Grouping Parts

Funnel allows users to group parts so that those parts will be printed in the same print job, provided they meet a few conditions:

• All parts to be grouped use the same Template
• All parts in a group can be placed on a single build platform
• parts have not yet been “Accepted”.

Creating a group

To create a group goto the “Inbox” on the “To Review” tab and select all the parts that are to be grouped. If the parts can be grouped, i.e., they all use the same template the “Create Part Group” button will be enabled allowing you to create the group.

If you select parts that use different templates the Create Part Group button will not be enabled until you correct the part selection.

Renaming a Group

Funnel allocates a default name when a group is created.  You can change the name if needed. Select the group and press "Rename". That will bring up a dialog that allows you to enter a new name for the group.

Adding and removing parts to/from a group

Adding a part to a group

Adding parts to a group can only be done before a group is "Accepted".

Before a group is “Accepted”, to add one, or more, parts to a group you need to

• select the part, or parts you want to add.
• select the group ou want to add them to.

Provided the parts use the same Template as the “Regroup” button, in the Action Bar, will be enabled. Pressing the “Regroup” button adds the selected parts to the group.

Removing a part from the group

If a part is incorrectly added to a group, it can be removed by selecting the part within the group then pressing the “Remove from Group” button.

Accepting a Group

All the parts in a group are accepted when a group is accepted. To accept a group, goto the Inbox on the “In Review” tab and select the group you want to “Accept”. The “Accept” button will be enabled and pressing it will accept the group. You can use the "Accept" button in the Details panel if you prefer.

When accepted, the group will be automatically transferred to the “Accepted” tab.

Once accepted the Funnel will attempt to fit the group into a job and the work flow will be similar to that of a single part. Initially the group will be added to a provisional job, where it will appear as:

When the provisional job is promoted to a print job it will appear similar to the below image:

When a group doesn’t fit in a Print Job

A group may be made so large that all the parts cannot be placed into a print job for any printer the Template can use. If this happens, the Group will be transferred to the “In Review” tab of the InBox and a callout added to the “InBox” icon on the navigation panel indicating something needs attention.

User has 2 options to correct the problem:

• remove parts from the group
• ungroup the parts entirely

Removing parts from the group

The process to remove parts from the group is decribed in the section Removing a part from the group. The difference here is that when parts are removed from the group, both the removed parts and the group will automatically be added back into the queue to be placed in a Print Job.

There is no opportunity to group the parts that were just removed.

The group may fail to fit in a print job even without the removed parts. If that were the case more parts would need to be removed.

Ungroup the parts entirely

If the group is selected and the “Split Part Group” button is selected, the group will be dissolved and all the parts will be automatically added to the queue to be put into a print job. There is no opportunity to regroup the parts into smaller groups.