When you select the Graphical check box (or the On option for Location and Position dimensions) for a dimensioned feature (Insert | Dimension), the software shows a graphical output of the dimension in the Graphic Display window in a format suitable for close examination.
When the check box is selected, PC-DMIS will graphically display the deviation of each individual hit for the dimensions used on the part in the Graphic Display window. The measurement routine displays the error in the form of individual arrows for each hit. These arrows, with their colors and directions, indicate the relative size of the error, as well as its direction.
Command
line in the Edit window:
...GRAPH=ON TEXT=OFF MULT=1.00
Consider this example which uses the dimension information displayed in the textual analysis example in "Textual":
Example of a Circularity Dimension using Graphical Analysis with a multiplier of ten (on the left) and one (on the right)
The Circularity example above contains various colored lines, arrows, and circles. The following describes the colored elements in the example and what they mean:
Black Circle = Shows the nominal circle.
Red Circle = Shows the measured, out-of-tolerance circle.
Blue Circles = Show the tolerance bands.
Colored Lines = Show the lines between hits.
Colored Arrows = Show the hits themselves (the tip of the arrow), the relative size of the deviation for each hit (by the colored arrow), and in which direction deviation occurs (the direction the arrow points).
The colors used in this example are the default dimension colors. You can easily change these colors if desired. The colors used will also correspond to the colors used on the bar graph on Dimension Info and Point Info boxes. See "Editing Dimension Colors" in the "Editing the CAD Display" chapter.