JPH0822490A - Layer selection method and layer attribute editing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Easily select and modify the attribute information of the layer to which an arbitrary graphic element belongs. [Structure] Each of the plurality of graphic elements belongs to an arbitrary layer. An arbitrary graphic element displayed on the display unit 4 is selected as a reference element according to the selection operation by the input unit 1. When the reference element is selected, the attribute information of the layer to which the reference element belongs is extracted from the graphic element storage unit 3 and displayed on the display unit 4. The attribute information of the layer displayed on the display unit 4 is appropriately edited by the input unit 4. The attribute information of the edited layer is stored again in the graphic element storage unit 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a layer selecting method and a layer attribute editing method for selecting an arbitrary layer including a plurality of graphic elements or editing its attribute information in a CAD system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a CAD system, a plurality of graphic elements are classified according to component types, processing steps, etc., and each of them is assigned to a different layer, so that graphic elements can be organized or N
It has been made easy to generate a C machining program. To which layer each graphic element belongs
For example, it can be identified by changing the display color for each layer. Therefore, information such as display color is set in the attribute information of each layer. Conventionally, when changing the attribute information of a layer that contains a specific graphic element, you can confirm which layer the graphic element is included by the display color etc., and then specify the confirmed layer number. , It is necessary to change the attribute information of that layer.

[0003]

However, in the above-described operation, when the number of graphic elements and the number of layers increase, it takes time and effort to confirm which layer a specific graphic element belongs to, and the operation is performed. There is a problem in that it becomes complicated and specification mistakes are likely to occur. In addition, if the attribute information of the layer that has been selected incorrectly is corrected, there is a problem that it takes more time to correct it again.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and a first object thereof is to provide a layer selection method capable of easily selecting a layer to which an arbitrary graphic element belongs. To do. A second object of the present invention is to provide a layer attribute editing method capable of easily calling and modifying attribute information of a layer to which an arbitrary graphic element belongs.

[0005]

In the layer selection method according to the present invention, each of a plurality of graphic elements is stored in the storage means in a form belonging to an arbitrary layer, and any one of these layers is selected. In the layer selection method, the step of designating an arbitrary graphic element displayed on the display means in accordance with the selection operation by the input means, the step of selecting the graphic element designated in this step as a reference element from the storage means, The step of recognizing the layer number to which the reference element selected in the step belongs based on the attached information of the reference element, and the step of selecting the information of the layer of the number recognized in this step from the storage means. It is characterized by

Further, in the layer attribute editing method according to the present invention, each of the plurality of graphic elements is stored in the storage means in such a form that it belongs to an arbitrary layer, and any one of these layers is selected and its attribute information is selected. In the layer attribute editing method for editing, the step of designating an arbitrary drawing element displayed on the display means in accordance with a selection operation by the input means, and the graphic element designated in this step being selected from the storage means as a reference element The step of selecting, from the storage means, the attribute information of the layer to which the reference element selected in this step belongs, the step of displaying the attribute information of the layer selected in this step on the display means, and this step A step for editing the attribute information of the layer displayed on the display means in accordance with the operation of the input means. Characterized in that a flop.

[0007]

According to the layer editing method of the present invention, the layer to which the selected graphic element belongs is treated as the selected layer by simply selecting an arbitrary graphic element displayed on the display means using the input means. When selecting a layer, it is no longer necessary to confirm to which layer the target graphic element belongs, which simplifies the selection operation and eliminates the selection error.

Further, according to the layer attribute editing method of the present invention, the attribute information of the layer to which the graphic element belongs is immediately displayed on the display means only by the operation of selecting the graphic element described above. Is extremely easy, and mistakes in editing layer attributes are eliminated.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a CA for realizing a layer selection method and a layer attribute editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of D system. This system includes an input unit 1 including a coordinate input device such as a mouse, a joystick, and a tablet device, a CAD processing unit 2 including a CPU, predetermined software, and the like.
An external disk device that stores graphic elements and layer attribute information, a graphic element storage unit 3 such as a working memory, and a display unit 4 such as a color CRT display device or a color liquid crystal display device are provided.

The CAD processing unit 2 is configured to include the following units. That is, the element selection unit 11 selects an arbitrary graphic element as a reference element based on the input information from the input unit 1. The search / selection processing unit 12 searches for all other graphic elements included in the layer to which the reference element selected by the element selection unit 11 belongs, and adds a selection flag to the selected graphic element and the reference element. The display control unit 15 is controlled to change the display form of the selected graphic element. The layer attribute read / write unit 13 reads the attribute information of the layer to which the selected reference element belongs from the graphic element storage unit 3 and supplies it to the layer attribute edit processing unit 14.
The layer attribute information after the editing processing by the layer attribute editing processing unit 14 is written in the graphic element storage unit 3. The layer attribute edit processing unit 14 appropriately edits the layer attribute information extracted by the layer attribute reading / writing unit 12 based on the operation of the input unit 1. The display processing unit 15 executes control for displaying necessary information on the display unit 4 during the processing in each of these units.

Next, the operation of the present system thus constructed will be described. When the edit mode is selected from the main menu (not shown), the menu as shown in FIG. Here, when "Layer" is selected, the menu shown in FIG. "Active" is a command to specify the active layer setting process, "Attribute setting" is the editing / setting process of the attribute information of the selected layer, and "Move" is a command to specify the execution process of moving the figure layer between layers. is there. "Element reference" is a command for designating an element when selecting a layer.

