Is it possible to add a torus to a repeating hole pattern?

[Anonymous]

I created a circle in a square and made it a repeating pattern. Then I extruded the square leaving holes where the circles were. Then I added a torus to the original circle I used to create the repeating pattern. Is there a way to have that torus applied to all holes/circles in the repeating pattern or must I add them in individually?

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I would do this with a feature pattern, not a sketch pattern.  Then, it is easy to go back and add the torus if you need to, by adding the torus before the hole, and editing the pattern.

Here is a quick screencast:

Hope this helps

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I mostly understand but one thing that is confusing me is that at :30 in your screencast you were easily able to create a torus around the center point of the hole. However when I create the torus and attempt to place the center point there is no snap to center point of the hole. How can I know where the center point of the hole is to place the the torus?

[jeff_strater]

Hi @Anonymous,

I agree that this is not obvious.  The center point is there, but it is not drawn (our UX team thought that the sketch looked too "busy" with all the geometry from the face drawn).  So, unfortunately, you kind of have to hunt for it.  You'll know when you get it because the preview will show this blue circle:

Here's another screencast showing this in a bit more detail.

There have been many requests for "object snaps" (to use the AutoCAD term), which would allow you to find the circle center by selecting the circle itself, but that enhancement is still being discussed.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Wow, very interesting thanks. One other thing that was confusing going back to your first screencast at :48. When you created the torus and went back to the repeating pattern, the hole was already selected. In order to additionally select the torus you needed to hold down the ctrl key. I had no idea that's how you select 2 things. Took me a couple of minutes replaying that part of the screencast to get that. Thanks very much!

[jeff_strater]

Yes, the CTRL key trick.  Admittedly that is not an obvious one.  It is a hotly debated topic even within the Fusion team.  The original thinking was that you use CTRL (CMD on Mac) to add things to selections, so this was seen as a natural way to add to selections in Fusion.

But, Fusion itself is not consistent - it depends on the state of the command.  Sometimes you don't need the CTRL key (for instance, in Fillet, if you don't have a radius yet, or even in Pattern, when you are creating the pattern).  But, in editing a feature, it is almost always needed.

Jeff