RESULTS

You can open an ArtCAM model as part of a project or independently.

If you are working in ArtCAM Insignia, you can only open a model independently.

To open an ArtCAM model independently:

1 If you are opening an ArtCAM model with no other currently open, use any of the following methods to display the Open dialog box:

 Click Open Model in the Models area;

 From the Menu Bar, click File > Open; or

 Press the Ctrl+O keys.

You cannot open ArtCAM Project Files (*.3dp) or 3D Assembly Files (*.3da) as a model. If you select a file in either of these file formats, a project is opened instead. For details, see Opening a project (see page 92) and Creating a new project from a file (see page 90).

If you are opening an ArtCAM model with a model already open in ArtCAM, use one of the following methods to display the Open dialog box:

 From the File toolbar, click the Open File button;

 Press the Ctrl+O keys; or

 From the Menu Bar, click File > Open.

If you have not saved any changes that have been made to the open model before attempting to open another model, a

message box is displayed asking if you want to save the changes to the model. For further details, see Saving a model (see page 85). If you have not made any changes to the model at all, or since it was saved previously, it is closed immediately.

2 Use one of the following methods to find the file you want to open as a model:

 You can use the Look in list box and the Up One Level

button to find the folder on your computer containing the file from which you want to create the new bitmap layer.

 By default, ArtCAM lists All Supported Files. You can limit the files to a particular format by clicking the Files of type list box, followed by the specific file format you want to use.

3 When you have located the file that you want to open, click the file name to select it. When you select the file, the Relief Info area of the dialog displays the file's dimensions in actual measurements and pixels. The Model Preview area displays a thumbnail image of the file's contents.

If you select an ArtCAM model file (*.art), the thumbnail image shown in the Model Preview area contains the contents of the active 2D View window when the model was saved.

When choosing a bitmap image, the greyscale

representation shown in the Relief Info area provides an indication of the form that the resulting relief shall take.

Consider that the brightest areas of the greyscale image reflect the highest areas in the resulting relief, while the darkest areas reflect the lowest.

4 Click Open. Depending on which file you have selected, ArtCAM either opens the model immediately or begins the process of creating a model.

When opening large files, a progress bar is displayed in the Status Bar:

If you select an ArtCAM Model file (*.art), the model is opened.

If you select an image file, the Set Model Size dialog box is displayed:

If you are opening a Drawing Interchange (*.dxf), AutoCAD 2D drawing (*.dwg), DUCT picture (*.pic) or Portable Document Format (*.pdf) file, the Size For New Model dialog box is displayed:

Click OK to close the Size For New Model dialog box.

If you are opening a Portable Document File (*.pdf), ArtCAM creates a new model with a separate vector and bitmap layer for each of the pages within the PDF document and names each of the layers using the file title (page number) convention. For example, the layer relating to the document's first page might be named Brochure (Page 1).

ArtCAM does not currently support layers (or 'Optional Content Groups') within Portable Document Format files (*.pdf).

If you are opening a Drawing Interchange (*.dxf) or AutoCAD 2D drawing (*.dwg) file, the Imported File dialog box is displayed:

If you click Cancel, a model is created equal to the dimensions previously seen in the Size For New Model dialog box, but the vector artwork in the original file is not included in the model.

To include the vector artwork, make sure that the settings are correct:

 To position the artwork in the model's centre, select the Centre in model check box.

 In the File Units area, make sure the units of measurement for the artwork is the same as those used in your ArtCAM model by selecting mm or inches.

 To identify all self-intersecting spans in the artwork within tolerance, make sure the Check for crossings and

self-intersections check box is selected, and that the correct tolerance is specified in the Intersection Tolerance box.

When selected, self-intersecting spans are shown in red, with white circular shapes marking the positions where spans overlap.

 To rejoin any spans in the artwork that have been exploded within tolerance, make sure the Automatically rejoin vectors check box is selected, and that the correct tolerance is

Click OK to close the dialog box, create the model and import the vector artwork.

The layers in the imported file are added to the vector layer stack above the previously active layer. Each new vector layer uses the name of the layer in the imported file, as well as any colour.

If no colour has been applied to a layer in the imported file, the new vector layer is coloured red by default.

If the name of a layer in the imported file is already used by a vector layer in the model, the artwork on the file's layer is added to the vector layer with the same name.

If the imported file does not contain any vector artwork, a message box is displayed warning that the file cannot be used.

Click OK to close the message box.

To open an ArtCAM model within a project:

1 From the Project panel, right-click the closed model in the Project Tree that you want to open, then click Edit in the context menu.

You can also double-click the closed model in the Project Tree to open the model.

The model's icon in the Project Tree changes from to , indicating that it is now open.

The open model is always last in the list of models associated with Models in the Project Tree.