Using Combined States to Control Visibility of Items
You can use one of the following to control the visibility of annotations and supplemental geometry:
• Layers
• Combination states
The following visibility management schemes are available to control combination state in the model:
• MBD state—Use to manage the visibility of both annotations and supplemental geometry by direct assignment to a combination state.
• Semi-MBD state—Use to manage the visibility of annotations only by direct assignment to a combination state and to manage the visibility of supplemental geometry by using layers.
• Non-MBD state—Used to manage the visibility of both annotations and supplemental geometry by using layers and layer states.
You can use the configuration option, combined_state_type, to set the default method of visibility management for newly created combination states. This option does not affect existing combination states. The available values for combined_state_type is listed below:
• mbd
• semi_mbd
• non_mbd
The MBD Type Combination state
The MBD type combination state controls the visibility of annotations and supplementary geometry. The Annotations and Supplementary Geometry check boxes show selection for this combination state.
You can assign axes to mbd state by selecting geometry using the selection filter. The following conditions are valid only in the mbd state:
• Right-click the axis on the Model Tree or the graphics window. On the shortcut menu, click Assign. The axis is displayed under the Detail Tree.
• Click the axes that belong to other combination states on the Model Tree or the graphics window. Right-click in the graphics window and select Assign on the shortcut menu. The axis is shown in the mbd state, under the Detail Tree.
• Click the axes that belong to other combination states on the Model Tree or graphics window. and change the state to the mbd combination state.
Under the Manage Annotations group, click Add to State. On the Assign Annotations dialog box, select the axes and click OK. The selected axes are shown in the Detail Tree.
• Select the axes from the Model Tree or the graphics widow. On the Annotate tab, click Show Annotations. In the Show Annotations dialog box, click the datum tab and select Axes from the Type list. The selected axes are displayed in the dialog box. Click the check boxes, under the Show column, for which you want to show the axes.
The Semi_MBD Type Combination State
This combination state manages annotation visibility while the visibility of supplemental geometry is managed by layers. This is the default. The Annotations check box is selected and the Supplementary Geometry check box is inactive for the combination state.
The Non_MBD Type Combination state
The Annotations and Supplementary Geometry check boxes are inactive for the newly created combination state. The visibility of annotation and supplemental geometry is managed by layers.
Remove from State — You can remove multiple annotations and supplemental geometry from the mbd state in the following ways:
• Select the annotations or supplemental geometry:
◦ Right-click, on the shortcut menu and click Remove from State.
◦ Under the Manage Annotations group, click Remove from State.
Redefining the Visibility of a Combination state
You can redefine the visibility of a combination state so that a combination state is converted to one of the other types of combination states. Such conversion maintains the visibility of the items in the graphics area. However, when the combination state is redefined, the visibility of items owned by the sub-models, such as annotations and geometry, does not match the previous display if the sub-model items were added to the shown or hidden layers of the assembly
Converting an MBD State to a Semi-MBD State
All supplemental geometry items including axes are removed from the Detail Tree and are no longer directly assigned to the combination state.
The visibility of the supplemental geometry items remains the same in the graphics window. As the visibility of supplemental geometry in a semi-MBD state is determined by layers, in order to maintain the same visibility during redefinition of the combination state:
• Geometry items that are generally hidden by layers, but were visible in the MBD state are added to the Shown Items layer.
• Geometry items that are generally visible by layers, but were not visible in the MBD state are added to the Hidden Items layer
Annotations assigned to the MBD combination state remain assigned to the Semi-MBD combination state
Converting an MBD State to a Non-MBD State
When you convert an MBD state to a Non-MBD state, the supplemental geometry behaves the same as it was when the MBD state was converted to Semi-MBD state. The annotations behave as follows:
• All annotations are removed from the Detail Tree. A message informs you that the combination state visibility is controlled by layers.
• The visibility of annotations remains the same in the graphics window. As the visibility of annotations in a Non-MBD state is determined by layers, to maintain the same visibility during the redefinition of the combination state:
◦ Annotations that are hidden by layers, but were visible in the MBD state are added to the Shown Items layer.
◦ Annotations that are visible by layers, but were not visible in the MBD state are added to the Hidden Items layer.
Converting a Non-MBD State to an MBD State and an MBD State to a Non-MBD State
When you convert a Non-MBD state to an MBD state, the visibility of annotations and supplemental geometry is the same in the graphics area. Annotations or supplemental geometry that are visible in the Non-MBD state are assigned to the MBD state and are visible after the conversion.
When you convert a Non-MBD to a Semi-MBD state conversion, the annotations are assigned to the Semi-MBD state as the supplemental geometry is managed by layers. When you convert the Semi-MBD to an MBD state, the supplemental geometry is assigned to the MBD state as the annotations that are already assigned to the Semi-MBD state continue to remain assigned to the MBD state with no changes.
cs_print_use_frm_file
The cs_print_use_frm_file configuration option allows you to specify the path to the (*.frm) format file.
When you click Browse under Format in the Printer Configuration dialog box, the Open dialog box shows the directory specified by the cs_print_use_frm_file configuration option.