Palette Sequence

Post Processors - Palette Sequence

The palette sequence shows how the palettes are mapped to the plotter machine tools. The main part of this page shows a list of palette or break entries; each palette entry mapping one or more palettes to one or two tools. The order of this palette sequence is very important because it determines the order of output of plotted entities.

All palettes that are before the first Break command in the palette sequence will be output first, followed by all palettes between the first and second Break commands and so on. The palettes between a pair of Break commands are referred to as a group.

Add Palette

You can add a new palette to the Palette Sequence by pressing the Add Palette button, causing the Sequence Attributes form to appear. The settings for the currently highlighted palette entry are copied into the form. The new palette entry is added to the list above the highlighted entry.

Add Break

You can add a new break in the sequence by pressing the Add Break button, causing the Break Attributes form to appear. From the first pulldown list choose the required Break entry. From the second pulldown list labelled When to break, choose either Output before palette, Output after palette or Always output.

The new break is added to the list above the highlighted palette entry.

The data associated with the Break entry will be output when all preceding palettes have been output. If there is no geometry associated with the following group the data will not be output if When to break has been set to Output before palette. If there is no geometry associated with both the preceding group and the following group the data will not be output if When to break has been set to either Output before palette or Output after palette.

For example, if a palette sequence is set up as follows:-

< Break 1 >
Palette1
< Break 2 >
Palette2
< Break 3 >
Palette3
< Break 4 >
Palette4

And the drawing contains geometry made up of all four palettes. The output data will be the same regardless of the When to break settings.

If the Palette2 geometry is deleted from the drawing there will be a difference, depending on the When to break settings.  If they are all set to Output before palette then the < Break 2 > data will not be output.

If the Palette3 geometry is also deleted from the drawing it will be different again. This time, if they are all set to Output before palette then the < Break 2 > and < Break 3 > data will not be output. If they are all set to Output after palette then the < Break 3 > data will not be output.

Add Pause

When a Pause is reached during the output, you will be prompted to Press OK to continue. This option is only suitable for outputting directly to a machine rather than to a file.

Change

To change an existing palette or break entry, highlight it in the list and press the Change button.

Delete

The Delete button deletes items from the palette sequence.

Up and Down Arrows

To move an entry in the list, highlight it and use the buttons to move it up or down.

Options

Tool 2 Cuts bridges

When this option is selected Tool 1 corresponds to the non-bridged part of the entity and tool 2 corresponds to the bridged part. For example, this option could be used to laser etch bridges with Tool 2.

Bridge Tolerance

Setting a tolerance will filter out any bridges shorter than the dimension specified, e.g. a tolerance of 5mm would prevent any bridges shorter than 5mm from being output to tool 2.

Tool 1 Horizontal / Tool 2 Vertical

The tool used depends on whether the entity is nearest to horizontal or vertical.

Tool Up After Each Line

The plotter machine will output a tool up code at the end of every line.

Use Primary Palette When No Secondary Palette

If an entity has a secondary palette that is not referenced in the palette sequence, selecting this option causes the primary palette to be used instead. Otherwise the entity is not output.

Allow Multiple Palette Output

This option will allow palettes that fall into more than one palette attributes category to be output the number of times listed. For instance, a Cut palette could be referred to by name on one line of the palette sequence and by palette type on another line.

Output All Breaks

Every break in the palette sequence will be output. This overrides the When to break settings described above.

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