IMView Reference Guide

PolyWorks/IMView
Inspection Project and Polygonal Model Viewer Reference Guide Version 10.0 for Windows February 21, 2007
InnovMetric Software Inc. 2014 Cyrille-Duquet, Suite 310 Qubec, Qc, Canada, G1N 4N6 Tel.: (418) 688-2061 Fax: (418) 688-3001
IMView is a trademark of InnovMetric Software Inc. 19952007 by InnovMetric Software Inc. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this document is furnished for informational use only, and is subject to change without notice. InnovMetric Software Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document. Except as permitted by such license, reproduction in whole or in part in any way without written permission from InnovMetric Software is strictly prohibited.
Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................ 11
Contents of the IMView Reference Guide .................................................................................. 11 Related documentation .............................................................................................................. 13 Technical support ....................................................................................................................... 14
1. Overview ................................................................................................................... 15
1.1 Introducing the viewing modes ............................................................................................ 15
1.1.1 Viewing multiple polygonal models ...........................................................................................15 1.1.2 Viewing an IMInspect inspection project ...................................................................................15
1.2 Document contents .............................................................................................................. 16 1.3 Installing IMView .................................................................................................................. 17 1.4 Starting IMView from Windows ............................................................................................ 17
1.4.1 Starting IMView under PolyWorks and opening an object to view ............................................18 1.4.2 Starting standalone IMView and opening an object to view .....................................................19 1.4.2.1 Opening inspection projects in workspaces for viewing .................................................19 1.4.2.2 Opening standalone inspection projects (V8 or earlier) for viewing ...............................20 1.4.2.3 Opening polygonal models for viewing ..........................................................................21 1.4.3 Using the PolyWorks browser ...................................................................................................23 1.4.3.1 Opening standalone files or a standalone IMInspect Project .........................................23 1.4.3.2 Opening objects from workspaces using the PW browser .............................................23
1.5 Starting IMView from the command line .............................................................................. 25 1.6 Viewing opened objects ....................................................................................................... 26 1.7 Introducing the graphical user interface ............................................................................... 26
1.7.1 The main menus .......................................................................................................................27 1.7.2 The Standard toolbar ................................................................................................................28 1.7.3 The object tree ..........................................................................................................................29 1.7.4 The 3D rendering window .........................................................................................................30 1.7.5 Displaying the dockable panes .................................................................................................30
1.8 Setting language preferences .............................................................................................. 30 1.9 Configuring IMView .............................................................................................................. 32

1.9.1 Configuring message boxes .....................................................................................................32
IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0
Contents
1.9.2 Configuring the font size for annotations ..................................................................................32
1.10 Getting help ........................................................................................................................ 33

1.10.1 Accessing Reference documentation .....................................................................................33 1.10.2 Using the PolyWorks Beginners Guide ..................................................................................33 1.10.3 Accessing contextual help from dialog boxes ........................................................................34 1.10.4 Using the Support Assistant ...................................................................................................34 1.10.5 About IMView ..........................................................................................................................35
1.11 Generating snapshots of the 3D scene .............................................................................. 35 1.12 Exiting IMView ................................................................................................................... 35
2. IMView Basics .......................................................................................................... 37

2.1 Changing a models position, orientation, and projection .................................................... 38
2.1.1 Rotating about the X and the Y axes ........................................................................................39 2.1.2 Translating along the X and Y viewing axes .............................................................................40 2.1.3 Translating along the Z viewing axis .........................................................................................40 2.1.4 Rotating about the Z viewing axis .............................................................................................40 2.1.5 Zooming by delimiting a rectangular area .................................................................................41 2.1.6 Remaining in Dynamic display mode for several transformations ............................................41 2.1.7 Using standard poses ...............................................................................................................42 2.1.8 Setting the display and color modes .........................................................................................44 2.1.9 Displaying back-/front-facing polygons .....................................................................................45 2.1.10 Displaying axes .......................................................................................................................46 2.1.11 Displaying the bounding box ...................................................................................................47 2.1.12 Using environment mapping ...................................................................................................47 2.1.13 Displaying a grid .....................................................................................................................47 2.1.14 Enabling and configuring light sources ...................................................................................48 2.1.15 Displaying pointer coordinates ................................................................................................48 2.1.16 Setting default material properties. .........................................................................................48 2.1.17 Setting default interface colors ...............................................................................................49
2.2 Undoing operations .............................................................................................................. 51 2.3 Controlling the visibility of objects via the object tree ........................................................... 52 2.4 Controlling the visibility of object elements .......................................................................... 52 2.5 Controlling the opacity of polygonal Data and Reference objects ....................................... 53 2.6 Controlling the use of objects ............................................................................................... 53
3. Viewing Inspection Projects ................................................................................... 54

3.1 Opening and closing inspection projects ............................................................................. 55
3.1.1 Opening inspection projects using IMView under PolyWorks ...................................................55 3.1.2 Opening inspection projects using standalone IMView ............................................................56 3.1.3 Closing the inspection project ...................................................................................................56 3.1.4 Opening recent inspection projects ..........................................................................................56 3.1.5 Opening a Model ......................................................................................................................56
Contents 3.2 Navigating through the object categories ............................................................................. 57 3.3 Viewing objects by category ................................................................................................ 57
3.3.1 The list of contextual toolbar items ...........................................................................................58 3.3.2 Categories of objects ................................................................................................................59
3.4 Showing the contextual parameters ..................................................................................... 65 3.5 Enabling/disabling IMView wizards ...................................................................................... 65 3.6 Using the PolyZoom window ................................................................................................ 66 3.7 Exporting objects ................................................................................................................. 67 3.8 Managing Data objects imported using the Import as Huge Data option ............................. 67
4. Viewing Polygonal Models...................................................................................... 70

4.1 Opening and closing polygonal model files .......................................................................... 70
4.1.1 Opening polygonal model files using IMView under PolyWorks ...............................................70 4.1.2 Opening files using standalone IMView ....................................................................................70 4.1.3 Closing all polygonal models ....................................................................................................71 4.1.4 Opening recent files ..................................................................................................................71
4.2 Navigating between Models ................................................................................................. 71 4.3 Manipulating Models in the object tree ................................................................................ 71
Appendix A: Introduction to Inspection Projects ..................................................... 74

A.1 Introducing the inspection project ........................................................................................ 74
Appendix B: Understanding the Object Tree ............................................................ 78

B.1 Overview of the Tree Views window .................................................................................... 78
B.1.1 Selecting objects using the mouse ...........................................................................................78 B.1.2 Shortcut menus in the object tree .............................................................................................78 B.1.3 Visualizing object properties in the object tree .........................................................................80 B.1.4 Visualizing object states in the object tree ...............................................................................81
B.2 Hiding objects in the object tree .......................................................................................... 82
Appendix C: Selecting Objects................................................................................... 83

C.1 Selecting objects manually or using main menu operations ............................................... 83
C.1.1 Manually selecting objects in the object tree ............................................................................83 C.1.2 Selecting objects using main menu operations ........................................................................83 C.1.3 Selecting objects of the same type using object tree shortcut menus .....................................85
Contents C.2 Selecting Calipers that are unadjusted/out of tolerance ...................................................... 86 C.3 Selecting unadjusted/out-of-tolerance Flush & Gap Gauges .............................................. 86 C.4 Selecting Profile gauges that are unadjusted/out of tolerance ............................................ 87 C.5 Selecting objects using feature codes ................................................................................. 88
C.5.1 Selecting Primitives by feature code ........................................................................................88
Appendix D: Selecting Object Elements.................................................................... 90

D.1 Selecting object elements ...........................................................................................................90 D.2 Setting the Selection mode .........................................................................................................90 D.3 Standard element selection operations .......................................................................................91 D.3.1 Selecting elements of visible Data and Reference objects ..............................................91 D.3.2 Selecting elements of a visible Data or Reference object ................................................92 D.4 Selecting elements interactively in the 3D rendering window .....................................................92 D.4.1 Selecting one object element ...........................................................................................92 D.4.2 Selecting regions ..............................................................................................................93 D.4.3 Using the Selection Context window ................................................................................94
Appendix E: Viewing Annotations ............................................................................. 96

E.1 Controlling the display of object annotations and picked annotations ................................. 97
E.1.1 Introducing annotations ............................................................................................................97 E.1.2 Controlling the color mode for annotation display ....................................................................98 E.1.2.1 Specifying the color mode used to display annotations .................................................98 E.1.2.2 Specifying the color mode used to display attachment lines .........................................98 E.1.2.3 Inverting the character color of annotations ..................................................................98 E.1.3 Controlling the position of annotations .....................................................................................99 E.1.3.1 The automatic positioning mode ....................................................................................99 E.1.3.2 Dragging annotations to a new location ........................................................................99 E.1.4 Controlling the visibility of annotations ...................................................................................100 E.1.4.1 Controlling the visibility of all annotations ....................................................................100 E.1.4.2 Controlling the visibility of annotations by type ............................................................100 E.1.4.3 Controlling the display of annotations via the property sheet ......................................101 E.1.5 Aligning values within annotations .........................................................................................101 E.1.6 Showing pass/fail markers .....................................................................................................101 E.1.7 Creating and manipulating coordinate and error/value annotations .......................................101 E.1.7.1 Picking annotations .....................................................................................................102 E.1.7.2 Generating a tabular report from picked annotations ..................................................104 E.1.8 Controlling the contents of annotations via templates ...........................................................105 E.1.8.1 Creating and editing annotation templates ..................................................................105 E.1.8.2 Customizing annotation contents ................................................................................106
Contents
Appendix F: Viewing Cross-Sections ...................................................................... 108

F.1 Displaying cross-sections .................................................................................................. 108
F.1.1 Choosing a drawing style .......................................................................................................108 F.1.2 Displaying a cross-sectional view of the 3D scene .................................................................109 F.1.3 Visualizing cross-section comparison results .........................................................................112
Appendix G: Configuring Error Display Options .................................................... 116

G.1 Controlling the comparison error display ........................................................................... 117
G.1.1 Rendering error vectors .........................................................................................................118 G.1.2 Mapping the comparison error on points and surfaces ..........................................................119
G.2 Controlling the correspondence between errors and colors .............................................. 120
G.2.1 Specifying the color conversion method ................................................................................120 G.2.2 Specifying the current color scale ..........................................................................................121 G.2.3 Specifying a symmetrical color scale .....................................................................................122 G.2.4 Controlling the number of digits displayed in the 3D scene ...................................................122 G.2.5 Adding a new color scale .......................................................................................................122 G.2.6 Deleting a color scale .............................................................................................................122
G.3 Controlling the multiple data variability color map display ................................................. 122 G.4 Using the color scale editor ............................................................................................... 125
G.4.1 Editing the color scales limits ................................................................................................125 G.4.2 Color for results out of the color scale ...................................................................................126 G.4.3 Modifying the location of a tolerance cursor in the color scale ..............................................126 G.4.4 Editing a color segment .........................................................................................................127 G.4.5 Subdividing a color segment ..................................................................................................128 G.4.6 Deleting a color segment .......................................................................................................128 G.4.7 Saving the color scale editing results .....................................................................................129
Appendix H: Taking Interactive Measurements ...................................................... 130

H.1 Performing basic measurements ....................................................................................... 130
H.1.1 Picking points .........................................................................................................................130 H.1.2 Interactively measuring distances ..........................................................................................130 H.1.2.1 Measuring point-to-point distances .............................................................................131 H.1.2.2 Measuring point-to-line distances ................................................................................132 H.1.2.3 Measuring point-to-circle distances .............................................................................133 H.1.3 Defining a distance measurement direction ...........................................................................134 H.1.4 Interactively measuring angles, lengths, and radii .................................................................135 H.1.4.1 Measuring angles ........................................................................................................135 H.1.4.2 Measuring lengths .......................................................................................................136 H.1.4.3 Measuring radii ............................................................................................................137 H.1.5 Projecting all picked points onto a plane ................................................................................138
H.2 Performing survey measurements .................................................................................... 138

H.2.1 Interactively performing survey measurements .....................................................................139
Contents H.3 Editing Measurements ....................................................................................................... 142 H.4 Displaying measured values ............................................................................................. 142 H.5 Visualizing Measurement properties ................................................................................. 144
Appendix I: Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations............................................................................................... 146
I.1 Reporting using 2D Vector Graphic objects ........................................................................ 147 I.2 Creating, viewing, and exporting Pie Charts ....................................................................... 149
I.2.1 Creating pie charts ...................................................................................................................149 I.2.2 Using the pie chart viewer .......................................................................................................149
I.3 Creating and manipulating snapshot objects ...................................................................... 150

I.3.1 Specifying snapshot creation options ......................................................................................150 I.3.2 Taking snapshots of the 3D scene ..........................................................................................151 I.3.3 Creating a snapshot from an existing image file ......................................................................152 I.3.4 Visualizing a snapshot object ..................................................................................................152 I.3.5 Saving a snapshot object to an external image file .................................................................152 I.3.6 Preparing a snapshot object for export to Excel, HTML, or Word ...........................................152
I.4 Visualizing a table report item ............................................................................................. 153 I.5 Customizing the appearance of a table report item ............................................................ 154 I.6 Creating and editing table templates .................................................................................. 157
I.6.1 Editing private templates .........................................................................................................158 I.6.2 Editing public templates ...........................................................................................................158 I.6.3 Using the table template editor ................................................................................................159 I.6.4 Customizing table contents ......................................................................................................159 I.6.5 Defining sorting methods .........................................................................................................161 I.6.6 Filtering out undesirable results ...............................................................................................162
Appendix J: Reporting using Animated Reports.................................................... 164

J.1 Introductory notions ............................................................................................................ 165 J.2 Beginning the Video report creation process ..................................................................... 166 J.3 Creating and editing a Scene ............................................................................................. 167 J.4 Adding an Audio Comment to a Scene .............................................................................. 171 J.5 Adding Text Captions to a Scene ....................................................................................... 172 J.6 Previewing a Video report, a Scene, or an Audio Comment .............................................. 175 J.7 Exporting a Video report .................................................................................................... 175 J.8 Viewing an exported video report with the IMMedia viewer ............................................... 175
J.8.1 Displaying annotations ............................................................................................................175 J.8.2 Taking snapshots of the IMMedia viewing screen ..................................................................177 J.8.3 IMMedia shortcuts ...................................................................................................................177
Contents
Appendix K: Reporting using Formatted Reports .................................................. 179

K.1 Introducing Layouts and formatted reports ........................................................................ 179
K.1.1 Overview of the EZLayout interface .......................................................................................182 K.1.2 Using the three areas to the left of the drawing area .............................................................186 K.1.3 Overview of the EZLayout menu items ..................................................................................187 K.1.4 Introducing the main toolbar ...................................................................................................187 K.1.5 Manipulating the drawing area ...............................................................................................187
K.2 Creating layouts ................................................................................................................. 188

K.2.1 Creating a new layout .............................................................................................................188 K.2.2 Specifying the properties of the layout ...................................................................................189 K.2.3 Creating and editing additional sheets ...................................................................................190 K.2.4 Making a sheet active .............................................................................................................191 K.2.5 Adding items to a sheet ..........................................................................................................191 K.2.6 Adding fixed items to a sheet .................................................................................................191 K.2.7 Adding variable items other than text fields to sheets ............................................................193 K.2.8 Properties of items in a layout ................................................................................................193 K.2.9 Viewing items .........................................................................................................................198 K.2.10 Selecting items on a sheet ...................................................................................................198 K.2.11 Editing items .........................................................................................................................199 K.2.12 Arranging items ....................................................................................................................200 K.2.13 Moving items ........................................................................................................................202 K.2.14 Saving layouts and reports ...................................................................................................202 K.2.15 Exporting layouts ..................................................................................................................202 K.2.16 Opening/editing existing layouts ...........................................................................................203 K.2.17 Renaming layouts .................................................................................................................203
K.3 Creating formatted reports ................................................................................................. 203

K.3.1 Specifying a layout .................................................................................................................203 K.3.2 Copying the content of IMInspect report items to variable items ............................................204 K.3.3 Editing the content of variable items in a formatted report .....................................................205 K.3.4 Saving formatted reports ........................................................................................................205 K.3.5 Printing formatted reports .......................................................................................................205 K.3.6 Exporting formatted reports ....................................................................................................205 K.3.7 Editing existing formatted reports ...........................................................................................206
Contents K.4 Creating an auto-formatted report ..................................................................................... 206
Appendix L: Exporting Objects ................................................................................ 208

L.1 Exporting Data or Reference objects to an ASCII or a PSL point cloud file ....................... 208 L.2 Exporting NURBS Reference objects to IGES ................................................................... 209 L.3 Exporting Data or Reference objects to a polygonal file .................................................... 209 L.4 Exporting error-mapped Data objects ................................................................................ 209 L.5 Exporting a Reference object and color map to a texture-mapped model ......................... 210 L.6 Exporting cross-section points to text files ......................................................................... 212
L.6.1 Exporting cross-section points to a text file ............................................................................213 L.6.2 Exporting cross-section points and errors to a text file ...........................................................213
L.7 Exporting Gauges .............................................................................................................. 214

L.7.1 Exporting Airfoil Gauges .........................................................................................................214 L.7.2 Exporting Flush & Gap Gauges ..............................................................................................216 L.7.3 Exporting Profile Gauges ........................................................................................................217
L.8 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections ........................................................................... 219

L.8.1 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections to DXF ...................................................................219 L.8.2 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections to IGES ..................................................................220
L.9 Exporting Primitives to a text file ........................................................................................ 220

L.9.1 Exporting Circles to text files ..................................................................................................221 L.9.2 Exporting Planes to text files ..................................................................................................222 L.9.3 Exporting Points to text files ...................................................................................................222 L.9.4 Exporting Polylines to text files ...............................................................................................222 L.9.5 Exporting Vectors to text files .................................................................................................223 L.9.6 Exporting Points and Polylines to CAiCE FXF files ................................................................223
L.10 Exporting Data points ....................................................................................................... 224

L.10.1 Exporting Data points to IGES ..............................................................................................224 L.10.2 Exporting Data points to kubit PTC .......................................................................................225 L.10.3 Exporting Data points to a text file ........................................................................................225 L.10.4 Exporting Data points and error vectors to a text file ............................................................225
L.11 Exporting reports .............................................................................................................. 227

L.11.1 Exporting report items ...........................................................................................................227 L.11.2 Exporting report layouts ........................................................................................................228
Index ................................................................................................................. 230
10
Introduction
The IMView Reference Guide is intended for users of PolyWorks/IMView Version 10.0. IMView is a 3D viewing program that comes with any purchase of an InnovMetric Software product. It can also be downloaded at no cost from InnovMetric Softwares web site (www.innovmetric.com). It lets you view IMInspect inspection Projects and polygonal models. When viewing an inspection project it is possible to create new annotations and report items to include in existing or new formatted reports and Layouts. Most objects, including newly created ones, can be exported to various formats. Keep in mind that when you finish viewing the project, IMView simply closes it; all newly created items are discarded.
Contents of the IMView Reference Guide

This document contains four sections and several appendixes:
1. Overview
This section explains how to start IMView either from the PolyWorks/Workstation Manager (WM) or as a standalone module. It also presents the PolyWorks browser which is available if using IMView from within the WM. Finally, it presents the three different IMView modes (no object, view polygonal models, and view inspection projects) and the menu and toolbar items common to all modes.
2. IMView Basics
This section explains basics common to viewing polygonal models and inspection projects, such as controlling the display, transforming objects in the 3D scene, undoing operations, and more.
3. Viewing Inspection Projects

This section explains how to view simply and quickly the inspection results contained in an IMInspect Project, create new report items, and export report items or incorporate them in existing or new formatted reports. All of the functionalities of the EZLayout tool are available for creating report Layouts and formatted reports. New Layouts can be exported to disk and then used in other inspection projects. Users familiar with the IMInspect module will recognize the operations offered in the menu bar and the object tree shortcut menus. Users not familiar with IMInspect will
11
Introduction find in the appendixes a description of all of the menu items that are not described in Sections 1 thru 4.
4. Viewing Polygonal Models

This section explains how to view polygonal models.
Appendixes
This section contains information on manipulating IMInspect Projects in IMView.
Appendix A: Introduction to Inspection Projects

This section provides a short introduction to IMInspect Projects.
Appendix B: Understanding the Object Tree

This section explains how to manipulate objects in the object tree.
Appendix C: Selecting Objects

A section that explains how to select objects via main menu and object tree menu operations.
Appendix D: Selecting Object Elements

This section explains how to select and edit object elements. Elements include Data points and Reference triangles/NURBS surfaces.
Appendix E: Viewing Annotations

This section explains how to visualize and edit (e.g., hide, drag) annotations in IMView. It also explains how to create new coordinate and error annotations.
Appendix F: Viewing Cross-Sections

This section explains how to visualize cross-sections.
Appendix G: Configuring Error Display Options

This section explains how to configure error display options.
Appendix H: Taking Interactive Measurements

A section that explains how to take new interactive measurements.
Appendix I: Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen
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Introduction
Snapshots, and Error Annotations

A section that explains how to create new report items that can be exported and/or included in a formatted report.
Appendix J: Reporting using Animated Reports

A section that explains how to create a video report that can be exported.
Appendix K: Reporting using Formatted Reports

A section that explains how to create formatted reports using a layout created using the EZLayout tool. Existing Layouts can be edited and new Layouts created. Layouts exported to be used in other IMInspect Projects, and formatted reports can be exported to HTML, images, or PDF format.
Appendix L: Exporting Objects

A section that explains how to export Data, Reference, Primitive, Cross-Section, Gauge, and report items and Layouts to external files.
Related documentation
The following documents, in PDF format, offer useful information: The PolyWorks Beginners Guide presents an overview of the PolyWorks process, introduces the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager and the PolyWorks graphic user interfaces, and provides detailed alignment, reverse-engineering, and inspection exercises. The PolyWorks User Guide for Surveying Applications presents an overview of the PolyWorks process, introduces the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager and the PolyWorks graphic user interfaces, and provides detailed alignment and inspection exercises. The PolyWorks Reference Guide presents the PolyWorks software suite, including the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager, describes the installation procedure for both node-locked and floating licenses, and explains how to invoke modules from the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager. These PDF documents can be accessed via the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager [Help > Reference Guides > Name document], and are located in the Documentation subdirectory of the PolyWorks installation directory.
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Introduction
Technical support
Report any problems, or send your suggestions, directly to InnovMetric Software at the address on the title page of this document. The InnovMetric Software technical team can also be contacted by e-mail at support@innovmetric.com.
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1. Overview
The PolyWorks/IMView module (IMView) is a 3D viewing software product. It offers two viewing modes: one for viewing polygonal models and the other for viewing inspection projects created by the PolyWorks/IMInspect module. IMView is automatically installed when PolyWorks is installed and is also available, at no cost, as a standalone installation for colleagues, distributors, suppliers, etc. CONTENTS 1.1 Introducing the viewing modes 1.2 Document contents 1.3 Installing IMView 1.4 Starting IMView from Windows 1.5 Starting IMView from the command line 1.6 Viewing opened objects 1.7 Introducing the graphical user interface 1.8 Setting language preferences 1.9 Configuring IMView 1.10 Getting help 1.11 Generating snapshots of the 3D scene 1.12 Exiting IMView
1.1 Introducing the viewing modes

You may use IMView to view polygonal models or inspection projects.
1.1.1 Viewing multiple polygonal models

In the polygonal model viewing mode, you can: View any number of polygonal models on disk or contained within a workspace, compressed or not. View the models using different display modes.
1.1.2 Viewing an IMInspect inspection project

In the inspection project viewing mode, you can:
15
Overview Open an inspection project prepared for IMView (a Configure for IMView check box is available in IMInspects File menu). Navigate through measurement results by category (e.g., color maps, cross-sections, Features, gauges, formatted reports) while rotating, translating, and zooming in 3D. Take new measurements, create new report items, and even create new formatted reports, and then export and/or print the new report items. In the inspection project viewing mode, you cannot: Change the alignment of Data objects. Re-compare Data objects to Reference objects. Recompute dimension or GD&T measurements associated with Features. Readjust Gauges. In short, IMView lets you share inspection results, and lets colleagues, customers, or suppliers visualize these results in 3D and create their own reports using existing results.
1.2 Document contents

This document has been organized to provide information in the main body on the IMView menu items not found in IMInspect, and document those operations of IMView that are also found in IMInspect as appendices. If you are familiar with IMInspect you probably do not need to read the appendices as they are created using content from the IMInspect Reference Guide. IMView is similar to IMInspect in many aspects: The OpenGL window is the same. The main menu bar is stripped of all the key alignment and comparison tools, but the menu items that are available work the same as in IMInspect. The object tree (hidden by default) works as in IMInspect. The main difference between IMView and IMInspect is the Standard toolbar. IMView offers a user-friendly navigation toolbar that has been designed for a wide audience not familiar with PolyWorks.
16
Overview If you are not familiar with IMInspect, the appendices offer important information that complete the description of all of the operations offered in IMView. With respect to starting IMView (Section 1.4), users who already have PolyWorks should read the instructions that refer to IMView under PolyWorks (Section 1.4.1), while users who do not have PolyWorks should read the instructions concerning standalone IMView (Section 1.4.2).
1.3 Installing IMView

InnovMetric Software offers two IMView installation scenarios: either as part of the PolyWorks installation or as a standalone module. With respect to the first scenario, IMView functions from within the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager (referred to as the WM). The WM is a centralized interface that provides direct access to all of the PolyWorks modules (see the PolyWorks Reference Guide for more information). Launching IMView from Windows or the command line results in first opening the WM (see Figure 1.1) and then opening the IMView module. You may also open the WM, and then open the IMView module by either using an optional workspace object preselection or by clicking on its icon on the WMs Standard toolbar. With respect to the second scenario, starting the IMView module opens only that module.
1.4 Starting IMView from Windows

When PolyWorks is installed on a Windows system, a shortcut to IMView is created in the (All) Programs folder of the Windows Start menu. The IMView icon is also installed automatically on the desktop. To start IMView, double-click on the IMView icon on your desktop, or follow this procedure: Press the Start button on the Windows toolbar. Point to the (All) Programs folder. Point to the PolyWorks folder. Click on IMView. Or, double-click the IMView icon on your desktop.
17
Overview
menu bar Standard toolbar active workspace
objects in the active workspace
modules open in active workspace
next step items and object properties for the selected object
Figure 1.1 The PolyWorks/Workspace Manager interface.
1.4.1 Starting IMView under PolyWorks and opening an object to view

Start IMView (see Section 1.4). The WM opens and then IMView opens. Then, specify an object to view using an item in the IMView File menu: File > Open IMInspect Project: uses the PolyWorks browser to open a standalone IMInspect Project directory (V8 or earlier), or an IMInspect Project (V9) in a workspace. In the latter case, the workspace containing the IMInspect Project is opened in the WM and then the specified project is opened in IMView. File > Open Polygonal Model: uses the PolyWorks browser to open one or more standalone polygonal models or one or more polygonal models in one or more
18
Overview workspaces. In both cases, the models are copied into IMView for viewing and no objects are added to the WM. For information on using the PolyWorks browser, see Section 1.4.3.
1.4.2 Starting standalone IMView and opening an object to view

Start IMView (see Section 1.4). The IMView module will open. Then, specify an object to view using an item in the IMView File menu: File > Open IMInspect Project: opens an IMInspect Project (V9 or later) contained in a workspace. File > Open IMInspect Project (V8): opens a standalone IMInspect Project directory (V8 or earlier). File > Open Polygonal Model: opens a standalone polygonal model or a polygonal model in a workspace. When opening an object in a compressed workspace, IMView automatically decompresses the workspace in a temporary directory. If the workspace contains only one project or polygonal model, it is automatically opened in IMView. If the workspace contains more than one project or polygonal model, a dialog box pops up to let you specify the desired object(s), which is/are then opened in IMView.
1.4.2.1 Opening inspection projects in workspaces for viewing To open an inspection project from a workspace: Select the Open IMInspect Project item in the File menu. The file browser shown at the top in Figure 1.2 pops up. Specify a workspace file (.pwk or-.pwzip extension). To view only workspace files in the browser, set the Files of type filter to All Workspace Files (*.pwk), Workspace Files (*.pwk, (*.pwzip), or Compressed Workspace Files (*.pwzip). Press the Open button. If the workspace contains more than one inspection project, another dialog box pops up (shown at the bottom in Figure 1.2), offering a list of inspection projects
19
Overview
Figure 1.2 The browser for opening an inspection project in a workspace using standalone IMView.
contained in the workspace as well as their project view. Select the desired project in the list and press the OK button.
1.4.2.2 Opening standalone inspection projects (V8 or earlier) for viewing To open standalone inspection projects (V8 or earlier): Select the Open IMInspect Project (V8) item in the File menu. The directory browser shown in Figure 1.3 pops up. Specify an IMInspect Project directory. Press the OK button.
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Overview
Figure 1.3 Browser for opening a standalone inspection project using standalone IMView.
If the project contains references to external objects (not in the projects archive file), a message window pops up stating that those objects will not loaded in IMView and asking if you wish to continue. Press the Yes button to continue or the No button to abort the open operation.
1.4.2.3 Opening polygonal models for viewing The Open Polygonal Model item [File] pops up the file browser shown in Figure 1.4. To open polygonal model files from a standalone location: Specify a location on disk. If you wish to open several polygonal model files with different but correct file extensions, specify All Polygonal Files in the Files of type combo box and specify Based on extension in the Open as combo box. Then, select all of the desired files. If the polygonal model files do not have the correct file extensions you may open several same-type polygonal model files. First, specify All Files in the Files of type combo box and specify the translator to use to read the files in the Open as combo box. Then, select the desired same-type polygonal model files. Press the Open button. To open polygonal model files contained in a workspace:
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Overview
Figure 1.4 The browser for opening polygonal models using standalone IMView.
If your workspace files have standard file name extensions, specify All Files, All Polygonal Files, Workspace Files (*.pwk), or Compressed Workspace Files (*.pwzip) in the Files of type combo box and specify Based on extension in the Open as combo box. Then, select a workspace file. If your workspace files do not have standard file name extensions, specify All Files in the Files of type combo and specify Workspace Files (*.pwk) or Compressed Workspace Files (*.pwzip) in the Open as combo box. Then, select a workspace file. Press the Open button.
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Overview If the specified workspace contains more than one polygonal model, the dialog box shown at the bottom of Figure 1.4 pops up. Select the desired models and press the OK button.
1.4.3 Using the PolyWorks browser

The PolyWorks browser (PW browser) allows you to: Open standalone (not in a workspace) polygonal model files or standalone IMInspect Projects (V8 or earlier). Open polygonal model files and inspection projects (V9) in workspaces.
1.4.3.1 Opening standalone files or a standalone IMInspect Project Opening standalone polygonal models or a standalone inspection project involves locating and specifying objects: Select the Open Polygonal Model item or the Open IMInspect Project item in the File menu. The PW browser shown in Figure 1.5 pops up. Set Standalone file or directory in the Import from group box. Browse to the location containing the polygonal models or the inspection project. If you wish to open several polygonal model files with different but correct file extensions, specify All Polygonal Files in the Files of type combo box and specify Based on extension in the Open as combo box. Then, select all of the desired files. If the polygonal model files do not have the correct file extensions you may open several same-type polygonal model files. First, specify All Files in the Files of type combo box and specify the translator to use to read the files in the Open as combo box. Then, select the desired same-type files. Press the Open button.
1.4.3.2 Opening objects from workspaces using the PW browser Opening polygonal models or an inspection project involves specifying workspaces and specifying objects:
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Overview
Figure 1.5 The PolyWorks (PW) browser pops up when opening can be done from a standalone file or directory, or a workspace. Select the Open Polygonal Model item or the Open IMInspect Project item in the File menu. The PW browser pops up. Set Workspace in the Import from group box. The browser window shows the open workspaces with only the branch related to the open operation showing (see Figure 1.6). You may add workspaces to the list of workspaces by using the Add Workspace button. Select the polygonal models, or the inspection project, that you wish to view in IMView. Press the Open button in the case of an inspection project and the Import button in the case of polygonal model files. When you open an object in a workspace, the type of each object (e.g., polygonal model) is already known to the WM, so it does not have to be specified by you. This allows opening models of different formats.
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Overview
Figure 1.6 The PolyWorks (PW) browser configured to open objects contained in a workspace.
1.5 Starting IMView from the command line

