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Using AutoPath (advanced & Configure)

The advanced version of AutoPath gives you complete control over lead geometry and path options.

The settings that you define in this dialog will also be applied when you select AutoPath Quick.

To open the AutoPath dialog, right-click on AutoPath, and select AutoPath (Advanced & Configure).

Hover mouse over image to view full size.

NOTE:

Upon running the advanced AutoPath command, a simple cleaning of the drawing takes place that will erase duplicate entities, close gaps, and remove short entities. The command will initially remove existing leads and traverses, but those can be restored by using the "Keep Leads" and "Keep Traverses" commands.

Start and End Points


Element	Description
Start Point	A starting point is where the tool path should begin. A traverse is drawn from this location to the first lead-in of the path. Only one starting point (among nine possible position points) can be set at any given time.
End Point	An ending point is where the tool path should end. A traverse is drawn from the final lead-out to the path to this location. Only one ending point (among nine possible position points) can be set at any given time. If it is desired to have the path end with the final led-out instead of having a final traverse after the lead-out, right-click on any of the ending point buttons. Doing so results in having none of the ending point buttons down, and the path will be redrawn without a final traverse. Note A path's ending point can be set in a different position from the starting point.

Strategies

There are four unique path strategies that can be used to make a tool path. [These buttons are all enabled as a default.]

The button for each strategy works as a toggle and AutoPath will determine the best strategy for the tool path (governed by the shortest distance) among those strategies that are toggled to "ON". If it is desired to only use one particular strategy, then that one strategy should be the only one that is on while the rest are turned off.

NOTE:

If all strategies are turned off, AutoPath will pick the best option from among the different strategies as though they were all turned on.


Button	Name	Description
	Zig-Zag Traveling Horizontally	Results in a path where the zig-zag behavior runs up and down while making a horizontal progression
	Zig-Zag Traveling Vertically	Results in a path where the zig-zag behavior runs left and right while making a vertical progression.
	Nearest Neighbor	Uses logic where, after one feature of a path has been processed, the next feature that gets processed will likely be the closest feature to the current one
	Traveling Salesperson	Uses logic that involves determining the approximate shortest route among a given set of path features.

Offsets

Element	Description
External Offsets...	This specifies on which side of the outermost tool path (or "outside") the offset will be. The default is to offset to the left (or clockwise).
Internal Offsets...	This specifies on which side of the innermost tool path (those inside the part) the offset will be. The default is to offset to the left (or counterclockwise), which will usually put the offset on the inside of the tool path.

Lead In (Entry) and Lead Out (Exit)

The following settings are available for both lead ins and lead outs.

Element	Description
Length	The length of the lead-in/out. All lead-ins will be the same length. All lead-outs will also be the same length.
Angle	The Angle between the lead-in/out and an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the tool path. The angle between the lead-in and the lead-out will be the sum of both angles.
Style	Choose a lead-in/lead-out style of either Line or Arc. Choosing Arc-style leads while using the Automatic option with Generate Tool Path will probably lead to errors.

Element	Description
Keep leads	This feature allows most leads that exist in the drawing, prior to launching the AutoPath form, to be kept in the drawing. The AutoPath algorithm will take these existing leads into consideration as it generates the tool path. Note: When keeping existing leads, the AutoPath algorithm will: 1) Check if the lead-ins/outs are valid or not. If they are not valid, such as a lead that is drawn on the wrong side of an inner profile, AutoPath will remove the incorrect leads and create a new one automatically for the profile. 2) In instances where multiple lead-ins/outs were drawn for one profile, AutoPath will keep one set and remove the other lead-in/outs. AutoPath only supports one set of lead-ins/outs for each profile.
Keep traverses (attached to leads)	This feature allows any traverses that are connected to leads to be kept. When AutoPath's algorithm designs the path the existing traverses will not be disturbed. Traverses that are connected to entities other than leads or are not connected to anything will be removed. note: "Keep existing traverses" will only be enabled if "Keep existing leads" is checked. The best scenario for using "Keep existing leads" and "Keep existing traverses" is when leads and traverses are hand-drawn for certain features in a drawing, but there are other opportunities where the AutoPath can fill in the rest of the path. If a drawing has all of its features already drawn for a tool path prior to using the AutoPath form and "Keep existing leads" and "Keep existing traverses" are checked, then the AutoPath form will be ineffective for generating a tool path.

Element

Description

Keep leads

This feature allows most leads that exist in the drawing, prior to launching the AutoPath form, to be kept in the drawing. The AutoPath algorithm will take these existing leads into consideration as it generates the tool path.

Note:

When keeping existing leads, the AutoPath algorithm will: 1) Check if the lead-ins/outs are valid or not. If they are not valid, such as a lead that is drawn on the wrong side of an inner profile, AutoPath will remove the incorrect leads and create a new one automatically for the profile. 2) In instances where multiple lead-ins/outs were drawn for one profile, AutoPath will keep one set and remove the other lead-in/outs. AutoPath only supports one set of lead-ins/outs for each profile.

