Using GD&T Selection Mode (from File)

PC-DMIS can recognize and import GD&T tolerances on blueprints into your measurement routine with the GD&T Selection Mode (from File) ( GD&T Selection Mode (from File) ) option.

You can access GD&T Selection Mode (from File) from one of these:

PC-DMIS uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to import the GD&T tolerances. PC-DMIS can import a .pdf file or an image file.

You can find sample blueprint .pdf files that correspond to the Hexagon demo-block CAD models, in the Training subfolder where you installed PC-DMIS.

When you import a blueprint file, the software parses the content in the file. It then shows the GD&T from Capture window and highlights in orange all the supported items that you can import.

You then decide what supported items to import:

One item at a time - To do this, click on an orange-colored tolerance.
Multiple items - To do this, box-select multiple orange-colored tolerances.
All items on a page - To do this, from the toolbar on the GD&T from capture window, click Process whole page ().

If you choose to process multiple supported items or all supported items on a page, the software opens the OCR widget and cycles through each GD&T tolerance from the selection.

Be aware that OCR recognition does not handle every item in your file. For information on what items are supported and unsupported, see the "About Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to Create FCFs" topic.

PC-DMIS also parses measurement units and default tolerances from the title block. It highlights those portions in light-blue. For more information on the title block see, "About Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to Create FCFs". If PC-DMIS does not correctly determine the default tolerance values from the title block, you can use the pause button on the widget and manually fix a tolerance on any created item. For information on how to use the pause button, see "OCR Widget".

Demo

You must have an active Internet connection to see this video. Note that in this video, the file imported didn't have characteristic IDs.

Procedure

This procedure explains how to import one or more callouts.

From the Graphic Modes toolbar, or the QuickMeasure toolbar, click GD&T Selection Mode (from File) ().
Import a CAD model into the Graphic Display window that corresponds with your blueprint.
From the Open dialog box, navigate to an electronic blueprint file. This can be an image file or a .pdf file. OCR detection works best with an image that has at least 300 DPI. Lower resolutions may produce less accurate results.
Select the file, and click Open to parse the file and show all the recognized contents as orange-highlighted items in the GD&T from Capture window.

Note that with this window open, the Edit window is not initially available for selection. This means you cannot delete features that you create unless you create them with the OCR widget or unless you click the pause button on the widget to pause the import process.

Do one of the following to import one or more items into PC-DMIS and to show the OCR widget:

Click on a single callout. This can be a GD&T tolerance or a basic linear distance, angle distance, or location dimension.

Box-select multiple callouts on the page.
From the toolbar on the GD&T from capture window, click Process whole page ().

Follow the instructions in the OCR widget.

During the procedure, you need to pick features for datums or input features for the geometric tolerances. You can create these features with QuickFeatures. You can also select existing features from the Graphic Display window if you click on their feature IDs. PC-DMIS does not support clicking in the Edit window to select features.

Characteristic IDs

If your imported file has characteristic IDs, and you enabled the Use Characteristic ID check box from the General tab of the Setup Options dialog box, PC-DMIS automatically assigns an ID in the OCR widget that matches the characteristic ID. Any features that you then define with the OCR widget for the callout next to that ID use this naming convention:

<BalloonID>__1, <BaloonID>__2, and so on.

For example, if you have a characteristic ID of 3 in your file, and you need to create two features for the tolerance with that ID, PC-DMIS gives the feature that you create the IDs of 3__1 and 3__2.

If a callout has a multiplier, such as a callout for a bolt-hole pattern, PC-DMIS assigns the characteristic ID for the first feature or dimension in the pattern. Any other features or dimensions in that pattern follow the default naming convention for that feature or dimension.

Datums Target Definition

If the OCR widget asks you to define datum target points, follow this procedure:

Press Ctrl + Shift and click on the CAD to create a vector point QuickFeature for each target.
As you define each datum target, the vector point feature appears in the Edit window.
Once you define the targets for a datum feature, it shows "Completed" for that datum feature. The OCR parsing of the file may not determine all the number of targets needed. If that happens, you can create additional vector point features even if the targets for a datum feature shows "Completed".
When you're done creating all the points for a target, click Next to go to the next set of datum targets.
Continue to define datum targets until the text on the widget says "Datum Target Definition Complete".
At this point, you can use the Pause button () on the widget to pause the GD&T import process so that you can work with PC-DMIS to finish defining the datums. This can be a complex process that involves alignments, constructed features, or doing other work in PC-DMIS.
Use the Edit window, and press F9 on each Datum Definition (DATDEF command in Command mode) to show the Datum Definition dialog box.
Link the datum targets to the datum letter.
Once you use PC-DMIS to define any datums from the targets, click Resume () on the widget.

Datums Definition

If the OCR widget shows Datums definition, you need to use QuickFeatures to create datum features for those FCFs. (If you've already created a datum feature, you can click on its feature ID from the Graphic Display window to select it.)

Create or select a datum feature or click Skip current feature definition () if you want to skip over single datum definition for now.
Click Next and select additional datum features.
Continue repeating the above steps until the widget shows "Datums Definition Completed".
Then click Apply to define the remaining GD&T information.

Tolerances Definition

If the OCR widget shows GEOTOL1, you need to define the remaining GD&T information. If you skipped any datum definitions from the previous procedure, the widget asks you to define them during now during the GD&T definition.

Once datums are completely defined, you need to create or select the actual considered feature or features. Use QuickFeatures to create the minimum number features from the CAD model for the current step. (If you've already created a considered feature, you can click on its feature ID from the Graphic Display window to select it).
If you don't want to import a GD&T tolerance, click Skip GEOTOL1 (). You can go back to a skipped item with the Back button () as long as it is not on an earlier .pdf page.
Once you define a feature or features from the CAD model for a step, from the widget, click Next (). This continues with the next step of the GD&T definition. The Next button becomes enabled once you've defined the minimum number of features.
Once you define the features, and the widget informs you that the tolerances definition is completed, click Apply (). This accepts your changes and moves onto the next GD&T tolerance in the GD&T from Capture window.
Continue repeating the above steps until you have defined all selected GD&T tolerances.

Basic Linear Distance, Angle Distance, or Location Definitions

When you import basic dimensions, such as linear distance, angle distance, or location, you need select or create features as usual to fulfill the definition requirements for these basic dimensions.

For the linear distance or angle distance dimensions, this can be a complex process that involves alignments, constructed features, or doing other work in PC-DMIS. In those cases, a pause button appears to help you. Here's the procedure for those:

For those two dimension types, select the distance or angle features.
On the widget, click Next (). This continues with the next step of the definition and the widget says "Tolerances definition completed".
At this point, if you need to do something in PC-DMIS to fulfill the definition, click the small Pause button that appears () on the OCR widget. This temporarily stops the import process and gives you nearly full control over PC-DMIS.
Do whatever work you need to do in PC-DMIS to fulfill the callout definition.
On the widget, click the Resume button () to resume the import process and click Apply () to accept the definition. If the callouts have tolerance values defined in the blueprint, those values are also parsed and assigned to any created dimension in the Edit window.

Best Practices

OCR detection works best with an image that has at least 300 DPI. Lower resolutions may produce less accurate results.

When you have imported the desired GD&T tolerances, double-check the FCF commands that PC-DMIS generated.