IMView may also be invoked from a command line. A general call to IMView has the following format: imview [object_name] [-pwk pwk_name]
The object_name parameter may represent the following: The path and file name of a standalone polygonal model. The polygonal model file format is determined from the extension of the specified object_name. A path to a standalone IMInspect Project directory (V8 or earlier). The name of a polygonal model contained in a workspace.
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Overview The name of an IMInspect Project (V9) contained in a workspace. The file name of a workspace, compressed or not. If the object_name is contained in a workspace, use the -pwk option to specify pwk_name, which is the path and file name of the workspace (.pwk or-.pwzip) file. The table that follows gives examples of command-line invocations of IMView: Start IMView and... Open a standalone IMInspect Project (V8 or earlier) Open a standalone polygonal model. Open a workspace; if it contains more than one IMInspect Project, a window will pop up to let you specify the desired project. Open a specific IMInspect Project contained in a workspace. Open a specific polygonal model contained in a workspace. Command imview project_directory_path imview polygonal_model_file_name imview workspace_file_name
imview IMInspect_project_name -pwk workspace_file_name imview polygonal_model_name -pwk workspace_file_name
1.6 Viewing opened objects

When you open one or more polygonal models, IMView configures itself for viewing polygonal models. Viewing polygonal models is described in Section 4. When you open an IMInspect Project, IMView configures itself for viewing an inspection project. Viewing IMInspect Projects is described in Section 3.
1.7 Introducing the graphical user interface

The IMView interface, configured to view inspection projects, is shown in Figure 1.7. The interface features a main menu bar, the Standard toolbar, and dockable panes, including the Tree View pane for object display and management, and a 3D Scene pane containing a 3D rendering window. The PolyWorks interface is fully customizable. For information on customizing the PolyWorks interface via the Xtreme Interface, see Appendix G of the PolyWorks Reference Guide.
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Overview contextual toolbar buttons main menu
main toolbar
status bar
3D scene
Figure 1.7 The IMView interface, shown here configured to view inspection projects.
1.7.1 The main menus

The IMView main menu adapts to the viewing mode: viewing polygonal models or viewing inspection projects. Its menus are presented in the table that follows:
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Overview
Menu
File Config Help View Edit Window
Description
Open and close objects and exit IMView. Configure the language and fonts as well as the behavior of message boxes. Access information. Configure the display in the 3D rendering window. Undo operations and edit the status of objects.
Viewing mode
-No viewing---Viewing polygonal models-----Viewing IMInspect inspection projects---------
Control the display of dockable panes, Wizards, and contextual parameters, and take snapshots of the 3D scene. Set the Selection mode, and select objects or their elements. Take basic measurements (e.g., angle, distance) and survey measurements. Create new report items and new formatted reports.
Select Measure Report
Note when viewing inspection projects: When viewing a category of results (first combo box on the Standard toolbar) other than Whole Project, IMView uses fixed display options that show you just what you need to see, using the most appropriate drawing parameters. In this case, certain menu items are not considered (e.g., you cannot change the display mode). For those menu items to function normally, set the combo box to Whole Project.
1.7.2 The Standard toolbar

The interface features a Standard toolbar (see detail in the table that follows). The items starting at the left and including the second combo box are always offered. Several other buttons may be offered depending on the current category (see first combo box on the
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Overview Standard toolbar). The Standard toolbar always displays two buttons and a navigation area:
Icon
Description
Open Project Pops up a browser for opening an inspection project prepared by the PolyWorks/IMInspect module. The arrow beside the icon opens a menu whose contents depends on whether IMView is working under the WM (see top menu) or as a standalone module (see bottom menu).
Show Tree View Enables/disables the display of the Tree View pane. When the pane is enabled, the navigation items (see immediately below) and several buttons are hidden. Navigate between categories using the combo box, the adjacent Previous and Next buttons, or the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys. When viewing models, the category is set to Polygonal models. When viewing inspection projects, the categories offered correspond to the types of objects present in the inspection project (e.g., cross-sections). Navigate between items in a category using the combo box, the Previous and Next buttons, or the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys.
1.7.3 The object tree

IMView features the Tree View pane, which is hidden by default. Its display may be controlled using the second button on the Standard toolbar. It contains an object tree for object display management area; in addition, when viewing an inspection project, the object tree offers shortcut menus for the selected objects or the selected branch. For more information on this subject, see Appendix B.
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Overview
1.7.4 The 3D rendering window

The interface features the 3D Scene pane containing a 3D rendering window for the display and transformation of objects. For more information on this subject, see Section 2.
1.7.5 Displaying the dockable panes

The Window menu offers items that control the display of the modules dockable panes: Dialog Zone A check box. When set, IMView displays a dockable pane of the same name that contains most dialog boxes. This pane allows the user to control the display area of dialog boxes. Feature Controls A check box. When set, IMView displays a dockable pane of the same name that allows the user to specify dimensional and GD&T measurements for Features. Tree View A check box. When set, IMView displays a dockable pane of the same name that offers an object tree. These panes can be moved to any desired location.
1.8 Setting language preferences

To set language and font preferences, choose the Language & Fonts item [Config]. The dialog box shown in Figure 1.8 pops up. The Language group box offers one item: Interface language A combo box that sets the language for the user dialog box. English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish are currently available. The Fonts group box offers three items: Character set A combo box that specifies the set of characters that can be entered in text boxes. IMView fully supports Unicode. Object names, text annotations, ta-
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Overview
Figure 1.8 The Languages dialog box.
ble titles, etc. can be written in any language, as long as the appropriate character set is chosen for the display. Interface font A combo box that specifies a font for IMView interfaces. Only fonts that support the selected character set are displayed in the combo box. OpenGL font A combo box that specifies the font used to display text in the OpenGL windows. Only fonts that support the selected character set are displayed in the combo box. The bottom section contains three buttons: Apply Transfers the new language definition to the application. Close Dismisses the dialog box. Revert Replaces the current language definition by the previous language definition. Modules that are opened will use the specified language and fonts. To apply these settings to the WM, it is necessary to exit the WM and then open it.
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Overview
Figure 1.9 The dialog box for configuring the appearance of special message boxes.
1.9 Configuring IMView

The Modify item [Config] pops up the dialog box shown in Figure 1.9. It offers two items for configuring IMView.
1.9.1 Configuring message boxes

The Modify Configuration dialog box offers the Confirm before closing modified IMInspect Project combo box. Choose Yes and on closing a modified inspection project a message (see Figure 1.10) will inform the user that changes made to a report layout or a formatted may not have been exported. This gives the user the choice to cancel the close operation and export these items. Choose No and no message appears on closing a modified inspection project. Press the Apply button to transfer the specification to the application and the Close button to dismiss the dialog box.
1.9.2 Configuring the font size for annotations

The Modify Configuration dialog box offers an item for specifying the annotation font size: Annotation font size Specifies the annotation font size. The value must be greater than or equal to the minimum font size, which is predetermined for each font, or else the value is refused. The annotation font is set in the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager; for more information, see Section 3 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide.
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Overview
1.10 Getting help

The Help menu offers items that give you access to documentation and to version information. The method for accessing contextual help is explained in a subsection that follows.
1.10.1 Accessing Reference documentation

The Help menu provides access to the InnovMetric Software manuals related to IMView. These manuals consist of Adobe PDF files which require that Adobe Reader version 5 or later be installed on your system: IMView Reference Guide Loads the IMView Reference Guide into Acrobat Reader. This is the document that the IMView dialog boxes link to when you click over the-? symbol on their title bar.
1.10.2 Using the PolyWorks Beginners Guide

If PolyWorks is installed on your computer, a second document is listed in the Help menu: PolyWorks Beginners Guide Loads the PolyWorks Beginners Guide into Adobe Reader. This document provides a good introduction to PolyWorks and interface basics, and explains both the reverse-engineering and the inspection processes. On the reverse-engineering side, step-by-step exercises allow you to create a polygonal model from scans aligned using IMAlign, and then use the main editing tools to improve the model and generate NURBS surfaces that can be exported to downstream applications. On the inspection side, compare scans aligned in IMAlign to a CAD model, perform feature control, take measurements, and generate reports, and see the results in PolyWorks/IMView, the free inspection project viewer. You also see how an inspection project can be automated.
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Overview
Figure 1.10 A warning message on closing an inspection project.
1.10.3 Accessing contextual help from dialog boxes

On clicking on the question mark on the title bar of a IMView interface, the PDF version of the appropriate Reference Guide, or other appropriate document, opens to the related section. Pressing the F1 key performs the same operation with respect to a dialog box, and displays the appropriate Wizard when in an interactive mode if the Wizard is not already displayed.
1.10.4 Using the Support Assistant

When an application ends unexpectedly, a message window pops up indicating the situation and asking if you wish to invoke the Support Assistant. If you press the Yes button, a file browser pops up for specifying a file name and a location on disk. A detailed report providing information on your system and on the most recent crash is generated in a text file and opened on your computer. Note that if you press the No button, the Support Assistant can always be invoked through the Help menu of the PolyWorks/Workspace Manager or any of the following modules: IMAlign, IMEdit, IMInspect, and IMView. The Support Assistant can also be invoked via a command line, executed from the bin_win32 subdirectory of the PolyWorks installation directory. A general call to the Support Assistant has the following format: support_assistant [system_report_filename] [-p] The system_report_filename parameter specifies the file name and location for the created report.
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Overview The -p parameter specifies that the system report should pop up in a Notepad application. These two parameters are optional. If they are not specified, the report appears directly in the Command Prompt window. For technical support, send this report directly to the InnovMetric Software technical team by e-mail at support@innovmetric.com.
1.10.5 About IMView

The Help menu offers an item that provides copyright and version information for your IMView module: About IMView Pops up a splash screen that displays the version and build number of your software. If you are using a special version of a module, the build number helps InnovMetric Softwares development team in tracking the precise source code that has been used to compile your module.
1.11 Generating snapshots of the 3D scene

When viewing a model or a project, the Window menu offers an item that generates a snapshot of the contents of the 3D rendering window: Snapshot Generates a snapshot of the contents of the 3D rendering window. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Specify an output file name in the File name text box. Specify a format in the Save as type combo box; choices include: Microsofts Bitmap Files (*.bmp), JPEG Files (*.jpg), SGI Files (*.rgb), and TIFF Files (*.tif). Press the Save button to launch the operation or the Cancel button to abort the operation. The background color used for the snapshot is defined by the Snapshot Background color, which is white by default. The color may be changed via the Interface Colors item [View > Color]. See Section 2.1.17 for more information on editing the default colors.
1.12 Exiting IMView

The File menu offers an item to exit IMView:
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Overview Exit Exits IMView. If any temporary new objects were created using IMView, they are not saved. Note that if on exiting the inspection project contains a modified formatted report or report layout, a special message box may appear and give you the option of aborting the exit operation in order to be able to save these items (see Section 1.9).
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2. IMView Basics
This section presents IMView basics offered mostly via the View menu which are needed to view polygonal models and inspections projects. The basics include changing the position and orientation of objects in the 3D scene, setting the display and color modes, setting the default material properties and interface colors, undoing operations, and generating snapshots of the 3D scene. Sections up to and including Section 2.3 present items that are common to viewing polygonal models and inspection projects. Sections that follow Section 2.3 relate only to viewing inspection projects. Certain items related only to viewing inspection projects are presented in other sections/appendixes of this document; the table below provides the appropriate references: Item in the View menu View > Annotation View > Huge Data View > Cross-Section View > Error Display Option Reference Appendix E Section 3.8 Appendix F Appendix G
Note that in this section, and elsewhere as well, the phrase Data/Reference objects implies viewing inspection projects and the term polygonal models, or Models, without a Data/Reference context, implies viewing polygonal models. CONTENTS 2.1 Changing a models position, orientation, and projection 2.2 Undoing operations 2.3 Controlling the visibility of objects via the object tree 2.3 Controlling the visibility of objects via the object tree 2.4 Controlling the visibility of object elements 2.5 Controlling the opacity of polygonal Data and Reference objects 2.6 Controlling the use of objects
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IMView Basics
Rotate Around Viewing Axis Global Rotate Translate Zoom Zoom Box
When the first (Global) button is pushed, you immediately have access to all of the standard rotation/translation/zoom operations. The other buttons are simply reminders concerning the use of the mouse buttons and the Shift key for each operation.
When any other button is pushed, you have access to only one operation, which is mapped to all of the mouse buttons. The use of the Shift key is not considered. This is a useful mode for new users who have not yet mastered the standard mode.
Figure 2.1 The dialog box for transforming objects in the 3D scene; it pops up in the default mode.
2.1 Changing a models position, orientation, and projection

This section briefly explains how to change the position, orientation, and projection of a 3D model in the 3D scene. All six degrees of freedom needed to reach any desired position and orientation in 3D space can be accessed using the mouse in a very intuitive manner. IMView offers objectcentered methods to move freely in 3D space. With the mouse, you pick the 3D object, then rotate and translate it. Using only the mouse, three translations and two rotations may be performed. One further rotation may be performed using the SHIFT key. Each operation is described in the subsections that follow. In the default mode, the Rotation/Translation/Zoom toolbar, shown and explained in Figure 2.1, pops up. Its purpose is to help new users learn how to use the transformation operations. Note that the window may be disabled by setting the Do not show this window check box. Once disabled, it can be enabled by choosing the Show Contextual Parameters item [Windows]. In the subsections below, references to the X, Y, and Z axes refer to the screen coordinate system.
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IMView Basics y x z
-x
+y
-y
+y
-x
+x
+x
(a) (b)
-y
Figure 2.2 Using the left and middle mouse buttons to change the position and orientation of a 3D object. In (a), the left mouse button is used to rotate the 3D object about the X and Y axes. In (b), the middle mouse button is used to translate the 3D object along the X and Y axes.
2.1.1 Rotating about the X and the Y axes

To rotate about the X and the Y viewing axes, click and hold the left mouse button inside the 3D rendering window. Rotations are performed by moving the mouse in the desired directions. See Figure 2.2 (a). When you click over a screen pixel belonging to a 3D surface, the x,y,z coordinates of this selected point are computed. IMView then rotates about the selected 3D location. If you click over a background pixel instead of a surface pixel, the rotations are performed about the center of the bounding box (View > Bounding Box). While rotating about the X and Y axes, the pointer icon changes to the one shown to the right. Rotations can also be constrained to a vertical or a horizontal viewing axis by pressing and holding down the SHIFT key before clicking. The decision to use the horizontal or the vertical axis is determined by the first 10-pixel displacement made with the mouse - if the displacement is close to the vertical axis, the rotation is performed about the horizontal axis, and if the displacement is close to the horizontal axis, the rotation is performed about the vertical axis. The pointer icon changes slightly, keeping only its vertical component or only its horizontal component.
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IMView Basics
2.1.2 Translating along the X and Y viewing axes

To translate along the X and the Y axes, click and hold the middle mouse button. Translations along the X or Y axes are performed by moving the mouse in the X or Y directions respectively, inside the 3D rendering window. See Figure 2.2 (b). While translating along the X and Y axes, the pointer icon changes to the one shown to the right.
2.1.3 Translating along the Z viewing axis

Translating along the Z axis is equivalent to a zoom operation. This translation is illustrated in Figure 2.3 (a). Click and hold the right mouse button, then move the mouse forward and backward. When the mouse is moved forward, a positive translation is performed on the 3D object, and the scene moves nearer to you. When the mouse is moved backward, a negative translation is performed on the 3D object, and the scene moves farther away from you. While translating along the Z axis, the pointer icon changes to the one shown to the right. Note that in the case of a mouse that has a wheel button as the middle button: rotating the wheel forward and backward will cause the 3D scene to, respectively, zoom in and zoom out using the center of the rendering window pushing and holding down the SHIFT key while rotating the wheel forward and backward will cause the 3D scene to, respectively, zoom in and zoom out using the current pointer position in the rendering window The pointer does not change when zooming with the wheel button.
2.1.4 Rotating about the Z viewing axis

Press and hold down the SHIFT key to access this operation. Rotating about the Z axis is performed by clicking and holding the right mouse button, then moving the mouse in the right or left direction. See Figure 2.3 (b). While rotating about the Z axis, the pointer icon changes to the one shown to the right. It is also possible to rotate the 3D scene by increments of 90 degrees about the viewing axis. The rotation is performed by holding down the SHIFT key and quickly right-clicking. If the right mouse button is held down for less than half a second, a counterclockwise rotation of 90 degrees is applied about the rotation axis. If the right mouse button is still down after half a second, the standard unconstrained rotation mode is activated.
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IMView Basics
y x z +z
+ Shift key
-z -z
+z
(a)
(b)
Figure 2.3 Using the right mouse button to change the position and orientation of the 3D object. In (a), the right mouse button is used to translate the 3D object along the Z axis. In (b), the right mouse button enables rotation about the Z axis when the SHIFT key is pressed.
2.1.5 Zooming by delimiting a rectangular area

In addition to zooming using the Z axis translation method, IMView provides the ability to zoom on an object part by delimiting a rectangular area. Press and hold the SHIFT key, middle-click to create a first rectangle corner, and then drag the pointer to the opposite rectangle corner. On releasing the middle mouse button, a zoom will operate on the delimited area. While zooming on the delimited area, the pointer icon changes to the one shown to the right. This zooming technique cannot be performed when perspective projection is used and the Static mode is set to Point.
2.1.6 Remaining in Dynamic display mode for several transformations

PolyWorks user interfaces use two display modes. The Dynamic display mode is used when you rotate and translate the 3D object. The Static mode is applied when the object is not moved. Applications automatically switch between the Static and Display modes, depending on your actions. To remain in the Dynamic display mode for a sequence of rotations and translations, just press and hold the CTRL key. When your actions have
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IMView Basics stopped, and the CTRL key has been released, the display mode automatically switches back to the Static mode.
2.1.7 Using standard poses

The Pose submenu of the View menu contains a set of standard items related to rigid transformations and projection types: Center Centers visible objects in the rendering window. Center on Objects Centers selected objects in the rendering window. View +x Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the positive X axis point toward you. View -x Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the negative X axis point toward you. View +y Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the positive Y axis point toward you. View -y Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the negative Y axis point toward you. View +z Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the positive Z axis point toward you. View -z Centers visible objects in the rendering window and makes the negative Z axis point toward you. Rotate 90 about view Makes the 3D scene rotate 90 counterclockwise around the viewing axis. Car Views Configures the six standard views (i.e., +x, -x, +y, -y, +z, and -z) for a standard car coordinate system.
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IMView Basics
Figure 2.4 The dialog box for specifying a projection type.
2D View This operation can either use a selected Cross-Section, a selected planebased Primitive (e.g., Plane, Circle), or a selected axis-based Primitive (e.g., Cylinder, Circle, Vector). In all cases, the projection is set to Orthogonal. If a Cross-Section or plane-based Primitive is selected, the 3D scene is rotated such that the object is flat on the screen. If an axis-based Primitive is selected, the 3D scene is rotated such that the axis is used as the viewing direction (perpendicular to the screen). Load Loads a pose file containing a 4x4 rigid transformation matrix and a projection type. IMView applies this transformation and projection to the current set of objects. Selecting this item pops up a standard file browser. Specify a file name and location and press the Open button. Save Saves the pose of the object to a file. The pose consists of a 4x4 rigid transformation matrix and a projection type. Selecting this item pops up a standard file browser. Specify a file name and location and press the Save button. Orthogonal Sets the projection type to Orthogonal. Perspective Sets the projection type to Perspective. Projection Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure 2.4 for specifying the projection type. Two projection types are available in the Projection combo box: Orthogonal and Perspective. The Angle text box is used to specify the viewing angle of the perspective projection. Press the OK button to make the specification, or press the Cancel button to abort the operation.
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IMView Basics
2.1.8 Setting the display and color modes

A display mode specifies how 3D surface geometry is displayed on the computer screen. A display mode is currently defined by two parameters in IMView. The drawing type specifies the manner in which a 3D model is rendered. The drawing type can be one of the following: Flat, Flat+Wireframe, Point, Smooth, Wireframe, or Bounding Box (note that the Bounding Box type is only available for the Dynamic display mode). The second display mode parameter is the subsampling factor. Polygonal models can be subsampled to speed up the display process in the Dynamic display mode. Two display modes need to be specified in IMView. The Static display mode is the standard mode used for drawing a 3D model. A Dynamic display mode has also been defined. The Dynamic mode controls the rendering while you change the position and orientation of the 3D model. It is a good idea to specify a coarse Dynamic subsampling factor to increase the display rate when the 3D model is moving. When the movements stop, IMView switches back to the Static mode in order to draw a more accurate graphical representation of the model. The View menu provides access to the two IMView display modes. When viewing polygonal models, the submenus are Polygonal Model Static and Polygonal Model Dynamic, while when viewing inspection projects they are replaced by Data/Reference Default Static and Data/Reference Default Dynamic. In the case of an inspection project, the submenu name includes the term Default. This means that the submenu defines a default rendering, but that it is possible to specify a different rendering for any Data or Reference object using object tree selections and shortcut menus. The following items are available in the submenus referred to above for specifying the Static display mode: Flat Renders the polygonal models, or Data/Reference objects, as a flat-shaded surfaces. Flat+Wireframe Renders the polygonal models, or Data/Reference objects, by combining a flat-shaded surface and a wireframe representation. Point/Texture Renders the polygonal models, or Data/Reference objects, as 3D points. Smooth Renders the polygonal models, or Data/Reference objects, as smoothshaded surfaces.
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IMView Basics Wireframe Renders the polygonal models, or Data/Reference objects, in wireframe. The following items are available in the submenus referred to above for specifying the Dynamic display mode: Flat, Flat+Wireframe, Point, Smooth, Wireframe Provide the same functions as in the Model Static submenu. 1/1 Renders all elements. 1/4 Renders one in four elements. 1/16 Renders one in sixteen elements. 1/64 Renders one in sixty-four elements. Finally, several miscellaneous items are offered in the View menu:
2.1.9 Displaying back-/front-facing polygons

IMView offers two submenus in the View menu that let you control the rendering of displayed back-facing and front-facing polygons of Reference objects and polygonal Data objects: Front Face A submenu that provides access to items that control the rendering of the front faces of the polygons: As Is Renders front faces using their color information. Dark Renders front faces using the current definition of the Dark interface color. None Disables the rendering of front faces.
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IMView Basics Back Face A submenu that provides access to items that control the rendering of the back faces of the polygons: As Is Renders back faces using their color information. Dark Renders back faces using the current definition of the Dark interface color. None Disables the rendering of the back faces. For information on configuring interface colors, see Section 2.1.17.
2.1.10 Displaying axes

The Axes submenu of the View menu offers three check boxes that display axes: Bounding Box Displays the X,Y,Z axes, by means of red, green, and blue lines respectively, having the same dimensions as the projects bounding box. Origin Displays the X,Y,Z axes by means of red, green, and blue lines at the origin (0, 0, 0) of the coordinate system. Upper Left Corner Displays three red, green, and blue three-dimensional arrows in the upper left corner of the 3D rendering window. The Axes submenu of the View menu also offers two items for specifying the labels to display at the tips of the coordinate system axes: X-Y-Z Labels A radio button that sets the coordinate system axes labels to x, y, and z. Ea-No-El Labels A radio button that sets the coordinate system axes labels to Ea (Eastern), No (Northern), and El (Elevation).
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IMView Basics
2.1.11 Displaying the bounding box

IMView offers an item that lets you display the bounding box of the project: Bounding Box Draws the projects bounding box. The current definition of the Bounding Box interface color is used to render the bounding box. It can be changed using the Interface Colors item [View > Color].
2.1.12 Using environment mapping

IMView can render surface-based objects as if they were perfectly reflective, so that the colors on their surface are those reflected back from the surroundings. This rendering method is called environment mapping and is enabled by setting an option other than None [View > Environment Mapping]. IMView offers the following items in the Environment Mapping submenu: B/W Stripes Maps black and white stripes onto objects. Gold Maps a golden pattern onto objects. Piano Maps a concert piano pattern onto objects. Road Maps a road pattern onto objects. Silver Maps a silver pattern onto objects. Note that when environment mapping is enabled, the items in the Data/Reference Default Static submenu of the View menu and the items in the Data/Reference Default Dynamic submenu of the View menu, with the exception of the subsampling factors, are unavailable
2.1.13 Displaying a grid

IMView offers an item that lets you display a grid in the 3D rendering window:
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IMView Basics Grid Displays a grid in the 3D scene when the projection type is set to Orthogonal [View > Pose]. The grid is automatically graduated. If the viewing direction is parallel to a coordinate system axis, the grid displays true coordinates; True Grid is displayed near the bottom of the 3D rendering window. For all other viewing directions, the grid is a relative one and should only be used to make differential measurements; Relative Grid is displayed near the bottom of the 3D rendering window.
2.1.14 Enabling and configuring light sources

The View menu offers an item that lets you control the use of light sources: Light Sources Pops up IMLight, InnovMetric Softwares light-editing window. IMLights initial settings are determined by the current IMView light source definitions. IMLight allows the specification of up to four directional light sources, and its File menu lets you Load and Save light setup files. See Section 4.7 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for a detailed description of the light-editing process.
2.1.15 Displaying pointer coordinates

IMView offers an item in the View menu that lets you display the current pointer coordinates: Pointer Coordinates Displays the approximate x, y, z coordinates of the point under the pointer tip in the 3D scene. Pointer coordinates are only made visible when the pointer passes over a 3D pixel, and are displayed to the right of the pointer.
2.1.16 Setting default material properties.

The Color submenu of the View menu offers an item for specifying default material properties: Default Material The Default Material properties are used to render objects when the color mode is set to Default. The Default Material properties are also used by IMView at all times.
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IMView Basics
Figure 2.5 The dialog box for configuring interface colors.
On selection of the Default Material item, IMMaterial, InnovMetric Softwares material-editing window, pops up. IMMaterials initial settings are determined by the current Default Material specified in IMView. You may create and apply your own material setup files by using the Save and Load items of the dialog boxs File menu. See Section 4.6 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for a detailed description of the material-editing process.
2.1.17 Setting default interface colors

The Interface Colors item [View > Color] allows you to specify default interface colors. Selecting this item pops up the window shown inFigure 2.5 for editing specific IMView interface colors. Specify a color in the Color combo box and press the Edit button. The standard Windows color dialog box pops up. The Color combo box offers the following items: 2D Vector View Background Used to fill the rendering window when viewing in the 2D Vector Graphic mode; white by default. Angle, Distance, Radius Used to render Angle, Distance, and Radius Measurements; light green by default. Background Used to fill the rendering window; black by default. Boundary Trim Curve Used to render boundary trim curves when NURBS surfaces are rendered using the Curve or Flat+Curve drawing types; yellow by default.
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IMView Basics Bounding Box Used to render the bounding box; white by default. Dark Used to render back or front faces of polygons, depending on their rendering status; blue by default. Huge Data Grid Used to render the grid when Data objects have been imported using the Import as Huge Data option; orange by default. Internal Trim Curve Used to render internal trim curves when NURBS surfaces are rendered using the Curve or Flat+Curve drawing types; dark green by default. Mark Used to render user-generated points; red by default. Mark (Alternate) Used to render system-generated points in an alternate color from usergenerated points; yellow by default. Negative High Cross-Section tolerance Curve
No Comparison Used to render elements for which no comparison result is available; gray by default. It is used when the color mode is set to Error Map. Pencil Used to render 2D contours that you generate; yellow by default. Picked Coordinates Used to render picked coordinates; green by default. Picked Point Comparison
Positive High Cross-Section tolerance Curve
Reference Point Used to render Reference points; magenta by default.
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IMView Basics Reference Cross-Section
Selection Used to render selected elements; red by default. Snapshot Background Used to fill the background of Snapshots; white by default. Text Field Background color for a Textfield object; pale yellow by default. See Section 4.7 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for a detailed description of the colorediting process.
2.2 Undoing operations

The Edit menu offers three items that let you undo operations that were previously performed: Undo Operation_id (Description) Undoes the last operation in IMViews Undo stack. Operation_id identifies the type of operation that will be undone. The Description field specifies the exact operation that will be undone if the Undo item is selected. The following types of operations can be undone in IMView:
Operation
Properties Select Transformation View
Description
Operations that affect an objects properties. Element selection operations. Transformation (rotation or translation) operations. Visibility operations (i.e., Hide, Keep, Restore, or Swap) performed on elements.
Redo Reperforms the last undone operation. The Redo item does not indicate the last editing operation that was performed. The Redo operation must be done immediately after the Undo operation. It becomes unavailable once another operation is performed, including translation/rotation operations in the 3D scene. Note that you may remove the last transformation operations and return to the last editing operation.
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IMView Basics Remove Undos A submenu that offers two items: Transformation Removes all rotation/translation operations from the Undo stack. All Removes all operations from the Undo stack. This may be useful if you are low on system memory. On selecting All, a confirmation window pops up. Press the Yes button to continue, or the No button to abort the operation.
2.3 Controlling the visibility of objects via the object tree

The Visibility submenu of the View menu offers four visibility operations that apply to objects in the object tree. The first three operations apply only to selected objects: Hide Objects Hides all selected objects. Keep Objects Displays only the currently selected objects. Restore Objects Makes visible all selected objects. Swap Objects Makes the hidden objects visible and the visible objects hidden.
2.4 Controlling the visibility of object elements

Four functions, available through the Visibility submenu of the View menu, control the visibility of object elements (i.e., Data points and Reference triangles/NURBS surfaces). They allow you to temporarily hide object elements. Hide Elements Hides all selected object elements. Keep Elements Displays the currently selected object elements. All other elements belonging to visible objects are hidden.
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IMView Basics Restore All Elements Makes visible the elements of all selected objects. Swap Elements For selected objects, makes the invisible elements visible, and the visible elements invisible.
2.5 Controlling the opacity of polygonal Data and Reference objects

For transparency to be used for visualization, you must first set the Orthogonal item [View > Pose], and then set the High-Quality Transparency item [View]. The transparency of polygonal Data and Reference objects is controlled with the Opacity slider, found in the objects property sheet. When the slider is in the rightmost position, the object is opaque; moving the slider to the left makes the objects surface progressively more transparent. Transparency is rendered only in the Static display mode.
2.6 Controlling the use of objects

The Edit menu offers items for ignoring/using objects: Ignore Object Tells IMView to temporarily not display, and to set aside, the selected objects from the current project, without deleting them. When an object is ignored, a No sign is superimposed on its normal icon. Ignored objects are not considered by IMViews operations, except those specifically for ignored objects (e.g., Select > Objects > Ignored). Note that while ignored objects are not displayed, they are not considered to be hidden by the module. Use Object Tells IMView to remove the ignored status from the selected objects that are ignored; selected objects that are not ignored are not affected. The objects that are no longer ignored are now considered part of the current project and their display is no longer prohibited.
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3. Viewing Inspection Projects

