# Subtract & keep the subtracted shape

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2017, 10:30am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737 "2017-01-29T10:30:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![deets](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/deets/32/594_2.png) [@deets](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/deets)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 10:30am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737/1 "2017-01-29T10:30:37Z")

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In my attempts to design my little raspberry Pi robot, my main objective is to create a base-plate for mounting the various parts.

My original approach was to draw shapes & then draw sketches around them in the base plate, so when extruding there will be mounting holes left.

Since the 2. 0.6 update, my very complex base plate sketch became unbearably slow. While this is already under investigation, it made me rethink my approach.

So now I try to create shapes & subtract them from the already extruded base plate. ![](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/1X/cc72bf483a9a476e4402bf845e4877f15400b5d7.PNG)

See the motor protection brackets that I would like to subtract.

However doing this results in loss of my carefully crafted shapes. I could use freeform move to create clones - but that’s cumbersome. Is there an easy way out of this?

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 11:12am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737/2 "2017-01-29T11:12:00Z")

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Hi,

No, currently the only way to do this is to copy manually.

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**Author:** ![deets](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/deets/32/594_2.png) [@deets](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/deets)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737/3 "2017-01-29T14:44:42Z")

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I found a reasonable workaround - I move my shapes, and then extrude the abutting faces with the new Subtract objects. Not ideal, but quite nice still 🙂

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737/4 "2017-01-29T16:33:22Z")

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Being able to solve everything with a small feature set is much better than bloating the app with hundreds of features. At least that’s what we think.

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**Author:** ![deets](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/deets/32/594_2.png) [@deets](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/deets)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/subtract-keep-the-subtracted-shape/737/5 "2017-01-30T22:24:44Z")

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I agree. And working for a company that takes UX very serious I know how hard these calls can be. OTOH the pattern of a Yes / No question in a tool is already established. So I think this would be pretty bloat-free:) But I won’t become disgruntled over it.