About 2D Components

This topic explains the concepts that you need to understand before you begin creating and reusing 2D components.

This page discusses:

See Also
In the Knowledge Base
Synchronization of 2D component instances after modifying graphic properties of the reference

What is a 2D Component?

A 2D component is a reusable set of geometry and annotations. This component is located in a sheet and can be edited like a view. This is why we call this component a detail view. The 2D component can be instantiated several times, each instance providing a component with a specific orientation, position and scale.

What is a 2D Components Catalog?

The catalog is a separate file which references the detail views, enables to group the components, allows classifying them and lets you add information and attributes to these components. This allows overall management of the components. Moreover, the catalog browser can be used to choose a component and instantiate it in a drawing document.

You can synchronize external catalog components. In other words, you can update a component that is external to the 2D. Note that associativity is kept. For this, from the Tools section of the action bar, click Links & Relations , and click Synchronize link in the displayed dialog box.

By default, a 2D component (as a whole) can be moved or scaled using the pointer. If you want to make this impossible, go to Me > Preferences > App Preferences > 3D Modeling > Mechanical Systems > Drafting > Geometry expander, under 2D Component, select Disable direct manipulation and/or Disable direct scaling check boxes.

General Concepts for Using Catalogs

This sub topic discusses general concepts for using catalogs.

Instantiation from a Detail Sheet

The following figure depicts the instantiation of a 2D component from a reference element that is internal to the representation.



: 2D component (reference)

: 2D component instance

Instantiation from a Catalog

The following figure depicts the instantiation of a 2D component from a reference element that is external to the representation.



: local copy of reference component

: instantiated components

: catalog entry

: external reference component

Catalog Update

When you create a 2D component in a detail sheet, store this component into a catalog and you can perform modifications to this component on the detail sheet. There are two ways for updating the catalog file:

  • Select Add > Generate Catalog on that catalog. However, in this case, the catalog is regenerated not updated. In other words, any modification applied to the catalog will be lost.
  • Modify the catalog manually using the catalog editor. For more information, see the Design IP Classification User's Guide.

Synchronization of a 2D Component Instance

When a 2D component and its instance are not located in the same drawing representation, modifying only the graphic properties of the 2D component desynchronizes the related instance. In this case, you can click Links & Relations from the Tools section of the action bar and click Synchronize link (Edit Links & Relations dialog box) to update the 2D component instance.

Broken Links

When you instantiate a component from a catalog, this component appears on the sheet. In addition, this component definition is locally copied but you cannot visualize this copy. In that way, the instantiated component becomes a component which references this locally copied component. As a result, if the origin component disappears, the link between the locally copied component and the origin component is broken, but the component can still be used. If the image of the component in the catalog is modified and therefore different from the instantiated component, you can click Links & Relations from the Tools section of the action bar and click Synchronize link (Edit Links & Relations dialog box) to synchronize the broken link.

Links & Relations

  • The Links & Relations dialog box shows all the local copies and the states of their links. So, synchronizing results to updating the local copy based on the origin component modifications. Once the local copy is synchronized, all the instantiated components referencing this local copy are simultaneously updated.
  • A representation containing a 2D component instance from another representation is autonomous, so there is no need to load the related catalog. However, when you open the Links & Relations dialog box, the catalog is automatically loaded to display the synchronization status of the links.

Origin Component Modification

When you save a component in a catalog, you actually make a photo of the image of this component and also create a link which allows finding the origin component. As a result, if you modify the origin component and then try to instantiate this component from the catalog, the instantiated component will result different from what you expected.

Expose a 2D Component from a Catalog

The instantiation from a catalog and the Cut/Copy/Paste mechanism are very similar. A local copy is created when instantiating and/or pasting a 2D component instance issued from another document. The 2D component is instantiated from this local copy. Note that the local copy is created as a result of pasting either a 2D component instance or a 2D component reference containing a 2D component instance into another document. To remove the link between the local copy and its original document you can use the Expose command as explained in Exposing a 2D Component from a Catalog.

Scenarios

Two scenarios are possible depending on the catalog modification:

  • Scenario 1: If a component in a detail sheet and in a catalog is different from each other and if you update the catalog, you will lose the catalog modifications.
  • Scenario 2: Consider both the detail sheet and the catalog is similar. When you instantiate the component from the catalog into the representation, if the instantiated component is different from the component that was saved in the catalog, click Links & Relations from the Tools section of the action bar and click Synchronize link. In fact, the origin reference component was locally copied and can only be updated using the Edit Links & Relations dialog box. For more information about this topic, see Creating a Catalog and Instantiating a 2D Component from a Catalog.