Basic elements, general description

Opening Basic Elements from the menu or icon view:

Furniture is assembled from basic elements, and this page serves their construction.

By default, the basic element, machining, and node/wall elements are protected against accidental modifications; changes to these can only be made at your own risk. Disabling the protection requires accepting a warning from the popup window. Modifications are possible in the Basic Data, Default Settings tab.

The basic element

• Basic elements are dynamically defined elements that do not yet belong to a specific piece of furniture; they are incorporated during the furniture assembly process.
  
  
• Their final dimensions do not need to and cannot be determined here or in the furniture editor; they are obtained only during the furnishing process.
  
  
• The furniture receives its enclosure size at this point, and the basic elements derive their dimensions from this.

The screen has three fundamental views:

Database view

• In the database view, new basic elements can be created, existing ones can be modified, and their basic properties can be set.
  
  

3D view

• The drawing view displays the current basic element in 3D.
  
  

Machining view

• In the machining view, holes and node/wall templates created for the component can be modified, copied, and new ones can be created.
  
  

Tool tabs

• Seven tool tabs are continuously visible on the right side of the monitor, which allows setting the geometric properties (size, position, etc.) of the selected basic element. These are discussed in detail in separate submenus.
  
  

Grouping of basic elements

Basic elements are organized at three levels similar to materials: groups, basic elements, and components.

Group

• In addition to the group Name, a Note can be added.

Attention!

Existing groups cannot be expanded, but users can create new groups to create new basic elements.

Basic element

• In addition to the Name and Note, there are Size filtering here.
  This is particularly important for internal drawers. The filter can be separately set for width, depth, and height, by specifying a range from-to value. This means that the basic element with all its components will only appear if its size is within the specified limits.

• Search in groups and basic elements
  
  

Component

• In addition to the Name and Note, there is an option for a second comment, which will only appear in manufacturing preparation lists.
  
  
• It is possible to enter a quantity value. Its significance is only for calculations.
  Click on the blue fields to select the material.
  
  
• It is not possible to define a basic element without material!
  
  
• The size and unit values under material selection are for informational purposes only, as these are the properties of the selected material. This unit will also determine the geometric definition of the basic element. For example, a square meter element has longitudinal and transverse dimensions, as well as thickness, which cannot be adjusted - this will be the first dimension of the selected material. A cubic meter element has width, depth, and height, all of which can be adjusted.
  
  
• Below, you can see if machining is associated with the component.

Selected elements can be sorted, deleted, modified, and expanded in all three lists. Changes must be confirmed with the Modify button!

Saving to file

Click on the circled icon in the image to "save to file". This is necessary after making any changes to a basic element. A popup error message may appear if you have not saved to file.

Attention! For proper operation, after making any modifications to basic elements, save to file!

If planning to modify multiple basic elements, it's advisable to make all changes first and then save to file. You can safely ignore error messages until after saving.

File saving can take up to 5 minutes. Saving is complete when the cursor finishes "circling".

Switch groups

With the indicated icon, you can open switch groups, where switches grouped according to topics can be tested for basic elements. Switches appear in place of basic element groups.

In drawing view, switches can be tested to see how the selected basic element responds. Of course, a basic element will only respond to a switch if it is set for one of its properties.

Groups and switches can be fully customized on the switch groups page.

Keywords: #basic element #component #machining #basic elements