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J
joebot4-Participant
4-Participant
July 7, 2020
Question

Driving dynamic text by patterned feature instance

  • July 7, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 2433 views

I would like to have a pattern of extrusions on a part with labels on each extrusion.  However, I would like the text on each extrusion to be driven by the instance of each extrusion.  So, the text on the first extrusion would be something like "EX1" and then the text on the 15th extrusion would be "EX15."  I do not want to manually type in the extruded text - I would like it to be dynamic.

 

  1. Is this possible?
  2. How do you reference the instance number of a patterned feature?
  3. How would I go about setting something like this up?

1 reply

M
MartinHanak24-Ruby III
24-Ruby III
July 8, 2020
@joebot wrote:

I would like to have a pattern of extrusions on a part with labels on each extrusion.  However, I would like the text on each extrusion to be driven by the instance of each extrusion.  So, the text on the first extrusion would be something like "EX1" and then the text on the 15th extrusion would be "EX15."  I do not want to manually type in the extruded text - I would like it to be dynamic.

 

  1. Is this possible?
  2. How do you reference the instance number of a patterned feature?
  3. How would I go about setting something like this up?

Hi,

I hope https://community.ptc.com/t5/Assembly-Design/Pattern-numbers/td-p/122932 discussion will help you to solve your problem.

J
joebot4-ParticipantAuthor
4-Participant
July 8, 2020

Martin,

 

That's an interesting method - kind of a hack, really.  I will see if it solves my problem. Thank you!

T
Tdaugherty16-Pearl
16-Pearl
July 8, 2020

Hi, 

 

I tested a few methods to see if this possible and at this point in time, I'm not sure it is. The key would be to drive the sketch associated with each extrude by a parameter. It's easy to drive sketch text by a parameter, it's not so easy to make the parameter vary based on the pattern ID of a feature. 

 

Tdaugherty_0-1594227249650.png

 

Based on this article, I don't believe it's possible to harvest a feature name and use it to populate a parameter. 

Display features names as a parameter 

 

With that in mind, I went a different route and attempted to append "EX" to the pattern instance (number) converted to a string. This is still a challenge because each sketch has to be driven by a unique feature parameter and I can't find a way to get the instance ID.

 

So, the relations that you put in the first instance of the pattern have to vary a single parameter (inside the first instance) in every other pattern instance. This isn't possible. It's also worth noting that it seems to matter what kind of pattern you're using. Creating a unique feature parameter in every pattern instance to call in each sketch isn't viable. It would take more time than it's worth. 

 

Can you explain what you're trying to use the text for? That might lead to some other suggestions that could solve your problem. 

 

Ty

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