GEMS R4 and Plugins: Reference Manual v. 4.5.21

GEMS R4 and plugins
Reference manual
v. 4.5.21
1
Installation...................................................................................................................................5
Update..................................................................................................................................... 5
Updating from GEMS R3....................................................................................................... 5
Converting the ADMiCUT database.......................................................................................6
Backup.........................................................................................................................................7
Scheduled backup....................................................................................................................7
Floating licence........................................................................................................................... 8
Passwords....................................................................................................................................9
GEMS Basics............................................................................................................................ 11
Running commands...............................................................................................................11
Entering points...................................................................................................................... 12
Entering distances................................................................................................................. 14
Entering angles......................................................................................................................14
Entering numbers.................................................................................................................. 14
GEMS Base commands.............................................................................................................15
File commands...................................................................................................................... 15
Plot settings....................................................................................................................... 18
Dump bitmap.....................................................................................................................19
Customize toolbar............................................................................................................. 20
Edit commands......................................................................................................................23
View commands....................................................................................................................24
Layer dialog.......................................................................................................................25
Color dialog.......................................................................................................................26
Block definition dialog......................................................................................................27
Insert block dialog.............................................................................................................28
Parametric parts.................................................................................................................29
Format commands.................................................................................................................30
Point style dialog...............................................................................................................31
Environment options dialog.............................................................................................. 32
Grid settings dialog........................................................................................................... 33
Dimension settings dialog................................................................................................. 34
Draw commands................................................................................................................36
The tools menu......................................................................................................................40
Modify commands................................................................................................................ 41
Polygon editor dialog........................................................................................................ 45
Polar array dialog.............................................................................................................. 46
Rectangular array dialog................................................................................................... 47
Data exchange module.............................................................................................................. 48
NC Reader ............................................................................................................................49
Signmaker option module......................................................................................................... 50
Tile maker ............................................................................................................................ 50
Font tracer ............................................................................................................................ 51
Image tracer ..........................................................................................................................53
CAM-Tools module ................................................................................................................ 55
Boundary polygon ................................................................................................................ 55
Clean up ............................................................................................................................... 56
Curvefit ................................................................................................................................ 57
Vectorize .............................................................................................................................. 57
Object replace .......................................................................................................................57
Edge fix ................................................................................................................................ 57
Align object ..............................................................................................................................58
2
Nest module.............................................................................................................................. 59
Bump nest ........................................................................................................................... 59
Quick nest ............................................................................................................................ 60
Auto nest .............................................................................................................................. 62
2D CAM module.......................................................................................................................66
Machine and Material .......................................................................................................... 66
Machine.................................................................................................................................67
Common............................................................................................................................68
Sheet/Heads.......................................................................................................................70
Collision............................................................................................................................ 71
AWJ.................................................................................................................................. 72
Cost................................................................................................................................... 73
Material................................................................................................................................. 74
AWJ.................................................................................................................................. 76
Machinability NON US version........................................................................................78
Machinability US version................................................................................................. 80
Water................................................................................................................................. 81
Laser.................................................................................................................................. 82
Gas.................................................................................................................................... 84
Plasma............................................................................................................................... 85
Create sheet .......................................................................................................................... 86
Update sheets (F5) ................................................................................................................87
Lock sheet ............................................................................................................................ 88
Unlock sheet .........................................................................................................................89
Create part ............................................................................................................................ 90
Restore geometry ..................................................................................................................92
Manual cutting ..................................................................................................................... 93
The loops dialog................................................................................................................94
Single ................................................................................................................................... 96
Auto ......................................................................................................................................98
Holes................................................................................................................................... 100
Marking/Cutting .................................................................................................................101
Lead in/out ......................................................................................................................... 102
Edit part ..............................................................................................................................104
Root level (Part).............................................................................................................. 104
First level (unit)...............................................................................................................105
Event dialog.................................................................................................................... 106
Rapid............................................................................................................................... 107
Leadin and leadout.......................................................................................................... 108
Line and arc.....................................................................................................................108
Quality ................................................................................................................................109
Common cutlines ............................................................................................................... 110
Bridges ............................................................................................................................... 111
Estimate cost ...................................................................................................................... 112
Tool setup ...........................................................................................................................114
Sheet prepare.......................................................................................................................115
Part text height ................................................................................................................... 117
Part distance ....................................................................................................................... 117
Post process.........................................................................................................................118
Part Manager module.............................................................................................................. 120
Settings ...............................................................................................................................121
3
Moving the shared folder and database...........................................................................123
Custom fields.................................................................................................................. 124
Import..............................................................................................................................125
Lists..................................................................................................................................... 126
Reports................................................................................................................................ 130
Parts.....................................................................................................................................131
Edit part...........................................................................................................................132
Sheets.................................................................................................................................. 135
Edit sheet.........................................................................................................................136
Extras tab.............................................................................................................................138
Document list (Files – Path)............................................................................................138
Custom field list (Name – Value)................................................................................... 139
Customers............................................................................................................................140
Edit customer.................................................................................................................. 141
Nests....................................................................................................................................143
Edit nest...........................................................................................................................144
Checkout......................................................................................................................... 145
Sales.................................................................................................................................... 146
Edit sales......................................................................................................................... 147
Sales items.......................................................................................................................151
Delivery address..............................................................................................................152
Part browser ...................................................................................................................... 153
Register part ...................................................................................................................... 155
Import sheet .......................................................................................................................157
Register sheet .................................................................................................................... 157
Rest area ......................................................................................................................... 158
Import nest ........................................................................................................................ 159
Register nest ...................................................................................................................... 160
4
Installation
Installation of the different modules. You should always have administrator rights to install.
Please close all other programs before installing.
Update
If you update GEMS you also need to reinstall Part Manager and any other extra plugins to
GEMS.
Updating from GEMS R3

To keep your GEMS R3 shared folder with machines and materials please perform the
following steps.
1. Install GEMS R4
2. Copy the GEMS R3 shared folder to the new GEMS R4 shared folder
3. Select to “Overwrite all”
5
Converting the ADMiCUT database
If you want you can import the ADMiCUT database to GEMS.
Inside GEMS you will need to bring up the ADMiCUT import button. This button is not
visible as default when installing ADMiCUT so you need to add it to the toolbar. This is done
by right clicking on the toolbars in GEMS and selecting customize.
Go to the Commands tab and select the MRP category. Now in the right list you should select
and drag the “Import from ADMiCUT R2” command and drop it on any toolbar in GEMS.
Now to run the conversions just press the new button.
Here you can select what you need to import from

ADMiCUT. A few notes though.
 Please import the data from the top to the bottom.

 No toolpaths or leads will be imported. All parts need
to be prepared again.
 No qualitites on the parts will be imported.
 No sales information whatsoever is imported.
 No nest information is imported.
 Duplicate data is not imported. This means that if you
for example already have a material in your current
GEMS it will not be updated from ADMiCUT.
 Materials and sheets (dimensions) need to be imported

separately.
 Parts can also be opened with the normal Open
command in GEMS.
 All data is imported. So if you need to select just some data you need to delete from
PartManager in the normal way.
6
Backup
Both GEMS and PartManager uses the same shared folder.
All information about materials, machines, parts, sheets etc is located here.
To make a backup simply copy the entire shared folder and all subfolders.
Scheduled backup
To schedule the backups you could create a simple .bat file and run this from the Windows
Scheduler.
7
Floating licence
• Floating licence manager enables you to install GEMS on many computers but only be
able to start a limited number at a time.
• To use the floating licence feature you must install the Cadcraft Floating Licence
Manager R4.
• This should be installed on the server.
• After installation the floating licence program is automatically started.
• To automatically start the floating licence when the computer is restarted the
Autostart checkbox should be checked (recommended).
• In this list all users running a program through the floating licence will be listed.
• No passwords are installed from here. You should use the password program to add
passwords to the computer.
• Please make a note of the IP number and the Port number because these are needed
when installing the clients.
• After installing the floating licence manager you should start
START/Program/Cadcraft/Password_4.0/Password R4 to install the passwords
8
Passwords
• This program is used to install and manage passwords on your computer.

• It can be started from START/Program/Cadcraft/Password_4.0/Password R4
• The list at the top is showing all passwords installed on this computer.
• If a row in the list is red the password is not valid.
• Hard Disk ID
o The computers hard disk id. This can be used as an ID to create passwords
• Lock ID
o If a Sentinel Super Pro dongle is attached to the computer the locks number
should be located in this box.
o If a dongle is attached but this box is empty you will have to install the
hardware lock drivers on the CD
o This ID can also be used to create passwords
• Trial days
o Some of our products can be used in full for a trial period and some will have
limited trial functionality.
• Trial code
o Use this code to extend the trial days for those products using a trial code
• Load passwords…
o Used to load passwords
o Select a PWD file to load the passwords
• Extend trial time…
o Enter a trial days extension code
• Close
o Closes the dialog box
9
• Licence manager IP
o If this field is empty the programs on the computer will look for passwords
only locally. So you will have to load the passwords into this computer.
o If you want to use the floating licence feature you should enter the floating
licence computer IP number here.
o This should match the IP number in the floating licence program.
• Port
o The floating licence port number
o This should match the port in the floating licence program
o Usually this should be set to it’s default 28763
• When using the floating licence you only need to load the passwords on the server
computer where the floating licence manager is installed
• All client computers the want to use the floating licence need only enter the floating
licence IP number if the password program
10
GEMS Basics
Running commands
• Pressing a toolbar button or selecting an item from a menu will start a command (with
a few exceptions).
• There is always one and only one command running at the same time.
• Most of the toolbuttons will be grayed while a command is running.
• While a command is running you can always se what to do next in the white text field
at the bottom of the main window.
• Pushing escape a few times will get out of most commands.
11
Entering points
During a command, you will sometimes be prompted to enter a point. During point input you
have the following options (some of them available on the right mouse menu):
• Endpoint
o Use the endpoint of an object.
o If the object selected has multiple endpoints, the one closest to cursor is used.
• Midpoint
o Use the middle point of an object
o If the object selected has multiple middle points, the one closest to cursor is
used
• Center
o Use the center of an object
o Use this to snap to points
o Center acts like midpoint on lines and linear polyline segments
• Intersection
o Use the intersection of two objects
o If there are multiple intersection points, the one closest to cursor is used
o Line segments are treated as infinite lines and arcs are treated as circles.
Because of this those objects can intersect in their extension.
• Nearest
o Use the point on the selected object that is closest to the cursor
• Perpendicular
o Use the point, from which a line to the previously entered point is
perpendicular to the object selected.
o Polyline segments are treated as separate segments
• Quadrant
o Use one of the four quadrant points from a circular object
o The quadrant closest to cursor is used
• Tangent
o Use a tangential point from a circular object
o The point is tangential from the last point entered to the object selected
o Tangent points can be chosen from two objects after each other to be tangential
to booth
• Point filter
o Specify a single point by selecting two points, using X from the first and Y
from the second
• Snap from
o Changes the last point entered to the selected point (affects ‘relative coordinate
entry’, see below)
12
• Number keys
o Pressing a number on the keyboard when entering a point will pop up the point
entry dialog.

 The text field lets the user enter a coordinate, using . for decimal
separator and , to separate x and y. Example 100.5,234.23
 If the entry begins with @ the point is relative to the last point enetered,
otherwise its in absolute world coordinates (this can be toggled with the
checkbox or R) Example: @100,50
 The entry can include a < to give a polar coordinate. @distance<angle.
Example 1: 200<45 Example 2: @156.5<95
 The angle buttons in the left box is shortcuts for checking relative
checkbox typing ‘<A’ (where A is the angle on the button pressed)
 The buttons in the right box is for typing symbols with the mouse. ‘C’
Clears the entry.
 You can use simple calculus when entering numbers. Also sin, cos and
tan are available. Example: 56+78*(5+4cos(10)),67/3
 If just a single number is entered and not a coordinate pair this will give
a relative point from the last position in the direction of the mouse
cursor. This is very useful when ortho is on.
 Reference lets the user pick a point and fills the entry field with this
coordinate
 OK will confirm the entry
 Cancel will dismiss the entry
13
Entering distances
At many times you will be prompted to enter a distance when working with GEMS.
o Entering distances is done by entering two points (see ‘Entering points’ section)
o At a few times the first point will be selected automatically for you. This is indicated with
a rubber band line from this point.
o The right mouse menu will have the same choices as in any point selection, with an
additional ‘Enter distance...’ choice.
o Selecting ‘Enter distance’ will allow you to type a numerical expression for the distance,
which might include sin,cos and tan
Entering angles
o Entering an angle is done by specifying two points

o At a few times the first point will be selected automatically for you. This is indicated with
a rubber band line from this point.
o The right mouse menu will have two additional options when entering angles, ‘Enter
angle...’ and ‘Reference...’
o ‘Enter angle...’ lets the user type a numerical expression for the angle, which might
include cos,sin,tan
o ‘Refrerence...’ Changes the angle that is used as angle 0.0. This angle is the posetive x
axis by default. This is entered by specifying another angle. (Warning: multiple levels of
nested angle input can be waited for by selecting reference multiple times.)
Entering numbers
o Entering a number will pop up a simple entry dialog (just like the one when entering
angles and distances)
o In the entry box the user can type a numerical expression that evaluates to a number. This
might include cos, sin, tan.
14
GEMS Base commands
File commands
• New
o Creates a new, empty drawing
o The previous drawing will be replaced if empty and unmodified
• Open
o Brings up the file open dialog, allowing the user to select any files that GEMS
recognises with the current set of file loader plugins
o .acd files can always be loaded (no loader plugin needed)
o .dwg and .dxf files can be opened. Planar entities has to be in the xy plane,
otherwise they are skipped. The types of entities that are supported are POINT,
LINE, ARC, CIRCLE, POLYLINE, LWPLINE, SPLINE, ELLIPSE. Various
dimensinons, text and mtext are supported to a limited degree and is not
guaranteed to look like thay do in other cad systems. All other entities will not
be imported. Splines and ellipses are converted to polylines with circular arcs.
15
• Plot
o Select the entities you want to plot, just press enter without selecting any to
plot everything.
o GEMS will pop up the standard printer dialog
o The selected objects will currently always be printed as large as possible,
taking the paper margins into account
• Plot settings
o Opens the plot settings dialog.
• Save
o Saves the current drawing. If it is not saved yet, Save behaves like ‘Save as...’
o Save will only save to .acd files. If saving to other format is wanted, ‘Save
as...’ has to be used (this is because of safety, otherwise opening a drawing
with unsupported data and saving it will destroy the unknown objects)
o Save is disabled when GEMS runs in trial mode (not registered)
o Drawing will be automatically purged.
• Save as
o Opens a standard save dialog, letting the user select format and filename to
save drawing to
o The available formats depend on the current set of file write plugins loaded
into GEMS.
o .acd files can always be saved (no plugin needed)
o Save as is disabled when GEMS runs in trial mode (not registered)
o .dxf files can be saved without any special writer plugins. However the user
should be aware that saving a .dxf file that contained non supported objects, or
objects that were converted to ploylines, those entities will be lost.
• Close
o Closes the current drawing
o If the drawing was modified since the last time it was saved, an offer to save it
is made before closing it.
• Close all
o Runs the command ‘Close’ on all open drawings.
o Cancelling save confirmation of one drawing will cancel closing the remaining
drawings.
• Import drawing
o Works just like ‘open’ but the file will be inserted into the current drawing
o When a file is successfully imported, the user will be prompted for a point to
insert the drawing at
o If coordinate 0,0 (origo) is specified, the drawing is inserted in its original
coordinates.
• Export selection
o Let the user select objects in the drawing to be exported to an .acd file.
• Screen dump
o Shows a standard save dialog, allowing to save a bitmap file of the current
viewport
o The bitmap will currently always be in .bmp format with the bit depth of the
current screen device
16
• Dump bitmap
o Opens the dump bitmap dialog, allowing to save a bitmap of specified area or
objects, see Dump bitmap section for details.
• Customize toolbar
o Opens the ’Customize toolbar’ dialog, which makes it possible to customize
the buttons and toolbars in the user interface.
• Exit
o Terminates GEMS after running ‘Close’ command on each open drawing.
17
Plot settings
• Plot styles
o Each color in GEMS represents a ‘plot style’, which has properties that can be
set in this dialog. This list is used to select the current plot style to modify.
• Line weight
o Specifies the plotter pen with for the selected plotter style
• Dither
o Specifies if the plot style should be plotted in grayscale or always black.
o Because GEMS background is black, all colors are inversed before converted
to grayscale in a way that make them look right on a white paper.
• X Margin
o The space to the left and right on the paper that is left blank when plotting.
• Y Margin
o The space at the top and bottom of the paper that is left blank when plotting.
• Standard
o Will restore the standard values of all plotter styles and entries.
18
Dump bitmap
• This dialog is opened from the file menu and is used to save specified objects / areas
to a bitmap of arbitrary size.
• Dump technique
o Current viewport
 All objects that are in the current viewport will be used.
o Select objects
 Let the user select objects to write. The bounding box of those is
centred and fitted into the specified rectangle.
o Specify rectangle
 Allows for picking a rectangle to dump.
• Width, Height
o Specifies the dimensions of the bitmap that will be written
• OK
o Asks for any input required for the selected dump technique.
o On valid input data, it brings up a standard save dialog.
o The written bitmap can be selected to be .bmp or .jpg format.
• Cancel
o Closes the dialog without further questions.
19
Customize toolbar
In GEMS R4, toolbars and menus can be freely customized. This is done through a dialog that
is brought up from the file menu or by right clicking on the toolbar.
• Toolbars tab
o This tab is for customizing the toolbars
o The toolbars can be hidden by unchecking the checkmarks to the right of the
list.
o New...
 Creates a new toolbar.
o Rename...
 Changes the name of the highlighted toolbar.
o Delete
 Erases the highlighted toolbar
 Removes the command buttons that is put on the toolbar and cannot be
undone (but the commands are still left in the ‘Commands tab’ in this
dialog)
20
• Commands tab
o This tab is for putting commands on the existing toolbars.
o Categories
 Here all ‘categories’ of commands can be seen.
 Commands that are common in a plugin group or module usually falls
under the same category.
o Commands
 In this list, all commands that belong to the highlighted category are
shown.
 The commands can be dragged from here and dropped on a toolbar or
menu
 The commands on toolbars and menus can be dragged and dropped in
the cad viewport to be removed
21
• Customize tab
o This tab is for cosmetics and behaviour of the gui.
o Large icons
 Makes all toolbar buttons 32x32 pixels instead of 16x16 pixels when
checked (not recommended)
o Show ToolTips on toolbars
 Specifies if tooltips should be shown or not on the toolbar buttons
o Show shortcut keys in tooltips
 If checked, the tooltips on the toolbar buttons includes the shotcut key
to run this command.
o Menu animation
 Specifies how the popup menus are shown.
22
Edit commands
• Undo
o Undoes the last command.
o It is possible to undo 10 steps.
• Redo
o Redoes the last command that was undone.
o When any modification to the drawing is done (except with undo), this option
is disabled.
o It is possible to redo all undo steps that was made without other drawing
modification.
• Cut
o Cuts the currently selected object from the drawing
o GEMS cut’n paste system does not use the windows clipbord (it is not possible
to paste this data into other cad programs).
• Copy
o Same as cut, but does not remove the entities, just puts the in the clipboard.
• Paste
o Inserts what’s currently in GEMS R4 clipboard into the current drawing.
o The user is asked to select a point to insert at when this command is selected (if
there is any data in the clipboard)
• Paste clipboard text
o Takes text from windows clipboard and pastes into the current drawing as a
block with text entities.
• Select all
o Selects all objects on the current drawing. This does not currently work while
an command is active.
• Delete selected
o Deletes the selected objects on the current drawing
23
• Purge drawing
o Removes unused blocks and layers from the current drawing and shows a short
info of what’s removed.
o Be careful using this when you have a drawing containing blocks that is not
currently on the drawing
o This command is run automatically when the drawing is saved and exported.
• System reset
o Useful when the system gets ‘hooked’ because of an crash etc.
o You should only use this option to be able to save your work. Always restart
GEMS after using this option to get out of a hang-up.
View commands
• Zoom extents
o Zooms the current drawing in a way that all entities are visible on screen.
• Zoom all
o Zooms the current drawing in a way that all entities and the grid is visible on
screen.
• Zoom window
o Lets the user specify an rectangle by selecting two points and ensures this
rectangle is visible on screen.
• Zoom
o Puts GEMS in ‘zoom state’, which means that a point on the drawing can be
zoomed in with the left mouse button and zoomed out with the right.
o This is one of the few commands that can be run recursively while another
command is running.
• Pan
o Puts GEMS in ‘pan state’, which means the drawing can be panned with the
left mouse button (it can always be panned with the middle mouse button)
o This is one of the few commands that can be run recursively while another
command is running.
24
• Layers...
o Pops up the layers dialog (see separate section)
• Draw color...
o Pops up the color dialog (see separate section)
o Changes the current drawings active color
• Block definition...
o Pops up the block definition dialog (see separate section)
• Insert block...
o Pops up the insert block dialog (see separate section)
• Parametric parts
• Starts the parametric part module (see separate section)
• Plugin manager...
o Should only be used by system administrators
o Pops up a dialog which defines the modules loaded into GEMS on startup
Layer dialog
• This is the dialog where layers are defined or removed.

• Layers list
o Name shows the name of each layer in the current drawing.
o Color shows the color index for each layer
o Entities in layer shows the number of entities on the current drawing that uses
this layer
• Layer color
o Shows the color and the color index for the selected layer. The ... button pops
up the color dialog allowing changing color for this layer.
• New...
o Asks the user for a name of a new layer and creates it if the name is valid.
o The default color for a new layer is always 7
25
• Delete
o Removes the selected layer from the drawing
o A layer can only be deleted if no entities reside in it.
Color dialog
• This dialog let the user select an color

• All coloured squares in this dialog can be clicked on
• The color index can be seen in the ‘selected color’ edit.
• The wanted color index can be typed in the ‘selected color’ edit.
• ‘By layer’ is a special color that means the object having this logical color should use
the physical color of the layer it resides in.
• Ok
o Confirms the selected color
• Cancel
o Cancels the color selection
26
Block definition dialog
• This dialog is used to (re)define blocks in the drawing

• Name
o Here the wanted name of the new block is typed.
o If an existing blockname is typed or selected from the pull down menu, this
block is redefined.
• Pick point
o Let the user pick the insertion point for the block.
• X,Y
o Specifies where the insertion point of the block should be (changed with ‘pick
point’).
• Select object
o Let the user select objects the block should contain.
• Retain
o Tells GEMS that nothing should be done with the objects selected
• Convert to block.
o Tells GEMS that the selected objects should be exchanged with the block
created from them.
• Delete
o Tells GEMS that the objects selected should be deleted when pressing OK.
• OK
o Executes the creation of the block
• Cancel
o Cancels the block creation.
27
Insert block dialog
• This dialog is shown when a block is to be selected / inserted

• Name
o This is a list with all available blocks in the current drawing
• Insertion point
o If ‘specify on-screen’ is checked, insertion point is selected after pressing OK,
otherwise GEMS blindly uses the coordinate entered at edits X,Y
• Scale
o If ‘specify on-screen’ is checked, scale is selected after pressing OK, otherwise
GEMS uses the scale entered in the edit
• Rotation
o If ‘specify on-screen’ is checked, rotation angle is selected after pressing OK,
otherwise GEMS uses the scale entered in the edit
• OK
o Closes the dialog and inserts the block, possibly letting the user enter needed
information.
• Cancel
o Terminates the block insertion
28
Parametric parts
• GEMS Parametric parts is a system to define commonly used geometries with

parameters
• When the parametric part module is started, the part selection window pops up (left on
the above image). From here a part can be selected by doubly clicking on it.
• Right clicking on a part in the part selection window brings up a menu with advanced
options, used for defining new part etc. (see GEMS parametric part definition
document for details)
• The parameter edit window (left on the image above) contains a row of edits on the
left, which differs depending on what part is selected.
• Default
o This button resets the values in the parameter editors for the current part.
• Block
o If this checkbox is checked, the part is inserted as a block, otherwise it’s
inserted as atom geometries.
• OK
o Closes the window and lets the user select point(s) to insert the part at.
• Cancel
o Terminates the command
• Insertion points will be asked for until escape or enter is pressed. Pressing escape will
terminate the command, pressing space will bring back the part selection window.
29
Format commands
• Point style...
o Let the user select how points look in this drawing.
o See ‘Point style dialog’ section for more information.
• Environment options...
o Various system settings. See ‘Environment options dialog’ for more
information.
• Grid settings...
o Defines the grid settings. See ‘Grid settings dialog’ for more information.
• Dimension settings. See ‘Dimension settings dialog’ for further information.
30
Point style dialog
• Small images
o Represent point styles that can be chosen by clicking on them. The currently
selected one has a red square surrounding it.
• Point size
o Pixel based size for the points
• OK
o Confirms the selection
• Cancel
o Ignores the dialog settings
31
Environment options dialog
• Triangle resolution
o The accuracy GEMS uses when creating solid graphics from circular arcs
o ‘Auto’ causes an variable accuracy based on each arcs radius
• Coordinate precision
o Defines the number of decimals shown in many places, for example the cursor
coordinate in the lower left of GEMS main window.
• Language
o Shows a list of the currently available languages
• Units
o Tells GEMS which unit system that is currently used
• Dialog transparency
o Some dialogs can be semi-transparent. This slider defines how solid the alpha
channel is.
• Scale factor
o Defines how fast zooming is done when rolling the mouse wheel.
• Inverse direction
o If the mouse wheel is rolled forward or backward to zoom in.
32
Grid settings dialog
• Grid X, Grid Y
o Specifies the number of points in grid in vertical and horizontal direction
• Grid spacing X,Grid spacing Y
o Specifies the distance between each grid point in vertical and horizontal
direction
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Dimension settings dialog
• Dimension line color

