Navigation:  User interface > Tab "Objects" > Buttons

The work area Objects allows adding, replacing, saving, and deleting simulation objects.

Figure 27: Buttons in the work area of the tab "Objects"

 

The buttons in the figure Buttons in the work area of the tab "Objects" are located in the upper part of the work area. They are visible at any time, regardless of the view selected. Depending on the size of the work area window, the buttons are rearranged. In the event that not all buttons are visible, they can be visualised by enlarging the window.

 

Add object(s) from file - This button can be used to load objects from a file using a file selection dialog. Subsequently, whether the file need to be loaded with a hierarchical structure or as a single object is selected from the selection dialog. The final dialog contains the settings for scaling factor and whether, materials should be rendered on both sides, or not. Alternatively, the object file can be dragged and dropped into ema. The mouse pointer must be with in the active ema window.

 

Add manikin - This button opens the human model configurator (see chapter User interface / Tab "Objects" / Buttons / Insertion of objects / Add human model).

 

Add object from library - Human models, geometric primitives (sphere, marker, cuboid, ....) and geometric objects (devices, standard parts, tools,....) are generated.

 

Add structure node - The currently selected objects are detached from their current structure and combined into a new structure node. For objects at the same hierarchy level, the structure node is inserted at this current level, unless another level is chosen in the dialog. For objects from different hierarchy levels, the structure node is created at the top structure level.

 

Add marker (interactive) - Adds a marker. The placement and orientation of the marker is selected using the 3D view of the project. For more details on placing and orienting markers, please see parameter type position & orientation described in various tasks in the chapter Task library. After creating the marker a dialogue window appears using which a new parent object could be set to the created marker. If yes, the marker will be added as a child object to the object on which the marker was created. If no, parenting structure will not change. With choose different parent, any other object in the scene can be selected as the new parent object to the newly created marker.

 

Insert from clipboard - The copied object structure in the clipboard will be inserted to the root of the scene graph. Two different modes of object insertion are currently supported. By choosing paste original objects the object will be inserted like it was copied. With paste replacement objects the individual objects are replaced by geometric primitives (cuboid) based on their bounding boxes. This insertion functions for other opened ema instances as well. In case of human model or dynamic objects with connected tasks are copied to the clipboard, then the behavior will also get inserted.

 

Activate usage of alternative insertion object - The object which is defined as insertion object can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, all newly created objects are created as sub-objects of the "alternative insertion target". When they are placed, the sub-objects use the local coordinate system from the “alternative insertion object”. When the “alternative insertion object” is deselected, the object is created using the global coordinate system. To create an object that is an “alternative insertion object”, see chapter User interface / Tab "Objects" / Buttons / Context menu.

 

Object search - Here objects can be searched for by their name or their ID. The arrow buttons get next item  / get previous item jump through the search results. The currently selected object is marked in the tree view as well as the 3D view.

 

Create reference of selected object - Creates a reference object from the selected object. The reference object is a simple copy of the original object without any structural hierarchy and is realized by reference to the original object's sub-tree. The reference object could be used as target object in task parameters. In contrast to physical object copies, the underlying files and object structures do not need to be reloaded. Thus, the use of reference objects instead of object copies is preferable due to performance reasons.

References have the parameter full original structure, that differentiates between the visualization of the full original object structure geometry (checked) or only displaying the single original object geometry (unchecked).

 

Hide all helper objects (GP, TCP, CCP, WP, ...) - hides all markers, paths, path points or any helper objects defined in the scene (see chapter Parameter types / Interactive parameters / Coordinate parameters).

 

Delete unused helper objects - The helper objects (markers, references, etc.) which are no longer used are deleted.

 

Delete selected object(s) - The selected object(s) is/are deleted. Alternatively, the delete button in the keyboard can be used to delete selected objects.

 

/ Show object usage information / Hide object usage information - This button shows / hides all the tasks where the selected object is referenced. If multiple objects are selected, only the information about the first object will be shown.