Replacing Elements

This task shows how to replace a geometric element by another.
This may be useful when a modification occurs late in the design as the whole geometry based onto the element that is replaced is updated according to the new specifications coming from the replacing elements.

Open the Replace1.CATPart document.

  1. Right-click the pink curve (Profile.1) and choose the Replace... contextual item.

    The Replace dialog box appears.

  2. Click With and select the blue curve in the geometry.

    The Replace dialog box is updated accordingly and the geometry displays the curve orientation.
      You can change the orientation by clicking the green arrow. The replaced feature is thus inversed, you can check the inversion when editing the feature on which the replacement has been performed: in the edition dialog box, the feature name is followed by "(inversed)".
    Note that this capability is only available when editing Generative Shape Design features.
    You can check the Delete replaced elements and exclusive parents if you do not need these elements for later operations.
    A warning message is issued if the element to replace is a published element.
    • Click Yes to replace the published element
    • Click No to cancel the operation and close the Replace dialog box.
    In our example, we published Profile 1:

  3. Click OK to validate the replacement.

    The geometry is updated accordingly.
    • You cannot replace elements that are not updated.
    • You cannot replace solid elements such as pads for instance.
    • You can only replace a body that is pointed by an Add feature (Boolean Operation).
      Refer to Adding Bodies in the Part Design User's Guide.