IMView is based on IMInspect and offers similar menus and dialog boxes. It lets you share inspection results with colleagues, suppliers, and others. With IMView you may: Open inspection projects prepared for IMView. Navigate through categories of objects, such as Cross-Sections, Features, Gauges, etc.; each category uses a predefined filter that shows just what you need to see, saving you a lot of mouse clicks. Rotate/translate/zoom in 3D. IMView also lets you create new information using existing or new objects: Perform basic measurements, such as measuring a distance, angle, or radius. Create report items (e.g., pie charts, snapshots, videos, coordinate and error annotations). Export report items to Excel or Word, to your HTML editor, or to text format (you must have the corresponding software installed on your computer). Create new formatted reports using existing and new report items; new layouts and formatted reports can be exported. IMView does not save any changes made to an inspection project. This section explains the first two bullets above as they are new to both users familiar with the PolyWorks/IMInspect module and those who are not. Users who are familiar with the PolyWorks/IMInspect module will be able to use all of the other IMView menu items as they are based on similar IMInspect menu items.
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Viewing Inspection Projects If you are not familiar with the PolyWorks/IMInspect module, please read the sections in the appendix. You will find an introduction to inspection projects as well as a description of all of the menu items offered in IMView. CONTENTS 3.1 Opening and closing inspection projects 3.2 Navigating through the object categories 3.3 Viewing objects by category 3.4 Showing the contextual parameters 3.5 Enabling/disabling IMView wizards 3.6 Using the PolyZoom window 3.7 Exporting objects 3.8 Managing Data objects imported using the Import as Huge Data option
3.1 Opening and closing inspection projects

The File menu provides items that let you open and close inspection projects. The import operation will cause any open polygonal models or inspection project to be automatically closed. Note that when importing an inspection project from a workspace, external objects are not loaded in IMView. If the inspection project is in a workspace, an external object is an object in a workspace object tree that was imported in IMInspect using the Keep external import option. If the inspection project is V8 or earlier, an external object is one that is not in the projects archive file; the archive file contains an absolute path that points to the external object. Note also that if the inspection project contains one or more Data objects imported using the Import as Huge Data option, a dialog box for managing huge Data objects will pop up. See Section 3.8 for more information.
3.1.1 Opening inspection projects using IMView under PolyWorks

The File menu offers items for opening and closing inspection projects: Open IMInspect Project Opens an inspection project. The PW browser pops up. Specify an inspection project. For information on using the PW browser, see Section 1.4.3.
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Viewing Inspection Projects
3.1.2 Opening inspection projects using standalone IMView

The File menu offers two items for opening an inspection project: Open IMInspect Project Opens an inspection project from a workspace. A file browser pops up to specify a workspace. If the workspace contains more that one inspection project, specify the desired project in a list of workspace IMInspect Projects that pops up. Open IMInspect Project (V8) Opens an inspection project from a standalone directory. A directory browser pops up. Specify a project directory name. For more information, see Section 1.4.2.
3.1.3 Closing the inspection project

The File menu offers an item for closing the inspection project: Close IMInspect Project Removes the inspection project from IMView. Any new objects, report items, or changes made to formatted reports or report layouts reports are lost. A message box may appear warning that changes have been made to formatted reports or layouts which may not have been exported. See Section 1.9 for more information.
3.1.4 Opening recent inspection projects

The File menu offers an item for opening recent inspection projects: Recent Projects Displays a list of recently opened inspection projects. Clicking on a project name opens it in IMView. A standalone inspection project is represented by its absolute path. An inspection project in a workspace is represented by its name followed by the name of its workspace in parentheses. Clicking on an inspection project name opens it in IMView.
3.1.5 Opening a Model

The File menu offers an item for opening a Model:
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Viewing Inspection Projects Open Polygonal Model Closes the current inspection project (see Section 3.1.3) and pops up a browser for importing a polygonal model. See Section 4.1 for more information.
3.2 Navigating through the object categories

As soon as an inspection project is open, the categories of objects in the project are available in the first combo box on the toolbar. For each object category, IMView: Sets a specific color mode and drawing type. Makes visible only specific objects. Offers contextual toolbar buttons, combo boxes, and drop-down menus. The exception is the Whole Project category. It signifies that no particular category is being displayed and as a result allows you to regain complete control over the display mode, object visibility, etc.
3.3 Viewing objects by category

Each object category makes available certain toolbar buttons and drop-down menus. The entire list of toolbar buttons will first be described, and then each object category will be commented. When a category offers dialog boxes that let you control aspects of the viewing, either the dialog boxes are immediately described or references are made to the appropriate section/appendix. Note that object categories that have comparisons, such as Cross-Sections, all use the same global color map.
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3.3.1 The list of contextual toolbar items

IMView offers a selection of toolbar items that depends on the choice of category. Each item is described in the table that follows.
Toolbar item
Description
2D View Displays objects using a 2D view; it is not possible to rotate the 3D scene. Note that you may use the TAB key to toggle the state of the check box. Create Error Annotations from Picking/Menu Allows the creation of error/value annotations by picking, and enables/disables the display of error/value annotations. For more information concerning these annotations, see Appendix E. Cross-Section Display Options Pops up a dialog box for configuring Cross-Section viewing; for more information see Appendix F. Error Display Options (see Appendix G) Export to PDF/Export menu Export the currently selected formatted report to PDF, HTML, or images.
Highlight Cross-Sections Highlights Cross-Sections in the 3D scene. LWidth A combo box that sets the line width (1-5) of visible objects with a line drawing type (e.g., Cross-Sections, Polylines). Mirror View Flips the 2D view by 180 degrees. Available when viewing certain objects in 2D. Print Prints the currently selected formatted report.
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Toolbar item
Description
PSize A combo box that sets the point size (1-5) of visible objects having a point drawing type. Show Data Objects Enables/disables the display of the Data objects and Data cross-section children. Show Feature Objects Enables/disables the display of Feature objects. Show Reference Objects Enables/disables the display of Reference objects and Reference crosssection children. Zoom A combo box that lets you zoom in and out when viewing formatted reports.
3.3.2 Categories of objects

The table below gives a brief explanation of each category of object and what is displayed for each category. In the table: Object mode refers to the display mode that is set by selecting the Object item [Color > View]. Error map mode refers to the display mode that is set by selecting the Error Map item [Color > View]. The titles in bold (All item and Other items) refer to the second combo box on the Standard toolbar that lets you view specific objects within the current object category. In addition, in may help to know that the abbreviation Cmps that is displayed as part of certain object category names stands for Comparisons.
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Description Calipers All item Displays in 3D all Calipers and attached objects. Other items Steps through Cross-Sections that have one or more attached Calipers. Each Cross-Section is viewed in 2D. If there are no Cross-Sections with attached Calipers, only the All item is offered and the combo box is unavailable. Only the Calipers and the attached Cross-Section are drawn in Error map mode (if any comparison is associated with those objects). All other objects are drawn in Object mode. If at least one object is drawn in Error map mode, a (global) color scale is displayed. Comparison Points All item Displays in 3D all Comparison Points and attached objects. Note that if no Comparison Points have been compared, you will only see the Comparison Points in the 3D scene with no other objects displayed. Other items Steps through Cross-Sections that have one or more attached Comparison Points. Each Cross-Section is viewed in 2D. If there are no Cross-Sections with attached Comparison Points, only the All item is offered and the combo box is unavailable. Only the Comparison Points and the attached CrossSection are drawn in Error map mode (if any comparison is associated with those objects). All other objects are drawn in Object mode. If at least one object is drawn in Error map mode, a (global) color scale is displayed.
Displays...
Calipers Cross-Sections that have at least one Caliper attached to them All Data objects All Reference objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
Comparison Points Cross-Sections that have one or more Comparison Points attached to them Data objects that are used by at least one Comparison Point to do a comparison point comparison Reference objects that are used by at least one Comparison Point to do a comparison point comparison Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
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Description Cross-Sections All item Displays in 3D all Cross-Sections and attached objects. Other items Steps through Cross-Sections in a 2D view. Only the Cross-Sections and attached Gauges and Comparison Points are drawn in Error map mode (if any comparison is associated with those objects). All other objects are drawn in Object mode. If at least one object is drawn in Error map mode, a (global) color scale is displayed.
Displays...
Cross-Sections Comparison Points that are linked to a Cross-Section Gauges that are linked to a Cross-Section All Data objects All Reference objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category and measurements that are attached to CrossSections
Data to Data Cmps Displays all data-to-data comparisons based on the reference Data objects (e.g., Data objects used as a reference in the comparison operation). The Items combo box lists all such Data objects that currently have one or more data-to-data comparisons associated with them. The reference Data objects and the compared Data objects are both drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Data to Primitive Cmps Displays all data-to-primitive comparisons based on the Primitives. The Items combo box lists all Primitives that currently have one or more data-toprimitive comparisons associated with them. The Primitives and the compared Data objects are both drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Primitives Compared Data objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category Reference Data objects Compared Data objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
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Description Data to Reference Cmps Displays all data-to-reference comparisons based on the Reference objects. The Items combo box lists all Reference objects that currently have one or more data-to-reference comparisons associated with them. The Reference objects and the compared Data objects are both drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Data Clearance Displays all Data objects used in a clearance measurement. The Items combo box lists all of the Data objects that currently have a clearance operation associated with them. The Data objects are drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Data Thickness Displays all Data objects used in a thickness measurement operation. The Items combo box lists all of the Data objects that currently have a thickness operation associated with them. The Data objects are drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Flush & Gap Gauges All item Displays in 3D all Flush & Gap Gauges and attached objects. Other items Steps through the Flush & Gap Gauges in a 2D view. Only the Flush & Gap Gauges and the attached CrossSection are drawn in Error map mode (if any comparison is associated with those objects). All other objects are drawn in Object mode. If at least one object is drawn in Error map mode, a (global) color scale is displayed.
Displays...
Reference objects Compared Data objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
Measured Data objects Value measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
Measured Data objects Value measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
Flush & Gap Gauges Cross-Sections that have at least one Caliper attached to them All Data objects All Reference objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
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Description Formatted Reports Displays all Formatted reports contained in this project. Each choice in the Items combo box represents a different formatted report. Formatted reports viewed within the IMView window are not editable and are for viewing purposes only. Click on tabs at the bottom of the 3D scene to view different sheets. If your mouse has a wheel, you have additional viewing possibilities: the wheel alone scrolls vertically, used with the CTRL key you can zoom in and out, and used with the SHIFT key you can scroll horizontally. To edit a formatted report (or a report Layout), open the EZLayout editor by double-clicking on the appropriate report Layout item in the object tree. The OpenGL window is shifted and is replaced with the EZLayout view. Features All item Displays in 3D all Features that have at least one dimension or GD&T measurement and attached objects. Other items Steps through each Feature in a 3D view. For each Feature, there is an additional combo box that gives you the opportunity to browse within each measurement (Position, diameter...) of the currently viewed Feature. All objects are shown in Object mode.
Displays...
Formatted reports
Features All Data objects All Reference objects Primitives that are linked to the currently viewed Feature
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Description Measurements All item Displays in 3D all Measurements, Data objects, Reference objects, and Cross-Sections. Other items Steps through the measurement types in the project, which may include: Angle, Distance, Length, Radius, and Survey. All objects are shown in Object mode. Multiple Data Variability All item Displays in 3D all references having variability analysis results. Other items Steps through the individual references having variability analysis results with the error color scale. The Reference objects and the compared Data objects are both drawn in Error map mode and a color scale is displayed. Profile Gauges All item Displays in 3D all Profile Gauges and attached objects. Other items Steps through the Profile Gauges in a 2D view. Only the Profile Gauges and the attached CrossSection are drawn in Error map mode (if any comparison is associated with those objects). All other objects are drawn in Object mode. If at least one object is drawn in Error map mode, a (global) color scale is displayed. Whole Project Displays the project as it was when saved at the end of the last IMInspect session. This view is identical to the default one in IMInspect.
Displays...
Measurements All Data objects All Reference objects All Primitives
Picked error annotations Compared Data objects Reference object
Profile Gauges Cross-Sections that have at least one Caliper attached to them All Data objects All Reference objects Measurements picked during the viewing of the current category
All objects that were initially visible in the object tree
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3.4 Showing the contextual parameters

The Window menu offers an item that controls the display of special contextual parameter windows: Contextual Parameters A check box that controls the display of special contextual parameter windows menus (additional dialog boxes to help users); it has a corresponding icon on the Standard toolbar. The item/icon is only available if the current mode has a special contextual parameter window. Such windows offer a Do not show this window check box for disabling their display. Setting this option button displays the hidden contextual parameter windows and unsets the windows Do not show this window check box. Unsetting this option button hides the window and sets the windows Do not show this window check box.
3.5 Enabling/disabling IMView wizards

The Window menu offers two items that let you enable the IMView wizards: Interactive Mode Wizard When this check box is set, IMView pops up a Wizard window each time an interactive editing operation is invoked. This Wizard window provides detailed instructions concerning the execution of the operation, useful shortcuts, and the possibility of executing complex operations using a stepby-step tutorial approach. Note that if this item is not set, it is still possible to pop up a Wizard window in an operation mode by pressing the F1 key. Object Selection Wizard Setting this item enables the wizard for selecting objects. It is helpful in the case of operations that use objects selected in the object tree. The Object Selection Wizard checks that the appropriate object tree selections have been made given the operation invoked. If the selection is incomplete, a window pops up and advises you of the required selections. After all the selections are made, the Requirement group box is unavailable and the Continue button is enabled. You may then resume the execution of the invoked operation. The behavior of the dialog box is shown in Figure 3.1.
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The object selection requirement is displayed in the Requirement group box.
The object selection requirement has been met. The Continue button becomes available.
Figure 3.1 The Object Selection Wizard.
3.6 Using the PolyZoom window

The 3D Scene pane is the main graphical window. It is used to view and edit visible objects, pick on objects, select objects/elements, etc. It also features a PolyZoom window (see Figure 3.2). The PolyZoom window consists of a second graphical window embedded in the main graphical window that zooms on the location pointed by the mouse pointer. The PolyZoom window is enabled/disabled by pressing the Z key. You can also drag the PolyZoom window by holding the Z key down and moving the mouse pointer. The PolyZoom window can be stretched by picking one of the three stretching arrows. The + and - icons increase/decrease the zooming factor. The X icon in the title bar pops down the window (as does pressing the Z key). Any operation performed in the main graphical window, such as selection and picking, can also be performed in the PolyZoom window. Within an interactive picking mode, you can alternately pick points in both windows. A key benefit of the PolyZoom window is to reduce the number of zooming operations needed to pick an elongated feature. You can look at the 3D scene from a global perspective, move the mouse pointer to a location, press the Z key, and pick a point, without having to zoom in and out.
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Viewing Inspection Projects decrease zoom increase zoom close window
drag window Figure 3.2 The PolyZoom window.
3.7 Exporting objects

The File menu offers the Export Objects submenu for exporting objects, report items, and report layouts from an inspection project. The items in this submenu are identical to the items with the same name in the Export Objects submenu of IMInspects File menu. For complete information, please refer to Appendix L.
3.8 Managing Data objects imported using the Import as Huge Data option
IMView offers a dialog box for deciding what parts of the huge Data object should be in memory for your current processing needs. The Manage Huge Data Objects dialog box can be opened at any time by selecting the Manage item [Edit > Huge Data]. The dialog box is shown in Figure 3.3. When the dialog box is popped up, the grid cells are displayed using coarse images built from the cell points and viewed from the top (z direction). The Point display options group box in the dialog box offers two cell display methods: Colored, which is only available if the Data points have color information, and Shaded without color. Grid cells are shown in red or green. Red means that the cell points are not in physical memory, while green means that the cell points are currently in physical memory. Click on any cell to edit its memory status, or drag a selection rectangle to edit grid cells that belong even partially to the selection. The effect on the status of the grid cells is determined by the value in the Selection effect combo box: Mark (the status of cells is set to On), Toggle (the status of cells is toggled), or Unmark (the status of cells is set to Off). The Resulting action status label reads Load in memory to indicate the current operation. At this stage, changes are not effective.
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Figure 3.3 The huge Data object manager dialog box.
In the upper left corner of a cell, the number of megabytes of physical memory needed by the cell data points is displayed; as the display only permits one point after the decimal, the smallest value that can be displayed is 0.1 MB. In the System memory group box of the dialog box, IMView keeps track of the available physical memory (RAM) as you switch the memory status of grid cells. Two items are updated with each switch: Available RAM, and Increase (decrease) usage by. See Figure 3.4 for an example of the display when in the Manage Huge Data Objects mode. You may use the mouse to translate or to zoom the 3D scene, but rotations are not permitted. The huge data manager also allows you to mark/unmark grid cells a big X is displayed when a cell is marked. While marking does not affect any IMView processes, it may help you keep track of what parts of the huge Data object have been processed by you. Mark/ unmark a processed cell by pressing the SHIFT key and clicking, or mark/unmark several cells by pressing and holding down the SHIFT key and dragging a selection rectangle. The effect is determined by the value in the Selection effect combo box: Mark (add an X), Unmark (removes X), or Toggle (toggle current state). The Resulting action status label reads Mark as processed to indicate the current operation. In the object tree, a point cloud Data object is created for each grid cell. It has the name of the imported object followed by the location of its grid cell (e.g., (1,1)). All of the point clouds corresponding to one imported object are automatically placed in one subset. Each point cloud has a locked (padlock on icon) status, and initially an ignored status as well (a No sign on the icon). While the ignored status changes when the cell corresponding to the
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the point cloud is divided into cells and in cell management mode a coarse representation of the cell contents is displayed, as seen to the right
each grid cell has a label showing its memory requirement; the color of the label indicates if it is flagged to be loaded in physical memory (green) or not (red)
Figure 3.4 Managing a huge Data object consists in deciding which grid cells are to be in memory and, optionally, marking grid cells with an X to keep track of which cells have been processed by you (e.g., taking measurements).
point cloud is switched to use, the locked status is permanent as point clouds created from grid cells cannot be transformed. Note that the Ignore Object and the Use Object items [Edit] do not apply to point clouds created from grid cells. To make the changes to the load/unload status of the grid cells effective, press the Apply button. IMView removes from memory the green cells that became red, and reads from disk the red cells that became green. If the needed physical memory exceeds recommended limits, IMView pops up a warning message. You may still proceed, but in this case the outcome may be uncertain. Press the Yes button to continue and the No button to return to the huge Data object manager. It is possible to display the grid cell structure in the 3D scene, along with other visible object tree objects, including huge Data objects. Set the Grid item [View > Huge Data]. The grid cell structure is displayed using a coarse representation, along with all the huge Data objects, even the ones with a hidden visibility status.
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4. Viewing Polygonal Models

IMView lets you load any number of 3D polygonal models from standalone or workspace locations and view them separately in the 3D scene. On the first import operation, IMView configures its interface for viewing polygonal models (see Figure 4.2). CONTENTS 4.1 Opening and closing polygonal model files 4.2 Navigating between Models 4.3 Manipulating Models in the object tree
4.1 Opening and closing polygonal model files

The File menu provides items that let you open and close inspection projects. The import operation will cause an open inspection project to be automatically closed.
4.1.1 Opening polygonal model files using IMView under PolyWorks

The File menu offers items for opening polygonal model files: Open Polygonal Model Opens one or more polygonal model files. The PW browser shown in Figure 4.2 pops up. Import one or more same-type files from standalone locations or one or more files of any type from workspaces. Valid file types are displayed in Figure 4.2. The first selection of polygonal models is centered in the 3D scene. When importing subsequent polygonal models, a dialog box offers the possibility of centering the 3D scene. For information on using the PW browser, see Section 1.4.3.
4.1.2 Opening files using standalone IMView

The File menu offers items for opening polygonal model files: Open Polygonal Model Opens one or more polygonal model files. Open same-type files from a standalone location or one or more files of any type from a workspace. Valid file types are displayed in Figure 4.2. The first selection of polygonal models is centered in the 3D scene. When importing subsequent polygonal models, a dialog box offers the possibility of centering the 3D scene.
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Viewing Polygonal Models For more information, see Section 1.4.2.
4.1.3 Closing all polygonal models

The File menu offers an item for closing all Models: Close Polygonal Models Removes the Models from IMView. The IMView interface reverts to its basic form.
4.1.4 Opening recent files

The File menu offers an item for opening recent polygonal model files: Recent Polygonal Models Displays a list of recently imported Models. A standalone Model is represented by its absolute path. A Model in a workspace is represented by its name followed by the name of its workspace in parentheses. Clicking on a model name opens it in IMView.
4.2 Navigating between Models

Use the second combo box on the Standard toolbar to navigate between Models. It offers the Models that are not hidden in the object tree, and an All item that includes all other combo box items. If there are no unhidden Models, the combo box is not available. When the All item is selected, all Models listed in the combo box are displayed. You may navigate between offered Models by pressing the Next or Previous buttons to the left of the combo box, or the UP and DOWN ARROW keys. To directly view a particular Model, select it in the combo box.
4.3 Manipulating Models in the object tree

By default, the object tree is not displayed as viewing Models is performed using a toolbar item. You can display the object tree by pressing the Show Tree View button, which is the second button on the toolbar. One object manipulation operation is available using the object tree. You may toggle the visibility status of Models by middle-clicking over them. This adds/removes items from
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Viewing Polygonal Models
Figure 4.1 The IMView interface configured to view 3D polygonal models. the second combo box on the toolbar. If the combo box is set to All, the changes in visibility status affects the display in the 3D scene.
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Viewing Polygonal Models
Figure 4.2 The PolyWorks (PW) browser configured to import from a standalone location.
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Appendix A: Introduction to Inspection Projects

This appendix describes IMInspect inspection projects. CONTENTS A.1 Introducing the inspection project
A.1 Introducing the inspection project

IMInspect offers an object-oriented approach to comparison and verification tasks. As shown in Figure A.1, a global object called the IMInspect Project encloses all other objects. Within an inspection project, up to eleven main categories of objects can be generated: Data objects A Data object consists of a set of 3D points. IMInspect supports organized and unorganized point clouds. When an organized point cloud is being processed, IMInspect computes surface normals for the Data points, and these normals are used when the Data objects are rendered. Otherwise, rendered 3D points are assigned a uniform color. IMInspect also supports polygonal Data objects. All Data objects have point normal information, except for unorganized point clouds. Data objects can have three types of children. The Global Matrix object represents the rigid transformation between the original data coordinate system and the IMInspect coordinate system. The Last Matrix object represents the last alignment transformation computed by IMInspect. Finally, the Groups branch may contain user-generated groups of points. Reference objects A Reference object consists of a surface model to which one or several Data objects will be compared. IMInspect supports polygonal surfaces and NURBS-based surfaces. Reference objects can have two types of children. The Global Matrix object represents the rigid transformation between the original reference coordinate system and the IMInspect coordinate system. The Groups branch may contain user-generated groups of triangles or NURBS surfaces. Features IMInspect offers tools for creating Features - Circles, Cones, Cylinders, Planes, Points, Polygons, Polylines, Rectangles, Slots, Spheres, and Vec-
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Introduction to Inspection Projects
Inspection Project
Data Objects
Global Matrix Last Matrix Groups
Reference Objects
Global Matrix Groups
Features
Circles Cones Cylinders Planes Points Polygons Polylines Rectangles Slots Spheres Vectors
Cross-Sections Reference Points Comparison Points Gauges

Airfoil Calipers Flush & Gap Profile
Measurements Huge Translation Report

Items Layouts
Figure A.1 The IMInspect object organization. tors. Standard Features are composed of nominal and measured Primitives, which are children of their parent Feature. For every new Feature, a Feature object is created in IMInspect. Features are used in inspection. They can be assigned feature controls that perform GD&T and dimensional measurements.
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Introduction to Inspection Projects GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) is a means of specifying engineering design and drawing requirements with respect to actual function and relationship of part features. As part of a GD&T process, you define dimensions on parts, and tolerances for these dimensions. The Feature object is used to define what will be measured and the tolerances to use for each measurement. Reference Points A Reference Point consists of an (x, y, z) location and a Primitive bound to the location. Reference Point objects can be used to align Data objects to Reference surfaces. Comparison Points A Comparison Point consists of an (x, y, z) location and an (i, j, k) surface normal vector on a Reference surface, combined with a radius and a maximum angular deviation. Comparison Points allow you to locally compare a Data point cloud to a Reference surface. Cross-Sections Cross-Sections allow you to compare Data objects to Reference surfaces along a planar cross-section. Gauges There are four types of Gauge objects: Airfoil, Caliper, Flush & Gap, and Profile. Airfoil Gauges take various measurements on airfoils. Caliper objects measure distances between two 2D or 3D locations. Flush & Gap Gauge objects analyze the space separating two assembled parts. Profile Gauge objects measure one or two radii along a fillet. Measurements Interactive measurements that include angle, distance, length, and radius measurements as well as survey (angle and distance) measurements. Huge Translation IMInspect permits the use of objects with small-number coordinate systems (close to 0,0,0), such as scanner coordinate systems, and large-number coordinate systems such as the ones produced by GPS devices. Its implementation avoids mixing small and large numbers that can cause a loss in accuracy, and it is applied to all aspects of an IMInspect Project. Reports IMInspect features complete reporting capabilities. Available report items include screen snapshots, figure captions, statistical tables and pie charts, text fields, headers, footers, and animated reports. They are found in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch and can be exported with limited
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Introduction to Inspection Projects formatting to Word and Excel, your HTML editor, and to text file format. IMInspect also offers the possibility of building completely formatted reports using the EZLayout tool. Layouts are saved under the Layouts subbranch of the Reports branch.
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Appendix B: Understanding the Object Tree

This section provides a brief description of the object tree contained within the Tree View pane, and explains the object and branch shortcut menus that are offered. CONTENTS B.1 Overview of the Tree Views window B.1.1 Selecting objects using the mouse B.1.2 Shortcut menus in the object tree B.1.3 Visualizing object properties in the object tree B.1.4 Visualizing object states in the object tree B.2 Hiding objects in the object tree
B.1 Overview of the Tree Views window

The Tree Views pane is a central and hierarchal object management unit. Each object is represented by an item in the Objects tab of the Tree Views pane. Items are displayed using an object tree, and consist of an icon and an object name.
B.1.1 Selecting objects using the mouse

You may select objects using standard Windows-based techniques. The left mouse button is used to select objects in the object tree. Use it with the SHIFT key to select a range of objects, and with the CTRL key to preserve the current selection and to switch the selection status of the clicked object.
B.1.2 Shortcut menus in the object tree

The object trees shortcut menus add functionality to this object management tool. The shortcut menus provide a wide scale of functions without offering all of the operations available using the main menus. On the other hand, they offer some items that are not found in the main menus; for example, a branch menu typically offers selection operations for only objects under its branch, which are not offered in the main menus. This guide follows primarily the menu bar organization, but also documents those shortcut menu items that are not offered in the main menus. The following types of shortcut menus are available:
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Understanding the Object Tree
(a) A branch shortcut menu offers operations specific to its object type. If the branch has a parent branch, its menu items are also offered as the submenu at the bottom of the menu.
(b) To the left, a shortcut menu for a selection of same-type objects. To the right, a shortcut menu for a selection of not same-type objects; only operations available for all of the types of objects are offered.
(c) The Focus mode lets you preserve the selection in the object tree, in most cases, while popping up a shortcut menu specific to the focused object. A red rectangle encloses the name of the focused object. To activate this mode, either right-click on a branch, or hold down the CTRL key and right-click on an object. See the two examples above.
Figure B.1 The IMView object tree offers shortcut menus.
You may select a branch and then right-click to pop up a branch menu. Operations are offered that are specific to the object type. You may create and import objects, configure the display mode for newly created objects and for those objects using the object types Default display mode, and perform selection operations. See Figure B.1 (a). You may select same-type objects and right-click. The menu that pops up offers operations for that object type. If the selection consists of objects of more than one
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Understanding the Object Tree object type, the menu that pops up offers operations that are valid for all of the object types in the selection. See Figure B.1 (b). If you right-click on a branch, or on an object with the CTRL key pressed and held down, a menu pops up offering operations that will be carried out on the clicked object, regardless of the current selection in the object tree. The current selection is preserved, unless a dialog box operating on the clicked object needs to be popped up. This is referred to as the Focus mode. The first item in the shortcut menu indicates the name of the focused object. See Figure B.1 (c). Example 1: If a Cone and a Plane are selected and visible, and the CTRL key is pressed and held down, you can right-click on a Data object, and select View > Hide Objects to hide only the Data object. The Cone and Plane objects will remain selected and visible. Example 2: If a Cone and a Plane are selected, and the CTRL key is pressed and held down, you can right-click on a Data object and select Properties. The Cone and Plane will become deselected, the Data object will be selected, and the property sheet relative to the Data object will pop up. A shortcut to the Focus mode exists when only one object is to be selected select the object and right-click over the object. Note that the focused object is enclosed within a red rectangle, indicating a focus.
B.1.3 Visualizing object properties in the object tree

As mentioned in the previous section, you can select objects in the object tree and select Properties [Edit] to visualize the properties of objects. In addition, several object properties are directly displayed in the object tree. Here is a list of object properties, along with the visual feedbacks used to represent their values: Object index number Displayed to the right of the object icon. Object name Displayed to the right of the object index number. Object visibility When an object is visible in the 3D scene, its icon is displayed in the object tree. When an object is hidden, its icon is also hidden. Object usage status When an object is ignored, a No sign on the normal object icon. When an object is locked, a padlock on the objects icon. is superimposed is superimposed
See Figure B.2 for an example of the visual conventions concerning object properties.
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locked with a padlock over the icon standard with an icon invisible with a hidden icon ignored an icon with a No sign Figure B.2 The visual conventions used to represent object properties.
When an Airfoil Gauge is adjusted, its icon is displayed in green instead of red and a green arrow representing the measurement is added. To the left, airfoil 2 is adjusted and airfoil 1 is not. When a Caliper is adjusted, its icon is displayed in green instead of red, and its icon is closed instead of open. To the left, caliper 2 is adjusted and caliper 1 is not. When a Flush & Gap Gauge is adjusted, its icon is displayed in green instead of red and green arrows are added, representing the flush and gap measurements, respectively. To the left, flush & gap 2 is adjusted and flush & gap 1 is not. When a Profile Gauge is adjusted, its icon shows an added green line and a radius representing a fillets theoretical edge and its radius, respectively. To the left, profile 2 is adjusted and profile 1 is not.
Figure B.3 The visual conventions used to represent the state of specific objects belonging to certain object categories.
B.1.4 Visualizing object states in the object tree

The state of certain objects can be visualized in the object tree: The icon of Airfoil Gauges, Calipers, Flush & Gap Gauges, and Profile Gauges show if they have been adjusted or not. See Figure B.3 for an illustration of these states.
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B.2 Hiding objects in the object tree

You can switch the visibility status of a object by middle-clicking on it in the object tree, or switch the visibility status of the currently selected objects by holding down the SHIFT key and middle-clicking; the current object selection is maintained in both cases. For information on hiding objects using menu operations, see the items in the Visibility submenu of the View menu.
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Appendix C: Selecting Objects

This appendix describes selecting objects in IMView. The operations are a subset of those available in the IMInspect module. CONTENTS C.1 Selecting objects manually or using main menu operations C.1.1 Manually selecting objects in the object tree C.1.2 Selecting objects using main menu operations C.1.3 Selecting objects of the same type using object tree shortcut menus C.2 Selecting Calipers that are unadjusted/out of tolerance C.3 Selecting unadjusted/out-of-tolerance Flush & Gap Gauges C.4 Selecting Profile gauges that are unadjusted/out of tolerance C.5 Selecting objects using feature codes C.5.1 Selecting Primitives by feature code
C.1 Selecting objects manually or using main menu operations

