Update documentations
Improvements since version 4.6.5:
Grouping of Tags: Tags can now be grouped as desired, for example into the groups test equipment, test occasion and test method.
Further improvements relate to special requirements of individual end customers.
Quick entry dialog with preview of feature properties: The “Create new characteristic” dialog now contains a preview of the properties of the characteristic to be created. In addition, some tooltips have been corrected.
Improved selection when comparing drawings: Within the drawing comparison, the comparison list scrolls to the characteristic selected in the view.
Further improvements relate to special requirements of individual end customers.
An error in the DFD/DFQ export has been fixed, which could occur in rare cases when calling the software via start parameter file.
Further improvements relate to special requirements of individual end customers.
Raster graphics export in the actual aspect ratio: When exporting the drawing graphics, the special value (auto) can now be specified for the width or height. This means that the value for width/height is calculated from the aspect ratio of the drawing.
The sheet sequence and naming in the project overview can now be edited: The drawing sheets can now be moved as required in the project overview using drag and drop. The name of the respective drawing sheet can be edited by right-clicking.
Improved automatic recognition of characteristics: special min. / max. specifications; Roughness specifications with specification of the minimum roughness; dimensions with specification of the limits
Further improvements relate to file exports in various output formats, updating of general tolerance tables and optimizations during PDF import.
New measurement tool introduced: The Measure tool can be used to measure and graphically display distances and angles between drawing elements.
Joint highlighting of drawing elements and stamps: Drawing elements and linked stamps are now always highlighted together when selected to emphasize that they belong together. Instead of the stamp, the drawing entry can now also be clicked to select it.
Performance improvements in connection with zooming and moving the view in the drawing window.
Improved automatic recognition of characteristics.
Improvements in the Excel templates ELIAS_Report_2024.xltx and ELIAS_Report_Max_2024.xltx.
See In the Excel file, the description of the changes in the version history on the Info worksheet.
Improvements of CSV export. Special characters can now optionally be exported using the UTF-8 character set.
See User manual > Settings > Settings > Export > “CSV export” group
Further improvements concern the creation of new projects from templates, the display in the drawing window, the Excel export, the drawing comparison and the annotation tool.
An error has been fixed where the used license place was not released when closing the software.
Optimization of the new Excel test report template: The last published test report template ELIAS_Report_2024.xltx has been split into two template variants. ELIAS_Report_2024.xltx now has a maximum scope of 1,000 possible characteristics; the previous scope of 8,000 characteristics is represented by ELIAS_Report_Max_2024.xltx. The background to this is that the smaller template is now only 3.4 MB in size (compared to 12.4 MB for the larger template), loads significantly faster and is sufficiently comprehensive in most cases.
In addition to minor formal improvements, the drawing of check dimension frames in the requirement can now also be switched off via an option on the Report worksheet.
See In the Excel file, the description on the Info worksheet.
An error in the Excel test report template ELIAS_Report_2023.xltx has been fixed. Missing rows have been added to the PPF worksheet.
Further improvements concern the interpretation of geometric tolerances (symmetrical division of the tolerance zone width when stamping), the PDF import (improved line display in some cases), the performance of the display in the drawing window (noticeable with a large number of selected stamps) and the recognition of auxiliary dimensions.
Errors in the area of characteristic list and characteristic properties as well as during PDF import have been fixed.
Improved stamp-with-dialog: The general tolerance tables to be used can now be set in the Stamp with dialog and saved in a quick selection catalog. In addition, the input field for the next stamp number to be used has been functionally extended. In addition, the entries in the Stamp with dialog can now be reset by clicking on a button.
See User manual > Functions > Characteristics > Automatic stamping
Recovering projects: Backups are now automatically created from which projects can be recovered. The contents of a project status can be viewed in advance in a preview.
See User Manual > Functions > Help > Recovery
New Excel report template: With the template ELIAS_Report_2024.xltx, the advantages of the last published Excel template are now also available for the release procedures PPF, PPA/PSW and FAI: Repeat characteristics according to an adjustable number, for example to map mold cavity part tests; display the characteristic requirement with extended graphical symbolism, for example geometric information in indicator frames.
See In the Excel file, the description on the Info worksheet.
Import protected PDF: PDF files protected with a password can now be imported.
Further improvements concern the automatic recognition of characteristics, special requirements and cases as well as the general program flow.
A bug has been fixed where nominal sizes and tolerance values in the Excel, CSV and DFD export were undesirably rounded to the set numerical accuracy.
A bug has been fixed where the tool windows (Stamp with, Define field division, ...) were not displayed in the drawing window when the alternative GDI renderer (for the compatibility mode) was used.
