Select this menu option to select specific vectors and then find common problems within the vector artwork, often detrimental to the machining process, and correct them. The Vector Doctor panel is displayed.
button on the
Vector and
Vector Editing toolbars is a shortcut for this menu option.
The Vector Doctor enables you to:
- select specific vectors from the current selection or from all visible vectors in the model.
- identify all coincident nodes and vector intersections in the current selection so they can be joined using the Join Vectors with Coincident Nodes tool.
- identify all loops in self-intersecting vectors in the current selection and then remove them.
The Vector Doctor panel contains the following settings:
- Tolerance — Enter a value in the Curve Tolerance box to determine how closely the shapes of any Bézier curves will be followed. Entering excessively small values for this tolerance increases toolpath file sizes, and slows down calculation and machining times.
- Select Specific Vectors — Quickly select all vectors that satisfy the specified criteria.
- Select from current selection — When selected, vectors that meet the specified criteria are selected from within the current vector selection. When deselected, vectors that meet the specified criteria are selected from all visible vectors.
- Ungroup vectors when necessary — When selected, vector groups containing vectors that meet the specified criteria are ungrouped to enable selection. When deselected, grouped vectors are ignored.
- Open — Click to select all open vectors.
- Closed — Click to select all closed vectors.
- Duplicates — Click to select all duplicate vectors. One instance of each duplicated vector is left unselected.
- Clockwise — Click to select all closed vectors with a clockwise direction.
- Anticlockwise — Click to select all closed vectors with a counter-clockwise direction.
- Closed vectors smaller than — Click to select all closed vectors with an area smaller than the specified value.
- Closed vectors larger than — Click to select all closed vectors with an area larger than the specified value.
- Vectors shorter than — Click to select all vectors with a length shorter than the specified value.
- Vectors longer than — Click to select all vectors with a length longer than the specified value.
- Identify Problems — Select the type of problem you want to check for.
- Coincident points — Select to check your vectors for nodes that are closer than the value specified in the Tolerance box.
- Vector intersections — Select to check your vectors for loops and crossings.
- Identify — Click to identify the specified problems on the selected vectors. Red markers
indicate coincident nodes or vector intersections within an individual vector. Green markers
indicate coincident nodes or vector intersections between different vectors.
- Clear Markers — Click to remove the markers. The markers are also removed when you close the Vector Doctor panel.
- Fix Problems — Automatically fixes some common problems.
- Remove vector loops — Select to display some additional options:
Keep loops of area — Specify a threshold for the area of loops you want to keep as a percentage of the overall size of the selected vector. For example, if your vector artwork contains a figure 8, it is likely that you will want to keep both of its loops. If the original vector has an area of 100 mm² and contains a loop of 1.5 mm², a value of 1% would mean that the loop would be converted into an independent vector. A value of 2 %, however, would mean that the loop would be deleted.
Layer name — Enter the name of the layer onto which you want to create the corrected vectors. If no layer is specified, ArtCAM creates the corrected artwork on the active vector layer.
Keep originals — Select to keep a copy of the original vectors on the active vector layer, or in the layer in the Layer Name box.
- Remove vector loops — Select to display some additional options:
- Fix Problems — Click to automatically fix all identified problems.