You may select objects directly in the object tree using standard Windows-based techniques, using items in the Objects submenu of the Select menu, and using the interactive Select Objects mode.
C.1.1 Manually selecting objects in the object tree

The object tree offers standard Windows-based techniques for selecting objects: Select one object by clicking over the object item. Select a range of objects by clicking over the first object item, pressing and holding the SHIFT key, and then clicking over the last object item. Select a set of objects that are not contiguous by pressing and holding the CTRL key while selecting objects with the mouse.
C.1.2 Selecting objects using main menu operations

The Objects submenu of the Select menu offers several methods for selecting objects. The first three items perform global selection operations:
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Selecting Objects
Figure C.1 The window for configuring the picking context in the Select Objects mode.
All Selects all objects. Invert Switches the current selection status of the objects. Selected objects become unselected while unselected objects become selected. None Deselects all objects. The next selection function makes a link between object selection and the 3D scene: Interactively Enables the interactive Select Objects mode that lets you select objects in the object tree by picking or by dragging a selection rectangle in the 3D scene; selected objects are highlighted in the 3D scene. On selecting this item, the Picking Context window, shown in Figure C.1 , pops up to configure what objects can be picked in the 3D scene. Check boxes represent the pickable objects in the order that they appear in the object tree: Data, Reference, Features/Primitives, Cross-Sections, Reference Points, Comparison Points, Gauges, and Measurements. The Do not show this window check box, when set, disables the display of this window; the window may be made available again by selecting the Contextual Parameters item [Window]. The mode offers two selection methods. You can select an object in the 3D scene by clicking over a screen pixel belonging to the object. Or, using the middle mouse button, drag a rectangular selection zone; visible objects partially or completely enclosed within the rectangular selection zone, are then identified.
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Figure C.2 The contextual menu that pops up when selecting Primitives (i.e., Vector).
If the CTRL key is up when a selection operation is successfully performed, all other items in the object tree are deselected, and the picked object or objects is/are selected. If the CTRL key is down, object tree selections are preserved and the selection status of the picked object or objects is/are switched. The interactive mode is exited by pressing the ESC key. This mode can also be invoked by using the CTRL + SHIFT + SPACEBAR shortcut. The next two selection functions are used to select hidden or ignored objects: Hidden Selects all hidden objects. Ignored Selects all ignored objects. Finally, the last item makes a link between 3D object selection and the 3D scene: From Elements Selects all 3D objects for which at least one element is selected.
C.1.3 Selecting objects of the same type using object tree shortcut menus
Most of the object trees branch menus offer a Select submenu that lets you perform selection operations of only those types of objects that are contained under the branch and its sub-branches. For example, the Select submenu of the Gauges branchs menu lets you select Gauges, while the Select submenu of the Caliper branchs menu lets you select Calipers. The Select submenu of the Measurements branchs menu goes a step further and also offers selection operations for each type of Measurement. Most Select submenus offer the All, Invert, None, Hidden, and Ignored items. They may also offer items specific to the branch. For example, the Select submenu of the Cal-
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Selecting Objects
Figure C.3 The dialog box for selecting Calipers that are unadjusted/out of tolerance.
ipers, Flush & Gap, and Profile branch menus offer the Unadjusted/Out-of-Tolerance item for selecting Gauges that are unadjusted or out of tolerance (for more information, see the section that describes the particular object).
C.2 Selecting Calipers that are unadjusted/out of tolerance

The Select menu of the Calipers branch menu offers an item that lets you select Calipers that are unadjusted and/or out of tolerance: Unadjusted/Out-of-tolerance Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure C.3 for selecting Calipers that are unadjusted or whose measured results are out of tolerance. It offers the following items: Select unadjusted A check box that when set tells IMView to selected unadjusted Calipers. Select out-of-tolerance A check box that activates a group box of the same name that controls the selection of out-of-tolerance Calipers. Users can use either the High or Low tolerances. Selection is performed by pressing the OK button.
C.3 Selecting unadjusted/out-of-tolerance Flush & Gap Gauges

The Select menu of the Flush & Gap branch menu offers an item that lets you select Flush & Gap Gauges that are unadjusted and/or out of tolerance: Unadjusted/Out-of-tolerance Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure C.4 that offers the following items:
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Selecting Objects
Figure C.4 The dialog box for selecting unadjusted/out-of-tolerance Flush & Gap Gauges. Select unadjusted A check box that, when set, specifies selecting all unadjusted Flush & Gap Gauges. Select out-of-tolerance A group box that controls the selection of out-of-tolerance Flush & Gap Gauges. You can specify either the High or Low tolerances. You can also choose which measurements will be considered by the selection process by enabling/disabling the following items: Flush, Gap, Lateral error A, Lateral error B, Normal error A, and Normal error B. Selection is performed by pressing the OK button; IMView selects all Gauges that meet at least one criteria. Note that the Select menu of the Gauges branch menu offers the Unadjusted item that lets you select all of the Gauges that are unadjusted.
C.4 Selecting Profile gauges that are unadjusted/out of tolerance

The Select menu of the Profile branch menu offers an item that lets you select Profile Gauges that are unadjusted and/or out of tolerance: Unadjusted/Out-of-tolerance Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure C.5 for selecting Profile Gauges. It offers the following items: Select unadjusted A check box that, when set, specifies selecting all unadjusted Profile Gauges.
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Figure C.5 The dialog box for selecting Profile Gauges that are unadjusted/out of tolerance. Select out-of-tolerance A group box that controls the selection of out-of-tolerance Profile Gauges. You can specify either the High or Low tolerances. You can also choose which out-of-tolerance measurements will be considered by the selection process by enabling/disabling any or all of the following items: Radius A, Radius B, Distance 1 and Distance 2. If no check box is set, no out-of-tolerance gauges will be selected. Selection is performed by pressing the OK button; IMView selects all Gauges that meet at least one criteria. Note that the Select menu of the Gauges branch menu offers the Unadjusted item that lets you select all of the Gauges that are unadjusted.
C.5 Selecting objects using feature codes

IMView lets you select objects by feature code.
C.5.1 Selecting Primitives by feature code

Feature codes may be assigned to all IMInspect Primitives. Primitives may then be selected based on their feature code: To select Primitives of any type, right-click over the Features branch and choose the From Feature Code item in the Select submenu. Right-click over the Features branch, or one of its sub-branches, and choose the From Feature Code item in the Select submenu.
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Selecting Objects
Figure C.6 The dialog box for selecting Primitives based on their feature code.
The dialog box shown in Figure C.1 pops up. Specify a feature code in the Feature code combo box and press the OK button. All Primitives, or just those under the clicked branch, that have the specified feature code will be selected. Note that this selection does not deselect currently selected objects in the object tree if the Focus mode (right-click directly over the branch) is used.
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Appendix D: Selecting Object Elements

This appendix describes selecting object elements in IMView. Elements consist of Data points and Reference triangles/NURBS surfaces. The operations are a subset of those available in the IMInspect module. Elements can be hidden, but cannot be deleted. CONTENTS D.1 Selecting object elements D.2 Setting the Selection mode D.3 Standard element selection operations D.3.1 Selecting elements of visible Data and Reference objects D.3.2 Selecting elements of a visible Data or Reference object D.4 Selecting elements interactively in the 3D rendering window D.4.1 Selecting one object element D.4.2 Selecting regions D.4.3 Using the Selection Context window
D.1 Selecting object elements

IMView offers basic tools for selecting object elements. Most selection operations are conditioned by the specifications made for the Selection mode.
D.2 Setting the Selection mode

The Select mode controls the selection status of elements when a selection is performed. The Mode submenu in the Select menu provides access to items that define the Select mode. Three items apply to all elements: Mark Indicates that all elements found by the selection algorithm become selected. Toggle Indicates that all elements found by the selection algorithm invert their selection status, from selected to unselected, or from unselected to selected. Unmark Indicates that all elements found by the selection algorithm become unselected.
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Selecting Object Elements Three items apply only to triangles and NURBS surfaces: Back Only Indicates that only back-facing triangles and NURBS surfaces can be used by the surface-based and the left-mouse-based selection techniques. Front Only Indicates that only front-facing triangles and NURBS surfaces can be used by the surface-based and the left-mouse-based selection techniques. Front and Back Indicates that all triangles and NURBS surfaces can be used by the surfacebased and the left-mouse-based selection techniques.
D.3 Standard element selection operations

IMView offers element selection operations via the main menu that apply to all visible Data and Reference objects. IMView also offers element selection operations via the object tree that apply to a selected and visible Data or Reference object.
D.3.1 Selecting elements of visible Data and Reference objects The Select menu offers standard selection tools that apply to all visible elements; note that the specifications made for the Selection mode do not apply to the first three tools, as they are of a global nature: All Elements Selects all visible elements. Invert Inverts the selection status of the visible elements if at least one element is selected. None Deselects all selected elements. Elements Interactively Enables the mode for selecting elements interactively.
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Selecting Object Elements D.3.2 Selecting elements of a visible Data or Reference object Select a visible Data or Reference object in the object tree and right-click. The Select Elements submenu offers the All, Invert and None items that apply to the elements of the selected object. See Section D.3.1 for a description of these items.
D.4 Selecting elements interactively in the 3D rendering window

Interactive element selection is possible when IMView is set to Selection mode, which is accomplished by pressing the SPACEBAR. The pointer becomes a cross in the Selection mode. It is not possible to rotate or translate the scene when Selection mode is activated. Three different interactive element selection methods are available in IMView: The left mouse button is used to select one object element (i.e., a Data point, a Reference triangle, or a NURBS surface). The middle mouse button is used to select regions (groups of object elements). Surface-based and volume-based selection methods are available. With the SHIFT key pressed and held down, the left mouse button used over Data or Reference objects pops up a menu used to select the elements of a group, or connected sets of NURBS surfaces (if the click occurred on a NURBS Reference object). These methods are shown mapped onto the mouse in Figure D.1.
D.4.1 Selecting one object element To select one object element, place the pointer over the element and click. The type of element selected depends on the object type: For point clouds imported from 3D digitized datasets and IMAlign Projects, and polygonal Data objects, the closest 3D point is selected. The size of points can be increased by using the PSize combo box on the Standard toolbar. For polygonal Reference objects, the triangle underneath the pointer is selected. For NURBS-based Reference objects, the NURBS surface underneath the pointer is selected.
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Left
Middle (region)
Right
1 element group/island selection menu
surface (freeform contour) volume (freeform contour) surface (polygonal contour) volume (polygonal contour)
SHIFT mouse buttons used in conjunction with keys
CTRL
SHIFT + CTRL
menu if the object is polygonal
menu if the object is NURBS-based
Figure D.1 The mouse is used for interactive element selection. Selections may be individual or region-based (surfacic or volumetric), or use object-based-menu items.
Note that other types of 3D objects, which are not mentioned in the list above, are ignored.
D.4.2 Selecting regions There are two interactive surface-based and volume-based techniques for selecting points, triangles, and NURBS surfaces. The surface-based technique can be applied to polygonal Data and Reference objects, as well as NURBS-based Reference objects. The volumebased technique can be applied to all types of Data and Reference objects. The two region-selection methods are accessed through the middle mouse button and proceed similarly. You delimit a 2D area in the 3D scene while the middle mouse button is
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Selecting Object Elements pressed. Once the middle mouse button is released, IMView finds the set of selected elements. If the SHIFT key is not initially pressed at the beginning of the selection operation, IMView uses a surface-based selection method that finds the set of visible triangles or NURBS surfaces enclosed within the delimited 2D area. A triangle or NURBS surface is visible if it encloses at least one screen pixel. As a result, this selection method should be used when the region of interest is sufficiently close to the observer so that the element boundaries are clearly visible in the 3D scene. In the case of polygonal Data objects, the triangle selection is automatically converted to a point selection. If the SHIFT key is initially pressed, IMView uses a volume-based selection method that finds all geometric elements whose projections completely lie within the 2D contour. The resolution of the method is independent of the resolution of the 3D scene. The 2D selection contour can be freeform or polygonal. If the CTRL key is not initially pressed at the beginning of the selection operation, simply drag the mouse to describe a closed contour. To define a polygonal contour delimiting a selected area, press and hold the CTRL key, middle-click to generate vertices of the polygonal region, and right-click to indicate the last vertex. The 2D contour is rendered using the Pencil color, which is yellow by default. It can be modified by selecting the Interface Colors item [View > Color].
D.4.3 Using the Selection Context window IMView features a Selection Context dialog box, shown in Figure D.2 that pops up by default when performing interactive selection operations. The Elements to select group box offers two check boxes, Data points and Reference triangles/NURBS surfaces, that let you specify the elements to select. The middle of the window offers two reminder labels with adjacent status labels: Surface/Volume selection (Shift) Indicates that the default selection is surfacic, and to press the SHIFT key to enable a volumetric selection. If the SHIFT key is up the adjacent status label reads Surface, and if the SHIFT key is down, it reads Volume.
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Selecting Object Elements
Figure D.2 The dialog box used to define the selection context.
Freeform/Polygonal contour (Ctrl) Indicates that by default the selection contour is freeform, and to press the CTRL key for a polygonal contour. If the CTRL key is up the adjacent status label reads Freeform, and if the CTRL key is down, it reads Polygonal. The bottom part of the dialog box features two combo boxes for visualizing the current Selection mode parameters, and editing them if desired. The left combo box offers the Mark, Toggle, and Unmark items, while the right combo box offers the Back, Front, and Front and Back items. The last item in the dialog box is the Do not show this window check box, which disables this window for future selection operations. To re-enable this window, select the Contextual Parameters item [Window]. Note that closing the window exits the Selection mode. For more information on the Selection mode, see Section D.2.
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Appendix E: Viewing Annotations

The Annotation submenu of the View menu offers items for controlling the display of object annotations and picked annotations. All of these operations are found in IMInspect as well. The main difference is that in IMView, it is not possible to delete annotations. CONTENTS E.1 Controlling the display of object annotations and picked annotations E.1.1 Introducing annotations E.1.2 Controlling the color mode for annotation display E.1.3 Controlling the position of annotations E.1.4 Controlling the visibility of annotations E.1.5 Aligning values within annotations E.1.6 Showing pass/fail markers E.1.7 Creating and manipulating coordinate and error/value annotations E.1.8 Controlling the contents of annotations via templates
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(a) typical object annotations
(b) an attached and a floating text annotation
Figure E.1 Examples of annotations.
E.1 Controlling the display of object annotations and picked annotations

For most 3D objects, an annotation attached to the object can be displayed containing information about the object, such as its name or its geometric properties. Annotations are also available for picked coordinates and errors/values. Annotations allow you to produce screen snapshots that are rich in information. This section presents all of the tools related to annotations. For information concerning Feature annotations, please refer to the section in the IMInspect Reference Guide that explains how to perform controls on Features.
E.1.1 Introducing annotations

As shown to the left in Figure E.1, annotations are 2D boxes that are usually attached to 3D locations and that display text information. There are annotations for most types of objects: Comparison Points, Cross-Sections, Features, Gauges, Measurements, Primitives, and Reference Points. IMInspect also offers Text Field objects that allow you to display text within an annotation. Text annotations, initially floating in space, can easily be attached to specific 3D locations. A floating and an attached text annotation are shown to the right in Figure E.1.
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E.1.2 Controlling the color mode for annotation display

E.1.2.1 Specifying the color mode used to display annotations The Color Mode submenu of the Annotation submenu of the View menu offers two items for controlling the color mode used to render annotations: Black & White The annotations are black or white, depending on the background color of the rendering window. Colored The annotations are in color.
E.1.2.2 Specifying the color mode used to display attachment lines The Attachment Line Color Mode submenu of the Annotation submenu of the View menu offers two items for controlling the color of attachment lines: Black & White The attachment lines are black or white, depending on the background color of the rendering window. Colored The attachment lines have the same color as their annotation.
E.1.2.3 Inverting the character color of annotations Text displayed within annotations is black or white. The choice of color is automatically made by IMView based on the Background color. Since annotations are slightly transparent, the text color may sometimes not be ideal. A menu item in the Annotation submenu of the View menu lets you invert the character color of annotations: Invert Character Color Enables an interactive mode in which you click on annotations to invert text color from black to white or from white to black. Right-click to exit the mode. The inversion flag is saved along with the Background color. If the Background color is changed, the inversion flag is ignored until the Background color is reset to the value it had when the inversion flag was recorded.
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E.1.3 Controlling the position of annotations

Annotations can be positioned automatically or manually.
E.1.3.1 The automatic positioning mode By default, IMView automatically positions annotations along the top, bottom, left, and right boundaries of the 3D rendering window in a way that minimizes annotation overlap and the intersection of annotation attachment lines. The annotation display is automatically recomputed every time you rotate and translate the 3D scene. One item in the Annotation submenu of the View menu controls the automatic positioning mode: Automatic Positioning An option button that enables/disables the automatic annotation positioning mode. It is enabled by default. When this item is not set, annotations remain at their respective positions.
E.1.3.2 Dragging annotations to a new location You can manually drag annotations to a new location to prepare the 3D scene before taking a snapshot. The interactive annotation dragging mode is enabled by selecting the Drag item [View > Annotation]. In this mode, you can: Pick annotations by clicking on them. If the CTRL key is up when a click occurs over an annotation, this annotation is selected and previously picked annotations are deselected. If the CTRL key is down, previously picked annotations remain selected, and the selection status of the annotation underneath the pointer is switched. Drag the selected annotations to a new location. Right-click to move the annotation tiepoint clockwise on the annotation border. Keep the SHIFT key down and right-click to move the annotation tiepoint counterclockwise on the annotation border. Exit this mode by pressing the ESC key. The automatic positioning of annotations, if enabled, is disabled during this process. It will be reactivated after the dragging mode is exited and the scene is moved.
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E.1.4 Controlling the visibility of annotations

Annotations can be hidden and later restored. Note that: Annotations of invisible objects are hidden. Annotations for which the 3D attachment point is located outside of the rendering window are automatically hidden.
E.1.4.1 Controlling the visibility of all annotations The Annotation submenu offers three items for making annotations visible or invisible: Hide All Hides all annotations. Hide Interactively Enables an interactive mode for hiding annotations by clicking on them. Right-click to exit the mode. Restore All Makes all annotations visible.
E.1.4.2 Controlling the visibility of annotations by type The Coordinate Annotation, Error/Value Annotation, GD&T Annotation, and Primitive Annotation submenus each offer three items for making their annotation types visible or invisible: Hide All Hides all annotations. Hide Interactively Enables an interactive mode for hiding annotations. Only annotations of the type determined by the invoked operation are visible. Hide annotations by clicking on them. Right-click to exit the mode. Restore All Makes all annotations visible.
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Viewing Annotations E.1.4.3 Controlling the display of annotations via the property sheet The property sheet of most objects offers an Annotation check box that enables/disables the display an objects annotation. Similarly, you can select same-type objects prior to popping up the property sheet and simultaneously modify the Annotation check box status of all of the selected objects. An objects property sheet is accessed by selecting the object and then selecting the Object Properties item [Edit].
E.1.5 Aligning values within annotations

The Annotation submenu offers one item that controls the alignment of annotation values: Align Values An option button that enables/disables the alignment of values in annotations. When this option is enabled, all of the values are left-aligned using the rightmost value as a starting point. If a label is quite long, all of the annotation values will align with this labels value, making the entire annotation very wide. When this option is disabled, values immediately follow their label.
E.1.6 Showing pass/fail markers

The Annotation submenu offers one item that controls the display of pass/fail markers: Show Pass/Fail Markers An option button that enables/disables the display of pass/fail markers in annotations.
E.1.7 Creating and manipulating coordinate and error/value annotations

There are interactive modes for: Picking points in the 3D scene and displaying their (x, y, z) coordinates and/or intensity/color information. These points have coordinate annotations. Picking Data points on an error color map and displaying their errors or deviations computed by a comparison method. In other cases, an error color map is displayed following a measurement, and not a comparison, operation. Examples include measuring clearance or thickness. Pick-
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Viewing Annotations ing a Data point on such a color map obtains a value, and not an error, which is displayed in an annotation. Such picked points have error/value annotations. See Figure E.2 for an illustration of both types of annotations. This section presents tools related to these special coordinate and error/value annotations. These tools are offered in the Coordinate Annotation and Error/Value Annotation submenus in the Annotation submenu of the View menu. They are also available from the Standard toolbar (see to the right) as a button and a pop-down menu.
E.1.7.1 Picking annotations The Coordinate Annotation submenu offers an item that enables the coordinate picking mode: Create from Picking Enables an interactive mode for picking points by clicking on Data and Reference objects, Primitives, and Cross-Sections. For polygonal Data objects, Reference objects, and Cross-Sections, clicking with the SHIFT key up interpolates a point underneath the pointer, while clicking with the SHIFT key pressed finds the closest vertex. IMView automatically displays an annotation for every picked 3D location. If the automatic positioning mode is disabled (see Section E.1.3.1), you automatically enter an annotation-dragging mode that allows you to move the annotation to a desired position. By default, IMView displays the (x, y, z) coordinates of the picked point. Two standard annotation templates are also available for displaying the luminance (intensity) and RGB colors, in addition to the point coordinates. The name of the annotation type to edit is Picked Coordinates. Note that if the pointer hovers over a pickable area for more than half a second, a temporary annotation appears on the screen. Left-click to create a real annotation; if you simply move the pointer, the temporary annotation disappears. Right-click to exit the mode.
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Viewing Annotations
(a) picked coordinate annotations Figure E.2 Examples of picked annotations.
(b) picked error/value annotations
The Error/Value Annotation submenu offers an item that enables the error/value picking mode: Create from Picking Enables an interactive mode for picking Data points by clicking on Data objects, Data Cross-Sections, and Reference objects overlaid with a HighResolution error map as a result of a comparison operation (Data to Ref, Data to Primitive, Analyze Multiple Data Variability) or a measurement operation (Clearance, Thickness). For polygonal Data objects and Data Cross-Sections, IMView will find the closest vertex or point. For Reference objects, IMView automatically identifies Data points overlaid on top of the Reference object. When picking errors following a comparison operation, IMView automatically displays an annotation for every picked Data point. By default, the annotation shows the Data point coordinates, the coordinates of a matched point computed by a comparison method, and the 3D distance or error between the two. If no comparison result is available, no error is displayed. The name of the corresponding annotation templates are Picked Errors/ Values (Data to Ref/Prim) and Picked Errors/Values (Data Variability). Note that if the alignment of a Data or a Reference object used in the operation changes, the annotations are grayed and the deviation values are removed; in the case of multiple data variability, the annotation is destroyed.
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Viewing Annotations When picking values following a measurement operation (i.e. clearance or thickness), IMView automatically displays for every picked Data point a line representing the distance measured between the Data point and its opposite, as well as an annotation. By default, the annotation shows the value at that point. If no measurement result is available, no value is displayed. The name of the corresponding annotation templates are Picked Errors/ Values (Clearance) and Picked Errors/Values (Thickness). Note that if the alignment of a Data object used in the operation changes, the annotations relative to that and all other Data objects measured in the same operation disappear, but are not deleted. If another measurement operation (i.e. thickness or clearance) is performed using a Data object that had picked values, the annotations will reappear. If the automatic positioning mode is disabled (see Section E.1.3.1), you automatically enter an annotation-dragging mode that allows you to move the annotation to a desired position. Note that if the pointer hovers over a pickable area for more than half a second, a temporary annotation appears on the screen. Left-click to create a real annotation; if you simply move the pointer, the temporary annotation disappears. Right-click to exit the mode.
E.1.7.2 Generating a tabular report from picked annotations The Create from Annotations submenu of the Table submenu of the Report menu offers two items for generating a tabular report object, under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, from picked point coordinates and errors/values: All Coordinate Annotations Generates a tabular report for all picked point coordinate annotations. All Data-to-Reference/Primitive Annotations Generates a tabular report for all picked Data-to-Reference and Data-toPrimitive error annotations. All Clearance Annotations Generates a tabular report for all picked clearance value annotations. All Data Variability Annotations Generates a tabular report for all picked Data variability error annotations. All Thickness Annotations Generates a tabular report for all picked thickness value annotations.
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Viewing Annotations
Figure E.3 The dialog box for editing annotation templates.
E.1.8 Controlling the contents of annotations via templates

IMView annotations are configurable. You can decide which information items will be displayed and in what order. There are standard annotation templates for several types of objects: Comparison Points, Cross-Sections, Features, Gauges, Measurements, Primitives, and Reference Points. There are standard annotation templates for picked coordinates and errors/values as well.
E.1.8.1 Creating and editing annotation templates Select the Templates item [View > Annotation]. The dialog box shown in Figure E.3 pops up, offering the following items: Annotation type A list box that displays all of the types of annotations. Click on a type and the annotation templates associated with it are displayed in the Active template list box. Active template A list box that displays the name of the annotation templates for the specified annotation type. The highlighted template is the active, or currently used, template. Each template name is preceded by a three-letter code: STD (standard) precedes default templates provided by IMView that cannot be deleted, USR (user) precedes customized templates, and PRJ (project) precedes templates imported as part of a project configuration.
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Viewing Annotations
Figure E.4 The dialog box for editing an annotation template.
New A button that specifies creating a new template. A dialog box pops up that requires that you provide a name for the template. On pressing the Add button, the annotation editor pops up. This button is unavailable in IMView. Delete A button that deletes a customized or project annotation template. This button is unavailable in IMView. Edit A button that pops up the annotation template editor. Changes made to an annotation template are discarded on closing the viewed IMInspect Project.
E.1.8.2 Customizing annotation contents The Edit button pops up the active template in the template editor, which is shown in Figure E.4. The editors Contents tab displays all of the information that is available from IMView, and is used to determine what information will be displayed in an annotation and in what order. The central part of the tab is a list box. You can select items by clicking on them. Three buttons let you perform operations on the selected item:
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Viewing Annotations Use A button that specifies including the item in the annotation. Used items move to the top of the list box. Ignore A button tells IMView to ignore, or not include, the item in the annotation. Ignored items are dimmed and are moved below the used items. Edit A button that pops up the dialog box shown in Figure E.4 that allows you to edit the label that will be used in the annotation to identify the selected information item. The dialog box can also be popped up by double-clicking on an item. The Up and Down arrows to the right of the list box change a selected items position in the annotation.
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Appendix F: Viewing Cross-Sections

This appendix describes viewing Cross-Sections in IMView. CONTENTS F.1 Displaying cross-sections F.1.1 Choosing a drawing style F.1.2 Displaying a cross-sectional view of the 3D scene F.1.3 Visualizing cross-section comparison results
F.1 Displaying cross-sections

There are several modes for the display of Cross-Sections, offered by the following items in the Cross-Section submenu of the View menu: Of the 3D scene A display mode that lets you view a cross-sectional view of the 3D scene and create Cross-Sections based on that view. See Section F.1.2 for more information. Grid Displays the bounding rectangle of each cross-section plane. Highlight Highlights Cross-Sections in the 3D scene.
F.1.1 Choosing a drawing style

The View submenu of the Cross-Sections branchs menu offers an item that lets you specify a drawing style that applies to all Cross-Sections: Default Drawing Style This item offers four radio buttons for specifying a drawing style. Three radio buttons offer to display only the points on the cross-sections: Points (Cross), Points (Square), and Points (Triangle). The last radio button offers to draw the cross-section as a line: Polyline.
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Viewing Cross-Sections
F.1.2 Displaying a cross-sectional view of the 3D scene

IMView offers an interactive mode that displays cross-sectional views of the 3D scene. To invoke the mode, select the Of the 3D Scene item [View > Cross-Section]. This pops up the View Cross-Sections dialog box. To proceed, you first need to set a plane. The plane serves as a reference in that it is possible to display the scene with respect to the plane (e.g., above or below the plane), and it serves to section objects in the 3D scene and is used by IMView to create a temporary cross-section (which is built using the sectioned Data and/or Reference objects) whose display status can be controlled. The plane can then be displaced, and several viewing options are available. The temporary cross-section can be exported to IGES or DXF formats using items in the dialog boxs File menu, or it can be used for the extraction of a Cross-Section object. The PSize and LWidth combo boxes, found on the Standard toolbar, set the point size and the line width for cross-sections. The mouse-based rotation, translation, and zoom operations remain active at all times in the 3D viewing mode, while rotations are not allowed in the 2D viewing mode. The View Cross-Section of the 3D scene dialog box features a tab for setting and displacing a reference plane and creating a Cross-Section from the reference plane, a tab for controlling the display (see Figure F.1), and a File menu for exporting the temporary crosssection. The Plane tab specifies the position of a reference plane that will section the 3D scene, using one of three methods: From Primitive A button that sets the reference plane to the Plane selected in the object tree. Anchor Line A button that invokes an interactive method for defining a reference plane orthogonal to the screen by clicking on two locations in the 3D scene. You can rotate, translate, and zoom the 3D scene by pressing the SPACEBAR and using the standard mouse-based operations, and pressing the SPACEBAR again when finished. Standard planes A group box that lets you define a reference plane parallel to the XY, XZ, or YZ planes. A standard plane is specified by setting its signed distance
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Figure F.1 The dialog box that lets you display a cross-sectional view of the 3D scene. from the origin (0,0,0) in the Distance from origin text box, and then pressing one of the three buttons: XY, XZ, or YZ. The Displacement group box of the Plane tab provides two items for quickly moving the reference plane along its normal vector, and one item for creating a Cross-Section object: Displacement step A text box that specifies a step by which the reference plane is translated when you click on the sliders displacement arrows. Position A slider that can be used to move the reference plane along its normal vector. Create Cross-Section A button that permits you to create a Cross-Section object using the current temporary cross-section displayed in the 3D scene. A dialog box pops up related to cross-section creation. The Options tab offers options for controlling the display mode, as well as options for the creation of the temporary cross-sections that are displayed in the 3D scene. Initially, when
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Viewing Cross-Sections the reference plane is defined, the scene is rendered in 3D. The Display group box offers items that control the display in the 3D scene: 2D This radio button displays the scene in a 2D view set by the reference plane. In the 2D mode, IMView computes true cross-sections for all polygonal and NURBS-based objects. The TAB key can also be used to switch between the 2D and 3D viewing modes. When this viewing mode is activated, an item below the radio button becomes available: Mirror view A check box that enables/disables flipping the 2D view by 180 degrees. 3D This radio button displays the scene in a 3D view set by the reference plane. The TAB key can also be used to switch between the 2D and the 3D viewing modes. When this viewing mode is activated, four items below the radio button become available: Show plane A check box that enables/disables the display of the reference plane. Show cross-sections A check box that enables/disables the display of crosssections in 3D. Clipping mode The Mode combo box offers three possibilities: Show Clipping Range displays a 3D range above and below the reference plane, Show Above displays all of the 3D scene above the reference plane, and Show Below displays all of the 3D scene below the reference plane. You must press the Apply button to make a change effective. Clipping range A text box that specifies the 3D range to display, centered at the reference plane. You must press the Apply button to make a change effective. A key also affects the display in the 3D scene. Press SPACEBAR to temporarily display the complete scene.
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Figure F.2 The dialog box for specifying cross-section viewing options.
F.1.3 Visualizing cross-section comparison results

