Individual Pattern menu

Use the individual Pattern menu to manage and edit the selected pattern.

To display the menu, in the Explorer, right-click a pattern.

1 — The name of the selected pattern.

Curve Editor — Click to display the Curve Editor tab.

Copy — Select to copy the selected items to the clipboard.

Paste — Select to paste the items on the clipboard into the boundary or pattern.

• Copy and paste works between model, boundary, and pattern entities.
• You can paste only closed segments into boundaries.
• You can paste only wireframe geometry from models into boundaries or patterns.
• You can copy and paste data within PowerMill or from one PowerMill session to another.

Activate — When selected, activates this pattern and de-activates any currently active pattern. When deselected, de-activates this pattern.

Draw — When selected, displays the pattern. Deselect to "hide" it. This option toggles between and .

Add to Folder — Select to add the entity to the active folder. If the Folder option is unavailable then activate the folder.

Note: You can add an entity only to a folder within that entity type. For example, you cannot add a toolpath entity to a NC program folder.

Instrument — All curves have a direction. If you instrument a curve, it places an arrow on each segment (pointing towards the end of the segment) and an X at the end of each segment.

Colour — Select to edit the colour of the pattern.

Select the Edit Selected option to display the Select Colour dialog.

This is a standard Windows dialog, selecting a colour here changes the colour of the pattern.

Rename — Select to rename the entity.

Select All — Select to select all segments of the pattern (they turn yellow).

Invert Selection — Select to deselect the part of the boundary that is currently selected, and select the part of the boundary that is currently unselected.

Select Duplicates — Select to select all the duplicated segments (where one segment lies exactly on top of another) in the pattern. This can be important when importing poorly defined data, especially duplicated holes. Use this with the Edit > Delete Selected Components menu option to eliminate these duplications.

Select Length — Click to select pattern segments by length. This works on both open and closed segments.

• Greater Than — Displays the Length to Compare dialog. Enter the required length and then click to select pattern segments whose length is greater than, or equal to, the specified amount
• Less Than — Displays the Length to Compare dialog. Enter the required length and then click to select pattern segments whose length is less than the specified amount.

Deselect — Select to deselect any selected pattern segments (they turn white).

Save — Select to save the pattern to a file as wireframe geometry. This is saved as a .dgk, .pic or .dxf file. The Save Pattern dialog appears. This is a standard windows save dialog.

Selected Properties — Select to display the extents of the selected segments in the pattern.

Properties — Select to display the extents of the selected pattern.

Edit — Select to edit the pattern or segments of the pattern. You must select the pattern (or segments) prior to selecting the type of edit you want to perform.

Insert — Select to insert entities into the pattern.

Undo Last Edit — Select to revert the pattern to what it was before the last change.

Redo Last Undone Edit — Select to reinstate the edit you have just undone.

Clear History Buffers — Select to empty the undo buffer, so you can no longer undo an edit.

Unlock Pattern — Select to unlock the pattern for editing and overrides all locks on the pattern. This invalidates all references to the pattern.

Remove From Folder — Select to remove the pattern from the current folder.

This example uses feature groups, but all other entities work in the same way. It converts this:

Delete Pattern — Select to delete the pattern.