Models menu

Use the Models menu to import, edit, and manage models in the current project.

To display the menu, in the Explorer, right-click Models.

Create Plane — Select to create a plane.

• From Block — Select to create a plane with the same X and Y dimensions as the block. This displays the Enter Z Limit of Plane dialog. Enter the Z Height of the plane and then click to create the plane
• Best Fit — Select to create a plane that has the smallest maximum distance from the boundary.
  • Upper Plane — Select to create a plane touching the boundary at its highest point. The plane is parallel to the best fit plane.
  • Lower Plane — Select to create a plane touching the boundary at its lowest point. The plane is parallel to the best fit plane.
  • Both — Select to create the upper and lower plane.
• Projected — Select to create a plane parallel to the XY axis of the active workplane. The plane has a Z height equal to the highest point of the boundary.

Paste as New Model — Select to paste the entities on the clipboard into a new model.

Import Model — Select to open an existing model. This displays the standard Open dialog. Move to the correct directory and then select the model you want.

Import Reference Surfaces — Select to import a model containing reference surfaces which are never considered for machining or collision checking.

Select All — Click to select all the entities in all the models.

Select Wireframes — Click to select all the wireframe entities in the models.

Select Surfaces — Click to select all the surface entities in the models.

Select by Colour — Click to select model components by Colour, but you can also use it to select by Model, Colour, or Levels and Sets. This displays the Selection dialog.

Deselect All — Click to deselect everything in all the models.

Selection Tools — These options contain additional selection tools.

• Select Duplicate Components — Click to select duplicate components. If you then use the Delete Selected menu option, the duplicates are deleted leaving a model with no duplicates.
• Deselect Duplicate Components — Click to deselect duplicate components in the current selection. If you select the components that you want, but think that there may be duplicates, you can use the Deselect Duplicate Components command to ensure that no duplicate components are selected. The duplicate components are not deleted, but only removed from the selection. This enables you to create your toolpath (such as swarf machining) without any problems.
• Select Visible Reversed Components — Click to select the reversed components in the current view orientation. The quality of the selection depends on the quality of the model. When using this option, if there are gaps in surfaces which reveal inside surfaces, those surfaces are also selected.
• Select undercut components — Click to select any surface which is undercut.
• Select Concave Radii— Click to display the Select Concave Radii dialog.

Drawing Options — Select to control the representation of the model. This displays the Model Drawing Options dialog. The top half of the dialog controls the representation of the wireframe and the bottom half controls the representation of the shaded model.

Export All — Select to export the currently selected surfaces. This displays the standard Save dialog. If you have two models in PowerMill and you select a surface from each model and then select Export Model the two selected surfaces are exported as a single DGK model. If no surfaces are selected, Export Model exports all the models as one combined model.

Edit — Select to edit the model or its location and orientation. This displays the editing options.

Reverse Selected — Select to reverse the surface-orientation of the selected surface.

Properties — Select to display the extents of the selected components of the model (or the extents of all the models if nothing is selected), the number of components in the all the models and information about individual components.

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.

Create Folder — Select to create a folder so you can organise entities in the Explorer. You can rename a folder in the normal way and drag and drop entities into it. See Explorer for more information.

Delete Empty Models — Select to delete all levels which contain no objects.

Delete All — Select to delete all the models.