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Overview |
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Guidelines |
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Example |
You can configure animation for any object in CimEdit, to be viewed through CimView. However, because CimView is a display process, it is crucial that it reflects the active measurement system.
Animation capabilities in CimEdit include:
Color animation
Movement
Rotation/fill
Scaling
Objects configured for each of these capabilities will take expressions, including minimum and maximum values. However, when you need to do a conversion, it is important to take into account how CimView deals with an expression's minimum/maximum values and their related high/low values.
When CimView processes an object's animation expression, it first looks for minimum and maximum values specified within the object properties. If it finds them, it uses them. Because these values are attached to the object, not a point with a measurement unit, CimView uses the values as entered independent of the measurement unit.
Second, if the minimum and maximum fields in the object's Properties dialog box are blank and the animation expression is a single Point ID, CimView looks for Display low and Display high values configured in the View tab of the Point Configuration Properties box. If the Display low and Display high fields:
Are blank, CimView defaults to a
constant minimum of 0 and maximum of 100, independent of the
measurement unit.
Contain values, CimView uses those
values. Because they are correctly associated with the point's
measurement unit, the values will be converted to the active
measurement unit at runtime.
If you want to guarantee that your animation will properly adjust to measurement system changes at runtime, make sure that for every animation expression using a single point ID in your CimView screens, the:
Minimum and Maximum fields in CimEdit are blank so
the point display limits are used.
Display low and
Display high fields are
filled, in the View tab of the Point Properties dialog box.
Using the U.S. Customary system as the active measurement system, you want to move an object from a lowest value (0 inches) on the left of the screen to a highest value (100 inches) on the right of the screen, as the point's value changes.
You then change the active measurement system from U.S. Customary to Metric. As a result, the measurement units are converted from inches to centimeters
Don't
Specify 0 (inches) as the expression minimum value and 100 (inches) as the expression maximum value in the object's configuration window.
If the point in the animation expression has a base value of 8 inches (displayed as 20.32 cm.), it will cause CimView to incorrectly place the animated object within the 0-100 limits because it thinks the 0-100 limits are centimeters. Because the range is incorrect, CimView will display the value too far to the right. (The range should be 0-254 cm.)
Do
Leave the object's fields blank and enter 0 in the point's Display low, 100 in its Display high field in Point Configuration.
If the point in the animation expression has a value of 8 inches (displayed as 20.32 cm.), CimView will properly place the animated object within the limits, because they are converted to centimeters. (0-100 is now 0-254.)
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Some guidelines for measurement units. |
