### Pattern Offsets

The Edit | Pattern menu option brings up the Pattern Offsets dialog box.

Pattern Offsets dialog box

This dialog allows you to define the offsets that will be used when selecting the Edit | Paste With Pattern option.

To create a pattern:

1. Access the Pattern Offsets dialog box.

2. Type any desired offset values.

3. Select any desired mirror option.

4. Type the number of times to offset in the Number of Times to Offset box.

5. Press the OK command button.

6. Optionally, press the Cancel button to close the dialog without making changes to the current settings.

X, Y, Z Offset

These fields allow you to set the X, Y, or Z Offset between pattern occurrences. PC-DMIS will offset the nominal X, Y, and Z data of the pasted feature (or set of features) by these offset values.

Angle Offset

The Angle Offset box allows you to set the angular offset between pattern occurrences.

An angular offset might be useful when measuring the position location of a number of holes in a bolt hole pattern, where the datum was a hole in the center of the pattern. PC-DMIS will rotate the offset around the origin.

Angular offsets can be used in conjunction with X, Y, and Z offsets and flips. The order of applying these offsets is flips, rotations, and lastly, translations.

Number of Times to Offset

This option lets you set up the number of times PC-DMIS will offset a pattern. To change the current value, select this option and type a new value. The default value is one.

Flip X, Y, Z

The Flip X, Flip Y, or Flip Z options mirror the pattern around the X, Y, or Z axis, respectively. The original pattern is flipped about the X, Y, or Z axis before any translation or rotation.

Use Default Prefix

The Use Default Prefix check box determines whether or not PC-DMIS uses a default ID prefix when pasting features using the Paste with Pattern menu item.

- If you mark this check box, Paste with Pattern will use the default ID prefix when pasting new features.

- If you clear this check box, Paste with Pattern will use each feature ID as the base feature name and add an incremental numeric suffix.

Note: When pasting a large number of lines, not using a default prefix will result in a much longer process time since each feature ID represents a new pattern.