Grayed-out pattern options?

[jerryhatchett]

I run into this a lot and usually just find another way to do what I need. That's not really an option here; I need to create a circular pattern. Any idea why the pattern options are grayed out in the Sketch menu?

No other operation is in progress. I've tried everything I can think of but the options never become available.

[TheCADWhisperer]

1. It appears that you are not in an active sketch.

2. It is (almost) always better to pattern features rather than sketch entities.

[jerryhatchett]

By "in an active sketch," do you mean I should use these features after creating a sketch and before clicking STOP SKETCH?

In any event, I found a workaround:  I made the feature just a tiny bit bigger, so that its outer circular edge did not intersect the existing sketch curve (the big circle). As soon as I did that, the feature became available.

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

You can re-enter a sketch after leaving the sketching environment with Stop Sketch by right clicking on the sketch and selecting Edit Sketch.

Of course, the sketching tools are available when you are in an active sketch. Otherwise my guess is that you just keep creating more and more sketches rather than editing an existing sketch.