IMView offers you tools for visualizing Cross-Sections and their comparison results. The Display Options item [View > Cross-Section] pops up the dialog box shown in Figure F.2 that offers the following items: Show data sections A check box that, when set, makes available a group box of the same name that offers two items: Mark out-of-tolerance points When this check box is set, an X is superimposed on outof-tolerance Data points; it is only available if there is an active cross-section comparison result.
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Viewing Cross-Sections Maximum point-to-point distance A text box that controls the connecting of Data cross-section points. When the Data Cross-Section is built, Data points are mapped onto the Reference Cross-Section, ordered, and then connected. Two Data points farther than the specified distance from each other are disconnected in the Data Cross-Section. Applies only to cross-section children built from point cloud Data objects. Show reference section(s) A check box that controls the display of the Reference Cross-Sections. Color display mode A combo box that controls the color display of Reference Cross-Sections. If set to Use Color Scale, Cross-Sections are displayed using the color scale specified in the Color scale tab of the Error display options dialog box (see Section 15.2) when a comparison has been performed, otherwise the color of the child object is used. If set to Use Object color, Cross-Sections are displayed using the color of the child object. If set to Use default color, CrossSections are displayed using the default color set in the Default color box. Default color A color box that displays the objects default color. To edit the objects color, click over the color box, specify a new color in the dialog box that pops up, and press the OK button. Show tolerance curves A check box that controls the display of negative and positive tolerance curves; it is only available if there is an active Cross-Section comparison result. Color display mode A combo box that controls the color display of tolerance curves. If set to Use Color Scale, tolerance curves are displayed using the color scale specified in the Color scale tab of the Error display options dialog box (see Section 15.2) when a comparison has been performed. If set to Use default color, negative and positive tolerance curves are displayed using the color set in the Default positive/ negative high tolerance color boxes.
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Viewing Cross-Sections Default positive high tolerance color A color box that displays the objects default positive high tolerance color. To edit the color, click over the color box, specify a new color in the dialog box that pops up, and press the OK button. Default negative high tolerance color A color box that displays the objects default negative high tolerance color. To edit the color, click over the color box, specify a new color in the dialog box that pops up, and press the OK button. Show error vectors A check box that, when set, displays error vectors in the 3D scene. Setting this item also makes available the other items in the group box. Proportional An option button that specifies that the length of all rendered error vectors is proportional to the true error vectors joining the Reference object to the compared Cross-Sections. The direction of the displayed vectors is also the same as the true error vectors direction. Unit An option button that specifies that vectors of unit length are rendered. If the comparisons error direction is set to one of the Shortest distance directions, or to Boundary Normal, the vectors always point in the direction of the surface normal vector. If the comparisons error direction is set to Boundary Tangent, the vectors always point toward the exterior of the closest surface. For all other types of error directions, the vectors point in the direction of the error. Scaling factor A text box that allows you to scale the displayed vectors. Note that when scaling is applied, the tolerance curves are also scaled. Hide/Keep/Restore linked objects A check box that, when set, applies the visibility status of each Cross-Section to all of the objects linked to it, including 2D Calipers, Flush & Gap Gauges, Profile Gauges, Comparison Points, and Measurements (Angles, Distances, Radii).
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positive tolerance curve
Data Cross-Section Reference Cross-Section
negative tolerance curve
Figure F.3 An example of a cross-section display. Up to four curves can be drawn: the Data and Reference child Cross-Sections and the negative and positive tolerance curves.
Vertex comparison display A combo box that allows you to change the displayed color of the CrossSections while in Error Map color viewing mode [View > Color > Error Map], which is the default viewing mode after a comparison has been performed. If Use Cross-Section Color is selected, then each Cross-Section is displayed using its own color. If Use No Comparison Color is selected, then all Cross-Sections are displayed using the No Comparison color, which can be modified by selecting the Interface Colors item [View > Color]. Note that this option has no effect if the Default Drawing Style for Cross-Sections is set to Polyline. Note that you must press the Apply button to make the new settings effective. An example of a cross-sectional display is shown in Figure F.3.
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Appendix G: Configuring Error Display Options

This appendix describes configuring the comparison error display options in IMView. CONTENTS G.1 Controlling the comparison error display G.1.1 Rendering error vectors G.1.2 Mapping the comparison error on points and surfaces G.2 Controlling the correspondence between errors and colors G.2.1 Specifying the color conversion method G.2.2 Specifying the current color scale G.2.3 Specifying a symmetrical color scale G.2.4 Controlling the number of digits displayed in the 3D scene G.2.5 Adding a new color scale G.2.6 Deleting a color scale G.3 Controlling the multiple data variability color map display G.4 Using the color scale editor G.4.1 Editing the color scales limits G.4.2 Color for results out of the color scale G.4.3 Modifying the location of a tolerance cursor in the color scale G.4.4 Editing a color segment G.4.5 Subdividing a color segment G.4.6 Deleting a color segment G.4.7 Saving the color scale editing results
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Configuring Error Display Options
Figure G.1 The dialog box for controlling the display of comparison errors.
Comparison results can be visualized as colors mapped on the Data points, colors mapped on the Reference and Primitive objects, or colored vectors attached to an object that point toward related Data points. An advanced color scale editor allows the customization of the colors for a variety of purposes. The visualization of comparison errors is possible only when the Error Map radio button [View > Color] is set. When Data objects are compared to Data or Reference objects, or Primitives, IMView automatically sets the color mode to Error Map.
G.1 Controlling the comparison error display

The comparison visualization dialog box pops up by selecting the Error Display Options item [Compare]. The dialog boxs Error display tab, shown in Figure G.1, controls the way comparison errors are displayed. After having edited error display parameters, press the Apply button to make these modifications effective.
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Figure G.2 IMView error vectors join a Reference object to Data points. Here, the Unit vectors are used and the comparisons error direction is shortest distance.
G.1.1 Rendering error vectors

IMView can display error vectors in the 3D scene. These vectors always start from the Reference surface location that has been matched to a Data point by the comparison process (see Figure G.2). The vectors displayed by IMView are also colored. The correspondence between colors and errors is determined by the current color scale. The Error vectors group box of the Error display tab controls the display of error vectors and offers four items: Show vectors A check box that, when set, displays error vectors in the 3D scene. Setting this item also makes available the other items in the group box. Proportional vectors An option button that specifies that the length of all rendered error vectors is proportional to the true error vectors joining the Reference or Primitive object to the compared Data points. The direction of the displayed vectors is also the same as the true error vectors direction. Unit vectors An option button that specifies that vectors of unit length are rendered. If the comparisons error direction is set to one of the Shortest distance directions, or to Boundary Normal, the vectors always point in the direction of the surface normal vector. If the comparisons error direction is set to Boundary Tangent, the vectors always point toward the exterior of the closest surface. For all other types of error directions, the vectors point in the direction of the error.
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Configuring Error Display Options Scaling A text box that allows you to scale the displayed vectors. Press the Apply button or the ENTER key to transfer any changes to the application.
G.1.2 Mapping the comparison error on points and surfaces

The Error map group box of the Error display tab controls the mapping of comparison errors on Data points, and Reference objects or Primitives, and contains the following items: Show data error map A check box that enables/disables the mapping of comparison errors on the Data points belonging to compared Data objects. The mapping is indicated by a color. The correspondence between colors and errors is determined by the current color scale. The Resolution item that follows immediately offers two option buttons for setting the resolution of the error map. The Low and High option buttons determine how the error map will be drawn over Data objects. If set to Low, the error is displayed by polygon if the Data object is polygonal, and by point if it is a point cloud Data object. If set to High, the error is displayed by point if the Data object is polygonal. The default value is Low. Show reference/primitive error map A check box that enables/disables the mapping of the comparison errors on the Reference/Primitive objects. The mapping is indicated by a color. The correspondence between colors and errors is determined by the current color scale. The Resolution item that follows immediately offers two option buttons for setting the resolution of the error map. The Low and High option buttons determine the mapping method for Reference objects. When the Low option button is set, each triangle of the Reference surface is drawn using the color corresponding to the largest comparison error mapped on the triangle. When the High option button is set, comparison errors are mapped as colored points onto the Reference surface. The default value is High. Note that the point size can be modified by using the PSize combo box of the Standard toolbar.
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Configuring Error Display Options Shaded map A check box that enables/disables the shading and the illuminating of the Data error map and the Reference/Primitive error map by IMView light sources. By default, when the Reference/Primitive error map High resolution option button is set, IMView renders the whole screen in high resolution mode. To increase or decrease the high-resolution display area of Reference objects, IMView offers the following item: Viewport A button that enables an interactive viewport-editing mode. A rectangle, subdivided in four, is superimposed on the 3D objects. The eight small squares drawn on the viewport rectangle can be dragged with the left mouse button to resize the viewport rectangle. The central square can be picked with the left mouse button to drag the viewport rectangle. The viewport-editing mode is exited by pressing the ESC key or by right-clicking.
G.2 Controlling the correspondence between errors and colors

The comparison visualization dialog box pops up by selecting the Error Display Options item [Compare]. The dialog boxs Color scale tab, shown in Figure G.3, controls the way comparison errors are converted to colors. After having edited color scale parameters, press the Apply button to make these modifications effective.
G.2.1 Specifying the color conversion method

Three color conversion methods are provided by the Conversion to colors combo box: Auto Range In this mode, IMView automatically computes the maximum and minimum comparison errors, writes these values to the Max error and Min error text boxes within the Error range group box, and automatically creates a color scale ranging from the minimum to the maximum values. You can manually modify the Max error and Min error values to display a different range of errors. The specified range will be used until the next comparison operation is performed. You may bring back the original min and max comparison errors after they have been edited by pressing the Reset button.
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Figure G.3 The dialog box for controlling the way comparison errors are converted to colors. Use Customized Scale In this mode, six color scale limits are used to define initial color scale areas. Limits can be modified by pressing the Edit button, and using the color scale editor. In this mode, the color scale displays numerical values. Use Object/NURBS Tolerances In this mode, IMView uses the individual tolerances of each object and NURBS surface. In addition, the color scale is not graduated, since each object and NURBS surface can have its own tolerances. Only the boundaries of the tolerance ranges are indicated. This mode is useful for performing pass/fail inspection on a NURBS-based object whose tolerances have been previously defined. This mode is not available when measuring thickness or when making data-to-data comparisons.
G.2.2 Specifying the current color scale

The Scale type combo box is used to specify the current color scale. IMView offers a number of standard color scales. You can also customize the color scales.
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G.2.3 Specifying a symmetrical color scale

When the Symmetrical check box is set, IMView modifies the color scale so that the negative part of the color scale is identical, from the minimum to the maximum values, to the positive part of the color scale.
G.2.4 Controlling the number of digits displayed in the 3D scene

The # digits after point text box specifies the number of digits used to display color scale graduations in the 3D scene.
G.2.5 Adding a new color scale

A new custom color scale can be created by pressing the Add button. The window shown to the bottom left in Figure G.3 then pops up to allow you to specify the name of the new scale. A default color scale is automatically created in your personal color scale directory. This scale can be edited using the color scale editor.
G.2.6 Deleting a color scale

You can delete the current color scale by pressing the Delete button. While a standard IMView color scale cannot be deleted, a customized color scale derived from a standard IMView color scale can be deleted. After deletion, the color scale name will remain available in the Scale type combo box and will refer to the original standard color scale.
G.3 Controlling the multiple data variability color map display

The Error Display Options dialog box pops up, as shown in Figure G.4. The Multiple Data variability tab is activated when using the Analyze Multiple Data Variability tool. The tab features the Color map displays group box that offers the following options for modifying the color map display and viewing different comparison statistics: Average error A radio button that, when selected, displays the color map of the average deviation calculated for each comparison point.
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Figure G.4 The dialog box for specifying different color map displays when analyzing the variability of multiple Data objects. RMS error A radio button that, when selected, displays the color map of the RMS error. Highest/Lowest/Largest error Three radio buttons that, when selected, display three types of error color maps. Each error is described below and explained with three examples. The Highest error is the highest error value on a signed scale. In the examples, the highest error values are, respectively, 4.0, 8.0, and -3.0. The Lowest error is the lowest error value on a signed scale. In the examples, the lowest error values are, respectively, -4.0, 1.0, and -9.0. The Largest error is the largest maximum error value on an absolute scale. In the examples, the largest error values are, respectively, 4.0, 8.0, and 9.0.
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Example 1 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 -1.0 -2.0 -3.0 -4.0
Example 2 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0
Example 3 -3.0 -4.0 -5.0 -6.0 -7.0 -8.0 -9.0
Range of errors A radio button that, when selected, displays the color map of the deviation amplitude (maximum error - minimum error). Standard deviation A radio button that, when selected, displays the color map scaled at the value specified in the Scale text box. The dialog box also offers the Min Data objects per point text box for specifying the minimum number of Data objects that a Comparison Point must use to be included in the comparison statistics. The value must be between 1 and the default value, which corresponds to the number of Data objects not ignored. This value is the same as the value provided in the Analyze Multiple Data Variability dialog box (see Figure 12.10). After having selected a color map display, press the Apply button to make the selection effective in the 3D rendering window. Note that the Reference object must be visible in order to view the comparison point results in the 3D rendering window.
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top color # of colors bottom color this segment lies between two limits
right-click over a limit cursor to modify its limit value (customized scale) Figure G.5 The color scale editor.
G.4 Using the color scale editor

You can edit the current color scale by pressing the Edit button in the Color scale tab. The color scale editor shown in Figure G.5 then pops up. The color scales can use up to 240 colors. The Number of free colors is shown at the top of the editing window.
G.4.1 Editing the color scales limits

When the Conversion to colors combo box is set to Use Customized Scale, IMView uses the color scales limits to define the different segments of the color scale. A color scale has six related limits: Positive max, Positive high, Positive low, Negative low, Negative high, and Negative max. Each limit is represented by a cursor (see Figure G.7). You can right-click over a cursor to pop up an editing window, and then modify the cursor value. Using the editors Delete button, it is possible to reduce the number of segments in the Use Customized Scale mode to the minimum of two. Deleting segments is discussed in Section G.4.6.
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# of colors/ segment 6 5 4
numbering/segment At Step (Step = 0.4) Automatic At Discontinuities
Figure G.6 IMView offers three ways of numbering a segment, with the exception of the first and the last one. The table to the right gives information on the numbering used for three segments. The values currently displayed in the Segment group box refer to the segment over which a click was made.
G.4.2 Color for results out of the color scale

When the Conversion to colors combo box is set to Use Customized Scale or Auto Range, the comparison values outside the maximum positive and maximum negative values are represented by the No Comparison Color. The color is gray by default and can be edited using the Interface Colors item [View > Color].
G.4.3 Modifying the location of a tolerance cursor in the color scale

A tolerance cursors position can be modified by picking it using the left mouse button and dragging the cursor to a new position.
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G.4.4 Editing a color segment

A color scale segment is the area of a color scale enclosed within two cursors, or within a cursor and one of the color scales extremities. Within a color segment, comparison errors are mapped linearly to colors. To edit a color segment in the color scale, you must click over the segment. The Segment group box of the color scale editor is then updated to display the properties of the currently selected segment. Each color segment is represented by the following properties: A Top color, specifying the topmost color of the color scale. A Bottom color, specifying the bottommost color of the color scale. The segments Number of colors. A Numbering scheme. From a Bottom and a Top color, IMView automatically interpolates Number of colors in the HSV color space. When the color segment is made of a single color, only the Bottom color is active. These properties can be edited using the following procedures: The Top and Bottom colors are mapped as little squares in the color hexagon. Drag these squares to redefine the hue and saturation properties of these colors. The cursors to the right of the Top and Bottom labels are used to edit the Value property of these colors. To change the number of segment colors, you need to enter a new value in the Number of colors text box, and then press the ENTER key. The first and last segments of the color scale can only use one color; the exception is when Scale type is set to Auto Range. To change the numbering of the current segment, choose from the items offered in the Numbering combo box: At Discontinuities writes a number at every change of color, Automatic automatically numbers the scale, and Step samples the segment at every increment specified in the Step text box that is now available, and writes a number at each sample. See for an example of the different numbering schemes.
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# of colors/ segment 6 5 4
numbering/segment At Step (Step = 0.4) Automatic At Discontinuities
Figure G.7 IMView offers three ways of numbering a segment, with the exception of the first and the last one. The table to the right gives information on the numbering used for three segments. The values currently displayed in the Segment group box refer to the segment over which a click was made.
G.4.5 Subdividing a color segment

A color segment can be subdivided by selecting the color segment and then pressing the Split button. A new segment is then created on top of the current segment. A new smaller cursor is also created. This small cursor can be displaced using the left mouse button. You can also right-click and define a precise value for the cursor.
G.4.6 Deleting a color segment

A color segment resulting from the subdivision of one of the main segments can be deleted by first selecting it, and then pressing the Delete button.
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G.4.7 Saving the color scale editing results

The Save button saves the edited color scale in your personal color scale directory, while the Apply & Close button saves the edited color scale to IMView and pops down the color scale editor.
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Appendix H: Taking Interactive Measurements

IMView offers interactive techniques for directly measuring point-to-point and point-toline distances, angles, and radii. CONTENTS H.1 Performing basic measurements H.2 Performing survey measurements H.3 Editing Measurements H.4 Displaying measured values H.5 Visualizing Measurement properties
H.1 Performing basic measurements

The Basic Measurements item [Measure] pops up the dialog box shown in Figure H.1 for interactively measuring angles, distances, lengths and radii. The dialog boxs items and measurement methods are explained in the subsections that follow:
H.1.1 Picking points

Points can be picked on Data, Reference, Primitive, and Cross-Section objects. When a click occurs on a polygonal object, a NURBS Reference object, or a Cross-Section, the closest vertex is picked if the SHIFT key is down, or a point is interpolated underneath the pointer if the SHIFT key is up. If a point is picked on a Circle, a Polygon, or a Slot, IMView translates the point to its circumference. A point can be picked on the display of a previously picked Radius. The center of the Radius is obtained, and the picked point is placed at those coordinates. Performing radius measurements is described in Section H.1.4.3.
H.1.2 Interactively measuring distances

The Distance group box of the Basic Measurements dialog box allows you to measure point-to-point distances, to pick a first set of points for defining a line and then measure point-to-line distances, and to pick a first set of points for fitting a circle and then measure point-to-circle distances. The measurements can be made in 3D or along any direction.
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Taking Interactive Measurements Note that when picking points, you may pick on a picked Radius and obtain the center of the Radius object as a picked point.
H.1.2.1 Measuring point-to-point distances Measuring a point-to-point distance is performed as follows: Define a measurement direction, if desired (see Section H.1.3). Press the first button in the Distance group box to measure point-to-point distances. The interactive Measure Distance mode is enabled. Pick two points. The point-to-point distance is immediately displayed and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree.
Figure H.1 The Basic Measurements dialog box.
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Taking Interactive Measurements
A B 3D distance between points A and B.
A B Distance along the X axis between points A and B.
A B Distance along the Y axis between points A and B.
Figure H.2 Three examples of measuring point-to-point distances.
Click to perform another point-to-point distance measurement. Middle-click to delete the most recent point-to-point distance measurement. Repeat if desired. Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint. Figure H.2 illustrates three examples of measuring point-to-point distances.
H.1.2.2 Measuring point-to-line distances Measuring a point-to-line distance is performed as follows: Define a measurement direction, if desired (see Section H.1.3). Press the middle button of the Distance group box to measure point-to-line distances. The interactive Measure Distance to Line mode is enabled. Pick a first set of points defining a line. As soon as a minimum of two points has been picked, a line is best-fitted and drawn. Right-click when the line is completed.
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Taking Interactive Measurements B
Figure H.3 Interactively measuring point-to-line distances. To the left, pick at least two points (A and B). The line is best-fitted and drawn. To the right, pick a point, (C). The point-to-line distance is automatically displayed.
Pick a point. The point-to-line distance is immediately displayed and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree. If the point is not vis--vis the line, the line is automatically extended to accommodate the display of the measured result. Click again to perform another point-to-line distance measurement using the same line. Middle-click to delete the most recent point-to-line measurement and to be ready to measure another distance. Repeat if desired. Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint. Figure H.3 illustrates the process for measuring point-to-line distances.
H.1.2.3 Measuring point-to-circle distances Measuring a point-to-circle distance is performed as follows: Define a measurement direction, if desired (see Section H.1.3). Press the third button of the Distance group box to measure point-to-circle distances. The interactive Measure Distance to Circle mode is enabled.
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Figure H.4 Interactively measuring point-to-circle distances. To the left, pick three or more points. A circle is best-fitted and drawn. To the right, pick points. The point-tocircle distance is automatically displayed.
Pick a first set of points defining a circle. As soon as a minimum of three points has been picked, a circle is best-fitted and drawn. You may continue picking points, and each time a circle will be best-fitted to the current set of points and displayed. Right-click when the circle is completed. Pick a point. The point-to-circle distance is immediately displayed and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree. Click to perform another point-to-circle distance measurement. Middle-click to delete the most recent point-to-circle measurement and to be ready to measure another distance. Repeat if desired. Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint. Figure H.4 illustrates the process of measuring point-to-circle distances.
H.1.3 Defining a distance measurement direction

The Direction group box in the Distance group box (see Figure H.1) allows you to define a distance measurement direction for point-to-point, point-to-line, and point-to-circle mea-
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Taking Interactive Measurements surements (see Section H.1.2). These methods use the current settings of the Direction group box when a new measurement is performed. When the Direction check box is not set, the distance is measured in 3D. When Direction is set, the measurement direction is defined by the vector formed by the x, y, and z text boxes. There are several methods for creating such a measurement vector: Manually edit the x, y, and z values. Press the X, Y, or Z button to measure along a standard axis. Press the Anchor Line button to enable an interactive mode for picking two screen locations defining a measurement direction. Press the From Primitive button to convert a Vector into a measurement direction. Press the Pick N Points button to enable an interactive mode for picking N screen locations that will be used to fit the measurement direction. Drag an axis-based Primitive over one of the text boxes.
H.1.4 Interactively measuring angles, lengths, and radii

The Other measurements group box of the Basic Measurements dialog box allows you to measure angles, lengths, and radii.
H.1.4.1 Measuring angles Measuring an angle is performed as follows: Press the Angle button. The interactive Measure Angle mode is enabled. Pick a first set of points defining a line. As soon as a minimum of two points has been picked, a line is best-fitted and drawn. Right-click when the line is completed. Pick a second set of points defining a line. As soon as a minimum of two points has been picked, a second line is best-fitted. The angle between the two lines is displayed and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree. Right-click to end the measurement and be ready to measure another angle.
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1. Pick a first set of points defining a line.
2. Pick a second set of points defining a line. The angle is displayed.
3. The first measurement is completed.
4. A second angle may be measured.
Figure H.5 Interactively measuring Angles.
Middle-click to delete the most recent angle measurement and be ready to measure another angle. Repeat if desired. Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint. See Figure H.5 for an example of measuring angles.
H.1.4.2 Measuring lengths .Measuring a length is performed as follows: Press the Length button. The interactive Measure Length mode is enabled.
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A Length Measurement on a closed Polyline. Figure H.6 Two examples of measuring lengths.
A Length Measurement on an open Polyline.
Pick two points on a connected section of the object (Polyline or Cross-Section). IMView will then measure the chordal length between the picked locations. If the object consists of a closed contour, an additional mouse click is needed to select the portion of the contour that needs to be measured. See Figure H.6 for examples of measuring lengths.
H.1.4.3 Measuring radii Measuring a radius is performed as follows: Press the Radius button. The interactive Measure Radius mode is enabled. Pick a set of points defining a circle. As soon as a minimum of three points has been picked, a circle is best-fitted and drawn. The circles radius is displayed and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree. You may continue picking points and the circle will be displayed along with its radius. Right-click to end the measurement and to be ready to measure another radius. Middle-click to delete the most recent radius measurement and to be ready to measure another radius. Repeat if desired Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint.
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A Figure H.7 Interactively measuring radii. Pick a set of points defining a circle. As soon as a minimum of three points has been picked, a circle is best-fitted and displayed along with its radius. Right-click to keep the measurement.
Figure H.7 illustrates the process for measuring radii.
H.1.5 Projecting all picked points onto a plane

The Basic Measurements dialog box offers a group box for projecting all picked points onto a plane, in order to perform 2D measurements. The group box contains the following items: Project onto plane A check box that, when set, enables a combo box for specifying a plane onto which all points are projected prior to being considered by an angle, distance, or radius measurement operation. The combo box specifies the plane projection, which can be the XY, the YZ, or the XZ plane, or a choice from among the existing Planes. Make 2D view A check box that, when set, transforms the viewpoint such that the projection plane is parallel to the viewing screen; it also disables mouse-based 3D rotations that would rotate the projection plane.
H.2 Performing survey measurements

IMView allows angles and distances to be measured on long-range scans whose North corresponds to the positive Y axis, and expresses the results in surveying terms.
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Figure H.8 The Survey Measurements dialog box.
The Survey Measurements item [Measure] pops up the dialog box shown in Figure H.8 for measuring angles and distances. The dialog boxs items and measurement methods are explained in the subsections that follow.
H.2.1 Interactively performing survey measurements

The Survey Measurements group box allows you to measure angles and distances as follows: Set the desired measurements in the Angles group box (Azimuth, Bearing, and Vertical) and/or the Distances group box (Horizontal, Vertical, and Slope). Their labels are displayed in red to indicate changes that have not yet been applied. Press the Pick 2 Points button. The labels are now displayed in black indicating current values. An interactive mode for picking pairs of points is enabled. Click to pick a point. The order in which the points are picked is important for the azimuth angle and bearing angle measurements; see Figure H.9 for an example. Measurements set in the Angles and Distances group boxes are calculated and displayed. Each measurement is displayed in a different color and saved as a Measurement object in the object tree.
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2nd
2nd
1st
1st
1st
1st 2nd
2nd
Figure H.9 The order of the picked points is important in survey measurements. The azimuth and bearing angles, AA and BA respectively, measured in these two examples use the same points, but picked in an opposite order.
To edit the Measurements calculated for pairs of picked points: Set the desired measurements in the Angles and/or the Distances group boxes. Their labels are displayed in red to indicate unapplied changes. Press the Apply Settings button to apply the changes; the labels are now displayed in black indicating the current values. You enter an interactive picking mode. Pick any annotation or point belonging to a pair of points and the current angle and distance measurement configuration will automatically be calculated and displayed for the picked pair.
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Taking Interactive Measurements (a) Angle measurements: AA = Azimuth angle BA = Bearing angle VA = Vertical angle
(b) Distance measurements: HD = Horizontal distance VD = Vertical distance SD = Slope distance
Figure H.10 In (a), an example of the three angle measurements, and in (b), the three distance measurements for surveying applications.
See Figure H.10 (a) for an example of the three possible angle measurements. See Figure H.10 (b) for an example of the three possible distance measurements. Note that each measurement type is abbreviated in its annotation.
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H.3 Editing Measurements

The Edit Measurements button lets you enter an interactive picking mode for picking an dragging parts of a Measurement display. Press the button to launch the interactive Edit Measurements mode. Left-click and hold the mouse button on a part of a measurement display to drag it. Parts of a Length Measurement display cannot be dragged. Left-click and hold the mouse button on a measurement annotation to drag it. Measurement annotations can only be dragged following the measurement direction. Angle annotations can be dragged to the opposite angle. Length annotations cannot be dragged. Middle-click on the 3D measurement annotation to toggle annotation direction between Horizontal display and Same as Measurement display. Left-click on the Diameter button next to the Radius annotation to toggle between Diameter display and Radius display. Right-click to exit the mode. As in other interactive modes, you can press the SPACEBAR to enable/disable a mode for modifying the 3D viewpoint.
H.4 Displaying measured values

All Measurements are displayed in the 3D scene. As shown in Figure H.11, there are specific drawings for each type of measurement. The Options button lets you access the Display group box for controlling the display of a measured value in the 3D scene. The group box offers the following items: Annotation # digits after point A text box that controls the precision of displayed numbers. Display contents A combo box that controls the display of a measured value in the 3D scene. Measurements annotations are composed of an index number followed by a colon (:), the first letter of the type of measurement, and a measured value (e.g., 6-: D 22.343). The combo box offers four display options: Deviation Only (displays the measurement deviation value; for basic
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Figure H.11 Display of IMView drawing types for Angle, Distance, Length, and Radius Measurements.
measurements only), Index Only (displays the objects index number), Index and Value (displays the index number and the measured dimension), and Value Only (displays only the measured dimension). Preferred display mode A combo box that lets you display the information as an Annotation or as 3D Text. If set to 3D Text, the Display contents items are shown as 3D text. When the text cannot be displayed because of its size, an annotation is automatically created for displaying it. If set to Annotation, annotations are always used to display contents. Default annotation orientation A combo box that controls the display of a measurement annotation orientation in the 3D scene. Two options are available: Horizontal (displays the annotation horizontally), and Same as Measurement (displays the annotation in the measurement direction). Default circle measurement A combo box that controls the circle measurement display. If set to Radius, the measurement displays the circle radius. If set to Diameter, the measurement displays the circle diameter. Apply A button that transfers the values to the application.
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Figure H.12 The property sheet of an Angle Measurement to the left, and the one for a Survey Measurement to the right.
The Last measurement is always specified in the text box at the top of the Basic Measurements dialog box. Once a basic measurement has been performed, the string will change to one of the following, specifying the type of measurement performed: Last measured distance, Last measured angle, Last measured length, and Last measured radius. The Done button pops down the dialog box.
H.5 Visualizing Measurement properties

The properties of a Measurement object can be visualized by selecting it and choosing the Object Properties item [Edit], or by double-clicking on it in the object tree. The property sheet provides Name, Type, and Color properties as well as the measured value of each Measurement (see Figure H.12 for an example). The property sheet for basic Measurements also offers a Use nominal value group box which allows you to compare a measured value to a nominal value. Specify a Nominal
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Taking Interactive Measurements measurement value and press the Apply button. The deviation will automatically be calculated in the Deviation uneditable text box. It is possible to hide/show a Measurement by setting/unsetting the Hidden check box. Press the Apply button to transfer any changes to the application. Press the Close button to dismiss the dialog box.
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Appendix I: Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations
This appendix explains how to create new report items: 2D vector graphics, pie charts, screen snapshots, and tabular reports from error annotations. CONTENTS I.1 Reporting using 2D Vector Graphic objects I.2 Creating, viewing, and exporting Pie Charts I.3 Creating and manipulating snapshot objects I.4 Visualizing a table report item I.5 Customizing the appearance of a table report item I.6 Creating and editing table templates
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations
Figure I.1 The dialog box for configuring default vectorial snapshot options.
I.1 Reporting using 2D Vector Graphic objects