Enhancement of the filter function: Filters can now be saved with names. This makes them available in other projects with just a few clicks. In addition, a filter is applied directly to the entire project and no longer needs to be set individually for each sheet.
Furthermore, several individual exports can be triggered for each export process, taking into account selected filters. For example, if an export is triggered using two filters, two individual filtered files or groups of files are exported.
See User Manual > User interface > Function window
Edit filters > Edit filters
Representation of angles: Angles can now be specified either in decimal (example: 1.5°) or in sixty system notation (degrees, minutes, seconds; example: 1°30'). By default, the notation from the drawing is used when stamping. Optionally, this can (still) be converted to decimal notation. Numerical values used for calculations are still exported in decimal format.
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Characteristic > “Number format” group
Read test plan attributes directly from the drawing: By right-clicking on a drawing entry, texts can be set directly as an attribute in the general data of the test plan version or copied to the clipboard.
See User Manual > Functions > Test plans > Edit test plan > Additional test plan data
New Excel test report template: The ELIAS_Report_Max_2023.xltx template provides two major new features. Characteristics can be repeated according to an adjustable number, for example to map cavity part inspections. Furthermore, the characteristic requirement, the short description of the characteristic, is displayed with extended graphical symbols, for example geometric (shape and position tolerance) information in indicator frames.
See In the Excel file on the Info worksheet
The stamp with specification function has been expanded to include the Ra and Rz classes. Surface specifications that are no longer ISO-compliant - which do not contain the Ra or Rz surface codes - can now be stamped correctly with a single click.
See User Manual > Functions > Characteristics > Stamp with preset
For stamping, you can set that characteristics are either always created, only created for individual stamping or never created, depending on their properties. This could already be set for the stamping of features in the auxiliary dimension and theoretically exact dimension categories. The categories of raw measurement and test measurement have now been added. It is now also possible to specify that no general tolerances are to be applied for raw measurements.
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Characteristic > “Variable characteristics” group
The Bulgarian language has been added.
The automatic recognition of characteristics has been improved.
Other areas of the software have been optimized.
Hardware accelerated graphics export: Drawing and stamp graphics can now be exported hardware accelerated and thus much faster than before. By default, the most suitable method is selected automatically: either hardware-accelerated or, as before, software-based.
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Export (> “Drawing graphic format” group; > “Stamp graphic format” group)
See Administrator's Manual > Parameter file "Settings" > “Settings > Export” menu
Fixed an issue that caused drawing content in the form of raster graphics to be exported distorted when drawing and stamping graphics.
Move stamps as a group and align them to the grid: After right-clicking on several selected stamps (start function in context menu), these or their target points can now be moved as a group. In addition, one or more stamps as well as target points can be aligned to a grid while moving them with the CTRL key additionally pressed.
Case-by-case decision when selecting the general tolerance class for angles: Optionally, the default setting for the general tolerance class (column) of angles can be set to Do not assign automatically. As a result, for newly created general tolerance angle characteristics, the corresponding characteristic property is left open. With a marking and highlighting in the characteristics list as well as in the Characteristics Properties window, the user is prompted to select the appropriate tolerance class subsequently.
Note Background: General angle tolerance classes are usually determined by the shortest angle leg. This information comes from the context of the drawing and cannot be determined automatically.
See User Manual > Settings > Project settings > Tolerance tables > “Angular measurements” group
Alternative renderer for display in the drawing window: As an alternative to the default renderer, the GDI renderer can now be used if no DirectX runtime (with Direct3D enabled) is available.
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > “Display” group
Czech was added as another program language.
The speed of the drawing and stamp graphic export has been increased.
Fixed an issue where a UiAccess.json (parameter file to affect user interface accessibility) passed via startup parameter call was not applied. Passed UiAccess parameters are now taken into account again.
Other improvements affect working in the drawing window, automatic characteristic recognition, and compatibility of the current Excel test report template with older versions of Office.
Fixed an issue where the current view could not be exported as a PDF.
Other improvements relate to specific requirements of individual customers.
Visual highlighting of changes in drawing comparison (red-green comparison): In drawing comparison mode, content changes between the source and target drawing sheets can now be highlighted in a joint view using the new Highlight changes function. Added and removed drawing elements can be viewed either together or separately. The comparison view can also be exported as a graphic file.
See User Manual > Functions > Drawings > Compare drawings (Pro version) > Workflow > Steps 2 and 7
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Comparison > "Highlight changes (red-green comparison)" group
Improved user interface design: The appearance of the program interface has been consistently designed in a modern and appealing design.
A problem has been fixed where very large drawing files imported as raster graphics could not be displayed on computers with low graphics memory.
Further improvements concern the generation of the characteristic title, the recognition of test dimensions, the drawing display, the linking of characteristics in the drawing comparison, the Excel export, the window positioning and the availability of units of measurement.
