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Preview is a vector graphic (T-FLEX CAD Metafile) or bitmap (Windows BMP) image of an arbitrary size saved together with the drawing file. It serves for quick previewing of the document contents in the preview window, when opening the document or inserting it as a fragment, a picture or a 3D picture.

You can find out whether the preview is available within the given drawing file, when the document appears in the window “Library Explorer”, by picking the item “Properties” from the context menu invoked by the .

Document icon – small, raster picture of fixed size (16x16, 32x32, 48x48 or 64x64 pixels). It is displayed on the tab of the open document, in the list of documents found in the Library Explorer.

The mode of automatic preview and icon creation can be set in the command "ST: Set Document Parameters" on the tab Save.

 

Creating preview

The command "PV: Save Preview" is provided for creating a preview. The command is called by one of the following means:

 

Creating preview in the T-FLEX CAD Metafile (BMF) format is possible only upon invoking the command from 2D window. Such preview is created on the basis of the image of the active 2D page of the current document. The area of the page, the image of which will copied into the preview, can be determined by the system automatically or specified by the user.

For automatic determination of the area of the drawing for which preview is created, the flag “Save Automatically” should be enabled. The state of the toggle below the flag determines how the system will select the area:

By Window Size. The preview image is created by the image of the current 2D window;

Maximize Image (By image size). The preview image is generated by the whole image of the current page of the drawing;

By Paper Size. The preview image is created by the image of the drawing found itself within the drawing border  of the given page.

After turning on the flag “Save automatically” and setting up the desired toggle state, it is enough to press [OK] and the preview will be created in the current document.

To manually specify the area of the drawing, the flag “Save Automatically” should be turned off. In this case, after pressing[OK] and closing the dialog window “Preview”, in the 2D window it is necessary to  specify the rectangular domain of arbitrary size. To do it, bring the cursor to one of the corners of the intended rectangle and press , then bring the cursor to another corner and press again. After that, the preview creation will be completed.

Preview in the raster Windows Bitmap (BMP) format can be created when invoking the command both from the 2D or 3D window. As in the previous case, the preview is created on the basis of the whole image or part of the image of the active 2D page. The used area of the page can be determined by the system automatically or specified by the user.

The size of the created raster picture (in pixels) is specified via the group of parameters “Bitmap Size”. The same parameters determine the dimensions of the rectangular box which is used for specifying manually the area of the drawing for creating the preview.

Creating preview with automatic determination of the area of the drawing is carried out in the same way as for the BMF format: it is necessary to set on the flag “Save Automatically”, select the desired approach for determination of the area of the drawing and press[OK].

For manual specification of the area of the drawing, the flag “Save Automatically” should be turned off. After pressing [OK] and closing the dialog window of the command, a rectangular box attached to the cursor will appear on the screen (its size will coincide with the size of the picture being created). To create preview, bring the box to the desired area of the 2D window and press .

The settings of the command ST: Set Document Parameters can be disabled in favor of the described command settings. This will happen if you use the value "None" or "Auto" in the "Save" combo box on the tab Save of the command ST: Set Document Parameters. Upon confirming the parameter settings, a message would be displayed that the preview would be created manually.

The preview created in the current document can be exported to the external file of the BMF or BMP format (according to in which format the preview of the current document was created). And vice versa, any picture from the external file of the BMF or BMP format can be imported to the current document. To do it, after invoking the command, select in the list the required operation (“PV: Save preview”), and then in the appeared standard window for saving/opening files specify the name of the external file.

The preview saved in the external file of the BMP format can be edited by using tools of any graphics editor.