The HCM Window in the ICN

HCM models of 3-D assemblies and also of sketches are displayed in the HCM in a similar way. Therefore, this topic describes both cases, and points out the differences where required.

Display of the HCM model in the ICN

On the HCM tab of the ICN, all assigned HCM constraints of the current assembly / sketch will be displayed. Once assigned, these constraints can also be edited subsequently if desired.

The HCM tab provides a clear overview of all assigned positional and dimensional constraints. For assemblies, it also shows you how many degrees of freedom still exist.

The list of constraints can be structured in two ways: By constraints or by geometries. You can toggle between the two modes with the /  buttons. The icon of the button displays the current state:

In this view, all constraints in this HCM model are listed on the first level. If you expand it, the geometries that are affected by this constraint are shown. If the option Group elements according to dimensional and positional constraints has been activated, the Positional constraints and Dimensional constraints will be shown as first level entries, and the corresponding constraints will be sorted beneath them.

In this view all parts / geometries that are affected by a constraint (or are contained in the active assembly, respectively) are listed at the first level.

For assemblies, the degrees of freedom of this part are displayed separately according to rotation and translation. Only direct sub-parts of the active module are considered as "parts" here. If the assembly contains further assemblies, these are always treated as a whole. Parts within such an assembly are ignored accordingly. If you expand a part entry, the constraints referring to this part will be listed. The parts here are colour-marked depending on their respective status:

Right-clicking on a part opens a context menu, allowing you to fix or unfix the part.

The button allows you to quickly enable or disable the use of external references in the Sketch HCM.

Use the buttons to expand and collapse all entries in the list:

The button opens the Settings of the HCM display in the ICN.

At the bottom edge of the window the sum of all degrees of freedom in the current HCM model is displayed.

If you select a HCM constraint in the table, the points, planes or parts affected by the constraint will be highlighted in the model drawing. Double-clicking on a dimensional constraint opens the Edior for changing the value of the dimensional constraint. If you expand a HCM constraint and then click on a geometry, you can choose another geometry in the drawing that is to replace the first selected geometry in this constraint.

Special HCM constraints will be indicated by means of the following symbols:

Filters

Use the buttons to filter the shown constraints according to different aspects.

If a filter is active, the corresponding button will be highlighted. Click on this button again to deactivate the filter. A filter will also be deactivated if you choose a different filter, i.e. only one filter can be active.

These filters not only affect the display in the ICN, but also the display of the constraints in the drawing area.

Left: Display of all constraints; Right: Filter "Constraints with external references"

Display of errors

Errors can occur in HCM models: For instance, you can accidentally delete a part to which a constraint referred. In such cases, the constraint in the HCM window will be preserved, but will be marked as an incorrect in the ICN.

Incorrect entries are divided into 2 categories:

Errors are "real" errors that can occur, for example, when a part to which a constraint referred was deleted. As long as this error exists, the constraint is ignored. You can double-click on the incorrect relationship (here: "Point: Geometry does not exist") and then identify a new point in the drawing to repair the constraint.

Warnings, on the other hand, are usually only temporary errors. For example, a warning is displayed when a part to which a constraint applies is only disabled by a feature constraint.

If you move the cursor over an error or warning icon, a tooltip with a short description of the error will be displayed:

If you click on an error or warning symbol, all sub-level entries containing errors will be expanded.

Shortcuts

You can mark all constraints in the list in the ICN at once with the shortcut CTRL+A .

To delete marked constraints, you can use (besides the context menu function) the DEL key.

Context menu

If you right-click in the HCM window, a context menu with various functions will be displayed. The range of function varies, depending on which part of the window you right-click.

All available functions are listed below; however, HiCAD will always offer only those functions that actually make sense in the current situation. For instance, it is not possible to change the orientation for a positional constraint of the type Fixing; therefore, this option will not be offered here.

If you hold down the SHIFT or CTRL key you can choose multiple constraints. If you right-click your multiple selection, only those context menu functions will be displayed that can actually be applied to this multiple selection. For instance, you can then apply a comment to both positional and dimensional constraints, or use the Zoom to constraint(s) function. But you cannot, for instance assign a new value to both a positional and a dimensional constraint, as a positional constraint has no value.

 

Comments

Constraints can also contain comments. These have no influence on the model drawing, but help to better understand the meaning and/or purpose of constraints.

You can assign a comment to a constraint in the following ways:

In the multi-column display of the ICN, the comment will be shown in the same-named column. Furthermore, you can expand each HCM entry, and will then find a Comment entra in the expanded structure.

Deactivated HCM constraints

HCM constraints can be deactivated. These constraints will then be completely ignored by HiCAD, but can be reactivated at any time if desired. This can be done as follows:

The list also indicates which of the constraints are currently activated or deactivated:

Greyed out constraints (here: "Parallel" and "Fixing") have been deactivated manually. The symbol indicates that the constraint has been deactivated dynamically by another constraint.

Change order of constraints

The order of the HCM constraints in the ICN can now be changed by Drag & Drop.

HCM constraints can only be moved within their group. Accordingly, positional constraints cannot be moved to the Dimensional constraints group and vice versa; likewise, in the Sort by geometry view, constraints can be moved only within their part.

Newly created constraints are always inserted at the end of the list.

Settings

Click on the symbol to open a dialogue window with setting options for the HCM display in the ICN.

The following options are available here:

3-D Part Constraints Manager