Plotting Shaded Areas in V8 with Iplot
- Place your shape over the area you want to have shaded. In this example we'll use a "Place Block" command. You can also place a shape using a complex shape or an ellipse.
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When you place the shape make sure "Area" is set to "Solid", Fill_Type is set to either Opaque or Outlined. The fill color is can be selected form any color. Depending on which pen table you select will determine if it plots in color or gray.
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After you place your shape, you'll notice that your elements are underneath the shade area. You need to bring them to the front of the shade area. To do this select the "Element Selection" tool and drag the selections box around the newly shaded area. Make sure that you make the selection box larger then the shaded area. Before you take your finger from the mouse to make your selection, hold down on the "Shift" key on your keyboard. This will ensure that all the elements that intersect with the shaded area will be selected.
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Now you need to de-select the shaded area. You can do this by holding down the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and data point the boarder of the shaded area. (Data Point is generally the left mouse button).
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With the elements highlighted and the shaded area de-selected go to "Edit" then move down to "Bring to Front" and pick it.
- Draw your fence around the area you want plotted and open Iplot.
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With Iplot open go to "File" and pick the option "Selecting Plotting Files…"
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After you select this option a second dialog box opens. This is where you pick your color table and pen table for plotting. Set your color table to color1.tbl and the pen table to whichever one you would like.
- There are now two pen tables. One is for plotting and shading in color and the second is for plotting and shading in black and gray. The good news is that there is only one color table to draw and plot with. The pen tables do all the work. The one for plotting color is V8_C_HP8550N.pen and the one for Black/Gray is V8_HP8550N.pen (Default). I would recommend changing your set files to always use the color1.tbl file. This is the same color table that is attached to the seed files when you create a new design file. For information on how to change the set files please refer to other tutorials in the Tips and Tricks section.
- Another feature that has been added it the ability to control the Outline of the shaded area from the shaded area without additional work. The new pen tables will look to see if an Outline was used and simply plot it.
- Now simply plot the image.
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It seems harder then it really is. Once you go through it once or twice it should become quite easy. If you need any help please call the helpdesk at 7600.
