Can I make an internal sketch an external sketch?

[AndyChurch]

My memory must be going. I seem to remember being able to drag a sketch out of a feature in the tree and make it an external sketch so I can use it elsewhere. Can I do this?

[MartinHanak]

"Andy Church" wrote:

My memory must be going. I seem to remember being able to drag a sketch out of a feature in the tree and make it an external sketch so I can use it elsewhere. Can I do this?

[doneill]

Did you get an answer? 

[rohit_rajan]

no

[doneill]

Okay... not the answer I was hoping for... but thanks for the response.

[WS_10193292]

Really PTC? This feature is still not available as of Creo 7 (released in 2020)?

Do you guys listen to your customers at all or put any thought into GUI / user experience?

[StephenW]

You can edit the sketch and then while in the sketch, save the sketch (it saves as a .sec file). You can then make a new sketch and bring in .sec file.

This is a work-around. If the sketch is all dimensioned to itself and not to references, they usually come in clean and easy. If all the dimensions are to references, then they will all be gone. 

Vote on this idea

https://community.ptc.com/t5/Creo-Parametric-Ideas/RMB-Make-Internal-Section-an-External-Sketch/idi-p/454089

[WS_10193292]

Thanks for the workaround, but I do not see why converting internal to external sketch cannot be built into Creo with a simple button click. This is one of the many small annoyances with Creo that make it frustrating to use.

For my particular situation, I have numerous simple rectangular extrude features with internal sketches. It would be faster for me to create sketches from scratch then export/import .sec files...

[StephenW]

PTC doesn't put much effort in to "ease of use" changes...this is my opinion, and doesn't represent any one else's.

For anything repetitive, I would suggest researching the sketcher palette and adding those sketches to that, or UDF's. We use both.

[ScottGivens]

I came across this thread while searching for the same answer.  I was convinced there had to be an easier way than saving out the .sec and reimporting.  I think there is!  While the OP may be long gone, I thought it would be good to preserve here anyway.

• Create the Sketch feature you want to use to drive the multiple Shape features
  • it must exist before them in the Model Tree history, as it will become a parent to them
• Edit Definition on the Shape feature that you want to convert to an external Sketch
• Select the Placement tab
• Right click on the name field of the Sketch (will say something like Internal Section 1)-->Remove
• Select the external Sketch created earlier
• Checkmark to complete the feature

Hopefully that helps!

[StephenW]

But I think what this guy was asking for was how to change an internal sketch he made in an extrude (or cut or ?) feature and convert that existing sketch in to an external sketch that is available in the model tree.

What you are doing is making a new sketch and then using that in an existing extrude (or cut or ?) feature.

The end result will look similar but he wanted to just drag the internal sketch out of the extrude to make it an external sketch.

[ScottGivens]

Ah, true.  I suppose he could edit the internal section, and use your method to save out the .sec, then follow the rest of the steps in my post to re-associate the Shape to the external Sketch.

But you're right, references need to be watched carefully so things don't get wonky.  Perhaps this is why PTC hasn't made this functionality available.

[pausob]

I don't see technical hurdles related to references for PTC to make a function to turn the feature's internal section into an external sketch that is just above the feature in the model tree.

Actually, the work-around you propose (exporting out a .sec file, importing it into an external sketch that is above the feature, then replacing its internal section with this external sketch) - this will cause downstream regeneration failures due to lost-reference issues.

I also think that it is worth thinking it through as to why the feature's internal section needs to be switched to an external sketch.  Would it make more sense that the feature should continue to have an internal section, but you should redefine this section so that its entities reference the external sketch?

But anyway, I do see this as a good example of the how lack of editing tools and rigid workflows often leave me with the impression that modeling in Creo Parametric is great - as long as I know ahead of time what my design looks like and how I'll be modelling it...

[StephenW]

"as long as I know ahead of time what my design looks like and how I'll be modelling it"

Just wanted to highlight