o The color index of the dimension lines and arrows
• Dimension text color
o The color index of the text part of each dimension
• Dimension text height
o The height of the dimension text
• Dimension text gap
o The distance between the dimension text and the line it lies above.
• Extension above dimension line:
o The distance the ‘legs’ of the dimension extends above the text baseline
• Extension line origin offset
o The distance the start of the dimension ‘legs’ are displaced from its basepoint
• Decimal places
o The number of decimals suggested in distance dimension texts
• Angular decimal places
o The number of decimals suggested in angular dimension texts
• Arrow length
o The distance from tip to root of the dimension line arrows
• First dimension snap
o Freehand drawing of dimension is aided by ‘snapping’ to standard dimension
offsets. This is the distance to first such snap point.
• Adjacent dimension snap
o This is the snap distance to all dimensions except the first
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• Scaling
o All dimension settings that are distances are multiplied with this factor
• Standard (inch), Standard (mm)
o Resets the dimension settings to standard for different systems.
• Layer
o This is the layer the dimension will be added to
o If empty the current layer is used
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Draw commands
• Line
o Draws multiple adjacent lines by the following steps:
 Specify the start point of the first line
 Specify a point for the next line as long as wanted and the press
escape/enter or select ‘Close’ from the right menu, which draws a line
to the first point
• Point
o Draws multiple points by the following steps:
 Click/snap on position for each point wanted.
 Press escape/enter to terminate
• Polygon
o Draws a polygon/polyline, possibly with circular arcs using the following
steps:
 Specify a start point for first segment of polygon.
 Specify next point of polygon as long as wanted. For each point, arc
mode can be toggled on the right menu with ‘Arc mode’. If arc mode is
active, the start direction can be set with ‘Direction’ on the right menu.
 Press escape/enter when done or select ‘Close’ from the right menu to
close the polyline and
• N-Gon
o Draws a symmetric polygon with N sides by the following steps:
 Specify the number of sides.
 Specify the center point.
 Specify the radius. Here radius means inscribed or outscribed, which
can be toggled with ‘O’.
• Ellipse
o Draws an ellipse. Since GEMS does not currently have an ellipse entity, the
ellipse is approximated with a polygon. The following steps are used to draw
an ellipse:
 Specify two points, which is the major axis diameter.
 Specify a distance from the center of the major axis, which is used for
minor axis radius of ellipse.
• Circle
o The standard circle command. Used to draw a circle with center and radius or
diameter. Order of execution is:
 Specify the center point of the ellipse
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 Specify the radius or diameter (toggled with D). Just pressing enter here
uses the last radius entered with this command.
• 2 pt. circle
o Draws the smallest possible circle going through two points.
o The circle is simply drawn by specifying two points.
• 3 pt. circle
o Draws a circle going through three points
o The steps involved is simply specifying three points
o Each of the three points can be replaced by an object to tangent (by pressing T)
• 2 pt. and radius circle
o Draws a circle going through 2 points with a specified radius. This is done by:
 Specify the two points that the circle should go through.
• These points can be selected using tangent snapping or any
other snap method.
 Specify a distance, which is the radius. Note that there are two valid
circles, and because of this, the position of the cursor is critical for the
selection of which one to use. The current radius can be reviewed in the
lower right corner of GEMS main window.
 When typing a radius, be sure to position the mouse at at somewhat
correct position, otherwise GEMS might not select the correct circle.
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• Arc
o Draws an arc through three points. This is simply done by specifying three
points.
• Arc - start, center, angle
o Draws an arc, asking for startpoint, centerpoint and the included angle
• Arc - start, center, length
o Draws an arc, asking for startpoint, endpoint and chord length
• Arc – start, end, radius
o Draws an arc, asking for startpoint, endpoint and radius
• Arc – start, end, direction
o Draws an arc, asking for startpoint, endpoint and start tangential angle
• Center arc
o Draws an arc around a center point by:
 Specify center point.
 Specify the arcs startpoint.
 Specify a point in the direction of the arcs endpoint.
o This arc is always created counter clockwise.
• Polyspline
o Create a polyline given by fitpoints of a B-Spline.
o Press ‘O’ while specifying fitpoints to toggle if its closed or not.
o Press enter to confirm.
o The outputet polyline will contain arc and line segments
o Specifying 2 points at the same position will give a sharp corner.
• Text
o Inserts an text entity into the drawing. The following inputs will be asked for:
 Text height. just press enter to use the last text height.
 Insertion point. Just press enter to continue on the last entered text.
 A text string. Pressing enter to type multiple lines creates multiple text
entities. Pressing enter on a line with nothing typed terminates the text
command.
 While typing text, the text angle can be changed on the right menu.
• Bounding rectangle
o This command draws the smallest possible rectangle around a selection set.
o When run, it simply asks the user for a selection set and creates the rectangle as
a counter clockwise polygon.
• Rectangle
o Creates a counter clockwise rectangular polygon by asking the user for two
corner points.
• CWH Rectangle
o Creates a counter clockwise rectangular polygon by asking for:
 Width as a distance
 Height as a distance
 Center point
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• Linear dimension
o Creates an aligned linear dimension with the current dimension settings. This is
done by entering:
 Two points where the dimension extension lines should start
 A direction definition point, which is used to determinate if the
dimension is linear, horizontal or diagonal, and how long the extension
lines are.
 The dimension text, which is suggested to the properties of the entered
dimension.
• Radius dimension
o Creates a radial dimension using a circular object as input. The inputs to this
command is as follows:
 A circular object (circle, arc or polyline arc segment).
 A dimension line definition point.
 The dimension text, which is suggested to the properties of the entered
dimension.
• Diameter dimension
o Works just like ‘Radius dimension’, but measures the diameter instead.
• Angular dimension
o Draws an dimension to show an angle. This is created by the following input in
order:
 The center point of the dimensions extension lines.
 The start of the first extension line.
 The start of the second extension line in counter clockwise order to the
first extension line.
 The dimension line definition point, which tells GEMS how long the
extension lines are.
• Automatic dimension
o Is a fast way to place control measure points relative a local origo. This is done
by input in the following order:
 Origo point. If no origo mark is present close to the origo point given, a
new origo point block is created and inserted.
 A selection set of holes. All objects can be selected here, but only
circular polygons and circles are measured. X,Y and radius relative to
the local origo is placed in each hole.
 An arbitrary number of points. For each point a small cross and X,Y
coordinates are put in a block/insert on the drawing.
o The origo marks size is calculated using the dimension settings arrow length.
Other parameters such as text height etc. are used as in other dimensions as
usual.
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• Region
o Creates a GEMS region, which is basically a solid 2d area.
o Multiple regions can be created at the same time.
o Input to this command is a selection set of non-intersecting circles and closed
polylines that defines the areas of the region(s).
o Regions are created using the triangle accuracy found in environment options.
The tools menu
• Toggle grid
o Turns the grid in the drawing on or off
o The grid properties can be changed in environment options
• Toggle ortho
o Toggles orthographic mode on or off.
• Toggle snap
o Selects if cursor glues itself to grid points or not.
• Repeat ‘.....’
o Repeats the last command
• Autocad clipboard to drawing
o Since GEMS currently does not use the standard windows clipboard, this is a
fast way to import AutoCAD (clipboard) data into GEMS.
o Changing the clipboard file prefix in AutoCAD will cause this function to fail.
o Modifying the drawing and saving it back will modify the clipboard inside
AutoCAD.
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Modify commands
• Move
o Moves arbitrary objects in the current drawing
o Asks for the following input:
 Objects to move (unless any objects already selected)
 Base point (this can be seen as the ‘grip point’, this is the point moved
to the new location)
 The destination point.
• Copy
o Makes multiple copies of entities on the drawing.
o Do not confuse with clipboard copy.
 Objects to copy (unless any objects already selected)
 Base point
 An arbitrary number of destination points to place each copy at.
o Copy do not change the ‘last entered point’ when placing copies in opposite to
most other commands.
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• Scale
o Scales any objects on the drawing using the following input:
 Objects to scale (unless any objects already selected)
 A distance, which is multiplied with the scale reference factor, and then
used as the scale factor.
o The scale reference is 1.0 when the command is run and can be changed on the
right menu.
o The scale reference can be set to the width or height of the bounding box of the
objects scaled by pressing X or Y or by selecting corresponding options on the
right menu.
• Mirror
o Creates objects mirrored about a line.
o Not all objects can be created as a true mirror, for example text, where only the
insertion point is mirrored.
 Objects to mirror (unless any objects already selected)
 Two points, which are used as the mirror line.
• Rotate
o Rotates objects around a point
 Objects to rotate (unless any objects already selected).
 Point to rotate around.
 A rotation angle
• Union
o Creates the boolean union of closed objects
o Select closed objects (polylines and circles) for input to this command
• Subtract
o Calculates a boolean subtraction.
o Input in order for this command are:
 Closed objects (polylines and circles) to subtract from.
 Closed objects (polylines and circles) to subtract with.
o The result after the subtraction is automatically joined into a union which
means that no objects are intersecting after the subtraction.
• Offset
o Calculates the offset of a polyline, line, arc or circle.
o The following input is asked for:
 The offset distance (press enter to select the last used)
 Object to offset
 Side to offset to (as a point)
o The two last steps of the input is repeated so that multiple objects can be offset
in the same command.
o If control is held while selecting side to offset, a ‘correct’ offset is done.
Otherwise an offset is made, that just lengthens the segments to their
intersections after offsetting them, which might cause an offset to be further
away from the original geometry than the offset distance.
o If shift is held while selecting side, the internal loops in the offset calculation
are not trimmed away.
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• Break
o Splits line geometries at points.
o The input wanted by this command is:
 The object to break
 An arbitrary number of points where the object is split.
• Boundary trim
o Trims all objects inside or outside a closed contour
o Select a closed contour (circle or polygon) when this command is run and line
geometries inside it are trimmed away.
o If control is held when selecting the contour, it removes everything outside this
contour.
• Erase
o Erases all objects currently selected.
o If no objects are selected it first asks for a selection set and erases the objects
selected.
• Explode
o Breaks objects down to simpler objects
o Asks for objects to explode when run (unless any objects already selected).
o The result of the command can be seen in the lower right of GEMS main
window.
o Note that unlike many other CAD systems, GEMS can explode text.
• Trim
o Used to ‘clip’ away unwanted parts of geometries at intersection with other
objects.
o When run it asks for:
 Objects to clip against. Just press enter to clip against all objects on
drawing.
 An arbitrary number of objects to clip away, which are clipped at the
point of selection.
• Extend
o Used to automatically lengthen objects to a border of another object
 Objects to extend against. Just press enter to extend against all objects
on drawing.
 Select as many objects to extend as wanted. The objects are extended
at the direction closest to the point of selection.
• Lengthen
o Used to dynamically lengthen an object.
o The object is lengthened in a way that the modified endpoint is perpendicular
to the position of the cursor.
o When run, select an object to lengthen (it is lengthened at the end closest to the
point of selection) and after this an definition point.
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• Fillet
o Used to connect objects with circular arcs.
 A distance to use as fillet radius. Just press enter to use the previously
used radius.
 The first object to connect with an arc. If Control is held at this
moment, and a polygon is selected, the entire polygon is filleted at all
segments possible.
 The second object to connect with arc.
o The two last steps of input is repeated until terminated with escape or enter
o The objects connected with an arc is shortened or lengthened to the arcs
endpoints.
• Fillet zero
o Works just as fillet, but does never ask for fillet radius, instead it always uses a
zero radius.
• Chamfer
o Creates a chamfer between two segments asking for:
 First chamfer length. Press enter to use the previous one.
 Second chamfer length. Press enter to use the previous one.
 The first object for the chamfer calculation. Holding control at this
moment and selecting a polygon at the same time tries to chamfer all
segments to the adjacent one in the polygon.
 The second object for the chamfer calculation.
o The two last steps of input is repeated until the command is terminated with
escape or enter.
• Join
o Tries to join segments and polygons to as long chains as possible.
o Closes polygons if possible
o Uses the currently selected objects or asks for a selection set if none selected.
• Extended join
o Works just like join, but asks for a maximum gap to connect as well.
• Polygon editor
o Asks for a polygon and then pops up the ‘Polygon editor dialog’
• Edit text
o Asks for a text entity to be selected and the popping up a standard text edit
field to modify the contents of the text.
• Polar array
o Use this to place multiple objects in a circular pattern.
o Asks for objects to create array of and the pops up the ‘Polar array dialog’
• Rectangular array
o Use this to place multiple objects in a rectangular pattern.
o Asks for objects to create array of and the pops up the ‘Rectangular array
dialog’
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Polygon editor dialog
• Node
o Shows the current segment (which is shown with a yellow cross in the
drawing) and the total number of nodes.
• X,Y
o The coordinate of the current point. Typing here will move the point.
• Bulge
o The bulge factor of the current segment.
• Previous
o Makes the segment before the current become the current.
• Next
o Makes the segment after the current become the current.
• Close poly / Open poly
o Toggles if the polygon is opened or closed.
• Delete
o Erases the current node/segment from the polygon.
• OK
o Closes the dialog
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Polar array dialog
• Center X, Center Y
o The center point of the polar pattern. (Can be picked by pressing the button)
• Method
o Specifies which two parameters the user should enter, the third is automatically
calculated.
• Numbers
o How many copies that should be made.
• Angle to fill
o The included angle in the polar pattern
• Angle between
o The angular difference between two objects in the pattern.
• Rotate items as copied
o If the copies should be rotated by the angle they are placed in
• Object base X, Object base Y
o If objects are not rotated by their placement, a placement point is needed for
each copy. It is actually this point that is rotated around the center in the
calculation.
46
Rectangular array dialog
• Rows, Columns
o The number of rows and columns of copies that will be made. Pressing the
button will use the values of ‘Delta X’ and ‘Delta Y’ and let the user pick a
point of termination to fill areas to a specific corner.
• Delta X, Delta Y
o The distance between two copies in horizontal and vertical direction. Pressing
the small buttons will let the user pick a distance in the drawing. Pressing the
large button asks for two points to specify a rectangle, whose width and height
is used.
• Angle
o The insertion points of each copy made in the array are rotated with this angle.
• OK
o Executes the array
• Cancel
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Data exchange module
Data exchange is a GEMS module that makes it possible to import more file formats, as well
as an NC file interpreter. The file formats gems are extended with are currently .cbf
(CAMbAL v3 files) , .geo (TOPS files), .tag (Taglo files) , .ord (OMAX routed data files), .
prt (ADMiCUT v1 parts), .wmf (Windows metafiles) and some very basic support for IGES
files (lines, polygons and arcs only).
48
NC Reader
The NC Reader window is shown by pressing the button .
• The first thing that happens when running this command is querying for a NC file,
which is shown in the text editor in the dialog.
• NC Reader automatically detects the type of NC file. Currently iso, essi and
haidenhain are supported. Variants of those might or might not work.
• Incremental arcs
o Specifies if the arcs in the NC file is incremental or not. This detection might
be erroneous, in which case Yes or No can be selected.
• Zero point X, Zero point Y
o Specifies where in the current drawing the zero point of the machine code is
defined.
• Rapid movements
o If this is checked, rapid transports are added with red polylines in the drawing
• OK
o Starts interpreting the NC file currently loaded
• Cancel
• Default
o Sets the input controls to their default values
49
Signmaker option module
Commands in this module are Tile maker, Font tracer and Image tracer (in order of
appearance in the above image)
Tile maker
• This command is for easily creating tiles, currently rectangular and hexagonal tiles are
supported.
• When this command is run the user is asked to specify a rectangle, which is the
minimum area that should be covered with tiles. After that the above dialog appears.
• Tile X Length, Tile Y Length
o The tiles vertical and horizontal size in units
• Joint size
o The closest distance between two tiles
• Style
o The different tile styles available, currently Rectangles and Hexagons are
available
50
Font tracer
• Font tracer is a tool to insert polygon representation of various font formats into a
vector drawing.
• Font tracer stores fonts in it’s own font folder, which is a subdirectory of the tracer
called ‘fonts’. A special case is the folder ‘Windows fonts’ shown in the list above,
which always exists and represents the windows font directory.
• The currently supported font formats are CXF, TTF and SHX (old style <= R13, it is
not possible to copy bigfonts from newer autocads etc. yet)
• Text should be typed at the same time that this window is open.
• Font info.
o Show possibly extra information and copyright notices etc. about a font. This is
mostly used for true type fonts.
• Linear cursor
o Tells font tracer that we want to insert linear text and closes the window to ask
for a point to insert text at
• Object cursor
o Tells font tracer that text that follows another object is wanted.
• Height
o The height of the font. For many fonts, especially true type, this is only a hint
because different letters might have different heights. In the true type case, the
EM box is used to define the height.
51
• Symbols
o Toggles the right side of the dialog (the symbol map) on or off
• Accuracy
o Font tracer tries to convert spline data to circular arcs. This defines the
accuracy of this conversion. ‘Rough’ gives fewer arcs but more difference from
the original geometry.
• Close
o Finishes the command
• Preview of...
o Her you will see a preview of the text AaBbCc of the currently selected font
• Symbol map
o Here each cell represents a glyph slot in the current font (not all may have
contents). Doubly clicking on one will insert it at the current cursor position.
Right under the map the number of glyphs in the current typeface is shown.
Note that many true type fonts may have thousands of symbols, of which most
are not available from the keyboard.
52
Image tracer
• Open
o Opens a new bitmap file into the font tracer.
• Tools
o Pops down a menu, which is also available on the right mouse button with
various tools that can be used on the currently loaded image
 Negate
• Shifts black and white. Note that black is seen as material and
white is seen as void space.
• Fill small holes
o Inserts black pixels at small white spaces in the image
• Fill holes
o Inserts black pixels at white spaces in the image that is a
little larger than ‘Fill small holes’ does.
• Connect
o Mostly used for center line tracings. Tries to insert black
pixels where black areas almost meet, for example at
broken lines etc.
• Clean
o This is the single most useful tool. It erases all very
small black areas and ‘nags’ on the edges on the image.
This can be done multiple times to soften the image to
get a smoother contour in the result.
• Thin
o Shrinks the borderlines in the image
• Thicken
o Grows the borderlines in the image
53
• Reload
o Reloads the last loaded image, forgetting all changes done to it inside the
image tracer.
• Zoom extents
o Zooms the image in a way so that the entire image is visible in the window. If
its smaller than the window it scaled to 1:1
• Execute
o Runs the tracer on the current image. Pops up the following dialog:
o The style of tracing can be selected in the top combo box or by clicking in the
image. Some styles might have an image other may not.
o OK
 Executes the trace and inserts geometries in the drawing (might take a
few seconds or more)
o Cancel
 Jumps back to the previous dialog
o Edit
 Brings up the settings for this tracer style. This is only for advanced
users and is out of scope for this reference manual. Be careful using this
button because it is possible to alter the settings in a way that renders
the image tracer unusable.
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CAM-Tools module
CAM-Tools is basically commas for geometry optimisation. The included commands in order
of apperance on the above image are:
Boundary polygon, Clean up, Curvefit, Vectorize
Boundary polygon
• Is used to find ‘islands’ inside other objects.
• Asks for the following input in order:
o Objects to include in the calculation. Just press enter to use all. (On large
drawings, using all can take very long time)
o Maximum connection distance. This is how large ‘gaps’ that is allowed to
connect to find a contour. Just press enter to use 0.0, which is to prefer unless
the geometries are erroneous.
o Pick inside any number of island wanted. Found islands will be indicated with
red and the pick points with a small cross. Warnings will be given on no
contour found.
o Press enter do drag the found contours to a new position.
• The two last points of input are repeated until terminated with escape. Already selected
areas will be marked with yellow.
55
Clean up
• This command is used to remove overlapping contours and to merge segments into as
long parts as possible
• This command only operates on single segments. However they can be selected into
the command and exploded
• Polygon data will be marked in red (if the red LED is pushed)
• Segment data will be marked in green (if the green LED is pushed)
• Delete (polygon)
o Erases the polygons selected
• Explode
o Explodes the polygons selected and transfers them to the segment area
• Delete (segments)
o Erases the segments selected
• Clean
o Removes overlapping and merges the segments with the maximum difference
entered in ‘Accuracy’
• Close
• HINT: ending up with a pile of loose segments after this command is common.
However, they will be selected so that they can be joined by pressing ‘J’ (or running
the join command)
56
Curvefit
• Used to optimise polygons. Tries to recreate them with as few segments as possible
within a given accuracy
o Objects to curvefit (polygons only can be selected here)
o Accuracy
• The result can be seen in the lower right corner of GEMS main window.
Vectorize
• The ‘opposite’ of curvefit. Breaks down polygons, circles and arcs to polygons with
only lines within a given accuracy.
o Objects to vectorize (polygons, circles and arcs)
o Accuracy
Object replace
• Replaces a selection of entities with one specific entity
• You are first prompted to select a replacement entity. This is the entity that will be
used to replace all other entities you select.
• Then you are prompted to select entities to replace.
• The command will replace all selected entities with the selected entity
• This command is especially useful for fixing scanned drawings.
o Suppose you have a lot of holes that are not exactly the same due to scanning
the drawing. You just draw a circle that will be used as the hole and then
replace all “bad” holes with this circle
Edge fix
• Replaces a piece of a polyline with an arc or line
• You are prompted to select the start point and end point of the arc/line then you just
drag the mouse to create an arc.
• To create a line just press enter
57
Align object
• Used to align objects to an axis
• You will be prompted for objects to align and four points, two for the source axis and
two for the destination axis
• The objects will be rotated around the middle point of the source axis, with the
smallest possible angle that will make the source axis parallel with the destination
axis.
58
Nest module
Bump nest
• Used to place geometries with a specific distance.

• Works much like ‘move’, but cannot move objects inside other objects, with exception
of cam 2d sheets.
• When run, it asks for objects to bump (move), after selecting those the above yellow
help screen will appear in the upper left corner of the screen.
• If pressing one of the direction buttons the moving objects will move that direction
until an obstacle is hit. When moving the mouse they will jump back to the mouse
cursor.
• Multiple directional buttons can be pressed after each other without moving the
mouse.
• The rotational buttons will rotate the moving objects with a specific angle.
• Reset will rotate objects back to zero degrees instantly.
• Toggle source will turn the source objects on or off. If they are on they are used as
obstacles as well. If they are off when the command ends they will be deleted from the
drawing.
• Pressing space or enter will drop the moving objects at their current position, and the
command will continue to ask for more positions. Termination is done with escape.
• Undo will remove the last copies placed during the current session of this command.
• Configure will pop up the configuration dialog, where you can select keys used,
clearance between parts and the [A] angle.
• If the control key is pressed while dropping a part, a second point will be asked for,
and the part will be moved as far as possible in the direction if those two points.
59
Quick nest
• Use quick nest to rapidly place parts without overlap.
• Quicknest is not perfect. The maximum error is about 1% of the width or height of the
objects you are moving (The largest value of width and height is used).
• When run, it asks for the following input:
o The objects to move/copy (unless any objects already selected)
o A base point used as anchor for movement (just press enter to use bounding
box centroid)
o Multiple placement points. If objects are dropped where no suitable position
can be found close to the part, a beep will sound and no object will be
dropped.
• While specifying position points, the following obtions are available:
o Shift – move the object(s) instead of copying them.
o R : rotate the objects with 45 degrees.
o U : undo, removes the last part copied (does not work for moved parts)
o D : Change clearance between dropped objects. This distance will be seen in
the main windows lower right text field.
60
Grid nest
• Grid nest is an advanced array command, placing objects with a given distance.
• When run, the user is asked for:
o Objects to make grid of.
o Distance between each copy (press enter to use the previous one)
o The limit point of the grid – no objects are placed beyond this
• Note that in the lower right of GEMS main window, the number of copies that will be
placed are updated in real time while selecting the limit point.
61
Auto nest
AutoNest performs automatic true shape nesting.
• List
o Name
 Name of the object
o Quantity
 Numbers to nest
o Extra
 Numbers to nest if there is place
 After nesting all objects on a sheet there still might be place left on the
sheet. The nesting will then try to nest the Extra objects on the sheets.
 So, it will first nest using the Quantity field and then using the Extra
field.
o Method
 Auto
• Automatically chooses the best method (not implemented yet)
 Normal
• Normal fitting algorithm
 Grid fit
• Tries to place the object in a grid-like pattern
62
o Priority
 The object with the highest priority gets nested first
 If more than one object has the same priority the one with the largest
area will be nested first.
o Rotation
 Free, 15, 45, 90, 180, None, Auto
 Rotation steps that the nest will use when nesting
 Low steps like Free and 15 will take longer but can give better results
 Usually 90 degrees gives good results most of the times
 Small parts usually benefits more from low steps
 Auto
• Automatically calculates the best rotation step
• Not implemented yet
o Pairing
 Auto
• Pairs the object with itself if this will help the nesting
• For example a triangle will be paired with itself to form a
rectangle before nesting
 Off
• Don’t pair with itself
o Use holes
 Auto
• Allows other objects to be placed inside holes of this object
• Only adds holes that are large enough to contain other objets
 Off
• Don’t allow other objects to be placed inside holes of this object
o Remove entity from list
 Removes the selected object from the list
o Clear list
 Clears the list
o Customize view…
 Allows you to customize the list and what columns to view
o Multi change
 If this is checked all rows will be affected by a change
 This enables you to change all rows at the same time
• Add
o Adds an object to the list by selecting objects in the CAD
o Objects that can be selected are
 Parts
 Lines
 Arcs
 Circles
 Polylines
 Regions
• Part browser
o If PartManager is installed this button will import parts from the part browser
and add them to the list
• Part distance
o The distance between parts
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• Cutting heads
o Number of cutting heads to use
• Head distance
o If more than one cutting head is used this is the head distance
• Exact nesting
o If checked the nesting distance is exactly the part distance
o If not checked the nesting distance can be larger than the nesting distance. This
makes the nesting go faster and can be used if the distance is not critical. The
deviation from the part distance depends on the size of the sheet.
• Start corner and direction combo box/image
o By selecting in the combo box or clicking on the image you can select the start
corner and direction of the nesting
• Continued nesting
o Only applies if multiple sheets are selected for nesting
o Nesting continues on each new sheet
o This means that if all parts didn’t fit on the first sheet the nest will continue
with the next sheet etc until all parts have been nested or there are no more
sheets to nest on
• Restart nesting
o Only applies if multiple sheets are selected for nesting
o Nesting restarts on each new sheet.
o This means that the nest will nest on all selected sheets but it will restart the
nesting on every sheet resetting the quantities of all parts.
o This is useful if you have many sheets but only need select the best one for
nesting.
• NEST
o Starts the nesting
o You will be prompted to “Select sheets”
 This can be sheets or closed polylines or circles
o The you will be prompted to “Select obstacles”
 These are parts or polylines where the nest is not allowed to place
objects on.
 Use this to continue nesting on a sheet
 Use this if you have some “forbidden” areas on the sheet like clamps.
• Close
o Closes the dialog box.
Automatic true shape nesting is a very difficult problem in computer science. An optimal
solution to a general case is theoretically impossible to solve. Therefore all nesting software
use algorithms that give an approximation to the best solution. To obtain the best possible nest
for a set of parts you will probably need to manually change some of the settings that are
presented as defaults. The most important changes are Priority, Method and Rotation.
The AutoNest is best suited for nesting many different parts where at least on of these are
small compared to the sheet. Using AutoNest with a single part that is large in comparison
with the sheet (<10 copies) might not give the best results. When nesting a single part it is
usually better to use the other nesting methods, GridNest and BumpNest.
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2D CAM module
The 2D CAM group is the main module for CAM operations in GEMS. From here you create
parts and sheets, prepare your parts and create NC code.
Machine and Material
Here you select the current machine and material. All commands that requires a machine
and/or material will automatically bring up this dialog if there is no current machine or
material. When pressing OK the selected machine and material is saved in the current
drawing. This means that this dialog usually is only shown once for each drawing or when you
manually need to change the machine and material
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Machine
Here you handle all your machines. At the top the machine file where the machines are stored
is shown. This file is located in the GEMS shared folder. It’s important to make regular
backups of this file.
To the left is a list of all available machines. The two buttons at the bottom of the list will add
or delete machines from the list. When adding a new machine to the list it will be an exact
copy of the currently selected machine. So you will need to at least change the name of the
new machine before pressing OK. So when creating a new machine please select the on that is
most like the new one before pressing the new button. This way the changes you need to do on
the new machine will be minimal.
There are several tabs in this dialog all dealing with certain properties of the machines. To edit
a machine just select the machine in the list to the left and edit it’s properties. When post
processing most of these settings can and should be used by the post processor. But please
note that because of our flexible post processing language it is possible to ignore almost all of
these settings in the post processor. Please contact our support if you have specific questions
regarding how these settings are used in your particular post processors.
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Common
• Type
o The type of the machine. AWJ, Water, Laser, Gas or Plasma
• Name
o The name of the machine
• Postprocessor
o Here you select the post processor used with this machine
o By right clicking on the combo box you can add or copy postprocessors from
the list
o If you need to send a copy of your post processor you should always use this
copy method to guarantee that you send the correct post processor
o If you get a post processor you should always use this add method to add the
post processor to the system
• Lift height
o The lift height for rapid movements
• NC path
o The folder where the NC files are placed
• NC extension
o The file extension for the NC files
• User
o A user defined field that can be used by the post processor
• Tool diameter
o The diameter of the cut
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• Max tool diameter
o The maximum diameter of the cut for this machine
o Because the exact diameter of the cut can change this value should be the
maximum allowed diameter
o This value is used when creating a part to guarantee an error free toolpath
• Min segment length
o Some machines don’t allow too short movements
o This value can be used by the post processor so that no movement will be
shorter than this
• Max cutting feed
o This is the maximum cutting feed
• Rapid feed
o This is the rapid feed
• Rapid delay
o This value is used in time calculations
o This value is added before every rapid movement
o This simulates the time for the jet to stop and the head to lift before the rapid
movement can start
• Cutting delay
o This is used in time calculations
o This value is added before every cutting start
o This simulates the time for the jet to start before cutting
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Sheet/Heads
• Tools X aligned
o Check this if the tools are located on the X-axis
• Tools Y aligned
o Check this if the tools are located on the Y-axis
• Cutting heads
o The maximum number of cutting heads
• Cutting head distance
o The default distance between the cutting heads when creating a new sheet
• Sheet collar width
o The default collar width when creating a new sheet
• Max sheet size X
o The maximum allowable size of a sheet in X for this machine
• Max sheet size Y
o The maximum allowable size of a sheet in Y for this machine
• Min head distance
o The minimum head distance
• Max head distance
o The maximum head distance
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Collision
• Avoid less than X

o Default value used for collision detection in sheet prepare
o Collision detection is only applied to parts that is smaller in X than this value
• Avoid less than Y
o Default value used for collision detection in sheet prepare
o Collision detection is only applied to parts that is smaller in Y than this value
• Tool outer diameter
o Value used for collision detection in sheet prepare
o All rapid movements that comes closer than this too already cut parts are
considered a collision.
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AWJ
This tab is only shown for AWJ machines. All these values are used in our abrasive speed
calculations.
• Pump capacity
o The capacity of the pump
• Add
o Add a new pump capacity to the list
• Abrasive quality
o The quality of the sand
o The items in this list can be edited and are found in a file called abrquality.cfg
in the machine shared folder
• Abrasive flow
o The abrasive flow
• Pressure
o The pressure
• Orfice diameter
o The diameter of the orfice
• Nozzle diameter
o The diameter of the nozzle
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Cost
The AWJ box is only shown for AWJ machines and the Laser box is only shown for laser
machines. These values are used in the cost calculations.
• Machine cost
o The machine cost per hour
• Cost per head
o The cost per head per hour
• AWJ Sand cost
o The san cost
• Laser Oxygen
• Laser Nitrogen
• Laser Air
• Laser Argon
o The costs for the different gases used in laser cutting
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Material
Here you handle all your materials. At the top the material file where the materials are stored
is shown. This file is located in the GEMS shared folder. It’s important to make regular
backups of this file.
To the left is a list of all available materials. The two buttons at the bottom of the list will add
or delete materials from the list. When adding a new material to the list it will be an exact
copy of the currently selected material. So you will need to at least change the name of the
new material before pressing OK. So when creating a new material please select the on that is
most like the new one before pressing the new button. This way the changes you need to do on
the new material will be minimal.
There are several tabs in this dialog all dealing with certain properties of the material. To edit
a material just select the material in the list to the left and edit it’s properties. You can edit
several materials at the same time by selecting multiple materials in the list. Above the tabs
are general properties that are not connected to the machine type. Above the list to the left are
checkboxes for the five different machine types. To use a material for a certain machine type
you must check the corresponding checkbox.
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• Name
o The name of the material
• The cost per Kg of this material
o This cost is used in the CostEstimate plugin
• Thickness
o The thickness of the material
o The name, thickness combination must be unique
• Density
o The density of the material
o This is used whenever the weight is needed so it is important this is correct
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AWJ
• Marking delay
o Time before marking starts
• Marking feed
o Feed for marking
• Stationary piercing
o Time for stationary piercing
• Marking point delay
o Time before a point is marked
• Stationary piercing low
o Time for low pressure stationary piercing
• Circular piercing
o Number of turns for circular piercing
o When calculating cutting time each turn is calculated at 1 second
• Piercing diameter
o Piercing diameter for circular piercing
• Circular piercing low
o Number of turns for low pressure circular piercing
o When calculating cutting time each turn is calculated at 1 second
• Part distance
o Distance between parts
o Used when nesting etc…
• Use abrasive for marking
o If abrasive is to be used when marking
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• Use abrasive for point marking
o If abrasive is to be used when point marking
• Piercing use vacuum assist
o If vacuum assist should be used when piercing
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Machinability NON US version
• Machinability
o A value used in the cutting feed calculations
o This represents how “easy” a material is to cut with abrasive waterjet
o Lower values means a harder material and lower feeds
• Calculate…
This enables you to calculate the machinability by doing a test cut in the material. For
more detailed instructions contact our support.
• List of machinability
o This will show a list of the machinability for typical materials
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• Machine
o The feeds in the table below are presented for this selected machine
• Quality
o This is a global setting that is not connected to the current material
o This allows you to fine tune the feed calculations for the different quanlities
• High feed, Low feed
o The actual high and low feeds
• Steps
o Number of acceleration and deceleration steps
• Acc dist
o The acceleration distance of each step
• Dec dist
o The deceleration distance for each step
• High fac, Low fac
o This is the actual value saved in the database
o The high feed and low feed are then calculated using these factors
o This allows you to fine tune the feeds from the original calculated value
• AngleH, AngleL
o For future use
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Machinability US version
• High feed, Low feed

o The high and low feeds
• Steps
o Number of acceleration and deceleration steps
• Acc dist
o The acceleration distance of each step
• Dec dist
o The deceleration distance for each step
• AngleH, AngleL
o For future use
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Water
• Cutting feed
o The cutting feed
• Marking feed
o The marking feed
• Marking delay
• Part distance
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Laser
• Machine
o The laser settings are combination settings between the selected material and
the selected machine in this combo box
• Technology
o The technology table
• Nozzle
o Diameter of the nozzle
• Piercing
o Gas
 Gas used for piercing
o Feedrate
 Feed for circular piercing
o Pressure
 Pressure for piercing
o Delay
 Time delay before piercing
• Cutting
o Type
 Type of cutting
 All values below are saved individually for each type
o Gas
 Gas for cutting
o Feedrate
 Feed for cutting
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o Pressure
 Pressure for cutting
o Off delay
 Delay time before shutting off
• Part distance
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Gas
• Cutting feed
o The cutting feed
• Marking feed
o The marking feed
• Marking delay
• Part distance
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Plasma
• Cutting feed
o The cutting feed
• Marking feed
o The marking feed
• Marking delay
• Part distance
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Create sheet
When creating a sheet you are first prompted to “Select sheet or objects to create sheet of
(enter to crete new)”. By selecting a sheet you will be able to edit this sheet and by selecting
closed polylines or circles you are able to create a new sheet. The sheet can contain holes.
Pressing neter lets the user specify a box which will be used as a new sheet. The tool distance
and collar width will get it’s default values from the current machine.
• Collar width
o A safety distance from the edge of the sheet
o This is used when nesting etc…
• Name
o The name of the sheet
o The name will be saved with the sheet
o If you want the name to be visible on the sheet please set the height > 0.0
• X, Y, Button
o Indicates the position of the name on the sheet relative to the lower left corner
of the sheets bounding box.
o Here you can manually select where the name will appear on the sheet.
• Height, Button
o The text height of the name on the sheet
o If Height is 0.0 the name will not be visible on the drawing.
• Apply
o Applies the changes to the sheet
• Close
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Update sheets (F5)
This will update the parts on all sheets on the drawing making sure they have the correct
cutting head distance. This will apply to parts that have the cutting head quantity and distance
set to sheet.
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Lock sheet
Locking a sheet means that all parts on the sheet are locked and can not be moved. You can
also use this to cut off the sheet. A locked sheet can be considered a rest sheet.
First you will be prompted to “Select sheet and parts”. Please select the sheet and all parts that
should be locked on this sheet.
Second you will be prompted to “Select cutoff”. Please select any preparations that will be
used as a cutoff for this sheet.
After lock sheet
The locked parts are now part of the sheet and will automatically be used when nesting etc…
If the plugin PartManager is loaded you will get additional questions and dialog boxes when
locking a sheet. Please refer to the PartManger reference manual for more information.
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Unlock sheet
A locked sheet can be unlocked and the parts will be activated again.
You are prompted to “Select sheets to unlock”. Please select the sheets you want to unlock.
After unlock
Note that unlocking a sheet will not merge cutoff sheets.
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Create part
Most other CAM functions work with parts. Here you can create parts from the geometry in
your drawing.
• Min area
o This is a filter that will remove objects that has a smaller area than this value.
o So when picking contours only contours that have a larger area than this will be
added to the part.
o To use all contours set this value to 0.0
• Min length/circumference
o Same as the area filter but with the length or circumference of the object
• Max tool diamater
o Max tool diameter is used to guarantee that the part can be cut with a tool
diameter up to this value without error in the NC code.
o Usually you should use the value from the current machine. This value can be
set by clicking the button to the right of this field.
o If you have problems creating parts you should try to set this value to 0.0
• Part name
o The name of the part
• Create one part
o This choice will make only ONE part of all the objects selected.
o The resulting part can thus have multiple outer contours.
o Creating one part can sometimes be good if you need to keep geometry
together.
• Create multiple parts
o This choice will analyse the objects and try to create one part of each outer
contour and corresponding holes.
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• Contours
o Chooses the closed objects making up the part/parts.
o Here you choose all objects making up the contours of the part.
• Other objects
o All other objects for marking, text marking or cutting
• OK
o Creates the part/parts
• Cancel
After selecting objects the selected objects will be shown in the preview image. Objects that
make up the contour of the part should normally be circles or closed polylines. If the contour
consists of lines and/or arcs that make up a closed contour they will be selected too. If the
entities don’t make up a closed contour they will need to be joined first. This can be done with
many different commands in GEMS.
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Restore geometry
A part is actually a block entity in GEMS. If you need to get the original geometry back from
a part you shouldn’t use the normal explode command in GEMS. This command will explode
the part and at the same time delete unwanted extra entitites that are save in the part and only
keep the actual geometry of the part.
If you need to change the geometry of the part you should first use this command then you can
change the geometry. After this you just create the part again using the changed geometry.
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Manual cutting
To prepare a part you can use different preparation methods. Manual cutting is the method
with most control and least amount of automation.
When starting manual cutting you are prompted to “Select part or press enter”. This means
that if you select a part the manual cutting will be attached to that part. If you just press enter
the cutting will not be connected to any part. For example making a cutoff of a sheet will
probably not be connected to any part.
• Rapid
o Performs rapid movements
o All rapid movements before the first start are not saved
• Start
o Starts cutting (see below)
• Line
o Cuts a line
o Just pick point in the cad
• Follow to…
o When cutting on an object you might want to cut to a position that is not the
endpoint of a segment.
o Select follow to and pick the exact position you want to cut to.
o This can for example be the midpoint of a line.
• Next
o When cutting on an object you can press next to just follow the next segment
on a polyline for example.
o If there is a choice of direction you will be prompted to select the correct
direction.
• Undo
o Undoes the last step
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• Loops
o Pops up the loops dialog, letting the user enable/disable corner loops and the
radius and threshold angle for them. Loops can be used to optimize cutter feed
and to get higher quality in part corners.
• Done
o Finishes the cutting and closes the dialog box
• Cancel
o Cancels the cutting and closes the dialog box
The loops dialog
The loops dialog shows up when pressing the ‘loops’ button in manual cut.
• Enabled
o Specifies if loops are currently created in corners or not
• Threshold angle
o The minimum corner angle that is considered for loops.
• Radius
o The radius of the loops circular portion
• Uncompensated material side
o The side of the material if the manual cut is done with no compensation.
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• Start dialog for manual cutting
• Compensation
o Select the compensation
• Piercing
o Select the piercing
• Length
o Length of the leadin
• Fixed length
o If a fixed length is to be used. Uses the value in the Length field.
o If this is not checked the length of the leadin will be from the current position
to the start position.
• OK
o Select the start position
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Single
Single is the half automatic preparation command. You will select the leads you want to use
and then you manually click on every contour you want to cut. When clicking on a contour the
toolpath for this contour is calculated.
• Outer
o Lead
 The lead for outer contours
o Quality
 The quality for outer contours
o Compensation
 The compensation for outer contours
• Holes
o Lead
 The lead for holes
o Quality
 The quality for holes
o Compensation
o The compensation for holes
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• Corner
o Lead
 The lead for corners.
 A corner is defined as an outer corner with at least 30 degrees angle.
 The angle can be set in settings.ini file for the plugin and the variable is
called corner_angle
• Lead buttons
o Brings up the lead dialog box for handling the lead library. See below
• Connect to part
o This will connect the preparation to the part.
o If this is not checked the preparation will not be connected to the part and thus
if the part is moved the prepartion is not moved with it.
• Replace mode
o If this is checked the internal cut order of the part is kept intact.
o If this is not checked each new preparation is added as the last preparation of
the part.
• Collision detection
o If this is checked every lead that is placed is collision controlled against all
other parts on the drawing.
• Single
o Prompts you to select contours to cut.
• Cancel
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Auto
Auto is the most automatic preparation method. You just select the parts you want to prepare
and auto will calculate the toolpaths. It will not calculate the cutting order amongst several
parts but will only consider each part individually. All lead placements are fully collision
detected against all parts on the drawing.
• Outer
o See Single
• Holes
o See Single
• Corner
o See Single
• Hole order
o Closest
o Left to right
• Allow corners
o If leads are to be allowed to be placed in corners
o A corner is defined as an outer corner with at least 30 degrees angle.
o The angle can be set in settings.ini file for the plugin and the variable is called
corner_angle
• Prefer corners
o If corners are allowed you can select if corners are preferred compared to other
placement positions
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• Try previous parts first
o When placing leads the algorithm tries to use the same lead positions as other
identical parts on the drawing.
o This will greatly decrease the size of the NC-code
o All parts on the drawing are used to search for earlier copies to use.
• Ignore prepared contours
o If some contour of a part already has a preparation this preparation will be used
instead of calculating a new position.
o The cut order between contours might be changed even if this choice is used
• All holes first
o This will cut all holes before cutting the outer contours
o This is not compatible with Create macros or Ignore prepared parts
o The toolpath generated is not connected to any parts
• Accuracy
o The accuracy when searching for lead positions
o A higher value will be more accurate but might take a lot longer to calculate
o The value is increasing from left to right
• Replace leads
o Will replace all leads on the selected parts with the current leads
o Useful if you for example change the machine type and want to change all
leads to the default leads for that machine type.
o No collision detection is performed in this case. Use the normal Auto (OK
button) if you need collision detection
• OK
o Select parts and run calculation
o Pressing ESC will abort the operation. You might need to hold the ESC key for
a few seconds.
• Cancel
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Holes
Lets the user select a selection of circles to be treated as holes. These circles must be added as
other objects to a part. The hole command lets the user enter a hole-text identifying the hole.
The postprocessor is then responsible to perform the correct action when this hole is
encountered.
When pressing OK the user is prompted to select a filter circle. After this the user is prompted
to select circles as holes. If a filter circle is selected then only circles with the same radius is
selected.
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Marking/Cutting
Marking/Cutting lets you mark or cut objects inside parts.
• Marking
o Selects marking
• Cutting
o Selects cutting
o Text entities will be marked and not cut anyway
• Piercing
o When cutting this is the piecing type
• Connect to part
o Connects the marking or cutting to the part
• Single
o Lets the user pick entities from the part to mark or cut
• Multi
o Lets the user select a window around all parts that are to be marked or cut
o Uses a “closest” sort order
• Close
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Lead in/out
This dialog handles the lead library. Here you can set up a library of different leads. The lead
library is connected to machine type, so the library can be different for each machine type.
Adding a new lead will only add it to the currently selected machine type.
• New lead
o Creates a new lead
o This new lead is a copy of the currently selected lead.
• Remove lead
o Removes the selected lead
• Length in, Length out
o The linear length of the leadin/out
• Radius in, Radius out
o The Radius of the leadin/out
• Angle in, Angle out
o The linear angle of the leadin/out
• Overcut
o The ovecut distance
o A positive value will start the leadout after the leadin
o A negative value will start the leadout before the leadin
o Using a negative value enables you to create “bridges”
• Piercing
o The piercing type for the leadin
o The piercing types can be changed and are located in the file piercing.ini in the
material shared folder.
• Default outer
o Check this to use this lead as the default outer lead for the current material
• Default holes
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o Check this to use this lead as the default hole lead for the current material
• Default corner
o Check this to use this lead as the default corner lead for the current material
• Insert
o Inserts the selected lead on contours
o Use this to for example add bridges
• Replace
o Select leads on the drawing to be replaced by the current lead
• Delete
o Delete leads on the drawing
o This is one way to remove a preparation from a part
• OK
o If this dialog box is called from another plugin pressing OK will select the
current lead.
• Cancel
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Edit part
Edit part lets you examine the preparation of a part in detail. To the left is a tree view that
shows all prepared objects of the part. Selecting one node and expanding it will give more
information about the preparation. When selecting a node in the tree different controls are
presented to the right of the tree view.
• Clone
o Use this to copy the preparation of this part to other identical parts.
o This enables you do to a change on one part and then copy this change to all
other copies of this part
• Close
Root level (Part)