Extension with the optional function to set a deviation not indicated in a dimension text as a characteristic property Upper tolerance or Lower tolerance with the value 0. For example, the lower deviation 0 in the dimension 10 +0.1.
See User manual > Settings > Settings > Characteristic > “Variable characteristics” group (Not indicated limit = 0)
See User manual > Settings > Settings > Characteristic> “Edges with indeterminate shape” group (Value of the not indicated limit = 0)
Optimization of the Excel test report template. The new version ELIAS_Report_2023.xltx. contains some improvements compared to the previous version of 2022, among others a cover sheet for the PPF report has been added and stamp graphics assigned to characteristics can now be opened via links. The changes are listed in detail in the file on the Info sheet. Die Standardvorlagendateien werden bei der Installation im Standardverzeichnis abgelegt.
See User manual > More > Create and customize Excel templates
Fix of an error in the structure of characteristic titles as well as in the exported parameter requirement in certain cases. The ± character, which was inserted by mistake, is no longer set.
Optimization in the PDF import and Excel export features.
Fix of a specific error in Excel export.
Optimization of the speed of transferring characteristics in drawing comparison.
Fixes display problems on computers with graphics units with certain limitations.
Extension with the possibility to specify the structure of the characteristic title depending on the characteristic class. Previously, this was only possible based on the characteristic type (variable, attributive).
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Characteristics > “Format characteristic title” group
Extension with an indication in the characteristic list that a characteristic has a user-defined stamp view assigned to it.
See User Manual > Functions > Characteristics > Assign stamp view
Extension Extension with the possibility to use the significantly more extensive UTF-8 character set for the test plan export in ASCII transfer format (*.dfd, *.dfq).
See User Manual > Settings > Settings > Export > https://wiki.elias-gmbh.de/doku.php?id=en:infra-convert:user:config:export#export_in_ascii_transfer_format_group
Optimization of the display of tolerance specifications in the characteristic title and in the export of the claim in the Excel export. Symmetrical specifications are now displayed with a plus-minus sign.
Optimization of the accessibility of the button for switching between locking and hiding filtered-out characteristics in the characteristics list. This is now additionally displayed in the characteristics overview.
Optimization of the opening of drawing sheets in terms of speed, in which images are included.
Optimization of the import of PDF drawings with regard to finding certain fonts and, in individual cases, incorrectly displayed characters.
Fix of various errors that could occur when working in the user interface.
Fix of an error that could occur when using infra CONVERT on virtual machines.
Extension to include the function of inserting annotations with text, image and frame into the drawing.
See User Manual > Functions > Annotations > Create annotations
Optimization when importing PDF drawings: Text scaling deviating from the original as well as shifts of geometric text symbols have been corrected.
Optimization of drawing layers handling: Only visible layers are used when fitting into the drawing window and exported to multi-page PDFs.
Optimization of automatic feature recognition.
Fix of an error in the view calculation of duplicated characteristics.
Fix of various minor bugs and shortcomings.
Excel Report Add-In
Bug fixes
- Logo and name of mdm TOOL were updated.
- Optionally, input devices can now be deactivated automatically. The following events can be set under Settings > Auto Disable Settings:
- Time after last use.
- Logging the user off the PC.
- Locking the PC.
Bug fixes
- Fixes an error that occurred when using the time delay parameter "<P:xxx>" in the output via the keyboard interface.
Extensions and Changes
- A pause character has been added to the formatting options for data output.
- Improved usability of password protection settings.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug with the frequency channel change in the infra DAT system.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the mdm TOOL service to hang during a version update.
- The link to the online manual refers to the manual for the product infra CONVERT. The link now points to the mdm TOOL manual.
- Overall stability has been improved.
Extensions and Changes
- The settings can now be protected against editing with a password.
- Measured values can now be entered manually in the mdm TOOL user interface and output to connected devices on the output side.
Bug fixes
- Fixes an error when starting the program for the first time after a new installation.
Corrections
- Fixes a problem recognizing blue - DAT dongle after sleepmode.
Corrections
- Fixes a problem recognizing blue - DAT dongle after sleepmode.
Extensions
- New installer: french and spanish.
- The software is now available in: English, german, french and spanish.
- Support for the blue-DAT footswitch
Corrections
- Fixes problems with virtual comport in combination with 32bit systems.
- Fixes a problem where MDM-Tool did not find blue-DAT receiver.
Corrections
- Fixes problems with virtual comport in combination with native ports.
Extensions
- Virtual keyboard now supports function keys. Use e.g. <F1> in format string.
- New updater
Corrections
- Various bug fixes.
Extensions
- New installer: English and german.
- The software is now available in: English, german, french and spanish.
Corrections
- Various bug fixes.