Bidirectional Axial Pattern

[neuronex]

I run into this situation often, and I'm sure there's a way to do it using less features.

Lets say there's the following - a cutaway feature in a round solid.:

View attachment 4679

And I want to pattern the cutaway as follows:

View attachment 4680

Then usually what I'd do is this:

<ul>[1]Copy the geometry which makes up the cutaway feature (and it's usually more complex than just a straight cut - hence the copy geometry).
[2]Pattern that quilt in one direction; then pattern the quilt in the other direction to give 2 quilts on either side of the original cutaway.
[3]Solidify the quilts (using a reference pattern on the solidify).
[4]Copy the geometry of the 5 newly created cutaways to make a single surface feature consisting of all 5 cutaways.
[5]Pattern this surface feature around an axis (4 times at 90 degrees)
[6]Solidify those patterned surface features (using a reference pattern).[/list]

Is this the best way to go about it or can someone suggest something more efficient?

(Using WF2, but have WF4 to view models)


Edited by: neuronex

 

[kdem]

Depending on how you have things defined you might be able to table patterm the group of 5 cuts and then axis pattern the table pattern. It's been a while since I've used WF2 but I believe you need to put the table pattern in a group feature before you can pattern again.

 

[dr_gallup]

You can just create a uniform pattern all the way around then deselect the instances (black dots) you don't want. You can also pattern, unpattern, group and pattern again.
View attachment 4682

 

[neuronex]

Here's an upload of how my patterned feature usually looks. I'm using surfaces -> solidify because most times the cutaways are more complex, and I"m trying to see if it is possible to do it using surfaces (like in the attached .prt), but with less features required to define the entire pattern.

It just seems like an unnecessary amount of copying geometry & surface sets.

2010-09-30_024431_pattern.prt.zip

 

[kdem]

Here is an update using the method I described in WF4. I had to copy the surface of the cut and then make a rotational copy of the copied surface making sure the hide original geometry under the options tab is unchecked (if you hide it the pattern fails). The rotational copy gives you a dimension to add to the table pattern. Table pattern allows you to specify angle dimensions both ways if you intend to use the center instance as the pattern leader. Then axis pattern creates four groups of five features. The difference WF2 I believe will be is that you will need to put the table pattern in a group feature before you can create the axis pattern (I don't have access to WF2 so I'm going by memory).


I don't think dr_gallup's method will work in your because with your angle increment the instances will not be in the right places and (I could be wrong here) I don't think you had those dots to deselect instances in WF2 (at least not in the datecode we were using).


2010-09-30_092739_WF4_pattern.prt.zip

 

[dr_gallup]

I would do those cuts and rounds (features 6, 7, 8 & 9) as one revolved feature. Then simple to pattern from there. I never to all that copy, paste, solidify stuff for prismatic geometry.
2010-09-30_150946_pattern2.prt.zip
Edited by: dr_gallup

 

[neuronex]

Here is an update using the method I described in WF4.

That file seems to be the same as the on I uploaded originally (there's no rotational surface copies anywhere)...

I would do those cuts and rounds (features 6, 7, 8 & 9) as one
revolved feature. Then simple to pattern from there. I never to all
that copy, paste, solidify stuff for prismatic geometry.

In most cases I'm not dealing with cuts that can be contained in one feature. It was just simplified for the example .prt


It's patterning complex cutaways, which have been formed by surface geometry, that I'm trying to figure out a way of simplifying.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[kdem]

Sorry about that. I selected the wrong version file. Here is an update with your original and the file in WF4.


2010-10-01_090527_WF4_pattern.prt.zip

 

[neuronex]

...Then axis pattern creates four groups of five features. The difference WF2 I believe will be is that you will need to put the table pattern in a group feature before you can create the axis pattern

I've created the table pattern, but cannot seem to pattern the table pattern around an axis. I've tried grouping it as you suggested, but still I get no option to pattern it. Any ideas?

[I've resorted to using a single table pattern to manage all the cuts around the axis. It's tedious entering the data manually, but it works. I'd still rather be able to pattern the table pattern though...)

Edited by: neuronex

 

[kdem]

Are you copying the feature directly from the model tree (does your feature looksimilar tothe following)


View attachment 4689


From what I've seen a copy like this cuases the problem even in WF3 & W4. Try selecting the surface geometry as a quilt. You should end up with a feature similar to the following:


View attachment 4690


Then try placing the pattern in a group and try the axis pattern to see if it works.