The 2D Vector Graphic submenu of the Report menu offers items for capturing the scene, displaying the scene in vector mode, and setting viewing options, as well as a submenu for exporting to various formats: Capture Takes a vectorial scene snapshot and saves it to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. View Enables/disables rendering the scene using 2D vector graphics. IMView uses the 2D Vector View Background color for the background color, which is white by default. It can be changed using the dialog box accessed by selecting the Interface Colors item [View > Color]. Viewing Options Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure I.1 for enabling/disabling Static hidden line removal, Dynamic hidden line removal, and rendering in Black & White. The Export submenu offers items for exporting a selected vector graphic object to a standard format: DXF File The dialog box shown in Figure I.2 (a) pops up. You may set the Specific size option button and specify a size as a percentage of the current dimension in the Height and Width text boxes; if Keep aspect ratio is set, both text boxes will always have the same value. Or, you may set the True size (1/1) (orthogonal only) item, and specify the units in which the IMInspect Project is defined in the Units combo box; available values are Centimeters, Feet, Inches, Meters, Microns, Millimeters, and US Survey Feet.
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations (a) (c)
(b)
(d)
Figure I.2 The dialog box for saving a 2D Vector Graphic to DXF format in (a), to HPGL format in (b), to SVG format in (c), and to PDF format in (d). HPGL File The dialog box shown in Figure I.2 (b) pops up. You may set the Fit to page option button, and specify a value in the Format combo box (Letter, Legal, and A4) and the Orientation combo box (Landscape or Portrait). Or, You may set the True size (1/1) (orthogonal only) option button, and specify the units in which the IMInspect Project is defined in the Units combo box; available values are Centimeters, Feet, Inches, Meters, Microns, Millimeters, and US Survey Feet. PDF File The dialog box shown in Figure I.2 (c) pops up. You may set the Default size option button. Or you may set the True size (1/1) (orthogonal only) option button, and specify the units in which the IMInspect Project is defined in the Units combo box; available values are Centimeters, Feet, Inches, Meters, Microns, Millimeters, and US Survey Feet. SVG File The dialog box shown in Figure I.2 (d) pops up. You may set the Specific size option button and specify a size as a percentage of the current dimension in the Height and Width text boxes; if Keep aspect ratio is set, both
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations text boxes will always have the same value. Or, you may set the True size (1/1) (orthogonal only) item, and specify the units in which the IMInspect Project is defined in the Units combo box; available values are Centimeters, Feet, Inches, Meters, Microns, Millimeters, and US Survey Feet. The dialog boxes all feature an Export button for specifying the output file, and a Cancel button for cancelling the operation.
I.2 Creating, viewing, and exporting Pie Charts

You may now create statistical pie charts for the current comparison operations showing the percentage of data falling within the error ranges set by the color map. Pie chart objects are then created under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Pie charts can be viewed in the pie chart viewer and exported to Microsoft Excel.
I.2.1 Creating pie charts

After a comparison operation, with the color map still valid, select the Create item [Report > Pie Chart]. A pie chart is saved to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
I.2.2 Using the pie chart viewer

To view the pie chart, double-click on the pie chart object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch. The IMView pie chart viewer, shown in Figure I.3, pops up. The viewer has a menu bar that features the following items: File A submenu that offers one item, Close, for popping down the dialog box. View A submenu that offers one item, the Show Annotations option button, that controls the display of annotations in the viewing screen. Report A submenu that offers two items. The Screen Snapshot submenu offers the Capture item for saving a snapshot to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. The Annotation Templates item pops up a dialog box to configure annotation templates. For more information on editing annotation templates, see Appendix E.
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Figure I.3 The pie chart viewer.
I.3 Creating and manipulating snapshot objects

IMView allows you to create snapshot objects and save them to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Snapshots can be saved to external image files, and exported to Excel, HTML, and Word documents.
I.3.1 Specifying snapshot creation options

Snapshot creation options are used to assign properties to newly created snapshot objects. These properties are specified by selecting the Creation Options item [Report > Snapshot]. The window shown in Figure I.4 pops up, which allows you to: Set the image alignment in the inspection reports by using the Alignment combo box, which offers three values: Left, Center, and Right. Grow or shrink images. The Keep size check box preserves the original snapshot dimensions. By unsetting it, you have access to the Height and Width text boxes of the Size group box, where you can enter two coefficients that will multiply the snapshots height and width. Specify the JPEG Q factor for images exported to JPEG format. the IMView default value of 95 ensures higher image quality.
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Figure I.4 The dialog box for setting the creation options of Screen Snapshot objects.
Press the OK button to keep any modifications made to the settings. Note that the creation options can be preserved by selecting the Save item [Config]. Note that when a snapshot report item is included in a formatted report, the first two items above that specify alignment and size are not transferred to the Layout.
I.3.2 Taking snapshots of the 3D scene

The Snapshot submenu of the Report menu offers two items for the creation of snapshots of the 3D scene. The first item targets the contents of the rendering window: Capture Screen Takes a snapshot of the 3D scene that is visible in the rendering window and adds it to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. The second item targets Cross-Sections that are used: Capture All Cross-Sections Displays Cross-Sections one by one in 2D and takes a snapshot of each cross-sectional view. Snapshot objects are created under the Items subbranch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Note that the Categories combo box on the Standard toolbar is set to Whole Project in order to perform this operation.
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I.3.3 Creating a snapshot from an existing image file

The Snapshot submenu of the Report menu offers an item for the creation of snapshots from external image files: Create from File Pops up an image browser for loading an external image file and adding it to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
I.3.4 Visualizing a snapshot object

Double-clicking on a snapshot item under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree pops up the snapshot image in your default image viewer.
I.3.5 Saving a snapshot object to an external image file

The Snapshot submenu of the Report menu offers an item for exporting a selected snapshot object to an external image file: Export Pops up an image browser for saving a snapshot object to an external image file. Specify a file name and location. Specify also an image format using the Save as type combo box; choose from Microsofts Bitmap Files (*.bmp), JPEG Files (*.jpg), SGI Files (*.rgb), or TIFF Files (*.tif). Then, press the Save button. Press the Cancel button to abort the operation.
I.3.6 Preparing a snapshot object for export to Excel, HTML, or Word

To customize a snapshot object, open the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, click on the item representing the snapshot, and select the Object Properties item [Edit]. The property sheet for Snapshots, shown in Figure I.5, pops up. The Report Snapshot tab allows you to: Set the image alignment in the inspection reports using the Alignment combo box, which offers three items: Left, Center, and Right.
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Figure I.5 The property sheet for Snapshots. Grow or shrink images during an export to Excel, HTML, or Word. The Keep size check box preserves the original snapshot dimensions. By unsetting it, you have access to the Height and Width text boxes in the Size group box, where you can enter two coefficients that will multiply the snapshots current height and width. Enter a figure caption in the area under the Caption label. Pop up the snapshot image in Microsoft Paint by pressing the Preview button. Press the Apply button to transfer the changes to the application. Press the Close button to exit the dialog box.
I.4 Visualizing a table report item

To preview a table report item, open the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree and double-click on the item representing the item. Table report items are
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Figure I.6 An example of the preview of an IMView table report item.
assigned the icon. See Figure I.6 for an example of a table report item generated by a comparison operation.
I.5 Customizing the appearance of a table report item

To customize the appearance of a table report item, open the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, click on the item representing the table, and select the Object Properties item [Edit]. The property sheet for tables pops up (see to the left in Figure I.7). It allows you to modify the table contents through the use of templates, to edit the table format, and to edit the table caption. These operations are grouped under three tabs. The Template tab lets you specify the template to use for the report item. It contains three items: Assign A button that pops up a window shown to the right in Figure I.7 offering a list of available templates for the type of selected table report item. Select an item and press the OK button. The template is copied to the tables private template. Edit Privately A button that pops up a dialog box that lets you edit the tables template; the changes are private to the selected table report item. A preview window
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Figure I.7 The property sheet for tables. pops up as well that displays the report type with respect to the current template definition - it lets you visualize the editing that you perform in the template, and can be closed by pressing the Close button. See Section I.6 for information on editing a report template. Share A button that lets you create a user template for that type of table report item from the tables private template. The second dialog box shown to the right in Figure I.7 pops up. Specify a value in the Name text box and press the Add button. The Table tab lets you specify title and cell formats. It offers the following items:
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations Title format A group box customizes the appearance of the table titles using the following items: Alignment A combo box that specifies the text alignment within table cells. Choose from Left, Center, or Right. Font A combo box that specifies the font type. Size A combo box that specifies the font size. Bold A check box that enables/disables this aspect of the font style. Italic A check box that enables/disables this aspect of the font style. Underline A check box that enables/disables this aspect of the font style. Cell format A group box that customizes the appearance of the cell contents using the following items: Alignment A combo box that specifies the text alignment within table cells. Choose from Left, Center, or Right. Font A combo box that specifies the font type. Size A combo box that specifies the font size. Number of digits after point A text box that specifies the number of digits after the decimal point for writing floating-point numbers. Values must be situated between 0 and 15.
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations Use tolerance colors Several comparison and measurement reports may include pass/fail tolerance-based results. This item may be set to produce colored tabular reports: green indicates that the result is within the Low tolerance value, red indicates that the result is higher than the High tolerance value, and yellow indicates that the result is greater than the Low tolerance value and less than or equal to the High tolerance value. These colors are preserved when exporting tables to Excel, Word, and HTML documents. Auto format used on export to Word/Excel A check box that enables/disables the specification of internal default table properties. All items in the Title format group box and in the Cell format group box remain available when this item is enabled. The Caption tab contains an area for specifying a table caption. It contains one item: Caption A text area for specifying a caption. Note that when a table report item is included in a formatted report, its caption is not transferred to the Layout. One last item is located at the bottom of the dialog box: Preview A button that pops up a preview of the table using the current template definition. To see the table with the changes made to the Table tab, you must first press the Apply button. Note that caption text is not displayed in preview mode. To close the table preview, press the Close button. Changes made may be transferred to the application by pressing the Apply button.
I.6 Creating and editing table templates

When an operation is performed that can produce a table report item, all values are computed and kept within the tables internal data structure. The active public template for the table type is used to initially format the table, and its definition becomes the tables private template. The table report items generated by IMView are completely configurable: you can decide which information items will be displayed and in what order by editing the tables private template. It is also possible to create/edit public templates. There are standard, public table templates for all operations that result in the creation of a tabular report.
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types of table templates: from project user-created standard (cannot be deleted)
Figure I.8 The dialog box for managing tabular report templates.
I.6.1 Editing private templates

To edit a tables private template, open its properties sheet and press the Edit Privately button in the Template tab. The dialog boxes that pop up are described in Section I.6.3 through Section I.6.6.
I.6.2 Editing public templates

To edit or create new public templates, select the Templates item [Report > Table]. The dialog box shown in Figure I.8 pops up. The Table type list box on the left lets you specify a table type. The Active template list box on the right lets you specify which template is active when more than one template is available for the selected table type. Templates preceded by STD are defaults provided by IMView and cannot be deleted. Customized templates are preceded by USR. Templates imported as part of a projects configuration, and that are different from existing standard or user templates, are preceded by PRJ. To edit a template, select a template in the Active template list and press the Edit button. The table template editor pops up. Section I.6.3 describes how to use this editor. If the selected template was a standard template, it becomes a user template when the template editing is saved. To create a new template, first select an existing template in the Active template list; the definition of the selected template will be used by the new template. Then, press the New
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations button. A dialog box pops up for assigning a name to the new template. Specify a value in the Name text box and press the Add button. The table template editor pops up. See Section I.6.3 on using this editor. To delete a template, select a template in the Active template list and press the Delete button. If the template was originally a standard template that was edited, the user template is deleted and the original standard template is restored. Press the OK button to transfer the changes to the application.
I.6.3 Using the table template editor

There are two types of template editors. When a table presents a list of elements, the editor offers three tabs: The Contents tab is used to specify the information items that will be reported for each list element, and the order in which they will be reported. The Sort tab allows you to create sorting methods for sorting the list elements. The Filter tab allows you to define methods for including/excluding list elements from the table. Consider a comparison based on Comparison Points. For each Comparison Point, IMView computes the mean, standard deviation, maximum error, etc. Using the Contents tab you can specify whether the mean value will be displayed, and whether it will be displayed before or after other values. The Sort tab is used to define sorting methods to order the Comparison Points in the table. Finally, the Filter tab is used to include/exclude Comparison Points from the tabular report. Certain reports, on the other hand, do not produce a list. For example, if two Planes are being compared, IMView can display information about each Plane and information about their comparison. For such reports, the template editor only offers a Contents tab, as there are no lists to sort or filter. A table template editor with three tabs is shown in Figure I.9.
I.6.4 Customizing table contents

The template editors Contents tab displays all the information that is available from IMView, and is used to determine what information will be displayed and in what order. The central part of the tab is a list box. Information items preceded by H (header) belong
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used report element
move a selected table element up or down
ignored report element (label is grayed out)
arrange report: horizontally vertically
Figure I.9 The dialog box for editing a table template. It can come in two flavors, with only a Contents tab, or with the three tabs shown above. to the table header and are only displayed once, and items preceded by R (result) are computed for each table element. You can select items by clicking on them. The Use button tells IMView to include the selected item in the table, while the Ignore button tells IMView to ignore the item. Ignored items are dimmed (see Figure I.9). Finally, the Edit button pops up a window (see Figure I.9) that allows you to edit the label that will be used in the table to identify a particular information item. Edit the contents of the Field label text box and press the OK button. The Up arrow and the Down arrow buttons to the right of the list box change a selected items position in the table. The two buttons below the arrows determine whether the table will be arranged horizontally or vertically. In a horizontal report, a single table is created
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations (a)
move a selected sort method up or down
(b)
Figure I.10 In (a), the Sort tab of the Edit Table Template dialog box, showing a sort method. In (b), the dialog box for adding a new, or editing an existing, sort method.
in which each comparison result is displayed in one row. In a vertical report, there are as many result sections as there are comparison results.
I.6.5 Defining sorting methods

With respect to reports that generate lists of information, you can define sorting methods that will order the results. These sorting methods are shown in a list box displayed within the Sort tab of the table template editor, as shown i Figure I.10 (a). The Add button defines an additional new sorting method, the Edit button allows you to modify a selected sorting method, while the Delete button deletes a selected sorting method. The Up arrow and the Down arrow buttons to the right of the list box are used to move a sorting method up or down in the list box. Results are sorted using the topmost sorting method first.
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations (a)
move a selected filter up or down
(b)
Figure I.11 In (a), the Filter tab of the Edit Table Template dialog box, showing a filter example. In (b), the dialog box for adding a new filter or editing an existing filter.
Figure I.10 (b) shows the dialog box for creating or editing a sorting method. The Sort by combo box contains the list of table items for the template. The Sort order combo box specifies whether results will be ordered by Ascending or Descending order of the adjacent items values.
I.6.6 Filtering out undesirable results

With respect to reports that generate lists of information, you can define filters to eliminate undesirable results from a report. These filters are shown in a list box displayed within the Filter tab of the table template editor, shown in Figure I.11 (a). The Add button defines a new filter, the Edit button allows you to modify a selected filter, while the Delete button deletes a selected filter. The order in which filters are displayed in the list box is not important. Figure I.11 (b) shows the dialog box for creating or editing a filter. The leftmost combo box determines whether a result is included or excluded depending on the outcome of the
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Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen Snapshots, and Error Annotations comparison operation. The second combo box contains a list of all information items available from IMView for this table type. The third combo box offers a list of conditional operators: <=, <, =, >, and >=. Finally, the fourth combo box allows you to type a value or pick a menu item. The contents of the combo box menu depends on the selected information item. Filters can be understood as natural human sentences. For example, include all results for which the standard deviation is smaller than or equal to 10.0 could be programmed as follows: select Include in the first combo box, Standard Deviation in the second one, <= in the third one, and type 10.0 in the fourth combo box.
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Appendix J: Reporting using Animated Reports

You can create multi-media reports, combining animation, text, and voice. The process involved in creating an animated video report consists of several steps: Create the Video report object by specifying parameters that control the taking of snapshots and the generation of an animated Scene. Create individual Scenes. Add Audio Comments to consecutive key frames of a selected Scene. Add Text Captions to consecutive key frames of a selected Scene. Preview selected animated Scenes, or the entire video report. Export the completed video report to an-.avi or an-.exe (with the IMMedia viewer included) file format. View the animated report with a viewer; the IMMedia viewer is recommended as it has functions adapted to the display of annotations. Note that once the first step in the process is completed, and the Video object is created, individual Scenes may be added to, and subsequently edited in, the video report at any time. As a result of this process, a Video object will be created under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, with Scene children; each Scene may have Text Caption and Audio Comment children (see Figure J.1). This section presents all of the tools necessary to construct an animated report. CONTENTS J.1 Introductory notions J.2 Beginning the Video report creation process J.3 Creating and editing a Scene J.4 Adding an Audio Comment to a Scene J.5 Adding Text Captions to a Scene J.6 Previewing a Video report, a Scene, or an Audio Comment J.7 Exporting a Video report J.8 Viewing an exported video report with the IMMedia viewer
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Reporting using Animated Reports
Figure J.1 Here is a Video object with three Scene children. Scene 1 has an Audio Comment child and a Text Caption child.
J.1 Introductory notions

Scenes are the main objects that constitute a video report. For each Scene, you must first set the 3D scene by making visible selected objects, such as Data and Reference objects, Primitives, annotations, colored error maps, etc. Then you invoke the Scene-creation mode in which you should limit yourself to mouse-based rotation and translation operations some menu/object operations may cancel this mode while others are refused. While it is possible to hide objects or change the visibility of 3D objects between poses, this has absolutely no effect on the Scene as IMView only uses the last poses characteristics to generate the complete Scene. As well, any annotation text in the 3D scene will only be visible when viewing the video report with the IMMedia video player. A typical Scene is composed of a logical succession of key frames. A key frame is composed of a key pose a snapshot of the 3D scene and a duration. Between each key frame, IMView automatically inserts a duration called an interval. To create a second keyframe, you manipulate the objects in the 3D scene and take a second pose. For example, consider Figure J.2. The user making the video report has started by making visible the desired object in the lower right corner of the rendering window. Then he invokes the Scene-creation mode. Next, he takes a snapshot of the pose KeyFrame1 is created. Then, he displaces and rotates the object in the 3D scene, and records the second pose KeyFrame2; IMView automatically inserts Interval1 between KeyFrame1 and KeyFrame2. He repeats this step until all the key frames for the current Scene have been recorded. Individual key frames may then be edited by changing their position with respect to the other key frames, or by deleting them. The last step is to generate the animated Scene. IMView generates a Scene by creating all the individual images that will comprise the animated Scene. The first key frame pose will show in the rendering window for the duration of KeyFrame1. IMView will then create a smooth animation for the duration time of Interval1 by generating images linking the pose in KeyFrame1 to the pose in KeyFrame2, at a rate of x frames per second (specified by the user). This applies to each key frame and interval, resulting in an animated Scene. A Scene object is added to the parent Video object in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
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Reporting using Animated Reports SCENE 0 KeyFrame1 1000 ms Generated 1000 ms KeyFrame2 1000 ms Generated 1000 ms KeyFrame3 1000 ms
Pose 1
Generated images - at 10 frames/second
Pose 2
Generated images - at 10 frames/second
Pose 3
Figure J.2 Scene elements. The durations shown are the default values.
You may then add Audio Comments or Text Captions to a group of key frames within a Scene.
J.2 Beginning the Video report creation process

The creation of a Video report in IMView consists of a two-step process: Selecting video report parameters in a dialog box. Entering the Scene-creation mode for creating the first Scene note that this dialog box can be popped down and the first Scene created later. If you intend to create the first Scene at this time, you must first arrange the 3D scene by making visible the objects that will be the focus of the first Scene, before beginning the video report creation process. See Section J.3 for complete information on creating Scenes. To begin the video report creation process, select the Create Video Report item [Report > Video]. The dialog box shown in Figure J.3 pops up, in which you specify parameters for recording key frames and generating Scenes: Frames per second Indicates how many images will be displayed every second in the final AVI file. The greater the Frames per second, the smoother the animation will be and the larger the final file size will be. The default value is 10.
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Figure J.3 The dialog box for setting recording parameters. Resolution (WxH) A combo box that specifies the width and height of the real recording and playback window. When creating Scenes, IMView will automatically set the OpenGL window to this size in order to take real size snapshots. If the user changes the size of the OpenGL window during the Scene creation, generated snapshots will be scaled to fit to the final AVI resolution. The default value is 320x200. This dialog box also contains two buttons: OK Assigns the parameters in the dialog box to the video report. Cancel Aborts the video creation process. Note that once the OK button has been pressed, the parameters are assigned to the new video report object, and they cannot be modified later. After pressing the OK button, the Key Framer dialog box shown in Figure J.4 will pop up for the creation of the first Scene. You may press the Cancel button, in which case the dialog box will pop down and a Video object will appear under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Or, you may proceed to create a Scene (see Section J.3), after which the Video object will be created with a Scene child after the generation of the first Scene.
J.3 Creating and editing a Scene

In preparation for the creation of a Scene, you must make visible the desired objects and annotations in the 3D scene. You must then invoke the Scene-creation mode by first selecting the Video object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, and then selecting the Cre-
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list of key frames and intervals
take a snapshot
editing buttons
generate the animation
Figure J.4 The dialog box for creating and editing the key frames and intervals that make up a Scene.
(a)
(b)
Figure J.5 The two dialog boxes that pop up after the Grab Pose button has been pressed.
ate Scene item [Report > Video]. The dialog box shown in Figure J.5 pops up containing the following items: Scene name Specifies the name of the Scene object that will be displayed in the object tree. Grab Pose Grabs the current pose of the 3D scene and pops ups the Add Key Frame dialog box shown in Figure J.5 (a) that contains the following items: Name The name of the key frame; a default name is proposed that represents the type of operation performed in the 3D scene (e.g., Rotation, Zoom in, Translation along XY plane).
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Reporting using Animated Reports Duration The number of milliseconds for which the key frame will show during viewing; a default time of 1000 ms is proposed. OK Permits the creation of the key frame. Cancel Aborts the creation of the key frame. If the key frame being created is not the first key frame, the Add Interval dialog box shown in Figure J.5 (b) also pops up, containing the following four items: Name The name of the interval; a default name is proposed. Duration (in ms) The number of milliseconds during which IMView will generate images to link two boundary key frames, when IMView generates the Scene. OK Permits the creation of the interval. Cancel Aborts the creation of the interval. The key frame is inserted in the list of key frames and intervals at the position selected from the combo box immediately below the Grab Pose button: Insert at End (default), Insert at Selection, or Replace Selection. The interval is inserted immediately before the key frame. Edit Pops up the editing dialog box for changing the name or the duration of the selected key frame, or interval. Delete Deletes the selected key frame and its preceding interval (if there is one). Move Up Swaps the selected key frame in the list with the key frame that immediately precedes it.
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Reporting using Animated Reports Move Down Swaps the selected key frame in the list with the key frame that immediately follows it. Generate Preview Similar to the Generate Scene button, except that the Scene is not saved and no object is created in the object tree. Generate Scene IMView takes a series of snapshots using the poses the user grabbed (i.e., the key frames), interpolating movement between poses. The number of snapshots taken between poses depends on the values specified for the interval, and the Frames per second parameters of the Video report (see Figure J.3). To create a Scene, follow this procedure: Position the objects in the 3D scene in the desired position using mouse-based operations. Press the Grab Pose button to take a snapshot of the 3D scene. In the dialog box that pops up, specify a Name and a Duration for the Key Frame, or accept the proposed default values, and then press the OK button. If this is not the first key frame, a second dialog box pops up for specifying a Name and a Duration for the interval, or accept the proposed default values by pressing the OK button. To create additional key frames, repeat the two steps above. To edit key frames or intervals: To edit the name and duration of a key frame, or interval: Select the key frame, or interval, in the list. Press the Edit button. Type the new values in the Name and Duration text boxes. Press the OK button. To change the position of a key frame in a Scene: Select the key frame in the list. Press the Move Up or Move Down button until the desired position is reached. To delete a key frame from a Scene:
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Figure J.6 The dialog box for adding Audio Comments to a Scene.
Select the key frame in the list. Press the Delete button. To preview the Scene at any time: Press the Preview button. Finally, generate the Scene by pressing the Generate Scene button. IMView will create an animation from the key frames and intervals. Then the dialog box will pop down, and a Scene object will appear under the parent Video object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
J.4 Adding an Audio Comment to a Scene

An Audio Comment is first assigned to one or more consecutive key frames of a selected Scene, and then either recorded live or imported from an existing audio file. An Audio Comment may be added to any key frame to which an Audio Comment has not yet been assigned. To add an Audio Comment to a Scene, first select the Scene under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Then, select the Add Audio Comment item [Report > Video], which pops up the dialog box shown in Figure J.6 that contains the following items: Name Specifies the name of the Audio Comment object that will be displayed under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
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Reporting using Animated Reports Begin with key frame Specifies the key frame at which the Audio Comment will begin to play. End before key frame Specifies the key frame before which the Audio Comment will stop playing. Record/OK The Record button starts recording the Audio Comment. Use the Stop button to end the recording. If From File is selected, the Record button becomes the OK button. When pressed, OK saves the audio file as an Audio Comment object to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, under the selected Scene object, and pops down the dialog box From File Opens a browser screen and allows you to select a pre-recorded Audio Comment in the form of a-.WAV file. Cancel/Stop The Cancel button aborts the operation. This button becomes the Stop button when the Record button is pressed. Pressing the Stop button ends the audio recording, and saves it as an Audio Comment object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, under the selected Scene object, and pops down the dialog box. If the Audio Comment is longer in milliseconds than the time between the two boundary key frames, the last image of the interval preceding the ending key frame will be displayed until the Audio Comment is finished. An Audio Comment cannot be edited; instead the existing Audio Comment must be deleted, and a new Audio Comment created to replace it. To see the properties of an Audio Comment, select it in the object tree and select the Object Properties item [Edit]. The property sheet shown in Figure J.7 pops up.
J.5 Adding Text Captions to a Scene

A Text Caption is first assigned to one or more consecutive key frames of a selected Scene, and then typed in a dialog box. A Text Caption can be added to key frames to which no Text Caption has already been assigned.
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Figure J.7 The property sheet for Audio Comments.
Figure J.8 The dialog box for adding Text Captions to a Scene.
To add a Text Caption to a Scene, first select the Scene object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Then, select the Add Text Caption item [Report > Video], which pops up the dialog box shown in Figure J.8 that contains the following items: Name Specifies the name of the Text Caption that will be displayed under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
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Figure J.9 The property sheet for Text Captions.
Caption Specifies the text of the Text Caption that will be displayed in the caption area of the animated report viewer. Begin with key frame Specifies the key frame at which the Text Caption will begin to be displayed. End before key frame Specifies the key frame before which the Text Caption will stop being displayed. Add Creates a new Text Caption. IMView adds a Text Caption object to the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree under the selected Scene. Cancel Aborts the Text Caption creation. To edit a Text Caption, double-click on it under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, which pops up the property sheet shown in Figure J.9, and edit the contents of the Text text box. When finished, press the Apply button.
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J.6 Previewing a Video report, a Scene, or an Audio Comment

To preview a video report, a Scene or an Audio Comment, first select the object under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. Then, select the Preview item [Report > Video]. In the case of a video report or a Scene, a viewing window will pop up and play the video report or the Scene repeatedly; press the OK button to pop down the dialog box. An Audio Comment will be played by the computers sound card.
J.7 Exporting a Video report

There are two items for exporting a video report to a file [File > Report Items > Export Objects]: AVI Generates an animated report in the AVI file format. Viewer + Video Report Generates an-.exe file that includes the IMMedia viewer. You only need to execute the file to run the animation. You may password protect the file using the dialog box that pops up, shown in Figure J.10. In all cases, a file browser pops up. Type the name of the new file in the File name text box, and press the Save button.
J.8 Viewing an exported video report with the IMMedia viewer

To view a video report saved with the IMMedia viewer (see Figure J.11), double-click on the-.exe file. The IMMedia viewer pops up, with the video report ready to play. You control the playing of an animated report with buttons (see Figure J.11), menu choices (see Figure J.12), and shortcuts (see Section J.8.3). We recommended the IMMedia viewer as it can display annotations.
J.8.1 Displaying annotations

Annotations in a Video report are closed initially, and appear as solid colors without text (see Figure J.11) during the viewing of a key frame; annotations do not show during intervals when IMMedia plays generated images. To view annotations:
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Figure J.10 The dialog box used to password protect the output video file.
menu bar see Figure J.12 for menu items video play area
Text Caption display area
volume control
played time / total time
Figure J.11 The IMMedia viewer interface.
Pause the IMMedia viewer by pressing the SPACEBAR. Advance to the desired key frame by pressing the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW buttons. To view an annotation, place the pointer over the annotation, and its text is displayed in the viewer. Displace the pointer from the annotation and its text is no longer displayed.
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Reporting using Animated Reports To view the annotations one at a time, press the TAB key. Pressing the TAB key once opens an annotation, and pressing the TAB key again closes the current annotation display and displays the text of the next closed annotation. To view all annotations at once, select the Open All item in the Annotation menu. All annotations will open, displaying their text. You may choose to close the annotations before continuing the animation by selecting the Close All item in the Annotation menu. If you do not, and simply press the Play button, the annotations will remain displayed on the computer screen, detached from their object. Once an annotation is displayed, you may double-click on it and the annotation then becomes detached from the object. It may then be dragged to another part of the screen and left there, while the animation plays. To close a detached annotation, right-click on it and select the Close item in the menu that pops up. To continue the animation, press the Play button or the SPACEBAR.
J.8.2 Taking snapshots of the IMMedia viewing screen

You must first select the desired key frame by pausing the IMMedia viewer with the SPACEBAR, and advancing to the key frame with the Left or Right arrow. You then select the Snapshot item [Window]. A browser pops up where you specify the file name in the File name combo box, and press the Save button. The snapshot is saved as a bitmap file.
J.8.3 IMMedia shortcuts

IMMedia offers several useful shortcut keys: Key UP ARROW DOWN ARROW LEFT ARROW RIGHT ARROW SPACEBAR increases the volume reduces the volume displays the previous key frame displays the next key frame plays/pauses the animated video report Action
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Figure J.12 The IMMedia viewer menus.
Key TAB
Action closes any open annotation, and displays the text of the next closed annotation when the video report is paused on a key frame mutes the sound stops the animation and returns to the beginning position
CTRL +M CTRL + S
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Appendix K: Reporting using Formatted Reports

IMView offers the EZLayout tool for making report Layouts and creating formatted reports from these Layouts. A Layout can contain fixed items, such as the company name and logo, and variable items that act like pre-defined containers, such as an empty crosssection comparison report. A formatted report uses a Layout, and contains copies of IMInspect report items that are assigned to variable items in the Layout (i.e., the results of a cross-section comparison). A report Layout can be saved in the inspection project under the Layouts sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree. It can also be exported to disk as an EZL file and a data folder, and used by other colleagues to create similar Layouts and formatted reports. Formatted reports can be saved in the inspection project, printed, and exported to HTML or PDF format, or as images. Remember that any changes made to the IMInspect Project being viewed are discarded when you close the IMInspect Project and/or exit IMView. Formatted reports are not directly accessible from the IMView object tree the EZLayout tool must be opened with an associated Layout in order to view, edit, delete, print, or export a given formatted report. In this section, report Layouts will often be referred to as just Layouts. Layout items will often be referred to as items. Information report items in an IMInspect Project (e.g., a table, a snapshot, a 2D vector graphic) will be referred to as IMInspect report items. This section is organized as follows: CONTENTS K.1 Introducing Layouts and formatted reports K.2 Creating layouts K.3 Creating formatted reports
K.1 Introducing Layouts and formatted reports

