Can I show only some of the planes that I brought in using a copy geometry feature?

[AB_10071442]

I use a copy geometry to get planes from my skeleton. Now I have a lot of planes in my model. It makes it hard to find the plane that I need on the screen. I want to use layers to only show the planes that I want to use as references for my desired feature. But, when I try to select a plane from a copy geometry for creation of a layer, it selects all the planes from that copy geometry. Is there maybe a way to use just a selected few of the planes from a copy geometry in a layer? Thanks a lot for ideas and answers!

[tbraxton]

One option is to create a copy geom that includes only the datum planes you need to "hide" and do not include these datums in the other copy geom. This will support layer control of the CG feature with the planes.

There are other ways to deal with this using top-down design tools (e.g. skeletons) bust most will be similar to using multiple CG to do this.

[Tdaugherty]

You can actually use the layer tree to select references for features, constraints, etc. Maybe give that a shot? I use this tip when things get a little busy on screen. Sometimes you need to dig through the layer tree to find what you want but skeleton planes are normally in a SKEL_PLANES layer by default for me so it's fairly simple.

[tbraxton · Accepted solution]

If you have a skeleton model(s) that are too busy and create a datum forest when copied into derivative models, then I would create pub geom features to organize the skeleton datums to support design intent and the propagation to the derivative models where needed. IMO this is the most easily understood design intent for someone who looks at the model and did not build it.

I would typically use multiple pub geoms to get the data to the derivative models and then use mapkeys that toggle on/off the layers to control which pub geoms are visible if I need to toggle them frequently.

You can of course set up layer rules to manage this in a more automated fashion but that requires more up-front work and enforcement of standards such as feature names or the like to enable the rules to always work.

I would encourage you to take a look at both options and any others that are offered and determine what fits your environment the best.

[Tdaugherty]

Agreed!