Batchplot Documentation


The need to plot all the drawings in a job appears fairly often in today's world where processes still depend on paper. The Batchplot utility was developed to allow users to easily complete this task. Batchplot has two interfaces depending on where the NX part files reside; the native file system or Teamcenter Engineering(iMAN).

Batchplot can be used for the following operations:

Using the Native Filesystem Interface

Batchplot presents the user with a interface very similar to the Windows Explorer program.

Selecting Part Files

The filesystem view is split into two areas: the folder area and the file area. Navigating the filesystem can be done using either of the areas or a combination of the two.

Changing the drive to navigate(Windows Only)

The filesystem view only allows navigating on one drive at a time. The drive selection box located in the toolbar allows the user to change the current drive. The selection to limited to only local drives. Network filesystems will not appear unless they are mapped to local drive.

Navigating the filesystem using the folder area

The folder area contains a tree view of the folders on the entire filesystem. The folder in the tree can be expanded to reveal its subfolders by pressing the plus icon to the left of the folder. Likewise, pressing the minus icon next to the folder will collapse the subfolders below the folder.

Expand subfolders in the desired filesystem until the wanted folder appears. Press the name or icon of the folder to list the folder's contents in the file area.

Navigating the filesystem using the file area

The file area contains the currently selected folder's contents. Double-clicking on a folder item will change the current folder to that folder. The special .. folder item changes to the parent folder.

Narrowing the list of files

The Pattern selection list at the bottom right of the window can be used to filter the list of files in the file area. The list of patterns can be modified by selecting File->Patterns... from the menu. After selecting the menu item, a dialog will be presented.

Modify the existing list of patterns or add new ones. The actual pattern can be a simple or complex regular expression. Press OK when done editting the list. The list will be saved and available the next time the program is ran.

Selecting Files

Select the files to plot in the file area. Folders that are selected will be ignored by the program. The program only will plot the selected files in the current folder naviagated to. Multiple individual files are selected by clicking on the file while pressing the ctrl key. A range of files is selected by selecting a file and then selecting another file while pressing the shift key. The files between the two selected files will also be selected. There are items in the Edit menu that can also assist in selecting the files to plot.

Changing Load Options To Use

Mostly likely, the default load options will be used to load the part files. The program also will let the loads options be set using the load options saved in the folder the files to plot reside. Select the wanted option using the Load Options list in the toolbar.

Selecting the Stamp to Place on Drawing

Batchplot gives you the capability to place a site-defined stamp or note on the drawing before the chosen operation is carried out. The stamp can be something like an Advance Print message. The default behavior is to not place a stamp on the drawing. Select a stamp in the Stamp To Use list to change the stamp to place on the drawing.

Using the Teamcenter Engineering(iMAN) Interface

The Teamcenter Engineering interface works exactly the same as the native interface.

Selecting files

Selecting files is very similar to the native interface.

Navigating the Workspace

The folders area is the only way to navigate the Teamcenter Engineering workspace. All files to plot MUST reside somewhere in your Home folder. Expand the subfolders until the folder to plot from appears and select it to list its contents in the file area.

Narrowing the file list

The file area will list all NX datasets in the currently selected folder. The program defaults to show only the latest revision for each dataset. Select View->Show Only Last Revision to toggle this function. There are also two other filters that will help eliminating unwanted datasets from the file list. The Pattern list will filter on the Dataset field exactly the same as in the native interface. The list of patterns can be modified with File->Patterns... menu item. The Dataset Type Pattern list will filter the list based on the Dataset Type field.

Changing Configuration Rule To Use

The configuration rule controls how the parts are loaded. The configuration rule that Batchplot will use is shown in the toolbar. The configuration rule can be changed by selecting another configuration rule from the Config Rule list.

Selecting the Stamp to Place on Drawing

As with the native interface, select a stamp in the Stamp To Use list to change the stamp to place on the drawing.

Plotting Drawings

Select File->Plot or press in the toolbar to plot the selected part files. A plot dialog will appear where the plot settings can be modified before beginning the plotting.

Plot Destination

Plot Node lets you choose the plot server to use. When a plot node is selected, the plot queues available on that server will appear in the plot queue area.
Plot Queue allows you select what plotter to send the plots to.

Plot Scale Plot Scale determines the size of the plotted part. Actual Size will plot all drawings at their actual drawing size. If a certain size is desired for ALL drawings, choose the one wanted, and the drawings will be scaled to that size before plotting.
Pen Settings Set the pen values for each line thickness.
Other Settings Number of copies will specify the number of copies of the drawings plotted.
Plot Rotation allows you to change the orientation of the plot. Rotation is measured in degrees. Entry of a positive value will rotate the plot in a counterclockwise direction. Only integer values will be accepted. Any decimal value entered will have its fractional portion ignored.
Show Banner will apply the NX banner to the drawing, if checked.

Select Plot to begin plotting all drawings in the selected files. A message log dialog will be presented showing the progress of the background process. The plotting can be canceled by pressing the Cancel button in the dialog. The Cancel button will change to Dismiss once the plotting is done. Press Dismiss to close the dialog.

Generating CGM Images

Batchplot provides three different methods of generating a CGM image of a drawing. Select the wanted method from the File menu or the particular icon from the toolbar. A summary of the methods are provided below.

Method
What It Does
Create CGM... Generates CGM image of all drawings in file using Customer conventions and places the images in the chosen directory.
Create CGM For GM... Generates CGM image of all drawings in file using GM conventions and places the images in the chosen directory.
Export Drawing To TC Eng Generates CGM image of all drawings in file and imports them into TeamCenter Engineering as DrawingSheet datasets.