• Name
o The name of the part
• Zero point
o The zero point of the part
• Manual cut order…
o Lets you choose by picking the cut order between all objects of you part.
• Closest cut order…
o Sorts the cutting with the closest distance algorithm
o Starts the sorting from the zero point
• Left to right…
o Sorts the cutting from left to right
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First level (unit)
• Name
o Name of the node in the list
• Delete
o Delete this node/preparation
• Compensation
o Selects the compensation. Left, right, on or marking
• Speed ramping
o Indicates if speed ramping is to be used for this preparation
• Reverse
o Reverse the direction of this preparation
• Events
o Enables you to insert event nodes on the cutting or on the rapid
o Events can then be used by the post processor
o Se below for the event dialog
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Event dialog
Events are a powerful feature used to give full control of the preparation. An event can be
inserted on the cutting or on the rapid and this event can then be used in the post processor.
Events are represented in the CAD as small circles.
• Right click
o Add or delete events from the list
• Value
o A value connected to the event
o In this example a 4 is connected to the event PAUSE, this could for example be
interpreted by the post processor that the machine should pause for 4 seconds.
• Insert on cutting
o Inserts the selected event on the cutting
• Insert on rapid
o Inserts the selected event on the rapid
• Close
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Rapid
A rapid movement.
• Length
o The total length of the rapid movement
• Start
o Start position of the rapid
• End
o End position of the rapid
• Redefine
o This lets you redefine the rapid movement.
o As default the rapid movement is a straight line between the start and end
position. Sometimes you might need to use a rapid movement that consists of
more movements to for example avoid an obstacle.
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Leadin and leadout
• Length
o The linear length of the lead
• Angle
o The linear angle of the lead
• Radius
o The radius of the lead
• Piercing (only leadin)
o The piercing type of the leadin
• Lead library…
o Brings up the lead library dialog
Line and arc
The line and arc nodes will show information about the selected segment. Such as start point,
end point and length etc…
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Quality
The quality command lets you select different quality settings on different parts of your part.
The qualities can be set freely on the contours of the part and doesn’t have to be connected to
full segments. When selecting this command all parts on the drawing will have their qualities
highlighted, and then you need to choose the part to edit.
• Paint
o Lets you “paint” on the quality on a contour of the part.
o By clicking once on a segment of the contour that segment will get the selected
quality.
o By double clicking on a contour the entire contour will get the selected quality.
o After painting a closed contour you will have to select the side to keep.
o All this is very intuitive and easy to use.
• Apply on all
o Sets the selected quality on all contours of the part
• Done
o Closes the dialog
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Common cutlines
Common cutlines is a command used to generate cutter paths that is common to multiple parts
as far as possible. The resulting toolpath will not be connected to any part.
• Length
o In common cutlines, all leadins are linear. This is the preferred length of them.
• Piercing
o The piercing method wanted.
• Part distance
o Contour lying this distance from each other are cut with a common line, other
are cut with a ‘normal’ cutter path.
• Support lines
o If checked, no part or cutting entities are generated, but only line entities on
common cutter paths. This is useful for manually cutting the paths, giving
more control.
• OK
o When pressed, parts to include in common cutlines are asked for in selection
set. Possibly old preparations on those parts are removed, and the common
cutline paths are generated as a standalone part without internal geometry (only
cutting data).
• Cancel
o Terminates the command.
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Bridges
• Bridges is used to make a single cutting path without interruption.

• When run, input data asked for in order are:
o Lead to use
o Lead position. A reference point is asked for and the lead is placed on the
closest point on the closest part. A preview lead will be shown.
o A distance to use as bridge with.
o Multiple points between parts are asked for, used as a center point for the
bridge. A bridge preview will be shown in realtime when selecting points.
o Terminate the command with escape.
• Bridges will create a standalone part without internal geometry, only including cutting
units.
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Estimate cost
Estimate cost is used to do a fast approximation of the cutting cost for specific parts.
• Machine cost/hour
o The cost for the machine per hour of running time.
• Cost per head/hour
o The additional machine cost for each head per hour.
• Rapid time
o The sum of rapid transport times between contours in the part
• Piercing time
o The sum of time used to pierce the material based on the machine settings
• Marking time
o The total time of marking on the parts
• Cutting time
o Total time of cutter movement while cutting
• Total time
o Approximate time it takes to cut the part(s)
• Cost (left group)
o The cost for cutting excluding the material cost.
• Material cost/weight
o The price for the material per weight unit. Changes will update ‘Material
cost/area as well’
• Material cost/weight
o The price for the material per area unit. Changes will update ‘Material
cost/weight as well’
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• Enclosing
o When this button is pressed, the material cost is calculated using the total
bounding box of the parts.
o The calculation type is reflected in the upper right image.
• Outer
o When this button is pressed, the material cost is calculated using the outer
contours of the parts, excluding the holes.
• Net
o When this button is pressed, the material cost is calculated using the outer
contours of the parts, excluding the holes.
• Cost (right group)
o The total material for the part(s) to be cut.
• Cutting length
o The total cutter path length.
• Estimated total cost
o Sum of machine and material cost which should be approximately the cost for
the part(s)
• Calculator button
o Opens windows calculator
• Report button
o Opens a text file in the default text editor, containing the info. presented in the
window.
• Close
o Shuts this dialog
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Tool setup
A command used to define the wanted tool setup for specific parts.
• Tool distance
o The distance between each tool
• Minimum tool distance
o Asks the user to select some parts, and the calculates the smallest tool distance
possible for those.
• Apply
o Let the user select parts to apply the settings in the dialog on
• Part picker
o Asks for a part when pressed, and sets the controls in this dialog to the setting
of that specific part.
• Close
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Sheet prepare
Sheet prepare is the command to use to define an order of the parts to cut.
• Left (green) list

o Contains the parts selected when the command starts OR the parts included in
the cut order selected.
o The parts can be drag’n dropped in the list to change order.
• Redefine rapid
o Temporarily closes this window and asks for an arbitrary number of points that
defines the rapid transport that moves to the currently selected part in the list
(the currently selected part will be highlighted on the drawing)
• Zero point X,Y
o Specifies where in GEMS world coordinates the preparation zero point resides.
Pressing the button selects a new one.
• Algorithm
o The algorithm used to sort the parts when sorted. Initially all parts have the
same order as they are created. Changing this combo box does nothing until
‘Apply...’ button is pressed.
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• Length
o Indicates the sum of all current rapid lengths of the cut order entity, internal
part rapids (between holes) are excluded.
• Tipup avoidance DX, DY
o Parts that extends less than the distances entered here on the drawing is taken
into account when running a collision detection session. Note that this is the
extension in GEMS world coordinate system, not in parts current rotation.
• Generate events
o If this is checked when running a collision detection, events are inserted in the
preparation for the postprocessor the collision occurs on the next part. This is
done when Close button is pressed.
• Find collisions
o Starts the collision detection algorithm. If collision with to small parts already
cut is detected, a sequence of points is requested. Use space and enter to
confirm or cancel the newly define rapid.
• Final point
o If set, numbers are present in the X,Y edits which represents a point that the
tool should move to when done. Pressing the button lets the user select a new
point. Pressing enter when selecting this point clears the current point.
• Enumerate
o Asks for a selection set of parts and a distance to use as text height, and then
puts a block with numbers at each part in the order they’re cut. This is mostly
an utility to clarify the order of parts on a printed paper.
• Close
o Finishes this command
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Part text height
Asks for a selection set of parts and a text height and inserts the user name of the parts in the
part center.
Part distance
Asks the user to select two parts and the show the closest distance between those at the lower
right of GEMS main window. This distance is calculated from the contours of the parts, not
the cutting paths that might be associated with it.
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Post process
This is the place to go when NC code is to be created for a cut order.
• The choices on the file menu are for advanced users only. Here’s a brief summary of
them:
o View postprocessor – opens the current postprocessor script in the current text
editor.
o View report generator – opens the current report generator script in the current
text editor.
o View machine file – generates a machine file like it will look like if ‘Start’
button is pressed and shows it in the current editor.
o View preparation file – opens the current preparation file in the current text
editor. This is the file containing all information about the current preparation.
o View root functions – only for very advanced users. Shows a file of commonly
used lua functions that connects the lua postprocessor system with the root
system.
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o View user function file – if custom lua functions is wanted this is the file to
edit, it is automatically loaded before processing is started.
• The edit menu has the following choices
o Copy – copies the currently selected text in the console to windows clipboard
as text.
o Select all – selects all the text in the console.
• The toolbuttons on the toolbar are (in order)
o Print
 Prints the text in the console
o Copy
 Copies the currently selected text in the console (same as copy on edit
menu)
• Machine
o Shows the name of the current machine.
• Material
o Shows the current material and it’s thickness.
• Change...
o Pressing this button pops up the machine/material selection dialog, allowing a
change of those.
• View NC file automatically...
o If this is checked, the NC file is opened in the current editor when successfully
created. (This can be done with ‘View NC file button’ as well)
• Silent console
o If this is checked, less text is printed out in the console when processing is
performed.
• Start
o This starts the process of NC code creation.
• Report
o This shows the report created by the postprocessor if any.
• View NC file
o Opens the NC file (if any) associated with the current cut order.
• Close
o Closes the dialog
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Part Manager module
Part manager is a module to handle parts and sheets.
Parts, sheets and nested parts are saved in a database.
The database enables the user to have sophisticated control over the data stored there.
There will no longer be a need to create complicated directory tree structures to save your
parts and you will always have full control of your stock of sheets and rest sheets.
With part manager you can share the database over the network. This enables all users to work
with the same parts and sheets etc.
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Settings
Controls different system settings.
• Shared folder
o Select where the files saved by the database are stored.The shared folder is
where GEMS and PartManager saves all parts, sheets, nests, materials,
machines etc etc.
• Database
o Here you set the database used by the system
• Custom fields
o Extend Part Manager by adding custom fields to the database
• Automatic checkout
o When this is checked the Register Nest is affected
• No external checkout will be needed
• The parts and sheets are automatically checked out and rest sheets are
available directly.
• The database is updated and the NEST is flagged as produced.
• Save vector file
o Check the boxes to automatically save a vector file when registered in
PartManager.
o The vector file can if it exists be used in reports for greater accuracy and
quality.
• Import…
o Imports data to the database from an SKV file.
o Can be used to for example import customer data.
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• Optimize database
o Compacts the database to make it as small as possible. You should do this from
time to time to keep the database as small and fast as possible
• Registered events
o In here you can connect LUA scripts to different events.
o For example if you need a special action to be performed when a nest is
checked out then you can connect a LUA script to the CHECKOUT event.
o This feature is used to customize the system and to connect it to other systems.
o It’s a very powerful feature that makes it possible to do very advanced
customisations.
• Backup
o Automatic database backup folder
• This is where the backups of the actual database are saved
o Number of backups
• This is how many consecutive copies are saved
o Backup database
• Forces a backup of the database. This replaces the current backup
• Normally just one backup each day is performed.
• If Number of backups is set to 0 then no backup is performed
automatically. In this case you could force a backup with the Backup
database button.
o Backup shared folder
• Backs up the entire shared folder
• Sales
o Sales mode
• When working with the sales module you need to check this checkbox.
• When this checkbox is checked new parts will automatically have the
released flag set to false. If the release flag is false the part is not
automatically visible in the part browser.
• The idea is that when you get an order for this part the release flag is set
to true and the part becomes visible inside of GEMS.
• As long as the release flag is set to false the part is considered as a
quotation or offer part.
o Enable offer nr and order nr
• Inside the sales dialog there are two additional fields called offer nr and
order nr. As a default these fields are disabled.
• Enable them if you need these fields or more commonly if you need to
synchronize PartManager with an external system.
o Default offer valid length
• When you create a new quotation the quotation has a last valid date.
This counter determines how many days from the current day this date
should be set to as a default.
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Moving the shared folder and database
Just select a new shared folder from the setup program. If the new shared folder is empty you
will be prompted to copy the old shared folder to the new location. A typical scenario looks
like this:
1. Create a folder on the server where you want to move the shared folder to.
2. Bring up the PartManager setup dialog.
3. Browse for the newly created folder on the network and select it.
4. This folder is empty so you will be prompted to copy the contents of the old shared
folder to this location. Select YES to do this.
5. Done!
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Custom fields
Add custom field

