To Create an Iterative Alignment

Click this icon from the Wizards toolbar to access PC-DMIS's Iterative Alignment Wizard.

To create an iterative alignment:

  1. Access the Alignment Utilities dialog box (Insert | Alignment | New).

  2. Click the Iterative button. The Iterative Alignment dialog box appears. You will use this dialog box to create the iterative alignment. See "Description of the Iterative Alignment Dialog Box" if you need information about the dialog box.

  3. From the Feature List box, select the first set of features (at least three features) to be used in establishing the orientation of the normal axis on the current workplane.

  4. Verify that the Level option is selected.

  5. Click the Select button.

  6. Select with the mouse the second set of features (at least two features) to be used in the rotation process.

  7. Verify that the Rotate option is selected.

  8. Click the Select button.

  9. Select the final set of features (at least one feature) that indicate the desired location of the part origin. (The same features may be used in more than one process.)

  10. Verify that the Origin option is selected.

  11. Click the Select button.

  12. Click the OK button. The Iterative Alignment dialog box closes.

  13. Click the OK button on the Alignment Utilities dialog box to complete the alignment. The dialog box closes. If this new alignment differs from the existing alignment, PC-DMIS will display a prompt asking if you want to update affected commands in the Edit window to use the new alignment (see "Updating Commands in Learn Mode" in the "Updating Dependent Commands When the Alignment Changes" topic). If the alignment doesn't change (or the change is too small to matter), PC-DMIS simply inserts the alignment without displaying the prompt or updating any commands.

Selecting the Level, Rotation, or Origin options after they've already been assigned features will display the indicated input features for that option.

After this process is complete, PC-DMIS will three-dimensionally "best fit" the measured data and display the new alignment in the Graphic Display window and in the Edit window. See the "Iterative Alignment Command Format".