Creating Stacking Texts

From the Composites Collaboration section of the action bar, click Stacking Text.
Select a stacking, a plies group, a sequence, a ply, a cut-piece or a flatten body as the parent of the stacking text.
Note:
If the selected parent is a flatten body:
- Position inside parent is disabled.
- Display text in 3D is selected and disabled.
- The support surface is the flatten features plane (not editable).
- The start point is the location point of the flatten feature, if any, the origin of the flatten plane otherwise (not editable).
- Laser projection information is cleared and disabled.
- The stacking text is aggregated under the parent flatten body and categorized as Texts. Edit the flatten body to change the category.
  Notes:
  Stacking text on unfold feature is not supported.
  Category may be lost during copy/cut/paste operation outside the flatten body.
Select the position of the Stacking Text node under its parent.
The propositions in the list depend on the parent.

Define the text.

Stacking Text supports all characters as well as the following keywords.

In the resulting text, whenever possible, a keyword is replaced by the corresponding value. Otherwise, it remains as is in the resulting text. The interpretation of a keyword depends on its position in the stacking as shown below.


	Stacking	Plies Group	Sequence	Ply	Cut-Piece
%PARTFILENAME%	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
%PARTNUMBER%	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
%PLYGROUP%	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
%SEQUENCE%	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
%PLY%	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
%CUTPIECE%	No	No	No	No	Yes
%PLYORCUTPIECE%	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
%PLY_CUTPIECE%	No	No	No	Yes	Yes/No
%MATERIALNAME%	Yes if only 1 material in Stacking	Yes if only 1 material in Ply Group	Yes if only 1 material in sequence	Yes	Yes
%MATERIALID%	Yes if only 1 material in Stacking	Yes if only 1 material in Ply Group	Yes if only 1 material in sequence	Yes	Yes
%DIRECTIONNAME%	Yes if only 1 direction in Stacking (unlikely)	Yes if only 1 direction in Ply Group (unlikely)	Yes if only 1 direction in sequence	Yes	Yes
%DIRECTIONVALUE%	Yes if only 1 direction in Stacking (unlikely)	Yes if only 1 direction in Ply Group (unlikely)	Yes if only 1 direction in sequence	Yes	Yes

To visualize the text only in the Stacking Text node in the tree, clear Display text in 3D.
Tip: Set the Parameter Tree View to With Value: Result String parameter under the Stacking Text node displays the result text.
Otherwise, select Display text in 3D and enter the following information.
- Support: If the parent is a plies group, a sequence, a ply or a cut-piece, the reference surface of the plies group is proposed.
- Start point: The text is written on a plane tangent to the reference surface at that point. The normal to the plane is the draping direction. However, the normal is not associative with the draping direction. If you invert the draping direction, you have to invert the text side manually.
- dX and dY: Position the text with respect to the start point, along the X-axis and Y-axis of the plane
- Other Side: Inverts the plane normal, thus writing the text on the other side of the plane.
- Angle: Rotates the text around the plane normal at the start point. It is stored under Stacking Text.
- Size: Defines the heights of the characters.
  Note: A Graphic and a Font tabs are available in the text properties for further options (line color, type, thickness, or font size).
Characters are written as polylines.
Only the following characters are supported:
```
A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i J j K k L l M m N n O o P p Q q R r S s T t U u V v W w X x Y y Z z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
& # @ $
{ } ( ) [ ] - _ / \ * + = > < : ; . ? !
%, ", ', °
```
Unsupported characters are represented by an empty square.
Alternatively, use its handle in the 3D area to position and rotate the text (equivalent to dX, dY, and Angle).
Select the Taken into account for laser projection as check box to export the stacking text. The following text types are available:
- 3D: The text is projected on the mold by the laser projector.
  Note: Display text is 3D must be selected
- Information: The text is displayed on the laser projector console.
- Query: The text is displayed on the console. Validation is requested by the operator.
- LED: The text is displayed on the LED display visible by the operator while laying the plies.
Notes:
- Texts to be exported as Information, Query, or LED must be placed under the ply or cut-piece, not under their flatten body.
- VIRTEK format supports all text types.
- LPT format supports only 3D type. In this format, all other text types are exported as <INSTRUCTIONS>.
- In LASERGUIDE format, nonprojected texts are exported as <COMMENT>.
- In LAP format, nonprojected texts are ignored.

The Stacking Text is created in the tree.
If Display text in 3D is selected, it is visible in the 3D area.
Notes:
- This representation is not a geometry.
- If the parent is a flatten body, the 3D representation depends on the category of the stacking text.
  - For Texts and No Category, the stacking text has a default DXF font display.
  - For all other categories, the stacking text is displayed as polylines as for laser projection.
  - The text projected in the Drafting document is either an annotation or a geometry.
Copy/Cut/Paste is available.
- When pasting in a plies group or a sequence, the Stacking Text is placed at the end. You have to position it manually under the node.
- You can paste a Stacking Text outside the stacking, but it is ignored by Laser Projection Export.
- If the Stacking Text is moved outside the stacking, Parent, Position inside Parent and Taken into account for laser projection as are no longer available.