The Simple Properties section contains information on:
The major difference between the Setup section and the Simple Properties section is that the Setup section has no entities. The Setup section does not need entities, because the information in the Setup section applies to the whole model.
Associated text is used for marking a drawing element with information that can be used by a system. For example, some CAD systems are able to perform operations on all elements having the same associated text. It gives the information associated with the element, as described in the Layers and Infos chapter in the ME10 User's Guide.
Associated text is not the same as text that you display on your
drawing. Displayed text is described in TEX
in Composite Annotation Section (#~72).
ASSP
ASSP | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
n+ | String Count. Number of associated text strings. In
ME10, the string count is always 1 . So if an element has
more than one line of associated text, it will have one pointer
for each line, each pointing to a different ASSP entity.
|
STRING | First Associated Text String. |
: | |
STRING | Last Associated Text String. |
|~ | End of Entity. |
The following associated text strings are predefined:
LAYER:
N is the default text used by ME10
for all newly-created elements, where N is an integer of
type (n+).
GROUP:
N is reserved for mapping groups of elements
from different application programs, for example
from IGES to ME10. The integer N is of type
(n+).
This entity describes the appearance of the terminator that is drawn at the end of a dimension line.
Each dimension entity must reference a DAF
for each
terminator type. In general the dimension entity will
reference the same DAF
for both dimension line
terminators. Several dimension entities of different
types may reference the same DAF
.
If a dimension entity does not reference a DAF
, ME10
will make a reference to a default DAF
entity
created with the parameters listed below.
DAF
DAF | Entity Type. |
n+ | Sequence Number. |
5 | Parameter Count. |
n+ | Arrow Head Type Code. This indicates the
type of arrowhead used:
|
This entity describes the appearance of the dimension. Each dimension entity must referece a DDA. Several dimension entities of different types can reference the same DDA.
However, such information is not always available from
other systems and file formats. So dimension entities
that do not reference a DDA
will have the reference
to a DDA
made for them by ME10. The values for
this default are specified below.
For an explanation of the terminology used in dimensions, refer to ME10 User's Guide.
DDA
DDA | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
1 | Parameter count. |
[0,1] | Display flag. |
0 visible.
| |
1 Invisible (Only the ME10 system can set this flag).
| |
|~ | End of Entity Marker |
This entity describes the relationship between dimension lines and dimension text and the geometry being dimensioned.
The individual dimension entities (refer to Composite Annotation Section (#~72))
contain enough information to be drawn. The DLA
entity
referenced by a
dimension specifies how the lines of the dimension will
behave when the dimension is modified.
However, such information is not always available from
other systems and file formats. So dimension entities
that do not reference a DLA
will have the reference
to a DLA
made for them by ME10. The values for
this default are specified below.
For an explanation of the terminology used in dimensions, refer to ME10 User's Guide.
DLA
DLA | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
10 | Parameter count. |
n+ | Dimension Text Relative Position Code. This indicates the position of the dimension text relative to the dimension line: |
0 = Above the dimension line
| |
1 = Below the dimension line
| |
2 = On the dimension line
| |
n+ | Dimension Text Relative Orientation Code. This indicates the orientation of the dimension text relative to the dimension line: |
0 = Parallel
| |
1 = Perpendicular
| |
2 = Horizontal (irrespective of dimension line orientation)
| |
3 = Vertical (irrespective of dimension line orientation)
| |
The default value is 0 .
| |
REAL | Offset Point. This is the gap between the end of the
extension line and the geometry point. This parameter is not used
by the DRAD or DDIA dimension entities.
|
The default value is 0 .
| |
REAL | Arrow Gap. This is the gap between the arrow and the extension line. |
The default value is 0 .
| |
REAL | Gap between the Dimension Text Box Side and the Dimension Line. |
If the dimension text relative position code is 0 .
The gap between the dimension text box and
dimension line will be measured from the
bottom of the text box.
| |
If the dimension text relative position code is
1 , the gap between the dimension text
box and the dimension line will be
measured from the top of the text box.
| |
The default value is 0 .
| |
REAL | Gap between Dimension Line and End of Text Box. |
This value applies to the gap between
the broken ends of the dimension lines
and the text when the text is positioned
on the dimension lines. (dimension text relative
position code = 2 ).
| |
The default value is 0 .
| |
REAL | Arrow Line Offset. This is the distance between the dimension terminator and the end of the extension line. |
n+ | Dimension Line Color Code. This is the color used for the
dimension lines and arrows.
