- [Instructor] So now I wanna talk about patterns.
Patterns in NX are extremely powerful,
but you have to be careful with the type
of pattern that you're gonna use.
So, as we go through and apply features to the body,
you see here, I have a hole.
This is a hole that is applied to that extrude.
This is now seen as a feature.
I can use what's called pattern feature
to pattern that hole.
You'll notice that it's going to pick the actual feature.
I could specify my vector.
In this case, I wanna do what's called a circular pattern,
so I'll just pick circular.
Specify the vector or axis of rotation.
And in this case, I'm gonna pick my Z here.
Once I pick my Z, I can now come down and specify
how many I want and the distance
or angle apart from each other.
In this case, I have 12 and they're 10 degrees apart.
If I come over here and say 15 degrees apart,
I could say 20 degrees apart, whatever that is.
If you want a spacing based off
of the total arc radius around,
you can come down over here and say count and span.
So, right now my span angle's at 220.
If I say this is at 360, so this is the total arc around,
you'll see I have a total of 12, including the first one.
Okay, so this feature is being patterned
an additional 11 times, but you have to include
the first one as part of the count.
So when I used count and span,
in this case, you can see it gives me
the initial hole at 11 additional ones.
Twelve of them, total spaced out at 360 degrees.
So it does the math for you.
You don't have to think about it.
So if I come over here and want an odd number,
say, seven, you'll see it does the math for me.
It automatically spaces those equally.
So that's what these options are for for spacing.
If I manually enter in count and pitch,
this would be my pitch angle for those seven
for the total complete crown around the park.
Now, if I come in here and say pitch and span,
you'll notice that to find my pitch as angle or a distance,
I can specify how far apart I want those or at an angle.
I come over here, and just,
I can just drag these handles 82 degrees apart.
What the system does is how many can I fit in 360 degrees,
and it automatically counts that for me.
So, that's what pitch and span does.
So if I decrease my pitch,
let's say I go down to 45 degrees,
well, I have a total of here's my initial one,
two, three four, five, six, seven, and eight.
So it automatically does the math for me
based off of pitch and span.
So, you have a lot of options here
to create your patterns with.
Oftentimes, more often that not,
I'm actually using count and span
'cause I want a specific amount at 360 degrees.
Let the system do the math for me.
Now, there has been the rare occasion
where I may not need one of the holes
or one of the features that I'm patterning,
so if I come over to one of these little dots
that appear, the little blocks,
that would be the instance.
So if I right mouse click on one of the instance,
and I say suppress, you'll notice
that instant is no longer a part of the pattern.
So this has happened to me several times,
like transmission cases, something along those lines
where you have a constant pattern.
You get to one little spot where
they had a little boss offshoot whatever it may be.
You had to go in there and just turn off
one of those in that pattern, works great.
If I double-click on that pattern,
you'll notice I can always right mouse click on it,
unsuppress and bring it back in.
I also have the ability to come in here and do a clock.
So if I clock this, you'll notice
I can change the radial input so this goes further out.
And then I can also change the angular input.
So, patterning a feature is extremely, extremely powerful.
Now, if I come down and look at my part navigator,
you'll notice I have all
of the various instances in here as well.
If I go to one of these instances,
and I right mouse click on it,
and I were to do something like edit parameters,
you'll see there's no parameters there for you to edit
because that is part of the pattern.
So if I wanna edit this, what I need to do
is edit the actual pattern.
So if I come in, go the pattern and make my change there,
you'll see I have all of my capabilities back once again.
So the instance is part of that pattern.
Next, I'm just gonna hide this body,
and I'm gonna show this body.
I'm gonna come in and just place a hole
at the center of this here.
Let's make this a bit bigger, easier to see, select okay.
So the next thing I wanna do is
I wanna pattern this entire body.
Not the feature, but I want it patterned, the geometry.
Because there's an extrude.
There's that hole.
I may have additional features.
I may have an edge blend applied to this as well.
And I want all of these to go as a singular feature,
rather than multiple features separately.
So, if I look under the more button,
you'll notice that I have a pattern geometry.
So, pattern feature is a feature applied to a body,
whereas pattern geometry in this case
is going to be the entire body.
I have the same patterning options.
I have linear, circular.
You'll notice I can do polygonal, spiral,
along a curve, all sorts of patterns.
Here I'm just gonna do a circular pattern.
And I'm gonna pick what I wanna pattern.
In this case, this body.
You'll notice it picks the entire body.
What's my vector?
That's my vector.
Count and span, 12.
You know what, I think 12's a little excessive.
I'll just bring this down to three.
So, you'll see it takes the entire body,
and all of the features applied to that body.
I also have the same capabilities here.
If I come over here, I can clock and delete
and do similar to the actual pattern feature.
So, the way they operate, again,
is very, very similar, but what they pattern is different.
So, just pay close attention.
I think out of this lecture,
I really want you to pay close attention
to what you're patterning.
That's the big takeaway,
is a feature or is it the actual body?
Other types of patterns that you can do,
and again, I'll just double-click on this pattern.
You've seen me do the circular.
If I just change this to linear,
now I just have to specify the direction that I wanna go in.
So you'll notice that I can take this and drag this out.
I'll say five.
Maybe I want additional in this pattern,
but in another direction.
So I can come over here and say use a direction two.
And specify that vector.
Now I need to take this and drag it out.
Maybe I want three.
And then I also have options here.
So maybe I want this to be in the center.
If I hit symmetric, what you'll see is it takes those
and patterns to the opposite side.
So if I reduce this, and I can do the same.
Say symmetric.
Let me do my fit so we get the whole thing in.
And I'll just take this down to two.
So now I have two on either side.
So, the pattern geometry is for bodies.
Pattern features is for just that,
features applied to a body.
And they operate very, very similarly.
So, just, again, big takeaway,
pay close attention to what you're patterning
and the type of pattern that you're gonna use.