Capturing Images

This procedure describes how to capture images of a process. This command will capture a 2D image of the geometry during various points during the simulation. 

The images captured in this command can later be utilized by DPM Shop Floor.

The CaptureImage attribute must be set to true for the process.

This procedure creates standard .jpg files that can be used both within V5 and by many other software applications. Consequently, these images can be altered or deleted without your V5 software sending warning messages. 

  1. From the Shop Order Commands toolbar, click Image Capture Operation .
    The Image Capture Operation dialog box appears.

  2. Enter a path or click on the Browse button. If you click the Browse button, a search window appears.


  3. Select the directory where you want your images stored and click OK. The name of the directory appears in the Base Directory box.

    The system will create a subdirectory or subdirectories within the directory specified.  The highest level subdirectory will be named "Process." Other directories will be named and arranged in hierarchies to mirror the process hierarchy for every subprocess that generates an image.

    Shown below is an example of a process created with a subprocess and the directory/subdirectories created to store the captured images. Note that there is no subdirectory labeled Activity 1, because Activity 1 has no simulation activities associated with it. The folder Activity A contains an image of the Change Viewpoint activity and the Activity 2 folder. The Activity 2 folder contains an image of the Move GARDENA_VALVE activity.

    If, at any point in the hierarchy, two or more subprocesses have the same name, the second and subsequent process will have version numbers appended to their names (e.g., Change_Viewpoint.jpg and Change_Viewpoint.2.jpg).

    Any directories and files that exist from previous image captures will be overwritten.

  4. If desired, select the thumbnail or image attribute options.

    • The thumbnail option creates a second, small image of the data at that point in the process. 

    • The image attributes option stores two attributes with each activity that generates an image. ImageName lists the file name of the image; ImageDir lists the path name to that file.

  5. Click OK.  A progress bar dialog appears and quick simulation of the process occurs.



    The images (in .jpg format) appear in the directory selected in Step 3.
    If you have previously run this command, the images created during the previous instance will be overwritten by this instance, unless you specify a different directory.

    The images captured consist of the following:

    • If the parent process has CaptureImage set to true and there is at least one simulation activity within a child process, an image will be captured at the end of the process.
    • If the parent process has CaptureImage set to true and there is a viewpoint activity, an image of the viewpoint will be captured.

    • If the parent process has CaptureImage not set to true, OR if there are no simulation activities, then no images will be captured and no directory hierarchy for storing images (based on the process described in the info below step 3) will be created.