Refer to Color, Line Type, and Line Width in Attribute Data.
The default value is 3 (yellow). |
REAL | Dimension Line Width. This is the width used for the dimension
lines and arrows.
Refer to Color, Line Type, and Line Width in Attribute Data.
The default value is |
n+ | Connect Flag. This flag indicates
whether or not the dimension line is
broken or continuous for linear dimensions.
|
|~ | End of Entity Marker |
This entity describes the appearance of dimension text. It is referenced by other entities in the MI file.
Each separate component of dimension text, such as main dimension
text and main dimension tolerance, will reference a DTA
.
Each text character in ME10 can be thought of as being drawn on a grid inside an invisible character box. Each text string is surrounded by an invisible text box.
DTA
DTA | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
10 | Parameter count. |
STRING | Primary 1-Byte Text Font Name. This parameter contains the name of a text font. |
STRING | Primary 2-Byte Text Font Name. This parameter contains the name of a text font. |
STRING | Secondary Text Font Name. |
These are the names of the fonts
describing the form of each character.
In general, each will be the name of a
text font file. Text is drawn in the
primary font until an ASCII shift-out
character is encountered, subsequent
characters are drawn in the secondary
font until a following shift-in
character is encountered. The shift-in
character has an ASCII value of 14__10__. The shift-out
character has an ASCII value of 15__10__.
In ME10 the
default text font is hp_symbols . See the
section on text fonts for further
information.
| |
It is assumed that a system loading an MI file will recognize the text font name. Otherwise it must use a font of its own based on the following data: | |
REAL | Character Slant Angle. This is the angle from the text box edge to the first upright of the text characters. Positive angles are measured clockwise. The permissible range is: |
-80° <= angle <= +80° | |
The default slant angle value is 0 .
| |
n+ | Size flag |
0 = False: the character size is absolute
and is measured in current units.
| |
1 = True: the character size remains in a
fixed ratio to the dimension main
text height.
| |
The flag will always be false for main dimension text. | |
REAL | Character Height. This gives the relative or absolute text height in current units. |
REAL | Character Height-to-Width Ratio. This is the height of the character box divided by its width. |
The default value is 1 .
| |
n+ | Text Color Code. This parameter holds the value for the text color. For a list of color codes and the corresponding colors, refer to "Attribute Data" in chapter 2, "Entities, Attributes, and Constants". |
The default code is 3 (yellow).
| |
n+ | Bracket flag |
0 = False: dimension text is not enclosed in brackets,
e.g.: <--- 180.0 ---> .
| |
1 = True: dimension text is enclosed in brackets,
e.g.: <---[180.0]---> .
| |
The default value is 0 .
| |
n+ | Character fill flag |
0 = False: dimension text characters are not filled.
| |
1 = True: dimension text characters are filled.
| |
The default value is 0 .
| |
|~ | End of Entity Marker |
This entity describes the format of dimension text.
DTF
DTF | Entity Type. |
n+ | Sequence Number. |
4 | Parameter Count. | ||||||||||||||||||
n+ | Dimension Unit Code. These are the units
that the dimension value is measured in.
1 to 9 apply to linear dimensions. 10 to
13 apply to angular dimensions.
| ||||||||||||||||||
The default value for linear dimensions is 1 .
| |||||||||||||||||||
The default value for angular dimensions is 10 .
| |||||||||||||||||||
n+ | Sign and Zero Suppression Code. This is
the sum of the following values.
Plus:
The default value is | ||||||||||||||||||
n+ | Fractional Resolution. If the dimension is in fractional units, this parameter represents the value of the fractional denominator. | ||||||||||||||||||
If the dimension is in decimal notation, this parameter represents the maximum number of digits after the decimal point or decimal comma. | |||||||||||||||||||
n+ | Radix Marker. This denotes the character used for a radix marker. | ||||||||||||||||||
0 = Period
| |||||||||||||||||||
1 = Comma
| |||||||||||||||||||
The default value is 0 . The decimal
comma is not supported by ME10.
| |||||||||||||||||||
|~ | End of Entity Marker |
A Hatch Pattern Property contains the parameters for setting up the appearance of hatch lines.
