Using Electric 3-3: Creating Instances

Chapter 3: HIERARCHY

| ## 3-3: Creating Instances |

To place an instance of a facet in another facet, use the "Inst." button in the component menu. After choosing a facet from the popup list, click in the edit window to place the instance.

| Another way to place an instance of a facet is to use the New Facet Instance... command of the Edit menu. You will be shown a list of facets that are available for creation. After selecting one, click to create an instance in the current facet. Three checkboxes allow you to limit the list of facets. By checking "Show relevant facets only" only those facets that have the same view type as the current one will be shown. By unchecking "Show old versions" the list will remove old versions of facets. By unchecking "Show facets from Cell-Library" the list will remove facets that come from a cell library. If you place an instance from a different library, that library will be linked to the current one. Linked libraries are read from disk together, and form a single hierarchy that spans multiple files. See Section 3-9 for more on libraries.

An alternate way to create a facet instance is to duplicate an existing one on the screen. This requires that an instance of that particular facet already exist. Highlight the existing facet and use the Duplicate command of the Edit menu. Then move the cursor to the intended location of the new instance and click to create the copy. Note that this command copies all attributes of the original node including its orientation.

When a facet instance is being created, the cursor points to its grab point. Normally, the grab point is at the lower-left corner, but it can be modified by the placement of a Facet-Center node inside of the facet. To place this, use the Facet Center subcommand of the New Special Object command of the Edit menu. You must place it inside of the facet definition, and it affects the grab point for all subsequent creation of facet instances. |

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