Sketch or diagram of a product
At the Product library screen the area at the right shows a Product drawing
The drawing can be used to quickly identify the product style and check that the correct product is in use and can also printed on reports and labels along with other product information.This is either a separate picture file (e.g. bmp, wmf, emf, jpg) or a drawing created with the Drawing library.
Perspective, plan, elevation and 3D views - click on the buttons at the foot of the drawing to see the different views of the product. For example, a 3D view.
Each view is a separate drawing but they are coordinated with the product and can be used, for example, when creating room layouts (Cad drawings) to show different views of the products.
To add a drawing to a product:-
● Select the product in product library
● Click on the perspective, plan or elevation button
● Enter a drawing name or select a drawing with List button
The list option shows the drawings in the Drawing library.
For a 3D view the 3D product has to be built for each product so the list view is disabled for this view.
Notes
- Where the drawing is a separate file this must be in a standard format of: BMP, WMF, EMF, JPG. The files should be placed in the directory set by the System Parameter: Path for Library data
- The program automatically searches for files in the order BMP > WMF > EMF > JPG so the extension is not used when entering the file name.
- Forms / labels and Product views - Only one type of drawing is shown on printed forms or labels - usually the perspective view as this is the easiest to use for product identification but which view is shown can be specified for Forms and labels.
- Plan and Elevation views - for parametric formulas for a product or a normal drawing the X, Y and Z refer to the product width, height and depth respectively. These are not the same for a plan view drawing. X still refers to the product width but Y refers to the product depth. For example, if a product's depth has a given value (e.g. 500.0), in a normal drawing this value can be utilised using the formula '=Z' whereas in a plan view drawing this value is accessed using '=Y'.
- The Z dimension should not be used in any plan view formulae as plan view drawings are strictly 2-dimensional.
- File management - only shows plan view drawings. If a plan view drawing is copied or deleted, any associated elevation view is also changed.
- Main menu file tree - only Plan view drawings shown.
- Colour fills - If a product has an associated plan or elevation view drawing the colour fill option in the properties dialog is not available. The same applies to products with an associated drawing in an elevation drawing. If a colour fill is set for a product that has no associated drawing and then later that product has an associated drawing, the original colour fill will be ignored.