A typical report that you prepare is divided into sections. For example, Introduction, Alignment Results, Comparison Results, and Conclusion. In a similar fashion, a Layout can be divided into sub-Layouts called Sheets. You can define as many sheets as you want, and a sheet will have the number of pages required to contain the items added to it. Items are like containers of a given type that you create, position, and size. Some containers are assigned a fixed content, like a company logo, and are called fixed items. Other containers get their content from report items in the IMInspect Project; since their content changes with the data in the report item, they are called variable items. The exception is the variable text field item that gets its information from the user who enters it manually. Layouts
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Reporting using Formatted Reports have a special sheet named Background Sheet; items on this sheet appear on every regular sheet. A layout can contain the following types of items: Fixed item types (containers) Text Field Examples of content (fixed) to put in container the company name, page numbers, titles, or any other text that is common to all reports a graphic file from outside the IMInspect Project, such as a company logo, a background image, or a photo of the part being inspected, or any other image that is common to all reports Examples of content (variable) to put in container text that may vary from one report to the next, such as the analysis of the report data or the name of the client (a) (b) (c) Table table report items from an IMInspect Project (a) 2D vector graphic, (b) snapshot, and (c) pie chart report items from an IMInspect Project
Icon
Image
Variable item type (containers) Text Field
Image
Concerning report layouts: A layout can be opened in the IMInspect and IMView modules as part of an IMInspect Project. It cannot be viewed otherwise. A layout can contain one or more regular sheets, and always contains one background sheet. A layout can have any number of formatted reports associated with it. Any number of layouts can be opened on screen at a time, each one in an EZLayout window; items can be copied from one layout to another. Layouts can be exported to disk and used by other users; on opening a layout on disk it is added to the current IMInspect Project.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports layouts must have a unique name within a project Concerning sheets: An empty sheet has just one page, but as you add items to a sheet it will expand to include any number of rows and columns; these rows and columns represent pages and you can configure the page order to be by row or by column. A sheet can contain any number of items. Only one regular sheet can be displayed in the drawing area at any time; it is referred to as the active sheet. Each layout has a special sheet called the Background Sheet; its contents are always visible in the drawing area underneath the active sheet, and should contain items common to all sheets such as company logos, header and footer content, etc. All sheets, except the background sheet, can be renamed. A sheet must have a unique name within a layout. Concerning layout items: On creation, each item is represented by an object placed below its sheet in the object tree in the Layout Structure area; each object type has its own unique name in the layout and an icon representing its content. Items that are fixed are completely defined in the report layout; they appear within a layout as they do within a formatted report created from the layout. Items that are variable are defined in the layout but need to receive content from a report item in an IMInspect Project (e.g., pie chart, table); in the case of a variable text field, you type in the information when creating the report. Items of the table type have their own templates that can be edited to dictate what of the data copied into it will be displayed and in what order. An item appears on the page of the sheet where it is added; it can be configured to appear on every page of the sheet, and it can be transferred to the Background Sheet and subsequently removed from the Background Sheet and placed on the active sheet. The EZLayout tool offers operations that let you align and distribute items, and control the size of selected items, as well as operations that allow grouping and specifying stacking order.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports The EZLayout tool offers varied font properties for text field items. Items can be renamed; they require unique names. Concerning formatted reports: Only one formatted report can be viewed in the drawing area at a time; it is referred to as the active formatted report. The report contains the contents of the IMInspect Project report items that were dragged onto the variable containers; if you need to access the report saved to an IMInspect Project some time later, it will still contain all of its content even if the original IMInspect Project report items (e.g., a table) have been deleted. Formatted reports can be renamed; names must be unique in the project. Finally, note that macro commands can make use of an existing report layout to create formatted reports by assigning IMInspect report items to their corresponding variable items in a report layout; items are identified by their unique name within a layout. For the same reason, formatted reports within an inspection project must have unique names.
K.1.1 Overview of the EZLayout interface

The EZLayout tool is shown in Figure K.1. It features a main drawing area where active sheet items and background sheet items are shown, and where new items can be added to the active sheet of the layout. The drawing area does not display or include the margins that are part of the layout definition (see Section K.2.2). The EZLayout tool also features three areas with object trees to the left: The Layout Structure area shows the contents of the background sheet, which is always visible in the drawing area, and all other sheets; the sheet in bold is the active sheet, which is shown in the drawing area. The order of items under a sheet branch represents their stacking order; the first item is the one on the bottom and the last item is the one on the top. If you change the stacking order (see Section K.2.12), the order of the items under the sheet branch will change accordingly. The Formatted Reports area shows the reports built using the layout; the formatted report in bold is the report being displayed in the drawing area. The IMInspect Items area shows valid report objects (i.e., 2D vector graphics, pie charts, snapshots, tables) contained in the current IMInspect Project (under the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch). Dragging an IMInspect item to the draw-
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object tree of items added to each sheet
object tree of formatted reports using the report layout
object tree of valid report items contained in the current IMInspect Project
drawing area where items (containers) are added to the active sheet and edited Figure K.1 The EZLayout interface with an empty report Layout. ing area creates a new variable item (container) in the active sheet and copies the data (content) to the active report. If dragging onto an existing variable item, only the data is copied to the active report. Figure K.1 shows an empty layout. Figure K.2 shows a simple layout. It contains three items on the background sheet and four items on sheet 1. See the Layout Structure Area each item (container) has a unique name. There are only two variable items: text field 4 and table 1. Note that as you build the layout (layout 1), PolyWorks inspection Results is the active formatted report. This means that you are building the report at the same time as the layout. It can be helpful to rename the items in the Layout Structure area to describe the contents of the item. For example, image 1 could be renamed company logo; keep in mind that each item must have a unique name.
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Figure K.2 A simple report layout. It has three items on the background sheet, all displayed on the top of the layout (logo, header, page number), and four items on sheet 1.
Figure K.3 shows the drawing area with a new active formatted report Report 2. Notice that the variable items are displayed in gray to indicate that they do not have any content. To complete the formatted report, provide the missing variable information by typing text in the variable text field (text field 4) and dragging the IMInspect report item that contains the data you want from the IMInspect Items area over the same-type item (container) in the layout (table 1). As you can see, the real work is in creating the layout. Creating a formatted report using the report layout is both quick and easy, but requires that you have
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Figure K.3 Here is a layout with two reports. Report 2 is the active report. Its variable items are displayed in gray as they do not contain any information. To complete the report, assign an IMInspect report item to the empty table item and type text in the empty variable text item. previously created the IMInspect report items (e.g., tables, pie charts, snapshots, 2D vector graphics) that contain the information to add to the empty variable items in the formatted report.
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K.1.2 Using the three areas to the left of the drawing area
General comments: To hide the other object trees, allowing more of one areas object tree to be displayed, double-click on the areas label (e.g., Layout Structure); you may also drag the bar above an area to change the space provided for the display of its object tree. Most branches and objects in the first two object trees offer a shortcut menu that is popped up by right-clicking on a branch or object. To make a sheet or a formatted report active, either right-click over the object and choose Activate in the shortcut menu or double-click on the object. The name of the active sheet/formatted report is displayed in bold. With respect to the Layout Structure area: To center the viewing area on one item, double-click on it or select it and choose the Center on Item item [View]. The sheet to which the item belongs will be activated if necessary. To delete one or more items, select them in the drawing area or in the object tree and press the DELETE key, or select the Delete item [Edit]; you may recover a deleted item by using the Undo item [Edit]. With respect to the Formatted Reports area: To delete a formatted report, select it and either press the SHIFT +DELETE keys, or select the Delete item [Edit]. A confirmation window pops up to inform you that this operation cannot be undone, and that besides deleting the formatted report, it also removes all operations from the undo stack. Press the Yes button to continue and the No button to abort the operation. With respect to the IMInspect Items area: The items in the IMInspect Items area cannot be edited within the EZLayout tool.
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K.1.3 Overview of the EZLayout menu items

The table below provides a description of the menu items:
Table 1:
Menu File View Select Edit Item Help Description save and export layouts and reports, and print reports zoom in and out and center the drawing area on a selected item select all the items in the active sheet, invert the selection, or select none undo operations, edit items (e.g., delete, cut & paste), create and delete sheets and reports, view and edit layout properties operations that let you create, align, distribute, group, size, and stack items, see item properties, and edit text field items view documentation in PDF format on EZLayout Note that most editing and positioning operations can be undone.
K.1.4 Introducing the main toolbar

The main toolbar offers several buttons that provide shortcuts to operations. The buttons to the right are only available when editing text. As a general rule, a button is only available when the operation it represents is possible in the current context.
K.1.5 Manipulating the drawing area

The table below provides information on zooming and scrolling in the drawing area:
Table 2:
zoom in/out use the Zoom combo box on the main toolbar CTRL + and CTRL CTRL + mouse wheel mouse wheel SHIFT + mouse wheel
vertical scroll horizontal scroll
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Figure K.4 The dialog box for creating a formatted report.
K.2 Creating layouts

A layout is created using the current IMInspect Project. If the project does not contain the IMInspect report items (i.e., 2D vector graphic, pie chart, snapshot, type of tabular report) that you want to include in your layout, you will have to create them. Remember that they serve as definitions for creating same-type items in a layout, and that the information they contain may not be the information that will eventually be used in a report. While you are constructing the layout, a corresponding formatted report is also being built. It may be the actual report that you want to create, or a report for display purposes which can be eventually deleted. Layouts are saved under the Layouts sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree.
K.2.1 Creating a new layout

To create a new layout from IMView, select the Create Formatted Report item [Report], or right-click on the Layouts branch and choose Create Formatted Report. The dialog box shown in Figure K.4 pops up, offering the following items: Report name The name of the new formatted report. If you do not specify a name, IMView will specify a default name, report N. Report layout A group box that specifies the Layout to use. Two options are available: New layout A radio button that, when enabled, lets you specify the name of the new Layout. You may provide a name for the
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Figure K.5 The dialog box for specifying report layout properties. report layout in the adjacent text box or let IMView assign a default name, layout N. Use existing layout A radio button that, when enabled, offers a combo box for specifying a Layout. Layouts that exist in the current project are offered in the combo box along with the From File item. Choose From File to specify a Layout outside the current project; it will be copied from disk into the project and any editing will only be applied to the Layout now in the project. Press the OK button to continue. If you specified a new Layout, the EZLayout interface, shown in Figure K.1, pops up. If you chose a Layout in the current IMInspect Project, EZLayout opens with the Layout loaded. If you chose From File, a file browser pops up to let you specify the EZL (EZLayout) file. It is then read into the IMInspect Project and opened in EZLayout.
K.2.2 Specifying the properties of the layout

Choose the Layout Properties item [Edit]. The dialog box shown in Figure K.5 pops up. It offers an item for specifying units and three group boxes: Units A combo box for specifying the units displayed in the dialog box. Choose from Millimeters, Centimeters, and Inches.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports Paper A group box that lets you specify a page definition that corresponds to the paper size to be used for printing or exporting purposes. You may choose a predefined format in the Format combo box (see Figure K.5) and values are assigned to the Width and Height text boxes. You may also enter new Width and Height values, and the Format will automatically be set to User-defined as it is not a known format. You may set Orientation to Portrait or Landscape. Margins A group box that offers four text boxes for specifying, in order, the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom margins. The Left and Right margins are always the horizontal margins regardless of the page orientation. The margin values are used for printing or exporting purposes. The drawing area does not include the margins so you may use all of it without restriction. Note that the margins should be equal to or greater than the printing devices minimum values in order to avoid redimensioning of the report on printing. Page order The size and position of certain items may add rows and columns to a sheet. This group box lets you specify the page order by setting the By row or the By column radio button. This determines the order in which the pages are printed and is used to determine the page numbers (see Section K.2.6). Press the Apply button to transfer the values to the application, and the Close button to dismiss the dialog box.
K.2.3 Creating and editing additional sheets

To add a Sheet, choose the Add item [Edit > Sheet]. Repeat as many times as desired. The new Sheet is always added at the end of the list of existing Sheets. The following editing operations are available for sheets: To change the order of a Sheet in the object tree, drag it onto an existing Sheet; it will be placed before or after the targeted sheet in the list. To rename a sheet, right-click on it in the object tree and select the Rename item in the shortcut menu; edit the name and click outside the name to transfer the changes to the application. To delete the active Sheet, choose the Delete Active item [Edit > Sheet].
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K.2.4 Making a sheet active

If the layout has more than one Sheet, you can make it the active sheet in several ways: Double-click on it in the Layout Structure area. Select it in the Layout Structure area, right-click, and select Activate in the shortcut menu. Click on the tab of the same name at the bottom of the drawing area. Use CTRL+TAB to cycle through the sheets.
K.2.5 Adding items to a sheet

As mentioned in the introduction, a Layout can have any number of sheets and a sheet can have any number of fixed or variable items. A new sheet begins as one page but expands to accommodate the new items that are added to it. After a new item is added to a sheet, you may move it outside the current limits of the sheet and new rows/columns will be added to the sheet. For example, if the image under the pointer is destined for page ten and the sheet only has one page, drag the image outside the current limits of the sheet and you will see new rows/columns added dynamically to the sheet. It may be useful to use the Zoom combo box on the main toolbar or the Zoom out and Zoom out items [View] in order to see the limits of the current sheet and see it expand to accommodate the dragged item.
K.2.6 Adding fixed items to a sheet

To add fixed items to a sheet, make it active and either click on the Item menu, or rightclick over the sheet in the drawing area, and choose one of the two following items in the Create submenu: Image (Fixed) Pops up a browser for importing a graphic file into the sheet. Select a file and press the Open button. The image appears under the pointer. Moving the pointer moves the image. Click to anchor the image on the sheet and create an Image object under the sheet branch. You may then drag the images handles to resize the image; how the resizing is done is determined by the images properties (see Section K.2.8 for more information). The image file itself is copied into the layout. It is part of the layout when it is saved to the inspection project or exported to disk.
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Figure K.6 The dialog box for specifying font properties for a text field.
Text Field (Fixed) Pops up an item box. Move it by moving the pointer. Click to anchor it on the sheet and create a Text Field object under the sheet branch. You are automatically in text edition mode which allows you to enter text in the text field. You may resize the item box using the handles. However, this exits the text edition mode. To return to text edition mode, select the text field and either click twice within the item box or select the Edit Text item [Item > Text Field]. In text edition mode, you may enter and edit text. Right-click to access a shortcut menu that offers six items and a submenu: Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete Standard editing options that require a text selection or text on the clipboard. Align Paragraph A sub-menu that offers three items for controlling the alignment of the paragraph under the pointer within the text field: Left, Center, and Right. Insert Page Number Inserts a code ($_PAGE) in the text field at the position of the pointer. When the text field is not in text edition mode, the code displays the page number. Font Properties Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure K.6 for specifying font properties for selected text or new text in the text field. You may specify the following font properties: Character set, Font, Position, Size, Style, and Text col-
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Reporting using Formatted Reports or. You may also specify a Text background that is Transparent or Opaque; if Opaque, specify the color by clicking in the area adjacent to the Opaque label and making specifications in the dialog box that pops up. Press the OK button to apply the changes and dismiss the dialog box.
K.2.7 Adding variable items other than text fields to sheets

Variable items consist of three image-based items (2D vector graphics, pie charts, snapshots), a text field item, and a table-based item (tables). There are two creation mechanisms, one for text fields and one for the other variable items: To create a variable item other than a text field, make the desired sheet active and drag a report item from the IMInspect Items area onto the active sheet in the drawing area. A same-type container (e.g., snapshot) is created in the layout, and the report items data is copied to the active formatted report. To create a variable text field, make the desired sheet active and either click on the Item menu, or right-click over the sheet in the drawing area, and choose Text Field (Variable) in the Create submenu. Editing a variable text field is the same as editing a fixed text field; please see Section K.2.6 for more information. An item box indicates the size and the position of the new item. You may resize imagebased items by dragging any handle; how the resizing is done is determined by the items properties (see Section K.2.8 for more information). The sheet will expand (add new pages) to accommodate the size of the item. IMPORTANT: A table-based object that is dragged onto a sheet acts as a definition for the creation of a same-type container. Certain tables may vary in size depending on the context (e.g., a larger number of points). In this case, you must make sure that the space reserved for this item, shown by its contour, is large enough to accommodate the actual size of the table. Note that when dragging a snapshot report item onto a layout, the following properties of the snapshot are not used by EZLayout: Alignment, Size, and Caption. When dragging a table report item onto a layout, the following properties of the table are not used by EZLayout: Auto-format and Caption.
K.2.8 Properties of items in a layout

Items can be put into three categories: text fields, image-based items (i.e., images, 2D vector graphics, pie charts, snapshots), and tables. You can view the properties of items in the
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Figure K.7 Item properties for text fields, images, and tables. The dialog box to the right contains a tab for each type of pre-selected item.
active sheet only. To proceed, select the items in the drawing area or the Layout Structure area and either right-click over the selection in the drawing area and choose Properties in the shortcut menu, or select the Properties item [Item]. A property sheet pops up the properties sheet for each category of item is shown in Figure K.7. If the selection includes items of different categories, the property sheet will include a tab for each category of item (see the example to the right in Figure K.7). The property sheet is a quick way of applying properties to more than one item in the active sheet.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports All items have two properties in common: On background sheet A check box that, when enabled, removes the selected items from the active sheet and assigns them to the Background Sheet. Items in the background are displayed on every sheet. When an enabled check box is disabled, the selected items are removed from the Background Sheet and assigned to the active sheet. Repeated on all pages A check box that, when enabled, specifies displaying the item on all of the pages of the sheet. If the item was originally added to other than the first page of the sheet, setting the check box transfers it to the first page of the sheet. Note that a Background Sheet item that is repeated on all pages is visible on all of the pages of the entire layout. The properties of text field items are found under the Text fields tab: Fill The text field fill can be Transparent, and items beneath it are visible, or Opaque, and the text field is filled with the color shown in the adjacent color box. To change the color, click on the color box and specify a new color in the dialog box that pops up. The properties of image-based items are found under the Images tab: Keep height/width ratio A check box that, when set, specifies that the original height/width ratio be preserved when the item box is resized, and makes the other two combo boxes in the group box available. When not set, the image will expand to fit the image box and the other two combo boxes are not available. Horizontal alignment A combo box that specifies the horizontal alignment of the image within its item box. Choose from: Left, Horizontal center, and Right. This dialog box item is only available when the Keep height/width ratio check box is set. Vertical alignment A combo box that specifies the vertical alignment of the image within its item box. Choose from: Top, Vertical center, and Bottom. This dialog box item is only available when the Keep height/width ratio check box is set.
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Figure K.8 The dialog box for editing title and cell formats.
The properties of table items are found under the Tables tab. Three parameters control table the behavior of the item within its item box: Shrink to fit A check box that, when set, enables the table to shrink when the item box is made smaller than the size of the table; as a result, the table is made smaller but the entire table is visible. When the check box is not set and the item box is made smaller than the table, the table size does not change; as a result, only the visible part of the table is displayed. Horizontal alignment A combo box that specifies the horizontal alignment of the table within its item box. Choose from: Left, Horizontal center, and Right. These properties only apply when the item box is larger than the table. Vertical alignment A combo box that specifies the vertical alignment of the table within its item box. Choose from: Top, Vertical center, and Bottom. These properties only apply when the item box is longer than the table. A button lets you edit the format of the tables title and cells: Title and Cell Format Pops up the dialog box shown in Figure K.8 for editing the title and cell format of the item. The Title format group box lets you specify the Align-
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Reporting using Formatted Reports ment, Font, and Size via combo boxes, and specify using Bold, Italic, and/or Underline via check boxes. The Cell format group box lets you specify the Alignment, Font, and Size via combo boxes, and the Number of digits after the point can be specified in a text box. It also offers the Use tolerance colors check box. Several comparison and measurement reports may include pass/fail tolerance-based results. This check box may be set to display colored tables: green indicates that the result is within the Low tolerance value, red indicates that the result is higher than the High tolerance value, and yellow indicates that the result is greater than the Low tolerance value and less than or equal to the High tolerance value. Press the Apply button to transfer the changes to the application and the Close button to dismiss the dialog box. The Template group box offers the possibility of editing the items (containers) template. This gives you control over the appearance of the report item. Note that table report items always contain all of the possible information items, and that the template lets you choose to display only certain of them. Three buttons let you edit the items (containers) template: Assign Pops up the Assign Template dialog box listing the available templates for the type of tabular report container. Select a template in the Template to assign list and press the OK button. The template is copied to the items private template. Edit Privately Pops up a dialog box like the one shown in Figure K.9 for creating a template that is private to the item. Select an information item in the Contents tab of the Edit Table Template dialog box and press the Use and Ignore buttons to use/ignore the information item in the template. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow buttons on the right side of the dialog box to move the selected information item up or down in the list. Any changes made to the list are automatically reflected in the display of the item in the drawing area. Note that information items preceded by a letter H belong to the table header and those preceded by the letter R belong to the table results. Press the Save button to save locally changes made to the template. For complete information on editing report templates, see. Share A button that lets you create a new user template for that type of table object from the items private template. The Add Template dialog box pops up. Specify a value in the Name text box and press the Add button.
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Figure K.9 The window that pops up to let you edit a private template for a table item.
For more information on table templates, see the section of the IMInspect Reference Guide entitled Generating and Maintaining Tabular Reports.
K.2.9 Viewing items

To view an item, select it in the Layout Structure area and choose the Center on Item item [View]. You may also simply double-click over an item. The items sheet is made active and the item is centered in the view.
K.2.10 Selecting items on a sheet

To select items on a sheet, first make the sheet active by double-clicking on it in the Layout Structure area. Then, either click on the item in the drawing area or click on the desired item under the sheet branch. The selected item is highlighted in the drawing area. If the item has the property Repeated on all pages, the original item is always on the first page of the sheet and only this item can be selected and edited. You may also select individual items in the object tree of the Layout Structure area or in the drawing area by clicking over them with the CTRL key held down. The item box of each selected item is displayed as a dotted line, and a selection box is drawn that encompasses all of the selected items. Note that clicking over a selected item with the CTRL key held down deselects the item, while clicking over items with the SHIFT key held down
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Reporting using Formatted Reports only selects items. The CTRL and SHIFT keys may be used in combination to preserve the current selection and toggle the selection status of clicked items. An easy way to select all of the items in a local area is to use a selection rectangle. Simply drag the pointer in the drawing area, and the items that are completely within the selection rectangle are selected. The Select menu also offers menu items for selecting items on the active sheet (includes items on the background sheet as well): All Items Select all of the items on the active sheet. Each individual item is selected and a selection box is drawn that encompasses them all. Invert Inverts the current selection of items on the active sheet. None Deselects all of the items on the active sheet.
K.2.11 Editing items

Editing operations are found under the Edit menu. Four standard editing operations are available: Cut Removes the selected items from the sheet and copies them to the clipboard. They may be pasted to any sheet using the Paste command (see below). Copy Copies the selected items to the clipboard; they may be pasted to any sheet using the Paste command (see below). Paste Copies the contents of the clipboard to the active sheet. The items appear under the pointer. Move the pointer to the desired location and click to anchor the items on the sheet. Fixed items are entirely transferred to the active sheet (container, properties, and content), while in the case of variable items the container and its properties, but not its content, are added to the active sheet.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports Delete Deletes the items that are selected in the active sheet. They can be recovered by selecting the Undo item [Edit]. Specific key-based editing operations available for text fields are described in the table that follows (note that the + symbol means and):
Table 3:
Keys CTRL + A CTRL + E CTRL + R CTRL + L Action select all center alignment right alignment left alignment Keys CTRL + Y CTRL + SHIFT + = CTRL + = CTRL + DELETE redo superscript subscript delete the next word or selected characters set all caps increase font size decrease font size leave text edition mode Action
CTRL + C CTRL + V CTRL + X CTRL + Z
copy paste cut undo
CTRL + SHIFT + A CTRL + SHIFT +-. CTRL + SHIFT +-, ESC
K.2.12 Arranging items

Operations for arranging the position/size of items are found under the Items menu. Three submenus offer operations that let you arrange items: Align on Page The selected items can be aligned horizontally to the Left, Horizontal Center, or Right of the page to which they belong, and vertically to the Top, Vertical Center, or Bottom of the same page. Note that for alignment purposes, any item that flows onto another page or pages belongs to the page on which it first appears, even if most of the item resides on the following page. Align on Selection Box Two or more items are selected, and the selection box becomes the reference for aligning the selected items to the Left, Horizontal Center, or Right of the selection box, and the Top, Vertical Center, or Bottom of the selection box. Once the items are arranged, a new selection box is drawn around them.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports Distribute You can move items - distribute them - so that they have an equal amount of spacing between them. You can distribute items horizontally or vertically. The Horizontally submenu offers four menu items that can be used to achieve a horizontal distribution. The first three specify the characteristic used to obtain the equal spacing: Left Sides, Centers, or Right Sides. The last item, Spacing, guarantees an equal spacing between the items. The Vertically submenu offers four menu items that can be used to achieve a vertical distribution. The first three specify the characteristic used to obtain the equal spacing: Tops, Centers, or Bottoms. The last item, Spacing, guarantees an equal spacing between the items. If you specify Spacing, EZLayout moves all items except the ones at each extremity. One submenu offers operations that let you make selected items the same size or dimension: Make Same Size You can specify the same dimensions for a set of items, based on the dimensions of the item that was selected first. Select the desired items and choose in the submenu: Height, Width, or Both. When you create or paste an item on a sheet, IMView places it on top of all other items on the sheet. Two operations let you change the stacking order of the items: Bring to Front Puts the selected items in front of other items. Send to Back Puts the selected items in back of other items. Note that background sheet items always remain behind other sheets items. Two operations let you group and ungroup items. When several items are grouped, you can edit and arrange them as a single item. The operations are: Group Groups the selected items of the active sheet. They are removed from beneath their sheet branch and replaced by one group item. Items that are repeated on each page cannot be grouped with items that are not repeated on each page. Text field items that are grouped cannot be edited. Note that a group can also be grouped with other selected items into a new group.
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Reporting using Formatted Reports Ungroup Undoes the grouping of the selected groups in the active sheet. The items/ groups in the selected groups all become individual items/groups and appear under the active sheet branch. The selected group items are removed from the sheet branch. The Text Field submenu offers an operation that applies only to Text Field objects: Edit Text Enables the edition of the selected text field item.
K.2.13 Moving items

To move one or more items, select them, and drag them to a new location. Items that are repeated on all pages (see Section K.2.8) must be placed entirely on the first page of the sheet. Items that are not repeated on each page must have some visible part on at lest one page. When a selection contains more than one item, the displacement or resizing of the items may be limited by the properties of one item. New pages will be automatically added to the sheet if necessary.
K.2.14 Saving layouts and reports

To save the layout and the formatted reports to the IMInspect Project, select the Save Layout & Reports item [File]. Remember that any changes made to the IMInspect Project being viewed are discarded when you close the IMInspect Project and/or exit IMView. See Section K.3.6 for information on exporting a report layout and associated reports to a standalone file and folder.
K.2.15 Exporting layouts

To export a report layout from within the EZLayout interface, select the Export Layout item [File]. You can also export a layout by selecting it in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, right-clicking, and selecting the Export item in the shortcut menu. A file browser pops up for specifying a location and file name. Note that the file name may not be the same as the report layout name. A file with a EZL extension and a folder with the same file name followed by _Files are created in the specified location. The folder contains the layout structure and the content of the fixed items in the layout. If the report layout is imported into another IMInspect Project, it will preserve the same layout name, provided that no other layout in the project has the same name.
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K.2.16 Opening/editing existing layouts

To open an existing layout for editing, you may: Select one or more layouts in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, right-click, and select the Edit Layout & Formatted Reports item in the Edit menu of the shortcut menu; each layout will be opened in a different EZLayout window. Double-click over a layout object in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree and it opens in the EZLayout interface. When more than one EZLayout tool is open, it is possible to copy items from one layout and paste them in another layout. Note that changes made to the layout are automatically reflected in each formatted report that uses the layout.
K.2.17 Renaming layouts

A layout can be renamed. Select it in the Layouts sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree, choose the Object Properties item [Edit], edit the value of the Name text field in the property sheet that pops up, and press the Apply button.
K.3 Creating formatted reports

Creating a formatted report consists in specifying a report layout and then copying the content of IMInspect report objects to same-type variable items in the layout.
K.3.1 Specifying a layout

A formatted report is always associated with a layout. There are two ways to create a new formatted report from the IMView interface using an existing layout: Choose the Create Formatted Report item [Report]. Specify a Layout and a name for the formatted report in the dialog box that pops up (see Section K.2.1). In the object tree, right-click over the Layout sub-branch of the Reports branch, select Create Formatted Report in the shortcut menu, and specify an existing layout (see Section K.2.1).
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Reporting using Formatted Reports You may also select the above method and specify a new layout as well as a new formatted report; in this case, you will build the new layout while you build the new formatted report. There are several ways of creating a new formatted report from within the EZLayout tool using the current layout: Select the Create item [Edit > Report]; the variable items of the layout will appear as gray boxes. In the Formatted Reports area, right-click over the Reports branch and select Create Report in the shortcut menu; the variable items of the layout will appear as gray boxes. Right-click over an existing report and choose the Create Duplicate item in the shortcut menu. The new formatted report has the same content as the source formatted report. You may also create a formatted report by right-clicking on a layout in the Layout subbranch of the Reports branch of the object tree and choose Create Formatted Report in the shortcut menu. In all cases, a new formatted report object appears in the Formatted Reports area and it is made the active report. Completing a formatted report consists in dragging IMInspect report items onto the variable items in the layout to provide them with information. In the case of a variable text field, you must type in information manually.
K.3.2 Copying the content of IMInspect report items to variable items

The variable items in a layout are containers. A formatted report is a report layout with the variable items containing information. Information is provided to variable items in the context of the active formatted report by dragging an IMInspect report item from the IMInspect Items area onto the same-type item on the layout; the contour of the variable item is displayed in red and the box representing the report item is no longer displayed. The information is read into the variable item and it appears as a real pie chart, 2D vector, etc. in the active formatted report. If the layout does not contain the required variable item, or is missing a fixed item, you may add new items to the layout (see Section K.2.6 and Section K.2.7); note that the new items will appear in all reports that use the layout.
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K.3.3 Editing the content of variable items in a formatted report

If you want to copy the contents of a different IMInspect report item to a variable item in the layout, simply drag it over the same-type variable item. The IMInspect report items contents will be copied into the active formatted report and associated with the variable item, replacing its previous content.
K.3.4 Saving formatted reports

To save the formatted reports, and the report layout, to the IMInspect Project select the Save Layout & Reports item [File]. Remember that any changes made to the IMInspect Project being viewed are discarded when you close the IMInspect Project and/or exit IMView. See Section K.3.6 for information on exporting a report layout and associated reports to a standalone file and folder.
K.3.5 Printing formatted reports

To print the active formatted report, select the Print Report item [File]. To print any other formatted report, right-click over it in the Formatted Reports area and choose Print in the shortcut menu. Note that you may specify to the printer device a paper size that is different from the one specified in the layout properties (see Section K.2.2). In this case, if the paper size is smaller than the one specified in the layout properties, each page will be redimensioned proportionately to fit into the new page size. Best results are achieved when printing at 600 dpi and using a paper size that is the same as the one specified in the layout properties. Note that the black contour that separates each page in the drawing area does not appear in the printed output.
K.3.6 Exporting formatted reports

Select a formatted report and select one of the following items [File > Export Report]: to HTML Pops up a browser for specifying a file name and location. The formatted report is saved to HTML format. to Images Pops up a browser for specifying a file name and location and an image format. Each page of the formatted report is saved as a separate image. The
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Figure K.10 The dialog box for converting a formatted report to PDF format. images all have the same name to which a sequential number is added; the number corresponds to the report page numbers. to PDF Pops up a browser for specifying a file name and location. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, the browser also offers two parameters: Resolution (DPI) with a default value of 300 and JPEG quality with a default value of 90. On pressing the Save button, simple or full PDF creation will be performed. If you have Adobe Acrobat, the dialog box shown in Figure K.10 pops up. It shows the progress of the conversion of the report to PDF format. Once the conversion is complete, the PDF file opens in your Adobe Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, the formatted report is converted to images which are then converted to PDF format. As a result, the document is not searchable and the text cannot be selected or scaled, and the resulting file size is larger.
K.3.7 Editing existing formatted reports