o Press this button to add a new field to the database
Remove custom field
o Remove the selected field
• Close
o Close the dialog box
Adding a field
When adding a field you need to enter the name of the

field and the type of the field.
There are four different types to choose from, integer,
float, string and list.
For integer and float you can set the min and max
allowable value. Setting both min and max to 0 will
allow any input. For the string type you must set the
maximum length of the string.
If list is selected you will then select the items in the

list.
This can also be done afterwards by pressing the

items button in the custom fields dialog. Here you
can add items to the list. Note that once an item has
been added it can not be removed!
All existing posts in the database will get the first

item in the list or the minimum value for integers
and floats. Strings will be empty.
Custom fields will appear in the extras tab for the

selected type. The custom fields are like any other
database fields and can appear in lists, be sorted,
filtered and used in reports.
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Import
Here you can import data from an SKV file (semi colon separated). This file can for example
be generated from Excel.
• Open
o Opens a SKV file and populates the list
o The first row in the SKV file should be the name of the different columns in
the list. In this example this is Name, Adress, Tel and Fax
• Import
o Performs the import
o Will import all rows that have the checkbox checked in the list
o Make sure the mapping is correct before doing this
• Close
o Closes the dialog
• Table
o All the tables in the database are listed here
o You must select the correct table to import to.
• Input, Output
o Here you perform the mapping between the SKV file and the selected table.
o This list will list all columns from the SKV file in the left Input column.
o In the right Output column all the fields from the selected table are presented.
o You must map the correct input column from the SKV file to the correct
output field in the selected table.
A summary of the import looks like this.

1. Open the SKV file to be imported
2. Select the correct table to import to
3. Do all the mappings between the SKV file and the table
4. Make sure the rows to be imported have the checkbox checked
5. IMPORT
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Lists
Most lists in Part Manager look like this.
Filters can be set on any column. Right click the mouse on the column you want to set a filter
on.
This dialog box will appear. If there was no previous filer on this column the value of the
selected row will be automatically added.
• OK
o Adds a new filter to the list.
• Cancel
o No filter is added
• AND, OR
o If both edit fields are used they are combined with AND or OR
If a filter is active on a column the caption of this column will be blue.

The filters can have wildcards and comparison characters. Here are a few examples
• Alu* or Alu% * or % represents any characters
• Alu?inium or Alu_inium ? or _ represents one character
• >10
• <10
• >=10
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• <=10
• !=10
You can set filters on any number of columns at the same time. This enables you to easily find
what you need from the database.
Save filter…
o Here you can save the current filter and sort settings
o A filter will mean both a filter and/or a sorting from here on
o If you check the Save in shared folder checkbox all users will be able to use
this filter.
o All saved filters are shown in the combo box
Remove filter
o Removes the selected filter
Select all
o If a check box column is visible this button will check all rows
Unselect all
o If a check box column is visible this button will uncheck all rows
Customize view…
o This enables you to rearrange columns and to select which columns should be
visible.
o Just drag the column headers to move them around

Export to CSV
o The current list can be saved as a CSV file that can easily be imported to for
example Excel
Refresh list
127
o This will just refresh the current list. Because Part Manager can be used in a
network some one else might have changed the database. To show any changes
done by others you can press the refresh button.
128
• Limits…
o Limit is activated by double clicking on the “Number of records” field in the
lower right corner.
o Selects the SQL limit
o When the database has found the number of records indicated by limits it will
stop searching. This means all records from the database are not shown in the
list.
o If the number of records found are larger than the limit the “Number of
records” field will be red.
o This is useful when working with very large databases. After setting a few
filters the number of records found will usually be lower than the limit.
o If the “Number of records” field in the lower right corner is red set a filter or
increase the limit.
• Check boxes
o Some reports will require you to check the records you want to create a report
about.
• Combo box of saved filters
o When you save a filter it will appear in the combo box below the list
o Selecting a saved filter in the list will automatically use this filter
o The Show all filter is always present and it will remove any active filters.
o The shortcut for the show all filter is a or A
o Holding SHIFT when selecting a filter will add this filter to the current filter.
Otherwise the selected filter will totally replace the current filter.
• Multiple sorting…
o In some cases you need to control the sorting in more detail. Suppose you need
to sort the list and have the records in a special priority order.
o The list can be sorted by clicking on the column headers.
o Mutliple sorting can be done by holding the SHIFT key while clicking.
o The order of the multiple sorting will be the same order you click the columns
in.
o To change between acsending and descending just click the column again
o To turn off multiple sorting just click on one column without the SHIFT key.
o If multiple sorting is used you will see “MS” to the left of the “Number of
records” field. There will also be a [#] after the sorted columns where #
indicates the order of the sort.
o Example
• 1 sort on customer
• 2 sort on delivery
• 3 sort on tonest
• This would sort the list first by customer then among records with the
same customer these records would be internally sorted on delivery and
finally on tonest.
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Reports
• Reports
o Here you see a list of available reports
o A black color means the report is located in the shared folder and available to
all users
o A magenta color means the report is a standard report. A standard report can
not be deleted or edited.
o If you need to modify the standard reports you need to make copies of them
and use the copies instead.
Add report
o Add a new report
o If a report is selected in the list when this button is pressed the new report will
be a copy of this report.
Remove report
o Remove the selected report
o Standard reports can not be removed
Edit report…
o Edit the report
o Standard reports can not be edited
o If you need to customize the report you need to edit the report script
o The script is written in LUA
o Please contact your reseller for information on how to customize your reports
Execute
o Run the selected report
Close
o Close the dialog box
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Parts
Lists the parts in the database.
• Edit
o Edit the properties of the selected part
• Copy
o Make a copy of the part
• Delete
o Delete the part from the database
• Report
o Run a report
• OK
o Close the window
• Cancel
o Close the window
o If this dialog is called from another dialog for selecting parts pressing Cancel
will not select any parts.
o IMPORTANT! Cancel does NOT cancel any changes done to the database
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Edit part
Here you can change the properties of one part in the database.
• Name
o A unique name of the part
o This name is used to identify the part
o If a copy is made of the part it will get the same name. So there might exist
more than one part with the same name. Howerver, parts with the same name
also have the exact same geometri.
o Copies of parts are mainly used for production reasons.
• Description
o A free text description of the part.
• Customer partname
o If this part is ordered by a customer you might need the customers name of the
part.
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• Customer
o Show the selected customer
Edit customer
Select a customer
• Delivery
o Delivery date of the part
• Quantity
o Usually the ordered quantity of the part
o Quantity must be larger than 0 to be able to close the dialog.
 This behaviour can be disabled by adding a registry key
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\cadcraft\MRP_4.0
• Add key partnotzero with the value 0
• Remains to nest
o This is the number of parts left to nest
o Inside GEMS this is the quantity ised by the part browser
o When a nest is registered in GEMS this quantity is decreased
• Remains to produce
o This is the number of parts left to produce
o Parts are produced when they are checked out from the nest dialog
• Delivered
o When using the sales module this field indicates how many parts that have
been delivered
• Billed
o When using the sales module this field indicates how many parts that have
been billed
• Cost
o Cost of the part
o Edit cost. This button can be connected to a custom cost calculation unit. If
such unit exists the cost calculation of a part can be more advanced.
• Profit %
o The price equals the cost times the profit
• Price
o This is usually used together with the sales module and indicates the price of
the part.
• Order
o If this part is part of an order you can indicate this here
• Note
o A free text field
• Released for production
o GEMS PartBrowser automatically sets a filter that only shows parts with this
checkbox checked.
o So if you want to produce this part and make is visible inside GEMS you
should check this checkbox.
• Part confirmed
o This flag can be used if the part saved is NOT intended for production.
o Sometimes you design your part just for making a quotation and price
calculation. And only when you get an order you will draw the part properly.
o This flag indicates that the part is not “properly” drawn.
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• Extra variables and document list
o See The extras tab for more information
• ID
o Tha database id of the part
• Status
o Status of the part (for future usage)
• Workfile
o The actual part filename
• Created
o Date of creation (and user, not used yet)
• Changed
o Date of last change (and user, not used yet)
• Material
o Material and thickness
• Machine
o Machine
• Net area
o The parts net area
• Outer area
o The parts area without the holes
• X-Size
o The bounding box width of the part
• Y-Size
o The bounding box height of the part
• Weight
o The net weight of the part
• Sales id
o Indicates the sales post this part might belong to
• Cut length
o The cutting length
• Cut time
o The cutting time
• Close
In many of the dialog boxes there is an Extras tab, see separate documentation for information
about this tab.
134
Sheets
Lists the sheets in the database.

Sheets have a quantity connected to them indicating the number of sheets in stock. In this
system a rest sheet can only have the quantity 1 or 0.
• Edit
o Edit the properties of the selected sheet
• Delete
o Delete the sheet from the database
• Report
o Run a report
• OK
o Close the window
• Cancel
o Close the window
o If this dialog is called from another dialog for selecting sheets pressing Cancel
will not select any sheets.
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Edit sheet
• Name
o Name of the sheet
o A rest sheet should have the same name as the sheet it was created from
• Rest sheet
o Indicates if this sheet is a rest sheet
• Description
o A free text description
• Cost /Kg
o The cost of the sheet /Kg
• Quantity
o Number of sheets in stock
o For rest sheets this can NEVER be larger than 1
o Quantity is automatically decreased when a nest is registered
• Reserved
o When a sheet has bee used for nesting the reserved counter is increased. This
indicates that the sheet still exists in stock but is reserved for cutting later.
o When checking out the nest this counter is decreased again.
• Charge
o Charge number of the sheet
• Storage position
o Storage position of the sheet
• Note
o Free text note
• Extra variables and document list
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• ID
o Database id of the sheet
• Workfile
o The actual sheet ACD file
• Created
o Created date and user
• Changed
o Last change date and user
• Machine
o Machine
• Material
o Material and thickness of the sheet
• Size X
o The size of the sheet in X
• Size Y
o The size of the sheet in Y
• Area
o Net area of the sheet
• Density
o Density of the sheet
• Weight
o Net weight of the sheet
• Rest area
o The useful area for further nesting. Note that this is always an approximation.
• Nest id
o Indicates the nest that created this sheet
• Close
In many of the dialog boxes there is an Extras tab, see separate documentation for information
about this tab.
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Extras tab
The extras tab usually has this look. Sometimes the document list is not present.
Document list (Files – Path)

In this list you can connect any number of documents to your part or sheet etc…
The list is colour coded to indicate the status of the document.
• Green
o File is up to date
• Red
o File has been changed since it was added to the list
• Magenta
o File does not exist
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Add a document
o Add a document to the list
Detach a document
o Remove the selected document from the list
Open file
o Opens the selected file
o The file will be opened with the registered application for this file type in
Windows
Update file time
o This will update the file time in the database automatically making the selected
file green
Refresh list
o Updates the list of files
File information
o Shows information about the file
Custom field list (Name – Value)
If custom fields have been added to the database they will show up in this list. Here you can
enter values for these custom fields. The value is controlled by the type and any input
restrictions added to the custom field. Min and max for integer and float and max length for
strings. If the field is a list type the value is selected from a drop down list.
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Customers
Shows the customers in the database
• Edit
o Edit the properties of the selected customer
• New
o Created a new customer
• Delete
o Delete the customer from the database
• Report
o Run a report
• OK
o Close the window
• Cancel
o Close the window
o If this dialog is called from another dialog for selecting customers pressing
Cancel will not select any customers.
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Edit customer
A customer must have a name and a customer nr.

