It would be a great timesaver, if there was a “copy” option in the dimension popup dialog. Similar to the [+] button for the move/rotate function.
Mainly for making concentric circles and polygon. But also for rectangles and squares, although it might only make sense if they were made from center.
Should be fairly simple to split the new “lock” button in the beta version in two and make one of them copy.
1 Like
A little more thought/coding is involved if you want to be able do multiple copies at once, but that would be an even greater timesaver.
My initial thoughts here was this:
- Draw a circle and hit the dimension button as before
- Enter new value (like before), but instead of pressing the checkmark/enter, press “copy”. For a 10 mm shape, the value box would then update to “10 & …” allowing you to input the size of the copy. You could keep doing this until you have all you need, either expanding the value box with more lines if needed or let the text roll out of the left side.
This could even work with different shapes in same dialog, by pressing “c”, “p”, “s” and “r” instead of the copy button, for circle, polygon, squares and rectangles respectively. Showing something like 10c & 20p5 & 30s & 10x20. The P5 indicading a five sided polygon. Could also be C10, P20s5, S30, R10w x 20h. Or shown with icons.
On the ipad the letters could be a touch and hold on the copy button to change type.
Copying polygons from others shapes than a polygon, would lack the degrees for rotation/orientation, so there might need to be an optional value here. Like P20s5r90 for having an corner pointing to the right. Like dragging to the right when drawing one. I can’t seem to find that value anywhere, so not sure what it’s called behind the scenes today.
This would also work wonderful in 3D mode. Say you have extruded a cylinder and need to draw a new circle on the top/new face.
Today you have to: Get into sketch mode on that face, select circle tool, draw it, dimension it, exit sketch and finally orient the 3D view. Likely back to the view you just left.
Could be done with just selecting a circle, hit dimension, press copy and new value.
The joker here being the dimension is not shown in-drawing today, if you select an circle/edge that can be chamfered. Which is all you have, if you just extruded something. So the values in the measurements box/bottom line would need to be made clickable. That would be a nice new feature on it’s own.
I guess it could also be done with the offset tool, but here you can’t enter an absolut values. Scale has a copy option, but again, no absolut input.
Most of what you described will be easily solvable with history based parametric modeling, if you haven’t, give it a try!
1 Like
I use the beta when ever I can, but if it’s something I HAVE to get done, I don’t dare. It has burned me once with a crash and loss of design…
I can’t see anything in the new version that will do this, so please explain. Sketches are just one entry, where you can edit the plane. Not any of the sketches items them self. Still waiting for a way to delete all the copies made with a pattern for once…
Locked sketch dimensions are visible now, making changes to them easier, without the need to enter sketch mode. You can also use variables to reuse previously entered values.
I’m not saying it’s possible to do everything that you suggested, but a good part of it can be now done.
For your pattern question, I would delete the Pattern step itself, which would remove all the copies created.
I need to look into this… Have not been following the beta that close lately. Is there a complete list of all the new features somewhere??? Sounds like there is a lot here and there, besides the history/parametric stuff…
The new features are mentioned in the release notes posted here in the forum for every specific version 
Also, there’s a section in our manual dedicated to the new features if you want to check stuff that’s been released in the past.
1 Like
Hi Peter,
When I click on your link, I get taken to the manual and then sign in. When I click on the specific 5.520 update, I get “you are not authorized”.
The others seem OK.
Hi @Laci_K
How would you go about deleting the pattern step if it’s done in the Sketch?? It does not show up in the History list. Nor under Items.
To remove the pattern constraint, simply select it and press Delete Constraint. For additional guidance, please refer to our article at Sketch Patterns.
Yes, I got that part. But that does not delete the copies. And since the master/original can only be modified (change dimension and moved), but not have a radius added to a corner for example, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I either have to select all the 159 copies of my 160 tooth pulley and delete them, so I can modify the master and redo the pattern.
Or actually faster, delete the whole thing and start all over. Hardly highlights the benefit of CAD…