Instantiating Group Items

You can instantiate a grouped item one or more times directly from the catalog browser.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:
  • Create a Group.
  • Create a catalog from an existing 3D shape.
See Also
Grouping Sketch Elements Together
Creating a Catalog
In the Knowledge Base
Points to know when multi-instantiating from point selections

Mono-instantiate an Item

You can instantiate a Group from the catalog browser.

  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Catalog Browser.
  2. In the Catalog Browser dialog box, click More... to search a catalog.

    For more information about the dialog box see Design IP Classification User's Guide.

  3. In the Object Selection dialog box, type a name for your research, and then click Search.
    The search results are displayed.
  4. Select a catalog from the list and then click OK.
    The Catalog Browser dialog box displays the catalog structure content.
  5. Expand the catalog structure and select a chapter.
    The content of the chapter appears in the right window.
    Note: You can determine the display of the content or how the content should appear by clicking any of the various formats from the top right corner: Thumbnail View, Tiles View, Details View.
  6. Double-click a group from the list.
  7. Place the pointer anywhere in the active sketch to position the group instance.
    Notes:
    • The lower left point of the theoretical (virtual) bounding box is used for positioning the Group instance.

    • You can position the Group instance with the help of SmartPick assistant. For more information about SmartPick, see Using SmartPick.
    Important:
    • If you select a point in the active sketch for positioning the Group instance, no constraints are created between the point and the Group instance.
    • However, if the Group item contains internal or external constraints (with sketch absolute axis, i.e. the origin, H direction and V direction), they are transferred to the Group instance. For more information about internal and external constraints of Group, see Internal and External Constraints of a Group.
    • If you try to instantiate a group into a part without first activating the Sketcher app, following informative message is displayed:
      Selected item could not be instantiated in current editor.
  8. Click to validate and finalize the position of the Group instance.
    appears.
  9. In the Tools Palette, select one of the following:

    • Explode : This option is active by default.

    • Group .

      Note: You can select either of the above options before ending the instantiate command.

    • Change Group Origin : Define another origin in the sketch.

    • Change Group Position : Define another position in the sketch.

    • Change Group Angle : Rotate group instance around its origin.

    • Flip Group Horizontally : Flip the group instance around its Y axis.

    • Flip Group Vertically : Flip the group instance around its X axis.

    • Instance angle: Change the angle of group instance by typing the desired value.

  10. Click Close in the Catalog Browser dialog box when you are done.

    Tip: You can also instantiate the Group item by one of the following methods:
    • Click a Group and on the context toolbar, click Instantiate Group .
    • Right-click an existing group instance and select Xxx.Object > Instantiate Group.
    • From the Sketch section of the action bar, click Instantiate Group .

Multi-instantiate an Item

You can instantiate a group multiple times from the catalog browser.

  1. Follow steps 1 through 5 in the above task Mono-instantiate an Item.
  2. Click Activate multi-usage to instantiate the group multiple times and then proceed with step 6. To stop the multi-usage, click Deactivate multi-usage and press Esc.

    Notes:
    • Once you finalize the position of the first Group instance in the sketch, a new instance is created and it follows the pointer.
    • For multi-instantiation from a list of points, the Group instances are created according to the selected points.