Context Menus

Context menus contain commands that can be applied to the current selection.

Robot Commands

In Mechanical Surface Refinement, the Robot has a context menu providing convenient access to some additional commands.

Note: You can use Esc to exit the Set Robot Orientation , Set Robot to mean plane , and Set Robot to trace plane commands at any time during the command is running.
Reset Robot
Resets the Robot parallel to the main axes (X, Y and Z) of the model. This option is deactivated when the Robot is already set according to these axes.
Set Robot Orientation
Orients the Robot by selecting either an existing plane or three points (via the Auto-detection command). The point selection is based on Auto-detection parameters.
Set Robot to mean plane
Sets the Robot to the mean plane of the selected elements. Click Set Robot to mean plane and select the elements. Double-click to end the selection. The mean plane is computed for the selected elements and the Robot is then set to this mean plane. All the selected elements should be of similar type (if the first selected element is a point, then all the other elements should be points).
Set Robot to trace plane
Sets the Robot to the trace plane. Click Set Robot to trace plane and select two points. The Robot is set to calculated trace plane.
  • The trace plane is defined by:
    • The selected two points define a segment. The trace is the projection of this segment on the plane of the screen. This defines the first direction.
    • The normal of the screen defines the second direction.

      A trace line is defined by the projection of the segment (created by the selection of two points) on the screen plane, along which the X or Y axis of the plane is adjusted.

      The first point defines the Robot origin and the second point is used for direction calculation. The alignment of the X or Y axis along the trace depends on the trace direction relative to the coordinates:

    • The X-axis of the Robot is aligned along the trace i.e. along horizontal direction, if the angle between trace and X-axis is smaller than 45 degrees.
    • The Y-axis of the Robot will be aligned along the trace i.e. along vertical direction, if the angle between trace and X-axis is larger than 45 degrees.
  • The normal of the screen defines the second direction.
  • The third direction Z-axis is automatically calculated.
In Model or on Perch
Switches the Robot from the perch to the model or vice versa. The origin is kept until the tab page is closed.