boolean with composite parts

rune_thorsen229

Appears not to be possible to select a composite part for a boolean. can it be implemented?

lougallo

@rune_thorsen229 It can if the composite is closed.

bruce_williams

@lougallo
That works with closed composite.  However, the selection has to be done in the graphics window.  The Composite parts list does not allow selection.  Bug or enhancement?

_anton

You can always select the individual parts inside a composite. There are some tricky cases we'd need to handle to allow actual composite parts in booleans - for example, we'd need to produce sane results (or fail reasonably) for intersections of multiple composites, booleans with open composites that share parts with other composites, and booleans of composites that contain surfaces or wires. The correct behavior wasn't obvious at the time, which is why we don't presently allow selecting composites into the Boolean feature.

One immediate solution would be to copy the boolean feature, let it accept `BodyType.COMPOSITE`, and dissolve the composite part with a `qContainedInCompositeParts` query.

monroe_weber_shirk

I also need the ability to use a tool that is made of a composite part. I've added this ability to our pipe hole feature (where it normally keeps the "tool") with an option for deleting the tool. For parametric design with variable numbers of parts it is super useful to be able to create a composite part based on the feature that creates the parts so that it doesn't matter if it is one part or many.