APREPRO Units

Cube-it uses a unitless coordinate system. For example, the command brick x 10 creates a cube 10 units wide, but Cube-it does not know whether those 10 units are 10 inches, 10 meters, 10 microns or 10 miles. The Aprepro Units() function facilitates the use of a unit system in Cube-it's unitless environment.

The Aprepro Units(svar) function takes a single string parameter which identifies the desired unit system. If the specified unit system is recognized, then a set of variables are defined to facilitate working in that unit system. Dimensions can be multiplied by an appropriate unit variable to convert between various dimensions. For example, the statement #{Units("in-lbf-s")} defines variables useful when working in a coordinate system where one Cube-it unit is one inch. The command brick x {1*ft} will create a cube 12 units wide, and the command brick x {1*m} will create a cube 39.37 units wide, the number of inches in 1 meter.

It is important to note that the Units() function does nothing more than define a set of useful variables. The function does not change the dimensions of existing geometry, nor does it change the scale of geometry imported from a file. For example, the following commands create two cubes, the first being 12 units wide and the second being 1 unit wide. The first cube remains 12 units wide, even after the second call to the Units() function:

#{Units("in-lbf-s")}
brick x 1*ft
#{Units("ft-lbf-s")}
brick x 1*ft

The Units() function returns a zero-length string if it is successful. If the Units() function fails (usually because the specified unit system was not recognized), a non-zero-length string containing an error message is returned.

The unit systems currently supported by the Units() function are: si, cgs, cgs-ev, shock, swap, ft-lbf-s, ft-lbm-s, in-lbf-s. For each of these unit systems, the following variables are defined by the Units() function:

Table 1. String Variables

Name

Value

Tout

Base Time Unit

lout

Base Length Unit

Aout

Base Acceleration Unit

Mout

Base Mass Unit

fout

Base Force Unit

vout

Base Velocity Unit

Vout

Base Volume Unit

dout

Base Density Unit

eout

Base Energy Unit

Pout

Base Power Unit

pout

Base Pressure Unit

Tout

Base Temperature Unit

Aout

Base Angle Unit

Time Variables

Length Variables

Acceleration Variables

Force Variables

Mass Variables

Velocity Variables

Volume Variables

Density Variables

Power Variables

Energy Variables

Pressure Variables

Temperature Variables

Angular Variables