4.1 Adding an Equipment Bitmap

Static equipment graphics are added using the Bitmap tool that in turn is accessed using the Configuration Toolbox. In the last lesson, you closed the Configuration Toolbox and placed the system in operation mode. Because we are still developing the operator display, we will again open the Configuration Toolbox, thereby placing the application back into design mode.

 

1.  Click the Configure button in the Display Manager's title bar.

The Configuration Toolbox opens. Referring to Figure 34, the mouse pointer and tooltip identify the Bitmap button.

Figure 34

2.  Click the Bitmap button. The Bitmap Sample image appears.  Place it on the page on top of the Color Fill you created earlier.

Figure 35

3.  The Bitmap graphic editor dialog opens as shown in Figure 36.

Figure 36

This dialog consists of a Select Bitmap button, a text display area for the name of the selected bitmap, a Color button, an option to mirror the image (left-right) and a large number of options to control the appearance of the image.   For the purposes of this tutorial, you need only select an image, but you are welcome to experiment with the Color Options as you wish.

 

4.  Click the Select Bitmap button.

The Select Bitmap dialog opens and displays the bitmap groups. (Figure 37)

Figure 37

This dialog consists of a series of buttons, each of which is associated with a group of static equipment graphic images. To view the bitmaps available in a group, you click its corresponding button. In this exercise, you will choose a tank bitmap.

 

5.  Scroll down through the groups to find, and then click on, the Tanks group button. (The groups are in alphabetical order.)

The Select Bitmap dialog changes to display the graphics available in the tanks group (Figure 38). Note the scroll bar on the right edge of the dialog, indicating that there are many more tanks available than will fit on a single screen.

Figure 38

6.  Scroll down until you locate "Tank06"  (Careful: “Tank06”, not “Tank6”).

7.  Click the Tank06 button.

The Select Bitmap dialog closes and you are returned to the Bitmap Style dialog.  Note that this graphic also immediately appears on the application page where you placed the temporary X image (possibly hidden by the graphic editor dialog).

 

The tank you have chosen has a transparent region representing a jagged cut-away. We will place the Image Change object behind this so that the cut-away appears to show water in the tank.

 

8.  Click the OK button on the Bitmap Style dialog. The Bitmap Style dialog closes and your application page should now look more or less like Figure 39.

Figure 39

The Color Fill object continues to rise and fall according to the changing data from the simulator; however unless you were very lucky when placing the temporary image for the tank, the overall appearance of the Color Fill object and the tank graphic will not quite be realistic. In the next exercise, you will resize and position the Color Fill graphic object in such a way that it will appear that water is rising and falling inside the booster tank.