Operations in GCM

Common Functionality User Guide

Model Editor : Graphical Component Modification (GCM) : Operations in GCM

Operations in GCM

The Component Modification Handle has two parts:

•

Movement

•

Rotation

Movement

The movement handle is used to move the selected components within the constraints of the of the Pipe route that the selected Components exist in.

The handle can be dragged by using either using primary or secondary mouse buttons. The legs that the selection can be dragged into are highlighted with a turquoise line (see above figure). By default, the handle moves in multiples of the currently defined linear increments.

When dragging using the secondary mouse button, the user is presented with a context-sensitive menu on button up. The menu displays the available options which relate to the drag and when in a special action mode, the target, if applicable. If no special actions are active, the user is given the option to accept the new position or cancel the operation and the handle and selection return to their original position.

Feature Highlighting

With Feature Highlighting On, dragging with the primary mouse button held down causes features such as p-points or p-lines to be highlighted when the pointer moves across them. Highlighted features can then be ‘snapped' to.

As the alignment with a feature invariably relates to the leg the Components are in, when feature highlighting is active the drag movement is constrained to lie along the leg the selected Component is currently in, not the whole pipe route. This prevents the inadvertent repositioning of Components into a different leg when trying to align with a feature.

When no feature is found initially, the handle moves using the default movement increments until a feature is identified. Selected Components cannot moved past either end of the pipe leg they are within.

Where a derived position is not within the bounds of the leg or cannot physically fit within a segment of a leg, the selected Components are positioned at the nearest extent of the leg closest to the derived position. Feedback is given to indicate that the positions of the items are not in alignment with the identified feature.

Where there is more than one position solution, the system has default behaviour to derive the initial position. However, it is possible to cycle through the possible positions and choose the desired one. The P hotkey is used for this.

Subsequent feature identification within the same drag uses the last solution type to derive the position, where possible. If there is no position solution to the feature selection, the system reverts to its default behaviour.

Once a drag has been started using the primary or secondary mouse button, the user can finely adjust the positioning of the selected Components using hotkeys. The user can ‘nudge’ the manipulation handle when dragging in a linear direction, using the numeric keypad + and ‑ keys. This moves the handle by + or ‑ the current linear increment.

In a similar way to nudging a Component the user may nudge the position of the handle both by the default linear increment for major positioning, and by a fine value for accurate positioning (e.g. clearance from surfaces). To facilitate this a ‘fine nudge’ setting is available, where the granularity of the movement is less than that of the current linear increments.

Linear increments are controlled from the Set Increments form, see the MODEL online help for details.

Similar to the nudging using the + and ‑ hotkeys, the fine adjustment uses the arrow keys on the numeric keypad (or the numeric keypad 2 and 8 keys when Num Lock is ‘off’.

Once a nudge has been performed, then dragging has no effect, but the mouse key must be kept held down. Nudging restricts the movement within bounds of the leg or segment of leg that the selected Components are within. Nudging does not take the selected Components past an inline Component or change in direction.

Rotation

The Rotation Handle allows the user to rotate interactively the selected Components about the centreline of the Pipe that the handle is positioned on.

Component before rotating

Component after rotation

The Rotation Handle (and the graphical selection it is attached to) can be dragged by either the primary or secondary mouse buttons, and allows a full 360° rotation about the centreline of the pipe.

Dragging the handle with the secondary mouse button is the same as using the primary mouse button, but presents the user with a context-sensitive menu which relates to the direction and rotation of the handle, see Popup Menus on the Component Modification Handle.

Feature Highlighting

Use of Feature Highlighting with the Rotation Handle is similar to using Feature Highlighting with the Movement Handle, see Feature Highlighting.

When performing a free rotate, if feature highlighting is active but no feature is identified, the rotation uses the currently defined angular increment value. When a feature is identified, the handle is aligned in the appropriate manner, dependent on the feature identified. See Popup Menus on the Component Modification Handle and Hotkeys for details of shortcut menu and hotkey options available when manipulating the rotation handle.

Nudging the Handle

Once a drag has been started using the primary or secondary mouse button, the user can adjust the derived angular offset using the + and ‑ hotkeys for the rotation handle.

As with moving, if a direction is derived from an alignment with a feature, using the nudge increments the rotation from the derived direction.

The Rotation Handle can be ‘nudged’ in the same way as the Linear Handle, see Once a drag has been started using the primary or secondary mouse button, the user can finely adjust the positioning of the selected Components using hotkeys. The user can ‘nudge’ the manipulation handle when dragging in a linear direction, using the numeric keypad + and ‑ keys. This moves the handle by + or ‑ the current linear increment..

Repositioning the Handle

The default position of the Rotation Handle is at the origin of the Component initially selected when defining the selection. Identifying another Component in the selection repositions the handle to the origin of the identified item.

In some instances the user will want to reposition the handle at a position which does not correspond to the origin of a Component. The user can reposition the handle to the extremities of the selected Components via a pop-up menu on the movement handle:

Arrive of selection

Leave of selection