HAPP
HAPP | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
n+ | Block Count. This gives the number of occurrences of a set of hatch lines that can be overlaid within the same hatched area. Each block can have different parameter values. For example, cross hatching can be obtained by overlaying two hatch blocks with a different Hatch Offset Angle. |
If the block count is greater than 1 , the following items
are repeated for each block.
| |
REAL | Normalized Offset. The Normalized Offset is defined as
the perpendicular distance from the hatch line to a reference
Point, divided by the Hatch Line Distance.
|
REAL | Hatch Distance Factor. This allows overlaid sets of hatch lines in the same hatch area to have different spacing. |
The perpendicular distance between the hatch lines corresponding to this block is given by the Hatch Distance Factor multiplied by the Hatch Line Distance. | |
The Hatch Line Distance is specified in the Hatch
entity (HAT ), in the Annotation Elements section.
| |
The Hatch Distance Factor varies between 0 and
1 . The value is 1 for the most widely-spaced
set of hatch lines within the same hatch area.
| |
REAL | Hatch Offset Angle. This allows overlaid sets of hatch lines within the same hatch area to have different angles. |
The angle of a set of hatch lines is defined as the sum of the Hatch Offset Angle and the Hatch Line Angle, both measured in a positive direction from the X-axis. | |
The Hatch Line Angle is specified in the Hatch entity
(HAT ) in the Annotation Elements section.
| |
n+ | Hatch Line Color. This value is used to specify the color of hatch lines. Refer to "Attribute Data" in chapter 2, "Entities, Attributes, and Constants". |
n+ | Hatch Line Type. Line type codes are given in "Attribute Data" in chapter 2, "Entities, Attributes, and Constants". |
|~ | End of Entity |
Each line type pattern definition is defined in 3 lines and is defined as follows:
n+ | StyleIdx. This is positive integer number greater than 27 (e.g. 28, 29, ...). It represents line pattern style index. This number is relative to ..MI file. |
STRING | Name. This is string that represents line pattern name. |
STRING | Gap1,Gap2,....GapN. This is string composed as sequence of numbers. Each pair of numbers represent line pattern gap. First number in each gap define length of line (in pixels), the second number defines the length of space (hole). There can be a maximum of 5 gaps (10 numbers) for each line pattern definition. |
Example:
#~41 | Start of entity ~41 |
LTP | Start of LTP entity |
8 | Entity sequence number |
2 | Number of line pattern definitions |
28 | Line pattern style index. 1-st line pattern definition starts here |
MY_LNPATT | Line pattern name |
20,5,12,5,6,5 | Line pattern definition |
29 | Line pattern style index. 2-nd line pattern definition starts here |
MY_PATTERN | Line pattern name |
10,5 | Line pattern definition |
|~ | End of LTP entity |
This example defines two new line types:
LTP | Entity Type |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
n+ | Line Type Pattern count. This number gives the count of line type pattern definitions that follows this data line. |
First line type pattern definition. | |
... | |
Last line type pattern definition. | |
|~ | End Of Entity. |
PSTAT
is referenced by pointers
from one or more Assembly Hierarchy entities.
It indicates if the corresponding part definition contains original geometry, a detailed view, or a perspective view. This information is required for dimensioning purposes.
For example, a detailed view is dimensioned by measuring the original view and displaying the dimension text on the detailed view. The size of dimension text will remain unchanged to ensure that a drawing containing original and detailed views will not have dimension text of different sizes.
Using ME10, you can produce a perspective view by creating geometry in a shared part. Then use MODIFY ISOMETRIC from the screen menu. If you use dimensions, the dimension text is transformed to fit the perspective view.
The Part Status Property entity also contains information about whether or not the contents of a part should be scaled when the drawing scale is changed for plotting. For example, if you create a drawing containing symbols, you may wish to change the drawing scale while keeping the symbols the same size. In this case all the symbols could be placed in a part that is not affected by scaling. Such a part is called a symbol part in MI, and a scale invariant part in ME10.
PSTAT
PSTAT | Entity Type. |
n+ | Entity Sequence Number. |
[02 ] | Usage Code. |
0 = Part contains original geometry
and is not a detailed or perspective
view. This is the default value.
| |
1 = Part contains a detailed view of geometry.
| |
2 = Part contains a perspective view of geometry.
| |
[0,1 ] | Scale Invariance. |
0 = Part will be scaled when the
drawing scale is changed, for example
when geometry is scaled for plotting.
This is the default value.
| |
1 = Part will not be scaled when the
drawing scale is changed.
| |
|~ | End of Entity. |