Overlays are a preview feature and subject to major changes.
Known issues:
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Overlays are reset every time data is imported.
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Switching drawings repeatedly before the overlay finishes generating uses lots of memory.
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Built-in renderer may not show all pdf watermarks and annotations.
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Only detects circular item balloons.
This article is a work in progress and will be updated regularly with more instructions and explanations.
Feel free to reach out directly for more information if you need help before this is complete.
To enable overlay generation when a drawing loads:
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Go to Tools -> Options -> Display
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Check option Overlay -> Auto-Generate
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Check option PDF Display -> Use the built-in renderer
Settings required to enable overlay generation.
After you load a drawing the overlay will automatically start generating.
It looks for circular item balloons and matches the text inside to the Item Number field in BOM items.
Once the lower left icon changes to "Overlay loaded." you can begin to use the overlay.
Click an item balloon to see a preview of that drawing.
Item balloon 3 preview shown after clicking on it.
You can view all item balloons and adjust their properties in Tools -> Overlay.
Overlay settings popup
Item balloons on the drawing are highlighted when you click a BOM item.
Item balloon 1 highlighting on the drawing when BOM item 1 is selected.