About Power Copies and User Features

Power copies and user features are two replication functions that use a definition/instantiation mechanism. Duplicated elements can be geometrical and mechanical elements such as points, geometrical sets, lines and also knowledge objects (like formula, and rules).

See Also
Creating a Power Copy
Creating a User Feature

They share three important concepts:

  • Components are intended to be duplicated.
  • Inputs are elements not added as components but pointed at through an external link by a component. They must be valuated during instantiation.
  • Components can have parameters that are listed in the Parameters tab during the definition. Publishing a parameter allows the user to set it during instantiation.

However, these similarities hide many differences:

  • A power copy can be seen as a smart copy/paste: All “power copied” features are displayed in the tree and can be modified. There is no link with the reference after instantiation and it uses the copy/paste and the Replace technologies.
    Note: an automatic update of the reference is done if the source components are modified which can lead to input modifications.
  • A user feature is a simple way to create a custom feature: an original group of features is seen in the instance as a unique feature. The point of using a user feature is to create new geometrical features from existing features and protect the intellectual property. By default, every internal feature (component) is hidden and cannot be modified in the instance. When using the user feature, you can only see its external view which is made of its inputs, parameters and outputs.

Notes:
  • Power copy and user features can be saved and instantiated from catalogs, which can be a powerful time-saving combination. They are also well integrated in the knowledge environment with many functions such as instantiation by macro, knowledge patterns and customized user feature instantiation dialog boxes.
  • To export catalogs containing user features and power copies (i.e. the representations containing the templates are correctly exported), make sure they are not located in aggregated representations (for example, not in a 3D shape located in a 3D part.)