Managing Geometrical Sets

You can manage the geometrical sets within the specification tree. You can add or remove geometrical sets.

This task shows you how to:

Insert a Geometrical Set

You can add a geometrical set in the tree.

Important: You cannot create a geometrical set within an ordered geometrical set and vice-versa.

  1. In the tree, select one or several elements to be inserted into the new set.

    The element can be a feature or an existing set.

  2. From the section of the action bar, click Geometrical Set .

    The Features list displays the elements to be contained in the new set.

  3. In the Name box, enter the name of the new set.
  4. In the Parent list, select the element which shall be the destination of the new set.

    The Parent list displays all possible destinations and allows you to select one to be the parent set without scanning the tree. Destinations can be geometrical sets, 3D shape representations, or bodies.

    By default, the new set will be the child set of the set or body containing the selected element(s) and will be positioned at the location of the selected element(s) in the tree.

    If several elements belonging to different sets are selected, the new set is created in the set or body chosen in the Parent list and all selected elements are moved to it.

    If no element to be inserted into the new set is selected, an empty set is created at the highest level in the tree.

    In the tree or in the work area, you can select additional elements to be included in the new set.

  5. Click OK to create the set at the desired location.
    The result is immediate. Geometrical Set.x is displayed in the tree, incrementing its name in relation to the pre-existing sets. It is created after the last current set and underlined indicating that it is defined as in work object. The next created element is created within this set.
    Tips:
    • Select the Create a Geometrical Set check box in Me > Preferences > Common Preferences > Object Properties > 3D Shape >Infrastructure, 3D Shape Infrastructure area, When creating 3D Shapes section, if you want to create a geometrical set as soon as you create a new 3D shape representation.

    • The state of a set is kept in your data model, i. e. the level of expansion is kept unless it has more than 40 children. In this case, it is automatically collapsed.

Remove a Geometrical Set

You can remove the geometrical set from tree.

Two methods are available:
  • If you want to delete the set and all its contents: Right-click the set and select Delete.
  • If you want to delete the set but keep its contents. This is only possible when the parent location of the set is another set. This is not possible when the parent location is a root geometrical set. Right-click the desired set and select Geometrical Set.x object > Remove Geometrical Set. The set is removed and its constituent entities are included in the parent set.

Important: You cannot delete a feature within a set created on the fly. Indeed this set is considered as private and can only be deleted globally.

Move Geometrical Sets or Elements of a Geometrical Set

You can move single or multiple elements of a geometrical set or a whole geometrical set to another geometrical set.

  1. From the tree, select one or several element(s) in a set or a whole set, then right-click and select *.object > Change Geometrical Set... item.
    The Change geometrical set dialog box appears, listing all the possible destinations.
    Important: Multi-selection of elements of different geometrical sets and features is supported. Right-click one of the selected elements to access the Change Geometrical Set dialog box and to move all selected elements.
  2. In the Destination list, select in the drop-down list or in the tree the destination set where the element or set shall be located.
    By default, if you select a set, the element is positioned last within the new set. However, you can select any element in the new set, before which the moved elements will be located.
  3. In the Before box, specify the element or set above which the selected element shall be inserted.

    If the destination is a set inside another set, the Inside check box has the following effect:

    • When checked, the selected element or set is moved to the last position in the set selected in the Destination list.
    • When unchecked, the set selected in the Destination list is displayed in the Before box, and its parent set becomes the destination.

      The selected element or set is moved to the parent set displayed in the Destination list and its position is before the child set displayed in the Before box.

    Note: Please note that the Inside check box has to be checked or unchecked before selecting a set.

    You can also directly select a positioning element or set. In this case, the Destination list is automatically updated with the set to which the selected element belongs.

  4. Click OK to move the elements to the new set.
    The element selected first is moved to its new location in the tree, but geometry remains unchanged.
    • Select the Move unshared parents check box to move all parents of the first selected element to its new location, provided these parents are not shared by any other element of the initial set. In this case, all the unshared parents are highlighted prior to the move.
    • Select the Move all parents check box to move all parents of the first selected element to its new location, regardless of whether these parents are used (shared) by any other element of the initial set. In this case, all parent elements are highlighted prior to the move.
    Important:
    • Contextual parents cannot be moved.
    • You cannot move some elements of a multi-output alone to another set: only the whole multi-output can be moved.
    • Multi-selection of elements of different types is supported. However, note that in this case, the context menu is unavailable.
    • You cannot move external references to another set.
    • When elements are imported using external references or through a Copy-Paste As result with link, the Change geometrical set command is not available through the context menu. Use Links & Relations instead. For more information, refer to Assembly Design User's Guide: Links and Relations

Sort the Contents of a Geometrical Set

You may need to sort the contents of a geometrical set, when the geometric elements no longer appear in the logical creation order. In that case, use the Auto-sort capability to reorder the set contents in the tree (geometry itself is not affected).

In our example, Geometrical Set.1 contains two extruded surfaces based on point-point lines. The tree looks like this:

Right-click Geometrical Set.1 from the specification and select the Geometrical Set.1 object > AutoSort command.
Instantly, the contents of the Geometrical Set are reorganized to show the logical creation process.

The geometry remains unchanged.

Reorder Elements within a Geometrical Set

You can reorder elements inside the same geometrical set.

  1. Right-click the set from the specification tree and choose the Geometrical Set.x object > Reorder Children command.
    The Reorder Children dialog box appears.
  2. Select an element.
  3. The Reorder Children dialog box appears. Use the arrows to move an element up or down.

Important: Note that the feature defined as the In Work Object after the Reorder operation is not affected by this operation from an update point of view:
  • When reordering upward, the feature located just before the new position of the reordered feature becomes the In Work object.
  • When reordering downward, the feature just before the original position of the reordered feature becomes the In Work object.
Tips:
  • You can use the Scan command after the Reorder operation to see what moved step by step.
  • When the first element of the list is reordered upward, it becomes the last element. Similarly, when the last element of the list is reordered downward, it becomes the first element.

Drag and Drop Elements

You can drag one element (feature or parent's node) from one location, drop it to another location and keep its original name and location.

For instance, drag Geometrical Set.1 and drop in Geometrical Set.2.

Important:
  • If you drag and drop a parent's node, the name and location of the children also retained.
  • If multi-selected elements are dragged from one location and dropped to another, only the first feature of the multi-selection is dropped.

Replace Elements

You can replace the elements in the geometrical set.

This capability is only available on shape elements.

  1. Right-click the set from the specification tree and select the Geometrical Set.x object > Replace... command.
    The Replace dialog box appears.
  2. Select the replacing element.
  3. Click OK.

    For more information, refer to the Replacing Elements chapter in the Part Design User's Guide.

    To manage this capability, the Do replace only for elements situated after the In Work Object check box is available in Me > Preferences > Common Preferences > Object Properties > 3D Shape > Infrastructure, 3D Shape Infrastructure area, Replace section. It allows you to make the Replace option possible only for features located below the feature in Work Object and in the same branch.