suppress first element of a component pattern

[stephengibson76]

I have a rectangular component pattern which started out with all components.  As more structure was added around it I started supressing different elements to suit, now a piece of structure has gone thru element 1 but i dont seem to be able to supress it...  is there an easy way to get rid of element 1 without having to redefine the pattern? (redefining causes me other problems)

TIA

[Cadmanto]

Stephen,

Not thinking there is a way other then turning off the visibility of the item.  Is that an option for you?

The only other thing that comes to mind is, and this is not an option with this software like others I have used, have the ability within the pattern dialog window to be able to select and turn on/off certain members of a pattern.

That would be the cats meow for you.

Also, maybe post an image of what you are doing so we can see it.

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[Anonymous]

You can't suppres the originating Element, but you can any/all of the other Elements of the pattern. You can suppress the child of Element:1, but it will create an LOD.

Best bet is to re-do the pattern. Cheers.

[stephengibson76]

thanks for the replies, i did the pattern again and re constrained everything to it, I do model with design intent but there was no way I could predict that change...

[sam_m]

you can surpress all but the 1st element - and I've been, not caught out, but frustrated by this in the past too, as designs have changed...  (and I've done crude things like delete face and heal when I've been in a rush and couldn't easily recreate the pattern, as it would screw with a load of constraints/features down the line)

But, I can understand why it is - think of it in the respect of the feature tree:

1) create feature1

2) pattern feature1 (it needs something to pattern)

if you supress the 1st instance, that's the feature you've used to "explain to Inventor" what you're wanting to pattern - without that, there's nothing (no model change) to use in the pattern-set.  If that makes sense...