About Multiprofile Branches

Creating multiprofile branches consists in defining a local profile on the route elements and on the extremities of a branch. Working with multiprofile branches improves the orientation of your branches and ensures their stability during the design of their route.

Several functionality dedicated to the management of local profiles are available.

Important: Creating multiprofile branches is incompatible with designing Cornered Polyline branches when their bend radius equals 0.

This page discusses:

See Also
About the Detailed Profile Management Capabilities
Creating and Editing Multiprofile Branches

Creation Option

The Set local profile on route elements during branch route creation option allows you to create a multiprofile branch by default whenever you start the design of a branch route.

When this option is selected, a local profile is automatically set on the first route element you select to start the branch route and on each route element you add further in your design.

Selecting this option ensures that you create multiprofile branches whenever you design new branches.

For more information about this option, see Segment Profile.

Reference Axis

To control precisely the orientation of a profile and the stability of the branch, a reference axis is set by default on the profile of your route elements. Whenever the profile is rotated, the defined axis is used as reference for the rotation.

The default reference axis is automatically set on a profile whenever you:

  • Define a local profile on a route element or a branch extremity.
  • Add a new route element before or after an existing route element with a local profile.
Note: A reference axis is also set on the profiles of branch points. For more information, see About Branch Points on Multiprofile Branches.

You can modify the reference axis set by default by doing one of the following:

  • In the 3D area, select an edge to use its axis as reference.
  • In the Detailed Profile Management panel, right-click in the Reference Axis box to select one of the three axis of the Robot as reference.

Important: You cannot define a reference axis orthogonal to the profile's plane.

Visualization of the Reference Axis

On the Detailed Profile Management context toolbar, you can click Set/Unset Reference Axis Visualization to display the reference axis of each route element with a local profile:

Note: This visualization is only available for the segment selected for profile modification.

Color Code Description
Green arrow
  • The reference axis is aligned with one of the x, y, z axis.
  • The profile has a rotation angle of 0 modulo 90 degrees (that is: 0, 90, 180, 270, or 360 degrees).
Blue arrow
  • The reference axis is not aligned with one of the x, y, z axis.
  • The profile has a rotation angle of 0 modulo 90 degrees (that is: 0, 90, 180, 270, or 360 degrees).
Red arrow The profile has not a rotation angle of 0 modulo 90 degrees (that is: 0, 90, 180, 270, or 360 degrees).

The reference axis is also displayed when you click a route element to manage its local profile:

For route elements with a local profile but without a reference axis, the following icon is displayed: .

Management of Profiles on Branch Bends

For multiprofile branches with a Cornered Polyline build mode, two corner points are automatically created at the extremities of a bend, and a local profile with a reference axis is defined on each of these corner points.

Rotating the profile of corner points allows to design straight branch portions before and after a bend.



The corner points are not part of the branch route but their profile can be edited with the same functionality as the local profiles set on route elements.

During the design of a Cornered Polyline branch, corner points are added every time a routing action leads to the creation of a bend. If a bend is removed from the route, corner points are also removed. However, the route point in the middle of the bend is kept.

Branch with a bend Branch after removing the bend

Important:
  • Corner points are only created when you route a branch with the Cornered Polyline build mode or when you switch to the Cornered Polyline build mode. Switching to another build mode removes the corner points.
  • Corner points are not created at the corner of a device or a support.
  • Corner points are only available on multiprofile branches since R2020x. For legacy branches, an upgrade is necessary to work with corner points. After upgrading your branches, corner points are created but their local profile need to be set manually.
  • If design manipulations lead to the modification of a bend, a route element can coincide with a corner point in the new design. In this case, corner points are removed and it is no longer possible to edit their parameters.