Constructing a Cast Line

You can construct a line by changing any given feature into a line. PC-DMIS constructs the line at the centroid of the input feature.

You can modify the length of the line; this changes the line from DEPENDENT to INDEPENDENT. This means that when the line is executed, the length does not change based on the input feature, but is independent of the input feature, while the position and vector remains dependent on the input feature. This allows you to have control over the line length in cases where the input feature doesn’t really have a length, such as a point. The DEPENDENT/INDEPENDENT field is a toggle field that you may change.

To change the length of a line:

  1. Open the Edit window.

  2. Click on the line feature.

  3. Press the Tab key until the length field is selected.

  4. Type in a new length.

  5. Press the Tab key. PC-DMIS updates the length.

PC-DMIS uses this length value for all calculations instead of a default length.

To construct a cast line:

  1. Open the Construct Line dialog box (Insert | Feature | Constructed | Line).

  2. From the Method list, select the Cast option.

  3. From the Feature list, select one feature of any type.

  4. If you want to change the feature theoretical values, select the Feature theoreticals check box and type in the values. For details, see the "Specifying Feature Theoreticals" topic in the PC-DMIS Core documentation.

  5. Click the Create button.

The Edit window command line for this option would read:

CONSTR/LINE,CAST,feat_1,length,(DEPENDENT | INDEPENDENT)

Constructing a Line from a Cylinder