Keep traverses (attached to leads)

This feature allows any traverses that are connected to leads to be kept. When AutoPath's algorithm designs the path the existing traverses will not be disturbed. Traverses that are connected to entities other than leads or are not connected to anything will be removed.

note:

"Keep existing traverses" will only be enabled if "Keep existing leads" is checked. The best scenario for using "Keep existing leads" and "Keep existing traverses" is when leads and traverses are hand-drawn for certain features in a drawing, but there are other opportunities where the AutoPath can fill in the rest of the path. If a drawing has all of its features already drawn for a tool path prior to using the AutoPath form and "Keep existing leads" and "Keep existing traverses" are checked, then the AutoPath form will be ineffective for generating a tool path.

Use the Tab Recognition Setup dialog to define characteristics for AutoPath to recognize pre-drawn tabs in a drawing.

Element	Description
Maximum tip side tab gap	Defines the maximum distance between the tip-side endpoints of the two legs of the tab. Any gap of a lesser size than the maximum will also be considered.
Maximum tab leg angle	Defines the maximum amount of degrees a tab leg can be angled relative to the entities that make up the part to be cut. Any lesser degree angle than the maximum will also be considered.
Maximum tab leg length	Defines the maximum length that any tab leg can have in order to be recognized. Regardless of whether or not the legs of the tab are the same size, the tab will be recognized so long as the maximum value is set at or higher than the length of both of the legs of the tab.

Collision Avoidance Strategy

There are four strategies to pick from in regards to how traverses will be drawn for the path:

Element	Description
Use direct routes (always heads down, straight traverses)	This option should only be used if the confidence that avoiding potential collisions among the features of a part is high.
Use circuitous routes	This option will draw heads-down traverses that will be laid out in such a manner that collisions with features that would already be cut out would be avoided.
Use mix of heads up and heads down (recommended)	This option will use a combination of heads-up and heads-down traverses as needed to avoid potential collision spots.
Use Heads-Up Traverses always	For this option, every traverse will be drawn as a Heads-Up Traverse in the path.

Drawing Preview Controls

Element	Description
Always preview generic drawing	When this option is selected, the drawing that fills the preview area will be a generic drawing that AutoPath uses to show how the various settings of AutoPath will affect the tool path that is drawn. The preview drawing changes whenever a setting is changed in the AutoPath form. Using this option is ideal in situations where the actual part drawing may contain a lot of features that would normally take longer to generate a tool path for. If this preview option happens to be selected when the “Go” button is clicked, there may be a delay while the final tool path for the actual part is generated to go into LAYOUT ’s drawing area.
Always preview actual drawing	When this option is selected, the drawing that fills the preview area will be the actual part drawing plus the leads and traverses that are drawn in based on the various settings of AutoPath. The preview drawing changes whenever a setting is changed in the AutoPath form. Using this option is ideal in situations where it is preferred to see how the leads and traverses will be affected in the actual part as settings are changed in the form. However, if the drawing is large enough, there could be a considerable delay in re-rendering the path to reflect the new settings as each setting gets changed. If this preview option happens to be selected when the “Go” button is clicked, the contents of the preview simply transfers to LAYOUT ’s drawing area with minimal delay.
Manually update actual preview	When this option is selected, no update to the actual part drawing in the preview area occurs until the “Update Preview” button is clicked. Once “Update Preview” is clicked, the button will be disabled until another setting on the form is changed. This mode allows the user to make changes to various settings in the AutoPath form without having to wait for the preview to update. If this preview option happens to be selected when the “Go” button is clicked and the preview reflects the current settings, the contents of the preview will simply transfer to LAYOUT ’s drawing area with minimal delay. If the preview does not reflect the current settings, then there will be a delay while the tool path for the actual part is generated and transferred to LAYOUT ’s drawing area.

Zoom Controls

Zoom controls provide added control over being able to zoom in and out in the preview window as well as what is displayed:

Element	Description
Show endpoint dots	Turning on this feature will cause the preview window to display the endpoints of each entity. Turning off the feature will hide the endpoints.
Zoom Cursor	The Zoom Cursor function will allow the magnifying glass operation for zooming in and out of the preview window. In this mode, holding down the left mouse button will zoom in on the drawing while holding down the right mouse button will cause the drawing to zoom out.
Zoom Window	In this mode, a zooming window can be drawn on the drawing. When the zoom window is drawn, the zoom window will zoom into the area of the drawn window.
Zoom Extents	This button will cause the preview window to zoom to the extents of all of the entities that are in the drawing.

Path Information

Information about the path only shows when "Preview actual drawing" is checked. It provides some basic information about the path such as…

Element	Description
Predominant Strategy Used	This provides information on which strategy, among those that are active, was used the most to implement the tool path for the drawing.
Total Path Distance	This provides the total sum of lengths of all of the entities that comprise the tool path.

Buttons

Element	Description
Go!	Causes a tool path to be generated for the drawing using the settings that are on the form.
Cancel	Cancels the tool path generation process and closes the dialog box.
Help	Opens the help screen to this page.
Default	Click to restore all of the settings on this form to their default values. Right-click the button to display a menu: Load Setup Opens a dialog that allows a settings file to be chosen that sets the buttons and values of the AutoPath form to whatever is inside the settings file. Save Setup Opens a dialog that allows a settings file to be saved containing the settings of how the AutoPath form is set.