'Use' or Project from a Derived Sketch but no Longer Need the Derived Sketch

larry_hawes

Been trying to develop a strategy for changing the parameters of a sketch in a new part studio projected (used) from a derived sketch. In this case, as in many, I'm using the derived sketch as a starting point and many times it serves the purpose without any changes. Any changes to the derived sketch, of course effect the sketch in the new part studio but I would now like the sketch in this new part studio to no longer be associated with the derived sketch. Is there a way to break that link and leave the new sketch intact?

Currently I'm taking all the 'use' constraints from the derived sketch and deleting each one, then modifying the sketch, but it's pretty painful. Is there a quicker more elegant method?

alnis

If you use the "Transform" sketch tool, it will break any constraints necessary to perform the action. I think it should work in your case. If you move it to the side a bit (say 1 inch), accept the move, then move it back the same amount (say that 1 inch), any external references will be broken, and the entities will be in the same place as earlier. Not a single-click thing, but also pretty quick.

MichaelPascoe

Maybe you could copy and paste the derived sketch entities instead of using "Use". This would still need some constraint set up after the paste, but it may be faster than deleting all of the "Use" constraints.

larry_hawes

Thanks Michael, It looks like that may be the best plan for this project - now. It does mean doing things over again and it's pretty simple and whenever I do things over it get's better with a clearer intent but there are times when the derived sketch turns out to be 'not quite right' but the derivation has already been done and the project has progressed quite a ways.

Would it be useful to have a feature that breaks the link to the derived sketch and leaves the new sketch intact? Seems like it could break a lot of other stuff but just wondering,...

MichaelPascoe

Anytime.

I could see a feature like that being useful if the original sketch did not have any external constraints. If it did have external constraints, there would be no way for a computer to know how you wanted it to be constrained. However, I could see it more as a right click option rather than an entire feature. Simply right click any sketch and select "remove external constraints" or something like this.

alnis

If you use the "Transform" sketch tool, it will break any constraints necessary to perform the action. I think it should work in your case. If you move it to the side a bit (say 1 inch), accept the move, then move it back the same amount (say that 1 inch), any external references will be broken, and the entities will be in the same place as earlier. Not a single-click thing, but also pretty quick.

larry_hawes

alnis_smidchens said:

If you use the "Transform" sketch tool, it will break any constraints necessary to perform the action. I think it should work in your case. If you move it to the side a bit (say 1 inch), accept the move, then move it back the same amount (say that 1 inch), any external references will be broken, and the entities will be in the same place as earlier. Not a single-click thing, but also pretty quick.

Must try and thanks so much for the tip. Worked a treat and I think I remember asking this question too long ago. Either way thanks so much for taking the time to answer.