New Feature: Linear Pattern Plus

eric_pesty · September 2023

Evan_Reese said:

@eric_pesty
That's also possible, but would make all of the other instances unstable in unintuitive ways. If you reference instance 2 it would keep jumping around as you change the count. I think I prefer it to just keep the last one stable by essentially labeling it "last" instead of "instance 5" or something.

LOL!
Good point. I should probably think things through a bit more before typing it in!

shawn_crocker · September 2023

I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't be nicer to have a separate feature that can integrate with the pattern. Something that would create sort of a dummy piece of geometry that one can use to link up to. There could maybe be a lot more possibility for additional control over exactly what the user may want the dummy instance to do. So, clearly people want the last instance stable. But maybe sometimes you want the second from last instance stable. Or the third. Maybe you want the instance closest to the center stable. Maybe if the quantity of instances is even, you want the last instance stable but when odd, the second from last. My thought on this stems from generally being quite content with creating a second pattern of the so called "dummy" piece of geometry and just using the extract variable feature to drive it and potentially add some other logic in there. My only issue with this technique is, I don't use it quite everyday and when I do use it, I have to think for a few moments longer then I would have liked.

. If there was another feature similar to the extract variables but created that dummy part with all the needed options and logic all in one feature, I think it would possible be better. And then the linear pattern continues to behave in more or less the way designers expect and have been accustomed to for decades.

justin_morgan525 · February 2025

Where exactly can I see how the offset function today works? I belive that is what I want (to leave a space on each end of the pattern) but cannot figure out how it is working.

shawn_crocker · February 2025

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/113782#Comment_113782

I'm not positive of what you are referencing. What do you mean "offset function"?

Derek_Van_Allen_BD · December 2025

@EvanReese I implemented instance skipping but broke your baton pass functionality. Any idea how to restore that?

EvanReese · December 2025

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/124718#Comment_124718

eh without digging too much into it it's got to do with the embedVariableList() function, which sets all of the parameters to a map with setVariable() then the next feature gets that variable. I'd probably do it differently today if reimplementing that. Are you skipping instances a lot? I don't really ever seem to reach for it.

Derek_Van_Allen_BD · December 2025

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/124950#Comment_124950

Usually more on curve driven patterns or normal linear patterns where an instance of geometry lies too close to another thing of importance and we don't want to adjust the rest of the spacing to try to accommodate.

EvanReese · December 2025

makes sense. Well thanks for tinkering with it! I have too many other priorities right now so I wouldn't get to digging into it for a while, but if you end up figuring it out I'd gladly add it to the main branch and credit you as a contributor in a code comment.

New Feature: Linear Pattern Plus

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