Aligning using the Robot

You can make a manual alignment using the Robot. This rough alignment gives you a better control of the initial move when aligning inertia axes. It can thus be considered as a pre-processor for Aligning by Best Fit or Aligning with RPS.

Before you begin: Align using the Robot requires you have access to Digitized Shape Preparation.
See Also
Aligning by Best Fit
Aligning with RPS
Aligning a Cloud Using the Previous Transformation
  1. Select a geometrical set as Define In Work Object to store the output.
  2. From the Control section of the action bar, click Align using the Robot .
  3. Select the Cloud to Align (this is the cloud or mesh to reposition).
  4. Click OK or select the References (Either a set of clouds or meshes or surfaces, or a set of points).

    • Selecting references starts the computation of a transformation based on the inertia axes.
    • If you click OK without selecting references, this transformation is not computed.

  5. Use Multi-selection and Hide/Show as required.
  6. Select the required display mode.

    For a better display performance, the following display modes are available:

    • Shading or Triangles for meshes
    • Points for clouds of points. Use the slider to select the percentage of points to be displayed.

  7. Move the cloud.
    • Click repeatedly until the alignment by inertia axes is satisfactory (4 solutions). Available only when references are selected.
    • places the Robot on the gravity center of the cloud to align. Move the Robot to position the cloud.
    • Press Shift key and drag the Robot to change the point of origin of the move, for example to perform a rotation.
    • reverts to the last movement before validation by Apply.
  8. Decide if you want to keep the initial cloud or not.

    By default, the Keep Initial check box is selected:

    • The initial cloud to align is kept as such.
    • A copy of this initial cloud to align is made and appears in the tree.
    • This copy is aligned with the references.

    1. Clear this check box if you do not want to create a copy of the initial cloud to align, for example because of its size. The initial cloud to align itself will be aligned with the references.

      Note: To avoid inconsistencies, you cannot clear the Keep Initial check box in the following two cases:
      • When the geometry of the cloud to align is shared by other cloud elements, e.g. when the cloud to align shares points or vertices with another cloud without any parent/child relationship between them. Clearing the Keep Initial check box would move the other cloud together with the cloud to align, which you do not want to.
      • When the cloud to align is a feature, e.g. a Generative Shape Design transformation feature.

  9. Validate each move by Apply.

  • If Keep Initial is selected, a new cloud, in fact the copy of the initial cloud to align, is created, and aligned with the references. The new cloud has the same graphic properties as the initial cloud to align.
  • If Keep Initial is not selected, the cloud to align is aligned with the references and no new cloud is created.
  • In both cases, an Axis Systems is created with an AxisRef.x (system axis computed on the cloud to align) and an AxisTrs.x (axis system created on the output cloud).
  • Those Axis Systems can be used with the Axis to Axis action on other elements to align.
  • Align with previous transformation is available.