Automatic recovery of unstructured layout

For the successful automatic layout recovery of an imported file, it is critical that the outer contour — the continuous contour formed by the outer objects of the original layout drawing — is both closed (that is, there are no gaps in it) and in the Cutting style.

When imported into EngView , files from external formats keep their own styles and their outer contours often have gaps, which makes the recovery impossible. That is why, once you have imported a file, it is necessary to:

  1. Apply the Cutting style to the objects that make up the outer contour. To do this, right-click an object from the outer contour, point to Select, and then click By color. This selects all the objects that are in this color. When the objects are selected, apply the Cutting style to them.

    TIP: If all the lines in your drawing are in the same style, select by hand the objects that you want to form the outer contour, and then apply the Cutting style to them.

  2. Check if the outer contour is closed — that is, that there are no gaps in it. TIP: This is best done by using the Fill functionality. (1) Draw a closed contour around the drawing. (The easiest way is to draw a rectangle — this guarantees that the contour will be closed). (2) Use the Fill functionality and click anywhere in the area between the drawn rectangle and the original drawing. (3) Inspect if the fill enters the original drawing: if the fill surrounds the original drawing without getting in the drawing, then the outer contour of the original drawing is closed. The following picture displays the method.

Closed contour as defined by drawing a rectangle around the original layout drawing. The fill applied to the drawn rectangle shows that the outer contour of the original drawing is closed.

The fill in the upper section of the left-hand 1up (highlighted) shows that there are gaps in this section. This means that its contour needs to be repaired.

To use automatic recovery

  1. Do one of the following:

The Automatic Unstructured Layout Recovery wizard appears, displaying the Unstructured layout page.

  1. If your project has more than one drawing, in the Unstructured layout drawing dropdown list, select the drawing which you want to work with, and then click Next.

NOTE: As a result, the unstructured layout layer appears in light grey in the background of the layout drawing. It can serve as a reference drawing during the positioning of the final layout. To remove this reference drawing, in the graphical area right-click anywhere, and then click Clear Unstructured Layer on the context menu.

The Automatic Unstructured Layout Recovery wizard displays the 1Up Contours page.

  1. Click in the contours that you do not want to use as layout 1ups, and then click Next.

NOTE: All closed contours are initially hatched, each type in a different color. Clicking in a contour removes the hatch, thus eliminating the contour from being processed later as a layout 1up.

The Automatic Unstructured Layout Recovery wizard displays the 1Up Drawings page.

  1. (Optional) If you want to use a different drawing as a 1up, in the 1Up Substitution column, select the drawing with which you want to substitute the current one. To prevent the drawing from appearing in the layout, select Ignore.
  1. (Optional) In the 1up Name column, edit the name of the 1up.
  2. (Optional) In the Rotation column, rotate the 1up at 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees.
  3. Click Next.

The Automatic Unstructured Layout Recovery wizard displays the Create Layout page.

  1. (Optional) To add objects to the layout which are different from 1ups, select the Add unrecognized objects to layout check box.

NOTE: Non-1up objects can be tables, descriptions, stripping knives or markers, among others.