The dialog is quite self-explained. Fill in the appropriate edits and press OK to close the
dialog. You can use two addresses and any number of contacts.
The profit and discount fields are used by the sales module.
Contacts
The contact dialog is also very simple. Just fill in the data you need.
141
142
Nests
Lists the nests in the database.

The list can show the individual parts of all nests by selecting the Parts button. When selecting
the nests button the actual nests are shown. The Parts view can be very useful for finding a
specific nest that includes a certain part. This allows full trace ability of parts, sheets and
nests.
• Edit
o Edit the properties of the selected nest
• Delete
o Delete the nest from the database.
o This deletes not only the selected part but all rows with the same Nest id. So
don’t be surprised if more than one row is deleted.
• Report
o Run a report
• OK
o Close the window
• Cancel
o Close the window
o If this dialog is called from another dialog for selecting nests pressing Cancel
will not select any nests.
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Edit nest
Here you can change the properties of one nest in the database.
At the top is a list of the parts in the nest. This list will only show parts in the nest that are
registered in the database.
• ID
o The database id of the nest
• NC-File
o The NC-File if it exists
• Sheet
o The sheet that this nest is nested on
• Report
o Runs a report
• Checkout
o See below
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Checkout
Here you confirm that the nest is produced.

If any parts where not correctly cut this can be indicated in the Discard column. These parts
will then be put back in production again.
This program will also be available as a standalone unit with CCD barcode scanner support.
Just press F2 to checkout the nest.
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Sales
The sales module can help you with the quotation, order, delivery and billing process.
When using the sales module the proper working model is as follows.
1. Set the sales mode checkbox in the settings dialog
2. Register parts inside GEMS
3. Create a new sales item by pressing New in this dialog box
4. Create an offer
5. Convert the offer to an order
a. This will release the selected parts in the offer for production making them
visible in GEMS.
6. Nest and produce the parts in the usual way.
7. Deliver the parts
8. Create an invoice basis report and bill the parts
9. Finish the sales
• Edit
o Edit the properties of the selected nest
• New
o Creates a new sales item
• Delete
o Delete the nest from the database.
o This deletes not only the selected part but all rows with the same Nest id. So
don’t be surprised if more than one row is deleted.
• Report
o Run a report
• Sales items…
o Brings up the sales items dialog box.
o Here you can add items that you like to have in your offer/order.
o Typical items here might be Shipping fee, handling fee etc…
• OK
o Close the window
• Cancel
o Close the window
o If this dialog is called from another dialog for selecting nests pressing Cancel
will not select any nests.
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Edit sales
This is the dialog to handle your sales items. The same dialog is used both for offers and
orders.
Main list
You can edit most fields in the list. Changing for example quantity will automatically alter the
total price of the part. The rows are also colour coded depending on their status.
• Move down
o Moves the row down in the list
• Move up
o Moves the row up in the list
• Add field
o Adds a sales item to the list
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• Add part
o Lets the user select a part to add to the list.
o The list of parts presented is sorted on customer if a customer is selected.
o Only parts that have a quantity larger than 0 are shown in the list
• Copy part
o Makes a copy of a part and adds it to the list
o This is useful if you do not want to produce all parts at the same time. For
example 100 copies should be delivered in June and another 100 in September
then this can be handled in the same order and you can add two rows of the
same part one with delivery date in June and the other in September.
• Edit part
o Brings up the edit part dialog
• Remove row
o Removes the row from the list
• Calculate deliver and bill
o Automatically calculates the number of parts that can be delivered and billed
• Edit cost calculation of a part
o Brings up a calculation form where you can set different discount rates and see
the results.
• SUM
o This is the total sum of all rows.
• Quotation nr
o Must be enabled in the settings dialog before you can use this field.
o This is usually used to synchronize a PartManager sales item with an external
system.
• Order nr
o Must be enabled in the settings dialog before you can use this field.
o This is usually used to synchronize a PartManager sales item with an external
system.
• Customer
o Name of the customer
o The two buttons to the right is used to edit the customer and to select a
customer.
• Contact
o The contact for this offer/order
• Offer valid to
o The last valid date of the offer
• Common delivery date
148
o Use this to select the same delivery date for all rows
• Delivery address
o See Delivery address for more information
• Order
o When you want to convert the offer to an order and release the parts to
production you check this checkbox.
o This will effectively set the released flag for the parts making them visible
inside GEMS.
• Finished
o When all tasks have been performed and you are totally finished you can check
this checkbox.
o You can also let one of the tasks (reports) set this flag automatically.
o For example when the invoice basis task is executed and all rows in the list
have been billed this report can set this flag.
• Tasks
o Task is actually normal reports that you can use to create offer reports, order
reports, shipping notices etc… The tasks can also be used to update the
database and does not have to create an actual report. For example you can
create a task that calculates the shipping cost based on the total weight of
the whole order. This is a very powerful feature of this system. The tasks
(reports) are located in the folder set up in the settings dialog.
o If the task is green this means it has been performed earlier and can be viewed.
o Add task
• Adds a new task to the list
o Remove task
• Removes a task from the list
o Edit task…
• Lets you edit the actual LUA script creating the task/report
o Execute task
• Runs the task
• All tasks are saved with this sales item. So if you have produced the
task earlier you will be prompted to overwrite the existing task. If you
select No to this you will be presented a local copy of the report.
o View saved task
• Brings up the last saved report. This is usually the report that is for
example sent to the customer or used in any other way.
o Import standard tasks
• From the beginning the list is empty. To populate it with the standard
tasks press this button.
o Move down
• Moves the task down in the list
o Move up
• Moves the task up in the list
• Extra variables list
• Note
149
o A free text field
150
Sales items
Here you can add items that can appear in the offers and orders.
These items will be possible to add to the sales by selecting them from a list.
When creating a new sales item the items in this list that have the Default checkbox checked
will be automatically added to the sales.
151
Delivery address
Here you set the delivery address. As default the delivery address of the customer is used. If
no such address exists the normal address of the customer is used.
You can also change the address in this dialog box.

All different addresses used to a specific customer is presented in a list. This is to make it easy
to find an address.
Custom addresses that is not saved with the customer are presented with a date in the left
column. This date represents the date when this address was first used.
This address can be used in the reports. If you do not wish to use this you can ignore this
dialog and always use the customers address in the reports. It’s all up to the design of the
reports.
152
Part browser
The part browser keeps track of parts on your drawing. Note that the part browser will only
handle parts that are registered in the database. The shortcut to bring up the part browser is F6.
If the browser is empty when clicking the button the select parts dialog you will automatically
be presented. This dialog will be sorted on delivery date etc…
Importing parts that have a different material then the current material will automatically open
new drawings with this material loaded.
Import parts…
o This will bring up a list of parts to import
o The list will be automatically sorted on the selected
material, thickness and machine type
o If the Show all checkbox is not checked the browser
will only show parts with the correct material, thickness
and machine type. So if you select other parts they will
not show in the list until you change to the correct
material and machine type or check the Show all
checkbox.
Remove selected part from list (Del)
o Removes the part from the list
Add all registered parts from drawing (F6)
o This will add all database parts on the drawing to the list
View part…
o Brings up the edit part dialog box
Import sheets…
o Brings up the import sheets dialog box
o The sheets are filtered so that their rest area must be
larger than the total net area of all parts in the list that
remains to nest
Auto Nest
o Brings up the AutoNest dialog adding all the parts in the part browser.
Previous drawing
o Flips to the previous drawing
Next drawing
o Flips to the next drawing
• Show all
o Shows all parts not only the ones with the correct machine and material
The list can be sorted in different ways. Just select the sort order from the combo box.
153
The two numbers under each part indicates how many parts are on the drawing and how many
should be nested. The first is the number of parts on the drawing and the right is the total
number to nest.
Also, note that the second number is not the quantity field of the part but the tonest field from
the database.
Right clicking on a part will give you extended information about the part.
Double clicking on a part will place the part on the drawing. The placement will automatically
be in Bump Nest mode.
The parts on the drawing will be highlighted when the same part is selected in the browser.
This enables you to easily identify your parts.
154
Register part
Register part will prompt you to select a part to register.

You can use register part to create new parts, update a part or to replace other parts in the
database. If you for example want to change the material for a part you need to open the part
in GEMS select the new material and then Register the part and select Update part.
If you select multiple parts for registration they will ALWAYS be considered new parts and
the selection dialog will not be shown. When registering multiple parts the customer and
delivery date is remembered between parts.
• New part
o Will create a new part record in the database
• Update part
o If the selected part already is registered you will have the possibility to just
update this part.
• Overwrite part
o Here you will be able to select a part from a list of parts.
o The part you select will be replaced by the part you register.
155
o This is useful when you need to change the geometry of the part not just the
preparation or material.
156
Import sheet
You will be able to choose the sheets you want to import from a list. The list is automatically
filtered with the correct material and thickness. You can either double click on the sheet you
want or use the checkboxes and press OK.
If a selected sheet has a different material then the current material a new drawing will be
opened. If there exists an opened drawing that is not the current drawing but with the correct
material this drawing is made active.
This makes it harder to use sheets on drawings with the wrong material.
Register sheet
You will be prompted to select the sheet you want to register.
After that the Rest Area calculation is performed. See below for details.
Here you can select if you want to register the sheet as a new sheet, to update the current sheet
or to overwrite an existing sheet in the database.
Register sheet is the only way to add sheets to the database. So all sheets need to be created
and added in this way.
If you need to make changes to a rest sheet you should follow these steps.
1. Import the rest sheet
2. Unlock the sheet
3. Make your changes
4. Lock the sheet
5. Register the sheet and select Update sheet
6. If Update sheet is not enabled you need to select Overwrite sheet and select the sheet
from the list.
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Rest area
When you register a sheet a rest area calculation can be performed. Because this might be a
somewhat heavy operation you will have to press the calculate button to perform the
calculation. When creating a sheet some parts of this sheet might be too narrow or small to be
used for further nesting. This command will calculate the useful area of a sheet.
You can think of this value as the narrowest passage to be allowed for further nesting.
The larger the value the smaller the rest area will be. The result is of course an approximation
and the user can visually verify that the area is approximately as expected.
The resulting area is marked with yellow and green outlines and the result is presented in the
dialog box.
The Rest area value is also saved in the database.
158
Import nest
You will be able to choose the nest you want to import from a list. Just select the nest and
press OK or double click.
159
Register nest
When registering a nest you will select a sheet, parts and a sheet preparation and a cutoff if the
sheet is being cut off. The parts and the sheet will be updated in the database indicating they
have been nested. The nest will be saved in the database. You can also run a production report
and check out the nest.
To save this nest press OK.

The checkout column in the list indicates how many parts are being checked out from the
database. The parts tonest field will be decreased by this number. The sheet is always
decreased by 1.
After pressing OK you will be presented with the rest sheets that this nest creates. For every
rest sheet you can select if it should be saved or not.
Rest sheets are saved in the database but they will not be visible until the nest is checked out.
After this the normal Edit nest dialog appears.
If you want to change a currently saved Nest you need to do the following.
1. Import the Nest to GEMS
2. Make your changes. Don’t forget to post process again.
3. Regeister the Nest as usual
4. Delete the old Nest
You have to do step 4 because GEMS does not recognize if you want to create a new
registration or replace an old Nest. So, you need to remove the old nest manually.
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GEMS R4 and plugins

Updating from GEMS R3

Here you can select what you need to import from

 Please import the data from the top to the bottom.

 Materials and sheets (dimensions) need to be imported

• This program is used to install and manage passwords on your computer.

o Entering an angle is done by specifying two points

• This is the dialog where layers are defined or removed.

• This dialog let the user select an color

• This dialog is used to (re)define blocks in the drawing

• This dialog is shown when a block is to be selected / inserted

• GEMS Parametric parts is a system to define commonly used geometries with

• Dimension line color

The tools menu

• Used to place geometries with a specific distance.

AutoNest performs automatic true shape nesting.

Machine and Material

• Avoid less than X

• High feed, Low feed

After lock sheet

Note that unlocking a sheet will not merge cutoff sheets.

The loops dialog

Marking/Cutting lets you mark or cut objects inside parts.

Root level (Part)

Line and arc

• Bridges is used to make a single cutting path without interruption.

• Left (green) list

This is the place to go when NC code is to be created for a cut order.

Controls different system settings.

Add custom field

When adding a field you need to enter the name of the

If list is selected you will then select the items in the

This can also be done afterwards by pressing the

All existing posts in the database will get the first

Custom fields will appear in the extras tab for the

A summary of the import looks like this.

Most lists in Part Manager look like this.

If a filter is active on a column the caption of this column will be blue.

o Just drag the column headers to move them around

Lists the parts in the database.

Lists the sheets in the database.

Document list (Files – Path)

Custom field list (Name – Value)

Shows the customers in the database

A customer must have a name and a customer nr.

Lists the nests in the database.

Here you confirm that the nest is produced.

Just press F2 to checkout the nest.

You can also change the address in this dialog box.

Register part will prompt you to select a part to register.

The Rest area value is also saved in the database.

To save this nest press OK.

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