You can execute manually-measured features in the measurement routine in any order. This is useful for portable arm machines.
This functionality becomes possible if the following conditions are met:
It only applies to features measured with manual hits.
The measurement routines cannot have any branching or loops.
The features you measure out of order must use the same alignment and probe as the feature PC-DMIS initially planned to measure (it will not search across LOAD PROBE or ALIGNMENT commands).
Out of order execution only works for features measured after a complete alignment. The initial alignment must be measured in order.
How It Works
When you execute your measurement routine, PC-DMIS prompts you to take the first hit on the first feature. You can decide to take your first hit on a different feature instead. When you do this, PC-DMIS determines if you took that hit within a tolerance of the hit PC-DMIS expected. If your hit is more than a specified tolerance (usually 10 mm) away from the feature, then PC-DMIS searches backwards and forwards though the measurement routine for the closest feature who's initial hit matches the initial hit that you took. You can define the tolerance in the Setup Options dialog box (Edit | Preferences | Setup) on the General tab.
If you take a hit that is not in tolerance for any feature in your entire measurement routine, the arm sounds a beep alert, and PC-DMIS ignores the hit. An error message also appears in the Execution dialog box. Take a different hit closer to a measurement routine feature to continue.
When PC-DMIS finds the appropriate feature, it passes your first hit into the feature. It then moves the arrow indicating where to take the next hit to the new feature. PC-DMIS only checks the tolerance on the first hit of the feature. After that, it assumes that you will continue taking hits until you finish measuring that feature.
Once you finish measuring a feature out of order, PC-DMIS attempts to go back to its initial order. It continues to prompt you to measure the original feature each time you finish measuring something else out of order until you either skip the original feature or measure it. PC-DMIS tracks the features you measure out of order so that they aren't remeasured when PC-DMIS resumes its regular execution route.
If you remeasure a feature, PC-DMIS will recompute everything that uses that feature up until the current execution location.