Creating a template

1. Defining the template base construction

Creating a template starts with defining base construction for it. When construction parts are positioned at a specific orthogonal plane, they can be added to a template. Suitable parts are:

• Plates in plan view
• Shell frames in plan view
• Brackets in plan view
• Brackets in section
• Each of their attributes

Selecting such parts in the graphical window is the first step when defining a new template. The parts can be removed from the template at a later stage, where more construction parts meeting the conditions listed above can be added also, if applicable.

2. Defining the template children

The next step is to define the children of a template. This means, how many copies of the mother are generated and where are they going to be positioned. Defining those values is similar to defining them with the "Copy 3D-Items" function. The construction can be copied in orthogonal direction and it is possible to define and accumulate multiple copy actions. A copy action can also be defined to mirror the template over a fixed value.

Much like the "Copy 3D-Items" function, the copy actions end up on a list of which a preview can be shown in Hull Viewer. When the copy actions are accepted, they are stored as "template data" in a table. The data is displayed in a control panel and can be managed from there.

3. Defining child properties

The template control panel gives an overview of all template mother construction parts and their defined children, by showing the template data in the form of a table. At this stage, the children have not yet been physically created. When selecting a child in the table, a field in the property grid will display if the child exists yet. Whether a child will be created, can be set for each individually. Next to this, every child also has item specific properties that can be managed, depending on the type of construction part:

• Thickness (plates and brackets)
• Material type
• Hole types and sizes
• Profile types, sizes, and end types (profiles, pillars, face plates, flanges and shell frames)

Next to managing properties for every child individually, it is also possible to manage properties per copy action:

• Status (enabled or disabled)
  All parts in the selected copy action will or will not be copied.

• Mirror (enabled or disabled)
  All parts in the selected copy action will or will not become mirrored copies of the base construction.

• Position
  The destination of all parts selected for this copy action.

• Block group
  Together with the position, the selected block group determines which block the child construction will be a part of.