Pattern from a Table
A third way to repeat a feature with Pattern, beside a row and a circle: type where each copy goes. Each row of the table places one copy by its X and Y offset from the original, and can turn it too. A row can be turned off without losing it. The whole pattern is one step in the Model tree.
When to Use It
- Holes or posts at uneven places you know as numbers, for example from a drawing or a list of offsets
- A few copies that each need their own turn, such as tabs set at different angles
- Trying a layout with some copies left out for now: untick their rows and tick them again later
Step by Step
- Make the feature to repeat first: an extrusion, a cut, a revolve or a hole. Modeling is part of the Pro plans.
- If you want X and Y to run along a face, open a sketch on that face first. With no sketch open, X and Y run along the model X and Y as seen square to the feature's own sketch (model Y and Z when that sketch faces the X direction).
- Click Pattern. In Feature, choose the step to repeat.
- Click From a table. The table starts with two rows: one copy along X and one along Y.
- In each row, type X and Y, the offset of that copy from the original (a minus sign goes the other way, and any unit can be typed, for example 2 in). Type Turn in degrees to turn the copy counterclockwise about the middle of the feature, or leave 0. A turn needs an offset too, except on a hole step with several centres (see Things to Know).
- Press Add row for another copy, or the x at the end of a row to remove it. Untick the box at the start of a row to leave that copy out but keep the row.
- The Pattern button says how many copies it will make. Press it to make them.
Changing It Later
Right click the step in the Model tree and choose Edit Feature. The rows come back as boxes: change any X, Y or Turn, tick or untick rows, add or remove rows, then press Apply. Undo takes the whole pattern back in one step. The step is saved with the model and built again when it opens.
Things to Know
- The offsets are measured from the middle of the feature (for a hole, the middle of its centres; for a revolve, the point of its axis nearest the middle of its outline). Turn spins the copy about a line through that point, square to the sketch, and then the offset slides it.
- The copies keep the feature's own height. Each copy follows the feature's own rule: a post set to merge joins the part, one made as its own body stays separate, and a cut cuts the bodies its own step cuts.
- A turn with no offset spins the copy about the feature's own middle, so a single extrusion, cut or revolve lands over the original and is refused. A turn alone only works for a hole step with several centres, where the turned holes land in new places.
- Copies may touch each other or the original, but they may not overlap: overlapping copies are refused, naming the rows.
- A cut or hole copy that lies outside the part would cut nothing, so it is refused, naming its row.
- The History row reads, for example, Table pattern of step 2, 5 rows, 1 off, 4 copies.
- The table shows no dashed preview of the copies before you press Pattern.
Limits
- At most 200 rows in one table, and every offset within about 3280 feet (1000 m) of the original.
- Turn runs from -360 to 360 degrees.
- A step that takes more than 30 seconds to work out is stopped and nothing changes.
- A sweep or a loft cannot be repeated from a table yet, and neither can a step that ends Up To Next, Up To Surface, Up To Vertex or Up To Body, or a Flip side to cut. Use In a row for those, or change the step to Blind.
Problems
- Row 3: type a number for X (0 for none). A box holds something that is not a length. Type a number, or 0.
- Row 2: no offset and no turn puts the copy right on the original. Type an offset, or untick the row. A turn alone only helps a hole step with several centres.
- Row 1 and row 4 put their copies over each other, so they overlap. Change one of their offsets, or untick one of them.
- Row 2 puts its copy over the original, so they overlap. Move that copy further from the feature.
- Row 5 puts its copy outside the part, so it would cut nothing. Check the offset and its sign, or untick the row.
- Every row is turned off. Tick at least one row.