Screen Mode | GDT Selection Mode from the main menu.

2. Enable GD&T Selection mode from the Graphics Modes toolbar.

3. Right-click on a specific callout to display an options menu (shown below) to change or reset the current view of the callout or all the callouts displayed in the graphics window. If the view of the callout has not been normalized to the screen yet, only the View Normal or View Normal All options are available. The View Normal option affects only the label that was clicked on while the View Normal All option affects all GD&T labels. If the view of the callout has been normalized to the screen, the Reset and Reset All options are available to switch back to the original view. The Reset option affects only the label clicked on while the Reset All option affects all GD&T labels.

Filtering the CAD GD&T Callouts

Enter Text Box mode , right-click on a GD&T callout, and select CAD GD&T Display Filter from the short-cut menu. The CAD GD&T Display Filter dialog box will appear, showing a list of CAD GD&T information and two columns of option buttons (Show all and Hide all) to toggle the visibility state of the various GD&T callout elements.

Selecting an option button will either show or hide that item immediately. Clicking OK will close the dialog box, storing the current filtered state until accessed and modified later.

Showing or Hiding Individual Callouts

Enter Text Box mode , right-click on a GD&T callout, and select one of the show or hide menu items.

Importing Callouts into your Part Program

PC-DMIS can import selected GD&T callouts as dynamically-generated FCF dimensions or datum definitions.

1. Ensure that the GD&T callouts are visible by enabling the Toggle GD&T Items icon .

2. Enable GD&T Selection mode from the Graphics Modes toolbar.

3. Click on either a single GD&T callout or box-select multiple callouts.

- If you click on a single item, the GD&T dialog box appears, allowing you to adjust options. PC-DMIS also generates in the Edit window all the commands needed to create the specific datum definition or FCF dimension in the part program. If you click Cancel, PC-DMIS removes the newly added commands. Clicking OK closes the GD&T dialog box, retaining any commands imported into the part program.

  GD&T dialog box showing the dynamically generated FCF dimension selected from the GD&T callout (in yellow)

- If you box-select multiple callouts, the GD&T Selection dialog box appears (shown below), listing all the selected items. PC-DMIS draws any box-selected items in red. You can then click on individual items from this dialog box and it will turn yellow. You can then use the Add button to import the single item you selected, or you can use Add All to add everything in the dialog box into the part program. Once items are added, they turn a gray color. Clicking Cancel closes the dialog box.

  Example showing box-selected callouts (in red) and one item selected to be imported (in yellow)

Note: If selected GD&T elements have no geometry features created, they will show up in red. These incomplete GD&T elements cannot be added to the document as is. If you attempt to add any command to the document tagged in this way, a warning message will display stating that the item will not be added.

In addition, GD&T elements that already exist in the document show up as grey in this dialog with an asterisk to the left of each item. If you either click "Add" from that GD&T Selection dialog or do a single GD&T selection in the CAD window, you'll get a warning message saying that it could not create the feature, and then it will open up the appropriate GD&T dialog (FCF dialog, Datum dialog, etc.). At this point, the user can choose an appropriate feature to use, or cancel out of the dialog.

- The GD&T callouts are only added once. If you click or box-select callouts later, nothing happens.