Creating a part silhouette for easy use in sketches

skybrian

I have a part defined in one part studio and I'm drawing a master sketch in a different part studio where the part will be used. I'd like to place a few silhouettes of a part in the sketch. The silhouettes will be arranged along a couple of angled lines, and I'd like the silhouettes to remain placed on the line if I move the line, and the silhouette should change if the part changes.
What's an efficient approach to this? I think I should use "Derive" but I'm not sure what's best. I could make a variety of things from sketches from the original part.
I've tried using derived sketches but placing a silhouette in the sketch means setting up a complicated system of constraints manually.

NeilCooke

Maybe you should take a look at in-context assembly design - it allows "ghosted" parts that only update when you want them to.

skybrian

It's an interesting idea, but the problem is that I only have one part so far; everything else needs to be drawn and that's the point of the master sketch. I could instance the part in an assembly but it seems like I'd be placing them blindly? I could have a preliminary sketch to place the parts and a second sketch to do more detailed work, but it seems complicated.

NeilCooke

Please post the URL to your doc and maybe a few screenshots?

skybrian

I am trying out in-context design as you suggested.

tim_hess427

@skybrian - A link to a specific document would be helpful, but if I understand your original post, it sounds like you might be on the right track with your attempt at using the derive function. 

Here's what it sounds like might work:

1. Create Part1 in Part Studio A
2. Derive Part1 into Part Studio B
3. In Part Studio B: Create a new sketch and use the "use" or "intersect" commands to create a silhouette of Part1. Then, in the same sketch, you could use patterns to replicate your silhouette along your lines as needed. 

If Part1 changes, you can update the reference in the "Derive feature". If you need to change the lines or number of silhouettes, everything should be easy to update using the sketch patterns. 

skybrian

Yes, I'm thinking now that deriving a part as the silhouette would have worked better. I was reluctant to use a part since I was working in 2D, but a dummy part seems to be easier to move around than a sketch, and a simple extrusion is easy to make. Maybe next time I'll try that.