Here, for example, when "attribute setting" and "element reference" are designated, the processing of FIG. 3 is activated. First, as shown in FIG. 4, a message 22 "Please specify the element to be referenced." Is displayed on the display screen 21 of the display unit 4 (S1). According to this message 22, for example, when the cursor 23 operated by the input unit 1 such as a mouse is hit near a specific graphic element 24, the element selection unit 1
1 is activated, the coordinates of the hit point are loaded from a mouse coordinate storage unit (not shown) (S2), and a graphic element passing through (in the vicinity of) the loaded point is selected from the graphic element storage unit 3 (S3). This graphic element is used as a reference element.

When the reference element is selected, the search / selection processing unit 12 is activated, and a selection flag indicating that it has been selected is added to all graphic elements included in the layer to which the reference element belongs (S4). That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the graphic element data 31 in the graphic element storage unit 3 includes straight lines, circles, ellipses,
It is classified and stored for each element type like a free curve,
The information of each graphic element includes start point coordinates, end point coordinates, center coordinates,
A pointer 32 that points to a storage area that stores an actual value such as a radius, attribute information 33 that the graphic element has, and a selection flag 3 that indicates whether the graphic element is a selection element.
4 and. The storage area designated by the pointer 32 stores actual coordinate data 35, radius data 36, and the like. The attribute information 33 includes information 37 on the layer number to which the graphic element belongs, and the other storage areas of the graphic element storage unit 3 are associated with the information 37 on the layer numbers. The attribute information 38 of the layer is stored.

Therefore, the search / selection processing unit 12 extracts the layer number information 37 in the attribute information 33 from the reference element, and all graphic elements having the same layer number as the layer number in the attribute information 33. Select flag of "1"
To rewrite. As a result, all graphic elements included in the same layer as the reference element are selected.

Subsequently, the search / selection processing unit 12 controls the display control unit 15 to change the display mode of the selected graphic element (S5). Next, the layer attribute reading / writing unit 13 is activated, and the layer attribute information 38 specified by the layer number information 37 in the extracted reference element attribute information 33 is read from the graphic element storage unit 3 (S6). ).
This layer attribute information is stored in the layer attribute edit processing unit 14
It is displayed on the display unit 4 by the display control unit 15 while being subjected to the editing processing in step S7.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the layer attribute information extracted in this way. The layer attribute information is displayed in, for example, a dialog menu format in which items such as a layer number, priority order, title, dimension magnification, color, display, element selection, and comment can be set. A fixed number from 1 to 300 is assigned as the layer number. “Priority” is the display priority during envelope processing,
“Color” is an item for setting display color, “display” is for displaying or not displaying (toggle switch), and “element selection” is for enabling / disabling selection target (toggle switch). The layer attribute edit processing unit 14 receives an operation from the input unit 1 for setting these items, and executes a process for attribute editing (S8).

When the editing processing of the layer attribute information is completed and the setting key is input (S9), the layer attribute reading /
The layer attribute information corrected via the writing unit 13 is stored in the graphic element storage unit 3 (S10).

On the other hand, when "Execution" is selected as it is without selecting "Element reference" on the menu screen of FIG. 2B, the attribute information of all layers is displayed as shown in FIG. It is displayed in the format, and the operation is to select one layer to edit from this menu. in this case,
If you do not confirm in advance which layer's attribute information is to be edited, a specification error will occur.

Although the editing process of the layer attribute information is taken as an example here, the layer selection is performed by the above-mentioned element reference even when the active layer is set or when the graphic element is moved between the layers. It goes without saying that it is possible.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the layer to which the selected graphic element belongs can be selected by simply selecting an arbitrary graphic element displayed on the display means using the input means. Since it is not necessary to check to which layer the target graphic element belongs at the time of selecting a layer, the selection operation becomes extremely simple, and the selection error can be eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a CAD system to which a layer selection method and a layer attribute editing method according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen for executing layer selection and attribute editing of the system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process at the time of executing an attribute setting and element reference command in the same system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a message and a display screen when the same element reference command is executed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of graphic elements and layer attribute information stored in a graphic element storage unit in the same system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of layer attribute information extracted by the element reference command.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of layer attribute information when the element reference command is not used.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Input unit, 2 ... CAD processing unit, 3 ... Graphic element storage unit,
4 ... Display unit, 11 ... Element selecting unit, 12 ... Search / selection processing unit, 13 ... Layer attribute reading / writing unit, 14 ... Layer attribute editing processing unit, 15 ... Display control unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A layer selection method for selecting any one of these layers, wherein each of the plurality of graphic elements is stored in a storage means in a form belonging to an arbitrary layer, and the arbitrary displayed on the display means. The graphic element designated by the input means according to the selecting operation, the graphic element designated in this step as a reference element from the storage means, and the layer number to which the reference element selected in this step belongs A layer selecting method comprising: a step of recognizing based on the attached information of the reference element; and a step of selecting information of the layer of the number recognized in this step from the storage means. 2. A layer attribute editing method for storing each of a plurality of graphic elements in a storage means in a form belonging to an arbitrary layer, and selecting any one of these layers to edit its attribute information. A step of designating an arbitrary drawing element displayed on the display means in accordance with a selection operation by the input means, a step of selecting the graphic element designated in this step from the storage means as a reference element, and a step of selecting in this step Selecting the attribute information of the layer to which the reference element belongs from the storage means, displaying the attribute information of the layer selected in this step on the display means, and the attribute of the layer displayed on the display means in this step And a step of editing the information according to the operation by the input means. Sex editing method.