topic Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ? in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

OceanHydroAU — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:51:58 GMT

Imagine you need to make something like the studs on a lego plate, but the plate can have any dimensions.

This means that sometimes, some of the studs might get "cut in half".

And that means it's impossible to model the studs with a parameter, because no operations that follow the pattern will be able to cut them in half, because the studs themselves did not exist at the point in time when the cut operation happened (they only spring into existence when the parameter is later increased).

Or - another way to ask the same question - is there a way to do a rectangular or circular pattern, that performs a "join" or a "cut" rather than a "new body" ?

Or - yet another way to ask the same question - is it possible to combine "all bodies" into something, without specifically selecting the individual bodies (you see where I'm going here? The pattern makes any number of bodies, so, I'm trying to sleuth a way to perform a cut or join on all of those).

Or - well - I don't know what I don't know! How else might I accomplish the goal of inserting an arbitrary number of shapes into my design, in a way that doesn't "break" the ability for my design to subsequently perform operations on them all ? What about components - can operations from one component cut or join "everything" that's in some other component? Can we mess with history tricks to accomplish something? Any ideas?

Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

TrippyLighting — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 10:40:27 GMT

Unless you can pattern features, there is no way I know how to accomplish that.

I've asked many times for the ability to auto-combine patterned geometry with selectable base geometry or with itself, but unfortunately, that hasn't been implemented.

As such I find myself often using a different CAD tool (ZW3D) where I can do this.

Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:22:30 GMT

Intersect

Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

laughingcreek — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:18:21 GMT

edit: disregard below, I missed the point of wanting the studs cut in half

to do this you would models "features". like an extrude set to join for example.

the feature you pattern would join to a body who's size is controlled by the same input parameters (such as "rows" and "columns" in the example below) see attached model.

Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

OceanHydroAU — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 21:44:09 GMT

WOW - I'm so glad I asked!! That totally worked - thanks HEAPS!

Re: Can anyone think of a way to make patterns work parametrically ?

OceanHydroAU — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:15:37 GMT

I found I was able to model the fillet the same way, and the subsequent cut operation works nicely

https://a360.co/3bUdk5N

Here's how I did the fillet - you have to pick "Optimized" or it does nothing: