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OneSpace Designer: ME10 Dynamic Drafting MI Interfacing


Setup Section (#~3)

The data in the Setup section is similar to some of the items that can be specified in the SETUP screen menu of ME10. The information in the Setup section applies to the whole model. Examples are:

The Setup section does not contain entities except for DZP (Dimension Zero Point). Since the information in the Setup section applies to every entity in the MI file, no pointers are needed.

In ME10, all calculations are performed in length units of mm and angle units of radians. Data in other units is converted. See the Model Length Unit Factor, Model Unit Abbreviation, and Model Angle Unit later in this section.

The sequence of items within the Setup section is as follows:

Line Format Meaning
1 #~3 Start-of-Section Marker.
2 STRING Filename. Specified by the user.
3  . This line, and the next five lines are left blank
4  . by ME10 to accommodate future
5  . revisions.
6  .  .
7  .  .
8  .  .
9 STRING Update Date.
10 STRING Update Time.
11  . Left blank.
12 STRING MI File Creating System. The format of the MI file is fixed, but the contents will vary, depending on the system that created it. Some MI postprocessors may use this item to interpret the data for a target system. For example, the name of the MI file creating system could be:
ME10 Rev. 11.00
13 STRING MI Version Number. The current version number is 2.80
14 STRING 2D/3D Switch. Specifies whether points have 2D or 3D coordinates. ME10 only supports 2D.
15 6×REAL Model Window Xmin, Xmax, Ymin, Ymax, Zmin, Zmax. These coordinates represent the 2D or 3D limits into which the model fits. Zmin and Zmax are equal to 0 if the data is 2D.

If a subpart is loaded, the user is prompted to pick a point on the screen to define the position of the new geometry. While the point is being picked, a rectangle tied to the cursor indicates the amount of space the geometry is expected to occupy. The Model Window values give the lower left and upper right corners of this rectangle.

If new geometry is loaded into an empty Top part, the viewport will be scaled according to the dimensions of the geometry, regardless of the Model Window values.

21 n+ Unique partname for `TOP' part.
22 STRING Drawing Format. This is used for systems that can map a model onto paper. Values appropriate to the system should be used, for example A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, E, D. The value XX indicates that no drawing format is specified. Do not use an empty string.
23 REAL Model Length Units Factor. The recommended value depends on the model unit abbreviation (next item), and should be:
1 for mm
25.4 for in
1000 for m
and so on.

Data is stored within an MI file in terms of the units specified in the next item. The model length units factor is used to scale the data so that it can be used by a system that operates in units of mm.

24 STRING Model Unit Abbreviation. These are the units in which the geometry is measured within the MI file, and are known as the current units. The units could be mm, cm, m, km, in, or other abbreviations. Units of mm are recommended.
25 STRING Model Angle Unit. This is the unit in which angles are measured, and may be RAD, DEG, or GRAD. For example, an arc making up a full circle may be represented as 360 DEG, 400 GRAD or approximately 6.28 RAD. The recommended unit is RAD.
26 REAL Minimum Resolution of MI File-Writing System. This specifies the precision of model data stored in REAL representations. For example, ME10 uses a value of 1E-12.
27 REAL Precision of Dimension Values. This specifies the precision of dimension values, which do not need to be as accurate as the geometry itself. For example, the distance between two lines could be 24.31211843293484 mm, but a sufficiently accurate dimension might be given as 24.31 mm. To conserve memory, a realistic resolution should be used. ME10 uses a value of 1E-4.
28 n+ Power for Largest Integer. An integer i which is used to calculate the largest integer that can be written to an MI file. The formula is:

2(i-1) - 1

29 0 Not used in this version of MI (2.80).
30 0 Not used in this version of MI (2.80).
31 16×REAL Transformation Matrix, used for visualization purposes. For example, you may wish to rotate the model, or transfer 2D data onto a plane in 3D space.

The matrix consists of 4×4 REAL elements in the following order:


a11 corresponds to the first element in line 31, a12 corresponds to the element in line 32, and so on. a21 corresponds to the element in line 35, and so on.

If transformation is not required, this matrix will be an identity matrix (diagonal elements equal to 1, and all other elements equal to 0).

See Appendix A, "Transformation Matrices".

47 4 Attribute Count. This defines the number of attributes to be found in the entity definitions. Attributes are color, line type, line width, and display information.
48 [0,1] Points Redundancy Flag. A value of 1 means that part definitions contain multiple occurrences of the same point. Two points are considered to be the same if the distance between them in each coordinate direction is less than the minimum resolution of the MI file writing system, mentioned above. In ME10, identical points do not occur in the same part definition.

A value of 0 means that parts contain redundant points.

49 [0,1] Elements Redundancy Flag. A value of 1 means the MI file does not contain multiple occurrences of identical components. For example, two lines drawn on top of each other are considered to be a single line.

A value of 0 means the model may contain redundant elements.

50 [0,1] Components Overlap Flag. A value of 1 means that the MI file does not contain any geometric elements that overlap other geometric elements. For example, no lines overlap other lines. Instead, each line ends where it meets another component.

A value of 0 means the model contains overlapping components.

51 REAL Arrow Head Size in current units. Refer to the Leader Arrow entity (LED) in Annotation Elements Section (#~71).

DZP (Dimension Zero Point)

This entity indicates that the element it applies to is a hidden zero point for a detail-view dimension. It is referenced by other entities in the MI file. Only a PMA entity can have this property. Such an entity will not be drawn, but it will also not have the invisible flag set.

Identification data

DZP Entity Type.
n+ Entity Sequence Number.

Attribute Data

No attribute data.

Property Data

No property data.

Parameter Data

0 Parameter count.
|~ End of entity.


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