From OptiTexHelpEn

[edit] Useful Tools

Toolbars Reference Guide

[edit] Getting Started

[edit] Learning The Screen (Interface)

Getting started with OptiTex™ is simple. To begin, let's familiarize ourselves with the screen we shall be using. The layout of this screen is called an interface. We will now explore it:

[edit] Main Menu

At the top of the screen, you find the Main Menu. The menus contained in the Main Menu are often referred as the Menus. They allow you to perform the operations required to draft, edit, change, save, plot, and cut your patterns. In general, the menus contain both advanced tools and less commonly used ones, as opposed to the tools you will find in the toolbars.

[edit] Icon Toolbars

Example of a toolbar

Beneath the menus, you find a number of icon toolbars, designed for your convenience. Each icon represents a tool that can be used for creating the marker table.

[edit] Pieces Bar

The Pieces window displays all the pattern pieces in the file

The Pieces bar is located below the Icon toolbars. This window displays all the pattern pieces that were loaded into the marker. Along with the name of each piece and the style, it shows the number of the pieces that need to be nested on the table.

[edit] Sizes List

Located below the Piece Display Bar, The Sizes list displays the number of pieces of each size that need to be placed on the table, along with the piece's main attributes.

[edit] Marker Table

The main area of the screen shows your marker table, which resembles your cutting table.

[edit] Status Bar

The Status Bar provides helpful information on using tools, as well as information about the marker table dimensions

The Status Bar is located at the very bottom of the screen. It provides useful information about the marker table, the nesting process and the pieces placed on the table.

[edit] Side Properties Pane

The different Piece Properties windows appear on the side of the screen in dock mode. You can select the required Properties window from the Piece menu. The content of the window changes according to the selection. The information on the pane changes according to the piece(s) selected. Leaving the pane open at all times allows easy access to the piece ID for quick updates.

[edit] Setting Up Your Working Environment

You can configure the OptiTex working environment to suit your needs and those of your company.

[edit] Moving And Docking Windows And Toolbars

Windows appear on your screen either as opened windows or as side tabs.

If the thumbtack is lying horizontally, the window is undocked, and will roll up onto the side of the screen once your cursor leaves the window

You must dock a window to keep it open while you are working. To do so, first open the window. To dock the window, click once on the image of the thumbtack which appears on the upper right-hand side of the window, so that the tack points downward.

To make a window appear as a side tab, you must undock the window. To do so, click once on the thumbtack that appears in the upper right-hand side of the window, so that the tack points to the side. Once you have undocked the window, it will roll up and attach to one of the sides of the screen.

To reposition a toolbar, first locate the toolbar handle. This is a four-hold handle found on the extreme left-hand side of each toolbar. Click on the toolbar handle and the cursor turns into a 4-way arrow moving tool. In this state, you can drag the toolbar to any location on your screen.

To reposition a window, you must first make sure that the window is docked. Place the cursor anywhere along the bar at the top of the window where the window name is indicated, then drag the window to the desired location. To make the window appear as a side tab on one side of the screen, simply drag the window to the center of the screen. Four arrows will appear, each pointing to a different side of the screen. Without releasing the mouse, drag the cursor and place it on top of the arrow that is pointing to the side of the screen on which you wish to place the tab.

[edit] Preferences

You can control all parameters from working units and marker settings to color setting and automatic saving by selcting options in the Preferences window

The Preferences window allows you to control and modify most settings. The Preferences window is accessible from the Tools menu. The Preferences option is at the bottom of the list.

[edit] Working Units

Set the unit of measure that you wish to use in the Preferences box. It can be changed at any time, but it is better to set it before you create your first marker table.

[edit] Gap Between Pieces

If you wish, you can assign a constant gap between the pieces placed on the marker. Do this from the Gap and Buffer section of this box.

[edit] Display Attributes

Press the F10 key on your keyboard to invoke the Pieces Display Attributes. Here you can control which piece information will be displayed on the marker table and on the plot out. Also, check the boxes alongside the internal elements that you wish to view, and uncheck the boxes alongside the elements you wish to hide.

