Proe to Wildfire (patterning)

Hi there,
Recently I have started working on wildfire. The question is about
patterning. In 2001 I create a reference datum plane after selecting
the sketching plane or use move. How do I go about doing patterns in
Wildfire?
Thanks,
Shankar.

 

: Hi there,
: Recently I have started working on wildfire. The question is about
: patterning. In 2001 I create a reference datum plane after selecting
: the sketching plane or use move.

This sounds more like preparations during feature creation to make the feature
patternable. This stays the same in Wildfire. What is different is two things:
first, the selection process, using preselection (as a graphical query select)
followed by select and then, often, the action to perform, selected by right mouse
button interactive menu or 'Insert' or 'Edit' menus. In the case of the pattern,
select the feature to be patterned, either onscreen or with the model tree, then
you should notice the pattern icon become available. Click the pattern icon and
the second new feature of Wildfire enters the picture, namely, the Dashboard as a
line or two of icons and input boxes above the graphics window. The boxes marked
Items are collection panes: click in one to select the first pattern driving
dimension and select the first patternable dimension, then enter a number for the
pattern elements; do the same with the second Items collection pane for a second
patternable dimension, should you need one. Click the green check mark and you're
done.

You'll notice the default pattern type is the dimension driven pattern. If you
click the arrow on the type box, you'll see others, such as Table and Fill. The
fill pattern lets you select or create a boundary with edges or curves, give the
area a boundary or border and then fill the area with the feature to pattern in
any of several different configurations. The table driven pattern can be created
from your dimension or fill pattern, the table edited or read from disk, and used
to drive feature patterning. Taken together, this marks a huge advance in
functionality and ease of use in patterning.

David Janes

 

Wait until you see the patterning functionality in Wildfire 2..........

 

For Angular patterns:
The big difference in Wildfire is that datums are explicitly created in the
sketch mode, not on the fly. For example in preWildfire , if you wanted to
create a rotational pattern, you would create a datum on the fly at an
angle. You would then finish the feature, and would find that the datum
created on the fly is not visible in the model tree. However if you clicked
on the feature and hit pattern, the angular dimension of the feature would
show and you could pick it as the dimension to be patterned.

In wildfire you would create this feature as normal, and while you were in
the sketch mode, you would create a datum at an angle. When you finished
creating the feature the datum would show explicitly in the model tree. I
see this as the main difference.

For other patterns, you simply hit the pattern icon in Wildfire, and it
brings up the dash board with the main difference being that the general
pattern is now the default.