As of now there is no way to select any work geometry as the center of a rotate or scale within the Direct Edit command. Only vertices may be selected. Often I will model different parts as separate solids within the same part file, name it the "Mother" model, then right click the solids to "Make Components" to derive the entire assembly. This makes edits of interdependent parts very easy since two or more parts can be created using the same sketch without projected geometry shared through an assembly. Any modifications required for manufacture are made to the individual derived part files so that ideal tolerances are preserved in the "Mother" model solids and Manufacturing tolerances are adjusted in the individual part files without the need of more cumbersome version control. Nice. The problem arrives when I need to add a logo or other complex embossed feature to the "Mother" model. Getting the logo sketch geometry just right can be quite tedious and adding a full set of sketch constraints is simply unrealistic in most cases, especially since the logo will need to be scaled every time it is used. Scaling within the sketch environment can be quite slow and often fails on imported dxfs and importing dxfs to a sketch is also quite slow. All of this has led me to create a repository of logo solid ipts that I can add to other models. My ideal solution looks something like a sketch driven pattern. Create a sketch with a point located where the center of the logo will be. Derive the logo solid, then Direct Edit. Within the direct edit command I can scale and rotate referencing the origin or some other work geometry, then Move (logo solid), Locate on work geometry (center point), Snap to (sketch point). Boolean combine to emboss. Done. In the existing system I would derive the solid to be embossed, scale, move, and rotate it to the appropriate location. Even if I create and include reference geometry in the logo ipt to be derived, it cannot be referenced as the center point of a rotation or scale operation, so after it is rotated and scaled using some surface geometry, I need to re-center it during the move and that move needs to be modified every time change the scale of the logo solid since the scale cannot reference the center of the solid without some surface geometry already there. Gross. I can get around this by creating a tiny hole in the model and selecting the center of the hole surface as my Locate geometry then deleting it before the Boolean combine. Eew. Another way of combining the solids is orienting and positioning within an assembly. I would create a derived ipt of the logo to scale it, create an assembly to position the part and the logo, then create a second derived ipt of the assembly and Boolean subtracting the logo solid to create the emboss. This creates a minimum of 3 additional files for each embossed part of the final assembly to create and update. Changes to size and location of the logo need to be handled in 2 different files using 2 different commands. Frown, gag, vomit.
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