[edit] Mouse and Keyboard Usage

[edit] Navigation

• Zooming: Move the Mouse Wheel to Zoom In & Out.
• Home (or Mouse wheel Button): Brings all the pieces on the table into a comfortable focus.
• Scrolling the marker: Move the mouse wheel while holding down the SHIFT key to move your view up and down. Hold down the Ctrl key to move your view along the marker.
• Mouse Usage in Selection Rectangle: Left-click once to position the first corner of the rectangle. Hold down the mouse key and draw a rectangle around the pieces. These pieces are now selected and any command that you choose will apply to all of them.

[edit] Keyboard Shortcuts

[edit] General Workflow

[edit] Starting And Defining A New Marker Table

1. From the File menu select New.
2. In the Marker Definitions window enter the fabric width and the cutting table length, accordingly. Enter the plies number if you are spreading more then one ply or using tubular material. Select the the appropriate Layout Mode. Optional: Choose a fabric name from the list on the right and click ADD.
3. Click OK to confirm your selections and to view the marker table.

You can always return to the Marker Definition box by invoking the dialog box from the Marker menu > marker definition

[edit] Ordering Models On The Marker Table

1. From the File menu select Open Design File.
2. Click on the browse button to locate the PDS files to load.
3. Select the file and click Open.
4. Select the style set from the list (if there are any).
5. The Order For Marker Making window automatically opens for you to edit.

1. Enter the number of sets for each size. Enter 0 next to sizes that do not need to be loaded on the marker.
2. Filter the pieces by material type: select the material name from the list and click ADD. After you click OK, only pieces that are made from that material will be loaded into the Pieces window.
3. Click OK to return to the Select Style Files window. Make sure that the file appears on the list of files to be loaded. Return to the Select Style Files box to load additional files to this marker in the same way.

You can always return to change the sets quantity by selecting the Edit Selected File from the list of commands. Highlight the file before selecting the command.

1. Click OK to confirm your order.

[edit] Placing Pieces On The Marker

You can place the pieces on the marker in several ways.

• Double-click on the piece thumbnail image on the piece bar to choose the smallest size of the selected pattern. To choose a specific size - click on the size name (or number) displayed below the piece image.
  

Only available pieces can be placed in this way. If no more pieces remain on the piece bar (if 0 appears alongside one of the sizes), the pattern will not load to the marker. This is to ensure that you do not place unnecessary pieces on the table.

• Select the piece or the pieces that you wish to place on the table and click on the Place Tool. To select more than one piece or size, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the size names.

Note that using the Place Tool command will place pieces on the marker even if there are no more pieces to lay. In such a case, the amount of the patterns in the piece bar will be displayed in negative numbers, according to the extra pieces that are already on the table.

• Placing a pattern on a specific location on the table: click to select the piece to lay on the table. Double-click on the desired location on the table. The piece pattern will be placed at the location indicated by the mouse cursor. This method is useful if you need to nest a piece in a hole between other patterns.
• Placing a whole set (all pieces of the same size): select one piece from the set and click on the One Set (CTRL+SHIFT+P) icon.

[edit] Arranging The Piece on The Marker Table

A number of tools are available to nest the piece on the marker quickly and easily.

• Moving the pieces along the marker table: Left-click on the pattern and hold the mouse key down. Note that mouse cursor has changed its shape to a hand. Continue to hold down the mouse key and move your mouse. The pattern piece moves together with the mouse. Release the key when the piece reaches the desired location.

• Rotating and flipping pieces: Right-click on the piece to rotate or flip it. This can be done only if the piece properties defined On Marker Rotation and Flip Allowance allow it.

• Shooting pieces to the Left - Use the right mouse button to quickly move pieces to an empty area on the marker. Right-click on the piece you wish to move. Without releasing the mouse key, move the mouse in the direction that you want the piece to move. Note the line that marks the direction in which the piece will shoot. Release the mouse key - the piece moves in the desired direction until it bumps into the nearest piece. The piece will not rotate or flip.

• Adjust piece into hole. Click on the Insert To Hole Tool to select this working mode. Right-click on the piece you wish to move and hold down the mouse key. Move the cursor to the new location in which the piece needs to be placed. If the piece fits into an empty area between the pieces - the piece will move there. In other cases - the piece will move in this general direction.

• Flipping a piece - if the piece can be flipped, use the Flip icons to flip the pattern on the marker.

• Rotating a piece - If the piece can be rotated, use the rotation icons to spin the piece by 180 or 90 degrees.

• Using the keyboard to move pieces around the marker - Use the keypad of your keyboard (with Num Lock on) to move the selected piece on the table.

[edit] Pieces Information

Each piece has an I.D. which includes the piece name, piece description, etc. By changing the I.D. properties you determine how the piece will behave on the marker table. You can change parameters such as: quantity, flip and rotation allowance, Max tilt angle and more. The ID is created in PDS and accompanies the pattern geometry to the marker. To change or reset any of this information, select the piece and click on Piece Info or All Sizes Info. The Global Info command will set new properties for all the pieces loaded on the marker.

[edit] Complete Placing The Pieces

1. Check if all the pieces are on the table. You can use the Check Current Solution report for this purpose. Make sure that all the bundles are completed. Click on the Completed button to highlight the pieces that belong to the set placed on the table. Uncompleted indicates that some of the pieces that are part of this complete set are not on the table, and were left in the Piece Bar.

2. Compact Arrangement (optional): Press Ctrl+J on the keyboard or click the Compact Arrangement tool from the Nesting menu to run a compaction process. This process may increase the material yield. If you are not satisfied with the compaction results, press Ctrl+Z to undo the process.

3. Detect overlapping pieces - Invoke the Detect Intersections command from the Marker menu. This will reveal if there are any pieces overlapping by coloring them red. Fix the intersections manually or invoke the Remove Intersecting Pieces command from the same menu.

4. Save the file: Invoke the Save As command from the File menu. Select the location for saving the file. Saving the file allows you to return to the file whenever you wish to re-plot it. You can also change the saved order (from the Open Style File command), remove pieces, change the layout, etc.

[edit] Plotting Out The Marker

Since the steps for this activity may vary according to the specific machine and location, the following explanations are given in general terms:

1. Invoke the Plot command from the File menu.
2. Check the desired options.
3. Click OK to send the job to the plotter.

[edit] Additional Commands In OptiTex Marker 10

[edit] Adding Bump Lines

Adding Bump Lines along the marker table may help you to divide the marker into segments or areas. You can use these to separate different sizes, bundles or styles, or for any other purpose.

1. Move the cursor to the margin of the left-hand marker. Note that the cursor changes its shape to a two-headed arrow.
2. Left-click in the margin, hold down the mouse key and drag the border line to the right to its new location.
3. Release the mouse key.
4. To plot the lines, check the box alongside Plot Bump Lines in the Plotter/Cutter Setup dialog box.

Drag the line from the left marker edge

[edit] Pieces Alignment

Align Pieces is a very powerful and useful tool. It allows you to arrange a number of pieces in one line, which makes cutting easier and faster (especially for pieces that share a cut line).

1. Select the group of pieces that you intend to align by drawing a rectangle around them or selecting them one by one in the Marker table, while holding down the SHIFT key. Note that the selected pieces change their colors.
2. Click on one of the Alignment tools: down, up, left or right.

1. Select the pieces by drawing a rectangle around them

2. Click on one of the Alignment toolbars

3. In this figure all the pieces are aligned to the Left limit. Notice that the pieces remain in their original location and move only along the X axis

• The Advanced Alignment command offers two more options: Equal Distance and Adjust. First select the alignment direction on the left-hand side and then select the method in the Arrangement section.

Equal distance: aligns the pieces by leaving an equal gap between them. Adjust: the pieces are arranged in a line while attached to one another. Use the arrows to move the selected pieces together as a group in different directions. In this way you can attach them to one of the marker edges.

[edit] Clear Pieces From The Marker Table

• To remove a single piece from the table, double-click on the piece you wish to remove. The pattern returns to the piece list.
• To remove more than one piece from the table, first select the pieces you wish to remove and then press the Delete key. All the selected pieces return to the piece list.
• To clear all the pieces - Select Clean Table from the Marker menu or press CTRL+C.