To edit a formatted report, first open the report layout to which it is associated, make it the active report, and assign different IMInspect items to variable items in the layout. Note that when move, add, or delete items, or modify their properties, the changes are reflected in the formatted reports that use the items.
K.4 Creating an auto-formatted report

There are one way to create a new auto-formatted report from the IMView interface:
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Figure K.11 The dialog box used to create an auto-formatted report.
Choose the Create Auto-Formatted Report item [Report]. Specify a Layout and a name for the formatted report in the dialog box that pops up, shown in Figure K.11.
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Appendix L: Exporting Objects

There are several methods for exporting Data, Reference, Primitive, Cross-Section, Gauge, and Report objects to external files. This section presents tools for exporting objects. The operations presented in this section are available through the Export Objects submenu of the File menu. CONTENTS L.1 Exporting Data or Reference objects to an ASCII or a PSL point cloud file L.2 Exporting NURBS Reference objects to IGES L.3 Exporting Data or Reference objects to a polygonal file L.4 Exporting error-mapped Data objects L.5 Exporting a Reference object and color map to a texture-mapped model L.6 Exporting cross-section points to text files L.7 Exporting Gauges L.8 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections L.9 Exporting Primitives to a text file L.10 Exporting Data points L.11 Exporting reports
L.1 Exporting Data or Reference objects to an ASCII or a PSL point cloud file
Two items [File > Export Objects] allow you to export Data and/or Reference objects to a point cloud file: ASCII Point Cloud Exports the selected Data and/or Reference objects to a point cloud file written in ASCII format. On invoking the operation, a file browser pops up where you select from the Template combo box a standard template for exporting to an ASCII point cloud; it also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method (see Section 4.3.2 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for more information on writing to a text file). Press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that if several objects are selected to be exported, they will be merged into one file. PSL Point Cloud Exports selected Data objects using the PW browser (see Section 29.1.2), that were imported as line scan type 3D digitized datasets, to a point cloud file written in PSL format. Valid objects include line scan data captured by
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Exporting Objects plug-ins or objects imported using direct AC (T-Scan), CWK (Kreon), PSL, SAB (3D Scanner), and SWL (Perceptron) translators (all items under the Line Scans branch of the 3D digitized datasets object tree). On invoking the operation. Note that if several objects are selected to be exported, they will be merged into one file.
L.2 Exporting NURBS Reference objects to IGES

The NURBS Model item [File > Export Objects] allows you to export a NURBS Reference object to an IGES file: NURBS Model Exports the selected NURBS Reference objects to an IGES file. On invoking the operation, a file browser pops up. Specify a path and file name and a value in the IGES unit combo box from: cm (centimeter), feet, inch, meter, micron, and mm (millimeter). Press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that if several objects are selected to be exported, they will be merged into one file.
L.3 Exporting Data or Reference objects to a polygonal file

The Export Objects submenu of the File menu provides an item that exports Data or Reference objects to a polygonal file: Polygonal Model Exports selected Data objects (polygonal or planar grid/mesh type 3D digitized datasets) or Reference objects to a polygonal model file using the file browser shown in Figure L.1. It offers supported polygonal file formats in the Save as type combo box. If you select IGES Files, specify a value in the IGES unit combo box; the following units are offered: cm (centimeter), feet, inch, meter, micron, and mm (millimeter). Note that if several surface objects are selected to be exported, they will be merged into one file.
L.4 Exporting error-mapped Data objects

The Error-Mapped Data item [File > Export Objects] allows you to export same-type Data objects (point cloud Data objects or polygonal Data objects) and their current error map: Error-Mapped Data Exports the selected same-type Data objects and their current error map. Point cloud Data objects are exported as ASCII point clouds with RGB
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.1 The dialog box for exporting Data or Reference objects to a polygonal model file.
colors using the file browser shown in Figure L.2 (a). Note that the Advanced button can be pressed to specify the number of digits after the decimal point and the use of scientific notation. Polygonal Data objects are exported as polygonal models with color-per-vertex information using the dialog box shown in Figure L.2 (b), which shows the available polygonal file types. Press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that if several Data objects are selected to be exported, they will be merged into one file.
L.5 Exporting a Reference object and color map to a texture-mapped model

The Texture-Mapped Reference item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting a selected Reference object and the current error map to a texture-mapped polygonal model: Texture-Mapped Reference Exports the selected Reference object and the current error map to a texture-mapped model. On selecting the item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.3 pops up. The following parameters need to be specified. Color information A combo box that controls the type of color information that will be mapped on the Reference object. If set to Error Color, the colored error map is used. If set to Point Color, the color of the Data points is mapped onto the Reference object.
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Exporting Objects (a)
(b)
Figure L.2 In (a), the browser for exporting an error-mapped Data point cloud, and, in (b), the browser for exporting an error-mapped polygonal Data object. Texture width A text box that specifies the width of the exported image that will be mapped onto the polygonal surface to describe the error map. A larger image will more accurately describe the error map. Texture height A text box that specifies the height of the exported image that will be mapped onto the polygonal surface to describe the error map. A larger image will more accurately describe the error map.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.3 The dialog box for exporting a Reference object and the current color map to a texture-mapped polygonal model. Format A combo box that specifies an image file format. Choose from bmp, ipg, rgb, and tif. Output A text box that specifies the path and name of the exported file. The ... button to the right of the text box pops up the file browser shown in Figure L.3 for specifying an output image file. The browsers Save as type combo box contains a list of available output formats. Once the specifications are made, press the browsers Save button. The model is exported by pressing the OK button.
L.6 Exporting cross-section points to text files

IMView offers a method for exporting Cross-Sections, and another for exporting CrossSections and their error vectors.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.4 The dialog box for exporting cross-section points and errors to a text file.
L.6.1 Exporting cross-section points to a text file

The Cross-Section Points to Text File item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting the points of selected Cross-Sections to a text file: Cross-Section Points to Text File Exports selected Cross-Sections to text files. Cross-Sections are written as sets of ordered points. On selecting the item, a file browser pops up, offering context-sensitive templates in the Template combo box. Note that its Advanced button pops up a dialog box for specifying the number of digits after the decimal point, and the use of scientific notation. In the Encoding combo box, you may specify the ASCII or the Unicode encoding scheme. Press the Save button to launch the operation. See Section 4.3.2 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for more information on writing to a text file.
L.6.2 Exporting cross-section points and errors to a text file

The Cross-Section Points & Errors to Text File item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting the points and errors of selected Cross-Sections to a text file: Cross-Section Points & Errors to Text File Exports the results of a comparison between the Data and Reference Cross-Sections. On selecting the item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.4 pops up. The Export options group box offers two export options, with sign information as an option:
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Exporting Objects Original Data + Data-to-Reference Vector An option button that uses the following export format: x,y,z of a Data point on the Cross-Section, and delta x, delta y, delta z representing the error vector of the Data point. Reference + Error Vector An option button that uses the following export format: x,y,z of a point on the Reference Cross-Section, and delta x, delta y, delta z representing the error vector of the Data point. Add sign A check box that enables/disables adding the sign to the export format. A - or + sign indicates if the error is negative or positive. Two other items are also offered: # digits after decimal point (0 for default) A text box that allows you to specify the number of digits after the decimal point. Scientific notation A check box that enables/disables the use of scientific notation. The OK button pops up a file browser for specifying the output file. Press the Save button to launch the operation.
L.7 Exporting Gauges

IMInspect offers several items [File > Export Objects > Gauges] for exporting Airfoil Gauges, Flush & Gap Gauges, and Profile Gauges.
L.7.1 Exporting Airfoil Gauges

The Airfoil Gauges to Text File item [File > Export Objects > Gauges] allows exporting the measurement results of selected Airfoil Gauges to a text file. All selected Airfoil Gauges must be of the same type and be adjusted.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.5 The dialog box for exporting the measurement results of Airfoil Gauges.
Airfoil Gauges to Text File Exports the measurement results of selected Airfoil Gauges to a text file. On selecting this item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.5 pops up. It lets you specify the items to export, as well as export options, using the following items: Results A group box that offers check boxes that allow you to export items effectively measured by the selected Airfoil Gauges during the adjustment process. Options A group box that lets you specify the # of digits after the decimal point (specify 0 for the default value), enable/ disable the use of scientific notation via the Scientific notation check box, and decide whether or not to export Gauge names via the Export name check box. Press the OK button to launch the operation. A file browser pops up. Specify the file name and location, and press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that the first line of the exported text file is a comment line explaining the nature and the order of the exported results.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.6 The dialog box for exporting the measurement results of Flush & Gap Gauges.
L.7.2 Exporting Flush & Gap Gauges

The Flush & Gaps to Text File item [File > Export Objects > Gauges] allows exporting the measurement results of selected Flush & Gap Gauges to a text file. All selected Flush & Gap Gauges must be of the same type and be adjusted. Flush & Gaps to Text File Exports the measurement results of selected Flush & Gap Gauges to a text file. On selecting this item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.5 pops up. It lets you specify the items to export, as well as export options, using the following items: Standard results A group box that offers eight check boxes that allow you to export, in the following order, radius entry/exit points (A1, A2, B1, B2), contact points (Contact A, Contact B), and fillet radii (Radius A, Radius B) effectively measured by the selected Flush & Gap Gauges during the adjustment process. A1 and A2 are respectively the entry and
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Exporting Objects exit points of the fillet extracted on the A-side profile, and B1 and B2 are respectively the entry and exit points of the fillet extracted on the B-side profile. Note that the contact points, created by the Profile Bounds Perpendicular or the Profile Bounds Parallel operators, are only exported if they are used directly with a distance operator to calculate the gap or the flush. When measurement results are not measured, they are dimmed in the dialog box. Additional variables A list box that lists other point variables, computed by the point creation operators of the programmed flush & gap type, that are available for export. Select/deselect variables using the left mouse button in conjunction with the CTRL and SHIFT keys. Options A group box that lets you specify the # of digits after the decimal point (specify 0 for the default value), enable/ disable the use of scientific notation via the Scientific notation check box, and decide whether or not to export Gauge names via the Export name check box. Press the OK button to launch the operation. A file browser pops up. Specify the file name and location, and press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that the first line of the exported text file is a comment line explaining the nature and the order of the exported results.
L.7.3 Exporting Profile Gauges

The Profile Gauges to Text File item [File > Export Objects > Gauges] allows exporting the measurement results of selected, same-type, adjusted Profile Gauges to a text file: Profile Gauges to Text File Exports the measurement results of Profile Gauges to a text file. On selecting this item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.7 pops up. It offers items that let you select the results to export, and specify export options: Standard results A group box that offers six check boxes, three for each fillet. They allow you to export, in the following order, the radius entry/exit points for the first (A) radius (A1, A2)
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.7 Configuring the export of Profile Gauge adjustment results to a text file. and the second (B) radius (B1, B2), and the radius values of the first and second radius (Radius A, Radius B), effectively measured by the selected Profile Gauges during the adjustment process. When measurement results are not measured, they are dimmed in the dialog box. Additional variables A list box that lists other point variables, computed by the point creation operators of the programmed profile type, that are available for export. Select/deselect variables using the left mouse button in conjunction with the CTRL and SHIFT keys. Note that when the variable does not have a value for one of the selected Profile Gauges, the letters NA will be exported instead of a value. Options A group box that lets you specify the # of digits after the decimal point (0 for default), enable/disable the use of scientific notation via the Scientific notation check box, and decide whether or not to export gauge names via the Export name check box.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.8 The browser for exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections to DXF.
Press the OK button to launch the operation. A file browser pops up. Specify the file name and location, and press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that the first line of the exported text file is a comment line explaining the nature and the order of the exported results.
L.8 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections

Two items [File > Export Objects] are available for exporting selected Primitives and Cross-Sections.
L.8.1 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections to DXF

The Primitives & Cross-Sections to DXF item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting selected Primitives and Cross-Sections to a DXF file: Primitives & Cross-Sections to DXF Exports selected Primitives (Points and Polylines only) and Cross-Sections to a DXF file. The AutoCAD R12 format is used. On selecting the item, the file browser shown in Figure L.8 pops up. Specify the file name and location. The browser also offers an item for specifying the export operation: Export A combo box that offers two export options: Blocks (with Names) each selected object has its own block of elements with the object name used as the block name, and
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Exporting Objects Entities (no Names) all selected geometric elements are directly exported as entities, without grouping entities. Press the Save button to launch the operation. Note that Primitives can be selected based on their feature code via the Select Primitives from Code item [Feature > Primitives > Feature Code].
L.8.2 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections to IGES

The Primitives and Cross-Sections to IGES item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting selected Primitives and Cross-Sections, as well as their names, to an IGES file: Primitives and Cross-Sections to IGES Exports all selected Primitives and Cross-Sections to an IGES file. A file browser pops up. Specify the output file name and location as well as a value in the IGES unit combo box from cm (centimeter), feet, inch, meter, micron, and mm (millimeter). Press the Save button to launch the export operation. Cones, Cylinders, and Spheres are exported as NURBS surfaces (Entity 128). Circles and Slots are exported as NURBS curves (Entity 126). Planes are exported as trimmed NURBS surfaces (Entity 144). Points are exported using Entity 116. Polylines and Polygons are exported using Entity 106. Vectors are exported using Entity 110. Cross-Sections are exported as Entity 106.
L.9 Exporting Primitives to a text file

Exporting Primitives involves these steps: Select same-type Primitives (Circles, Planes, Points, Polylines, or Vectors). Select the primitive type [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File]. Specify in the Template combo box of the browser that pops up the correct template for writing the text file. The templates are context-sensitive, and specific to the selected Primitive type. The browser also lets you configure the number-writing method and choose from two encoding schemes. Figure L.9 shows a typical dialog box for exporting Primitives to a text file.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.9 A typical browser for exporting Primitives to a text file. It offers object-sensitive templates for writing text files and a choice of encoding schemes.
Please refer to Section 4.3.2 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for more information on writing to a text file.
L.9.1 Exporting Circles to text files

The Circles item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] lets you export selected Circles to a text file: Circles Exports Circles to a text file. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Two context-sensitive templates are available in the Template combo box: Points (center: x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Radii Points (center: x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Radii + Names The browser also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method. The Encoding combo box offers the ASCII and UNICODE encoding schemes. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
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Exporting Objects
L.9.2 Exporting Planes to text files

The Planes item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] allows you to export selected Planes to a text file: Planes Exports selected Planes to a text file. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Two context-sensitive templates are available in the Template combo box: Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Names The browser also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method. The Encoding combo box offers the ASCII and UNICODE encoding schemes. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.9.3 Exporting Points to text files

The Points item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] allows you to export selected Points to a text file: Points Exports selected Points to a text file. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Two context-sensitive templates are available in the Template combo box: Points Only (x,y,z) Points (x,y,z) + Names The browser also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method. The Encoding combo box offers the ASCII and UNICODE encoding schemes. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.9.4 Exporting Polylines to text files

The Polylines item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] allows you to export selected Polylines to a text file:
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Exporting Objects Polylines Exports selected Polylines to a text file. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. One context-sensitive template is available in the Template combo box: Points Only (x,y,z) The browser also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method. The Encoding combo box offers the ASCII and UNICODE encoding schemes. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.9.5 Exporting Vectors to text files

The Vectors item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] allows you to export selected Vectors to a text file: Vectors Exports selected Vectors to a text file. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Four context-sensitive templates are available in the Template combo box: Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Names Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Nominal Lengths Points (x,y,z) + Vectors (i,j,k) + Nominal Lengths + Names The browser also includes an Advanced button for configuring the number-writing method. The Encoding combo box offers the ASCII and UNICODE encoding schemes. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.9.6 Exporting Points and Polylines to CAiCE FXF files

The CAiCEs FXF item [File > Export Objects > Primitives to Text File] allows you to export selected Points and Polylines to a CAiCE FXF file:
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.10 The browser for exporting Primitives to a CAiCE FXF file.
CAiCEs FXF Exports selected Points and Polylines to a CAiCE FXF file. On selecting this item, the browser shown in Figure L.10 pops up. The Point format combo box offers two choices: Easting/Northing/Elevation, and Northing/Easting/Elevation. Press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.10 Exporting Data points

Four items [File > Export Objects] are available for exporting selected Data points to various file formats.
L.10.1 Exporting Data points to IGES

The Selected Data Points to IGES item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting selected Data points to IGES: Selected Data Points to IGES Exports all selected points, belonging to Data objects, to a point cloud file written in IGES format. On selecting this item, a browser pops up. You may specify a value in the IGES unit combo box; choose from: cm (centimeter), feet, inch, meter, micron, and mm (millimeter). Press the Save button to launch the export operation, or the Cancel button to abort the operation.
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Exporting Objects
L.10.2 Exporting Data points to kubit PTC

The Selected Data Points to kubit PTC item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting selected Data points to kubit PTC: Selected Data Points to kubit PTC Exports all selected points, belonging to Data objects, to a point cloud file written in kubit PTC format. On selecting this item, a browser pops up. Press the Save button to launch the export operation, or the Cancel button to abort the operation.
L.10.3 Exporting Data points to a text file

The Selected Data Points to Text File item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting Data points to a text file: Selected Data Points to Text File Exports all selected points from Data objects to a text file written in ASCII format. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up where you select from the Template combo box a context-sensitive template for exporting to a text file from Points Only, Points + Intensities, and Points + RGB Colors. It also includes an Advanced button for configuring the numberwriting method. The encoding scheme is ASCII. Press the Save button to launch the operation. See Section 4.3.2 of the PolyWorks Reference Guide for more information on writing to a text file.
L.10.4 Exporting Data points and error vectors to a text file

The Selected Data Points & Errors to Text File item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting selected Data points and errors to a text file: Selected Data Points & Errors to Text File Exports all selected points, belonging to Data objects, as well as their error vectors to a text file. Each line in the text file describes a point, and is formatted as follows: x y z dx dy dz sign where, x y z are the points x, y, and z coordinates.
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.11 Configuring the export of Data points and their error vectors to a text file.
dx is the x component of the error vector. x + dx gives the x component of the matched Reference/Primitive point. dy is the y component of the error vector. y + dy gives the y component of the matched Reference/Primitive point. dz is the z component of the error vector. z + dz gives the z component of the matched reference/sign is - or + indicating if the error is negative or positive. On selecting this item, the dialog box shown in Figure L.11 pops up. The Export options group box offers two export methods, with sign information as an option: Original Data + Data-to-Reference Vector An option button that uses the following export format: x,y,z of a Data point and delta x, delta y, delta z representing the error vector of the Data point. Reference + Error Vector An option button that uses the following export format: x,y,z of the compared point on a Reference/Primitive object, and delta x, delta y, delta z representing the error vector of the Reference/Primitive point.
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Exporting Objects Add sign A check box that enables/disables adding the sign to the export format. A - or + sign indicates if the error is negative or positive. The remaining two dialog box items allow you to specify # of digits after the decimal point, as well as enable/disable the use of scientific notation using the Scientific notation check box. On pressing the OK button a file browser pops up. Specify a file name and location, and press the Save button to launch the export operation.
L.11 Exporting reports

The Export Objects submenu of the File menu lets you export items found under the Reports branch of the object tree. Report objects are located under the Items sub-branch, and report layouts are located under the Layouts sub-branch.
L.11.1 Exporting report items

Prior to exporting your report items, you may select in the Items sub-branch of the Reports branch of the object tree what items will be exported. If no items are selected, all report items that meet the criteria of the export operation will be exported. See Figure L.12 for an example of an export of a report document to Word. The following export operations are available [File > Export Objects > Report Items]: Text File Exports selected Header, Footer, tabular report, and Text Field objects to an external text file. A file browser pops up. Specify a file name and location. The browsers Encoding combo box lets you specify the ASCII or the Unicode encoding scheme. The Show table borders check box enables exporting borders for table report items. The report opens in the default text file reader. Press the Save button to launch the operation. HTML File Exports all objects, except Video Report and Pie Chart objects, to an external HTML document. A file browser pops up for specifying a file name and location. The browsers Encoding combo box lets you specify the ASCII or the Unicode encoding scheme. The document opens in your HTML browser. Note that IMView creates a folder with the name <file_name>_files; it contains exported image files in JPEG format and exported 2D vector graphic files, if any. Press the Save button to launch the operation.
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Exporting Objects Excel (One Item per Page) / Excel (One Page) These two items can export Header, Footer, Pie Chart, Snapshot, and tabular report objects to Microsoft Excel. Excel is launched by IMView, and objects are transferred to it. Save your report items with Excel. Excel 97, or a later version, must be installed on the computer prior to invoking the operation. Excel File (One Item per Page) / Excel File (One Page) These two items can export Header, Footer, Pie Chart, Snapshot, and tabular report objects directly to a Microsoft Excel file. A file browser pops up for specifying the file name and location. Excel 97, or a later version, must be installed on the computer prior to invoking the operation. Word (Landscape) / Word (Portrait) These two items can export Header, Footer, Snapshot, Text Field, and tabular report objects to Microsoft Word. Word is launched by IMView, and objects are transferred to it. Save your report items with Word. Word 2000, or a later version, must be installed on the computer prior to invoking the operation. AVI Exports a selected animated report to a compressed AVI file. A file browser pops up. Specify a file name and location. Press the Save button to launch the operation. This export operation is not currently supported by the Vista operating system. Viewer + Video Report Exports a self-extractable executable file that contains a selected animated report and the IMMedia viewer. A file browser pops up. Specify a file name and location. Executing the file pops up the animated report in the special IMMedia viewer that allows the visualization of annotations. Press the Save button to launch the operation. Wave Exports the selected Audio Comment of an animated report to a Wave file. A file browser pops up. Specify a file name and location. Press the Save button to launch the operation.
L.11.2 Exporting report layouts

The Report Layout item [File > Export Objects] allows exporting report layouts:
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Exporting Objects
Figure L.12 An example of a report document exported to Microsoft Word. It consists of a header, a tabular report item, and a footer. Report Layout Exports the selected Layout. On selecting this item, a file browser pops up. Specify a file name with the-.ezl extension. In the browsers Favorite paths combo box, you may choose from User Layouts and Last User-defined. IMView creates a file and an associated folder. The file has the specified name and the-.ezl extension, and the folder has the same name followed by _Files.
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Index
Numerics
2D vector graphics capturing 147 saving to external formats 147 viewing options 147 viewing the 3D scene using 147 2D view 43
A
animated reports audio comments, adding to 171 exporting 175 IMMedia viewer 175 previewing 175 scenes 165 specifying initial parameters 166 steps involved in creating 164 text captions, adding to 172 viewing 175 viewing annotations in 175 annotations about 97 color of 98 color of attachment lines 98 controlling the display of 101 controlling the position of 99 definition of 97 disabling positioning of 99 dragging to a new location 99 inverting character color within 98 positioning of 99 referring to picked errors 101 referring to picked points 101
230
Index
tabular reports of picked points and errors/values 104 templates for 105 viewing in a video report 175 visibility of picked points/errors 100 ASCII, exporting report documents to 227 attachment lines, controlling the color of 98 axes display bounding box 46 origin 46 upper left corner 46
B
back-facing triangles rendering 46 bounding box color of 50 viewing in the 3D scene 47
C
car views 42 character set 30 circles exporting to a text file 221 exporting to IGES 220 color of annotations 98 setting the color mode 117 tiepoint pairs 50 color scales adding 122 automatic range mode 120 deleting 122 editing 125 precision 122 saving 129 comparing error mapping 119 comparison points class of objects 76 cones exporting to IGES 220 contextual help 34 contextual parameters, show 65 coordinate annotations create by picking 102 tabular reports 104
231
Index
visibility of 100 creation/editing toolbar 30 cross-sections class of objects 76 exporting points and errors to a text file 213 exporting points to a text file 213 exporting to DXF 219 exporting to IGES 220 cylinders exporting to IGES 220
D
Data objects 74 exporting with error-mapped Data 209 data points exporting to a text file 225 exporting to IGES 224 exporting to kubit PTC 225 exporting with error vectors to a text file 225 default material 48 DXF exporting cross-sections to 219 exporting primitives to 219 saving vectorial snapshots to 147
E
elements, controlling the visibility of 52 error annotations creating by picking 103 visibility 100 error mapping 119 error/value annotations tabular reports 104 error-picking mode for error annotations 103 Excel, exporting report documents to 228 export Reference object and error map to 210 exporting objects cross-section points and errors to a text file 213 cross-section points to a text file 213 error-mapped Data objects 209 primitives to a text file 220 tabular reports using tolerance colors 157 texture-mapped Reference 210 to a point cloud 208 to a polygonal file 209
232
Index
F
feature codes selecting objects using 88 flush & gap gauges exporting results to a text file 214, 216 front-facing triangles rendering 45 selecting 91
G
gauges Tree View 76 grid, viewing in the 3D scene 48
H
help contextual 34 help and complete reference information 33 hiding object elements 52 HPGL, saving vectorial snapshots to 147 HTML, exporting report documents to 227 huge translation, class of objects 76
I
IGES exporting cross-sections to 220 exporting data points to 224 exporting primitives to 220 saving the tessellated model 209 ignoring an object 53 IMMedia viewer 175 installing PolyWorks 164, 179 interactive mode wizard 65 interface colors 2D vector view background 49 Angle, Distance, Radius 49 background 49 Boundary Trim Curve 49 bounding box 50 control points 50 dark 50 huge data grid 50 Internal Trim Curve 50 magnetized control points 50 mark 50
233
Index
mark (alternate) 50 no comparison 50 pencil 50 picked coordinates 50 Reference Point 50 selection 51 snapshot background 51 textfield 51 interface colors, default Pencil 94 interface colors, specifying 49 interface font 31
J-L
JPEG, Q factor 150 keeping object elements on the screen 52 kubit PTC exporting data points to 225 language preferences 30 light sources 48
M
material default 48 measuring angles 135 changing the display 142 direction of 134 for surveying 138 point-to-line distances 132, 133 point-to-point distances 131 radii 136, 137 survey measurements 138
N
NURBS pass/fail inspection 121
O
objects hiding 52 ignoring 53 keeping 52 picking in the 3D scene 84 removing the ignored attribute from 53
234
Index
restoring invisible 52 selecting 83 swapping invisible and visible 52 OpenGL font 31
P
pass/fail inspection 121 PDF, saving vectorial snapshots to 147 picking objects in the 3D scene 84 pie charts creating 149 viewing 149 planes exporting to a text file 222 exporting to IGES 220 pointer coordinates 48 point-picking mode for report purposes 102 points exporting to a text file 222 exporting to DXF 219 exporting to IGES 220 projecting onto a plane prior to 2D measuring 138 polygons exporting to IGES 220 polylines exporting to a text file 223 exporting to DXF 219 exporting to IGES 219, 220 PolyZoom window 66 poses 2D view 43 car views 42 center objects in the 3D scene 42 center selected objects in 3D scene 42 loading from a file 43 rotate 90 degrees 42 saving to a file 43 view +x 42 view +y 42 view +z 42 view -x 42 view -y 42 view -z 42 primitive objects 74 primitives exporting to DXF 219 profile gauges
235
Index
exporting results to a text file 217 projection types orthogonal 43 perspective 43 projection 43 properties of report objects 154 of snapshots 152
R
redoing operations 51 Reference objects class of object 74 Reference Points color 50 reference points Tree View 76 removing all 52 transformations 52 report documents customizing the header 179 report objects 76 restoring object elements 53 rotating about the x axis 39 about the y axis 39 rotating objects 40
S
selecting all objects 84 back-facing triangles 91 deselecting all objects 84 front-facing triangles 91 global selection operations 91 hidden objects 85 inverting the selection status of objects 84 one element 92 polygonal contours 94 regions 93 surface-based 94 using mark 90 using toggle 90 using unmark 90 volume-based 94
236
Index
Selection mode about 92 slots exporting to IGES 220 snapshots creating from an image file 152 creating from the 3D scene 151 generating 35 preparing for export 152 properties of 150 saving to an external image format 152 visualizing 152 snapshots of the 3D scene 35 spheres exporting to IGES 220 surveying, measuring angles and distances 138 SVG, saving vectorial snapshots to 147 swapping visible and invisible object elements 53
T
tabular reports creating and editing templates 157 customizing contents 159 customizing for export 154 defining sorting methods 161 filtering 162 visualizing 153 texture-mapped reference 210 tolerance colors 157 tolerances color scale for visualization 121 editing the color scale for visualizing 125 NURBS 121 translating along the x axis 40 along the y axis 40 along the z axis 40 tree view object states 81 Objects 78 shortcut menus 78 standard Windows-based selecting 83 visual conventions 80
U
undoing operations 51
237
Index
using 3D objects 53
V-Z
vectors exporting to a text file 223 exporting to IGES 220 viewpoint car views 42 rotate 90 degrees 42 visualizing error mapping 119 error vectors 118 tolerances 121 wizards interactive mode 65 Object Selection 65 Word exporting report objects to 228 Word, exporting reports to 228 zooming 41 the PolyZoom window 66
238

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1.8 Setting language preferences .............................................................................................. 30 1.9 Configuring IMView .............................................................................................................. 32

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

1.10 Getting help ........................................................................................................................ 33

2. IMView Basics .......................................................................................................... 37

3. Viewing Inspection Projects ................................................................................... 54

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

4. Viewing Polygonal Models...................................................................................... 70

Appendix A: Introduction to Inspection Projects ..................................................... 74

Appendix B: Understanding the Object Tree ............................................................ 78

B.2 Hiding objects in the object tree .......................................................................................... 82

Appendix C: Selecting Objects................................................................................... 83

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Appendix D: Selecting Object Elements.................................................................... 90

Appendix E: Viewing Annotations ............................................................................. 96

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Appendix F: Viewing Cross-Sections ...................................................................... 108

Appendix G: Configuring Error Display Options .................................................... 116

Appendix H: Taking Interactive Measurements ...................................................... 130

H.2 Performing survey measurements .................................................................................... 138

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

I.3 Creating and manipulating snapshot objects ...................................................................... 150

Appendix J: Reporting using Animated Reports.................................................... 164

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Appendix K: Reporting using Formatted Reports .................................................. 179

K.2 Creating layouts ................................................................................................................. 188

K.3 Creating formatted reports ................................................................................................. 203

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Contents K.4 Creating an auto-formatted report ..................................................................................... 206

Appendix L: Exporting Objects ................................................................................ 208

L.7 Exporting Gauges .............................................................................................................. 214

L.8 Exporting Primitives and Cross-Sections ........................................................................... 219

L.9 Exporting Primitives to a text file ........................................................................................ 220

L.10 Exporting Data points ....................................................................................................... 224

L.11 Exporting reports .............................................................................................................. 227

Index ................................................................................................................. 230

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Contents of the IMView Reference Guide

3. Viewing Inspection Projects

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

4. Viewing Polygonal Models

Appendix A: Introduction to Inspection Projects

Appendix B: Understanding the Object Tree

Appendix C: Selecting Objects

Appendix D: Selecting Object Elements

Appendix E: Viewing Annotations

Appendix F: Viewing Cross-Sections

Appendix G: Configuring Error Display Options

Appendix H: Taking Interactive Measurements

Appendix I: Reporting using 2D Vector Graphics, Pie Charts, Screen

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

Snapshots, and Error Annotations

Appendix J: Reporting using Animated Reports

Appendix K: Reporting using Formatted Reports

Appendix L: Exporting Objects

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

1.1 Introducing the viewing modes

1.1.1 Viewing multiple polygonal models

1.1.2 Viewing an IMInspect inspection project

IMView Reference Guide Version 10.0

1.2 Document contents