Stand: 0.96.33-1

Sort a file with the Sorter

What is the Sorter used for?
To sort a file.

Where is the Sorter?
In the menu Action / Sorter and on the Sorter bar (see screen shots below).

How do I use the Sorter?
Open file demo.plt. Now open menu Action / Sorter and click [Sort + Index].

Fig.: Using the Sorter

You can also click the [Show arrow] (= first button on the Sorter bar) and the [Show number] (= second button on the Sorter bar) button in order to show direction and number of a line.

Fig.: Arrows and numbering enabled. Please note that the first line got the number 0 but not 1.

What did [Sort + Index] actually do?

When you load demo.plt then it is just 7 lines that have no relation to each other. With [Sort + Index] the CncPlayer brings a relation to the lines! The CncPlayer tries to find neighboring lines in order to build chains (= tool paths). One chain is the triangle (3 lines) and one chain is the square (4 lines). The bold arrows indicate where the CncPlayer starts milling the chain (you can change the start line with [First element in chain] from the Sorter bar). As you can see by the line numbers milling starts with line 0,1,2 and then the square follows with line 3,4,5,6.

So what if you want to start milling not with the triangle but with the square?

Well, we have to manually sort the drawing. The two window technique is used to do this. Click menu File / New and open a new window. Move the new window to the right. The left window is your source window and the right window is your target window.

Fig.: Arrange your two windows as shown here.

Click the left window that it got the focus. The title bar will be blue. Now click [Transmit chain] on the Sorter bar and in the left window the text will change from Welcome to Transmit chain. When you click a chain with your mouse then the chain will be moved from the left window to the right window. Well, click the square and it will be moved to the other window.

Fig.: First transmit square then transmit the triangle

The order in which elements arrive in the right window is the order in which the elements will be milled. Because we want the square to be milled first we move (transmit) it first to the right window. The size of the square in the two windows look different but this is just due to different zoom settings. Nothing to worry. Well, now click the triangle to move it to the right window as well.

Now click the right window that it got the focus. Now click menu File / Save as and save the new file e. g. as demo-sorted.plt. Close all windows and load demo-sorted.plt. Turn on [Show arrows] and [Show numbers].

Fig.: Our new file demo-sorted.plt

As you can see by the line numbers we successfully changed the order. Now the square will be milled first, then the triangle. Well, the Sorter bar (this is the bar where you clicked the [Transmit chain] button) offers several functions to manipulate a file. You can invert the direction of a line or a chain, you can choose a milling start point within a closed chain by [First element in chain] and other functions more.

Please note: Some Sorter functions require that you have clicked menu Action / Sorter - [Sort + Index] after loading a *.plt file. Otherwise the CncPlayer can not detect chains!

Two windows are just required if you want to change the milling order. If you just want to reverse (change direction) a line or a chain only one window is ok (two windows are not required).

This howto just explains the basics. You have to spend some time to learn how the Sorter works. Please email me with your questions.