This option is recommended for all users. There has traditionally only been one way to create DLOAD, LOAD, MLOAD, MOTION, MPCADD and SPCADD loadcols: by creating a loadcol, assigning the appropriate card image, and selecting the appropriate loadcols. However, many users do not want to be responsible for managing these load collectors, nor are they always aware of their existence. To satisfy both types of users, the Auto-manage load references option is available. This option does the following:
| 1. | Looks at each loadstep and at each load reference. If the load reference points to a loadcol with one of the card images indicated above, it will: |
| • | Create a copy of that loadcol and assign it a new name, based on a fixed naming convention (auto<CARD IMAGE NAME>_#). For example, if a load reference pointed to an SPCADD loadcol, a new copy would be created and named "autoSPCADD_1". |
| • | Assign that new loadcol to the original load reference. (The original loadcol is not deleted or modified in any way.) |
| 2. | Inside the Edit options popup, if a load reference points to a loadcol with one of the card images above and that loadcol has not been converted to the auto-managed naming convention, the loadcol will not be expanded or editable inside the GUI. The only way to modify the loadcol is via the card editor (right-click option from the editor GUI). |
Inside the Edit options popup, if a load reference points to a loadcol with one of the card images above and that loadcol has been converted to the auto-managed naming convention, the loadcol is expanded and editable inside the GUI.
If the loadcol selected for the load reference already has the card image assigned (for users wishing to manually manage their loadcols and point to an existing loadcol with one of the card images listed above) no additional action takes place. However, when appropriate, a loadcol is automatically created and assigned the correct card image when any of these conditions are met:
| • | More than one loadcol is selected for the load reference |
| • | One loadcol is selected and the local scale factor is not 1.0 (DLOAD and LOAD) |
| • | The global scale factor is not 1.0 (DLOAD and LOAD) |
