Before You Begin

There are a few things you should know before you begin creating annotations.
 

Annotation Positioning
  You can position an annotation with respect to another annotation on a specific point (attachment point) at its anchor position.

The attachment points are visualized when you move the pointer over the reference annotation during the annotation creation. The nearest attachment point is highlighted in blue indicating that the annotation can be positioned on it if that point is selected. Once it is selected, the annotation is positioned on it and all the attachment points disappear.

The following types of annotations can be positioned associatively:
  • Text
  • Datum Target
  • Flag Note
  • Note Object Attribute

The following types of annotations can be used in associative annotation positioning:
  • Text
  • Datum Target
  • Datum Feature
  • Coordinate Dimensions
  • Flag Note
  • Note Object Attribute

The attachment points where an associative position can be created depend on the frame type of the annotation. The following table depicts some of the frame types of annotations and their attachment points:

Type of Annotation

Type of Frame

Attachment Points
Text
  • No frame
 
  • Rectangle
  
  • Circle
  
  • Triangle
  

Datum Feature

 Square    
Datum Target Scored circle
The datum target has four attachment points from the circular frame and two additional attachment points available in the datum target upper compartment and lower compartment. The attachment points of upper and lower compartment are used to attach the leader anchor point of an annotation.
 
The attachment points for all fixed frames are on the frame even if the frame is smaller than the annotation.
 

Annotation Placement on Another Annotation
  When placing an annotation on an existing annotation, you can choose an attachment point and position the annotation. You can also change the annotation position by snapping the annotation to a different attachment point.
  Snapping of an annotation can be done during the creation of an annotation or during the creation of an associative positional link, using one of the following commands:
 
  • Text
  • Text with Leader
  • Datum Feature
  • Datum Target
  • Flag Note
  • Note Object Attribute
  • Flag Note with Leader
  • Instantiate Note Object Attribute
  Contextual commands:
 
  • Positional Link > Create
  • Positional Link > Replace
 
In this case, the existing leaders are not removed during snapping.
  When positioning an annotation on an existing annotation:
 
  • If an attachment point is selected, it is highlighted to show that the annotation is positioned at that point. If the annotation has a leader, it is removed.
  • If an attachment point is not selected, the annotation is positioned with reference to the selected annotation at the indicated location, without snapping to any attachment point.
  • The attachment point can be moved interactively. Its position is snapped to the closest attachment point of the reference annotation.
  • The positional and orientation links are created between both the annotations.
  • The anchor point of the positioned annotation is also managed to make sure that it is properly aligned with the reference annotation according to the attachment point.
 

When positioning an annotation with a leader on an existing annotation:

  • The leader is removed as soon as the target annotation is selected.
  • If an annotation with a leader containing an attribute link or a link template is instantiated and positioned on an existing annotation, its leader is removed but the link is resolved.
When manipulating the extremity leader, if the leader has a positional link on a reference, only the snap on perpendicular to the reference and reference tangent directions are available. When there is no reference selection, snap on horizontal and vertical directions is available.
   

FTA Principal and Complementary Definitions

You can describe complete information with several characteristics for requirement generation by specifying the principal and complementary annotations. This helps manufacturing process in controlling the requirement generation in more specific way. You can associate or dissociate the complementary annotations with their principal annotation.

When you generate the manufacturing requirements, they are generated only for principal annotations and not for complementary annotations. The data of each complementary annotation is added in the attributes of its principal annotation. You can differentiate between principal and complementary annotations as below:
  • Principal annotation
    • Any FTA dimension or annotation (semantic or non-semantic) can be a principal annotation.
    • A principal annotation can have one or more complementary annotations.
    • A principal annotation can not be a complementary annotation of any other principal annotation.
    • When you select a principal annotation, all its complementary annotations are highlighted.
    • When a principal annotation is deleted, its complementary annotations are not affected. Only the principal-complementary association between them is deleted.
  • Complementary annotation
    • A dimension or a semantic annotation cannot be a complementary annotation.
    • A complementary annotation has the same user surface as its principal annotation.
    • A complementary annotation can be complementary to only one principal annotation and, in a tree, it is displayed as a child under the node of its principal annotation.
    • A complementary annotation cannot have another complementary annotation associated with it.
    • A complementary annotation may or may not have a positional link with the principal annotation.
    • If a complementary annotation is selected, its principal annotation is also highlighted.