Learn/Drafting/Solid Modeling Tools
Pattern
Updated v2.3.7At a glance
- One tool for circular and rectangular arrays — same conventions as the sketch Pattern tool
- Circular: pick an axis or click a hole's edge and the array spins around its center
- Full Circle button spaces copies evenly around 360°
- Rectangular: direction, count, and spacing — add a second direction for a grid
- Parametric merge: every copy re-runs the original operation, so patterned holes are real holes
- Edit the source feature and every merged instance updates with it
- Result choice: merge into the part, new independent bodies, or new components per copy
- Count includes the original (count 3 = original + 2 copies)
Pattern repeats a feature — or a whole body — as a circular array or a rectangular line/grid. Start it by right-clicking a solid feature (a boss, a cut) or a body in the browser tree and choosing Pattern, or from the toolbar. It's one tool with a Circular / Rectangular choice, using the same conventions as the sketch Pattern tool — so patterning feels the same whether you're arranging sketch geometry or solid features.
Choose what the copies become
The Result choice controls the output:
Merge into part. Point the pattern at a source feature and it re-applies that feature's own operation at every copy, into the same body. A patterned hole is a genuine array of holes cut into the part — not a picture of one — and because the pattern re-reads the original on every rebuild, changing the source (resize the hole, move it) updates every instance automatically. The source has to be a feature that makes a solid, like an extrude, cut, or revolve — not a fillet or a move.
New bodies. Every instance becomes its own body in the same component — each with its own editable history, so you can hide one, move one, change one, or delete one without touching the rest. This is the default when you pattern a body.
New components. Every instance becomes its own component — perfect for building a family of variant parts: pattern the blank, then modify each copy with its own small changes.
Circular
Pick the rotation axis — X, Y, or Z (spinning about the part's center), or click an edge on the model. Clicking a hole or any circular edge is the fast path: the pattern rotates about that circle's own center and axis automatically — exactly what you want for a bolt circle. A straight edge works too: the array rotates around the edge itself. Pick Center re-anchors the rotation point to any vertex, edge midpoint, or hole center.
Set a step angle (the angle between neighbouring copies) and a count — or press Full Circle to space the count evenly around 360°, with no double-up where the circle closes.
Rectangular
Choose a direction — the X, Y, or Z axis, or click a straight edge to borrow its direction — and flip it with Reverse. Set a count and a spacing. Turn on a second direction for a grid — its own count and spacing — for perforations, vent slots, and panel arrays in a single step. Symmetric centers the array on the original instead of growing out from it.
Same rules everywhere
Count includes the original in both modes, exactly like the sketch Pattern tool: a count of 3 gives you the original plus two copies.
The array previews live as you dial in the numbers. A merged pattern commits as an editable step in the history — reopen it at any time to change the type, axis, direction, counts, spacing, or angles — and if the feature it patterns is later deleted, it tells you plainly instead of failing silently. New-body and new-component copies commit as ordinary bodies and components (that's what makes them independent), so you edit each copy directly rather than re-opening the pattern.
A 3D mirror is planned as a companion to this tool.