Working Modes

During the creation or edition of a Tooling Component instance, a working mode is active and remains so until you exit the dialog box.

The possible working modes are:

  • Guided Mode,
  • Planar Mode,
  • Point Mode,
  • Local Mode.

Guided Mode is activated by special convention of contents in the CATPart defining the Tooling component. A component is therefore either dedicated to guided mode, or cannot be used at all in guided mode. This mode will not be described in this guide.
You are in local mode when the dialog box contains all necessary information, and you do not intend to change them, e.g. Add New Instance.

For components which are not dedicated to guided mode, the choice between planar mode and point mode is determined by the first significant selection in the 3D viewer, that does not define the alignment direction.

There are 3 possible selections:

  • Face:
    • selection of a plane or
    • selection of a planar face.
      For the alignment direction, it is not possible to select a plane to define a direction because it would create confusion with the Face selection.
  • Point:
    • selection of a Sketch point (which is always on a associated plane),
    • selection of a 3D Point,
    • selection of a 3D Point on Surface or on Plane,
    • selection of a vertex (which is always on one or several associated faces)
  • Axis:
    • selection of a line,
    • selection of an axis (It is possible to select a component axis for revolution components)
    • selection of an edge. 

Selecting a point or a sketch point starts the point mode.
Selecting a face starts the planar mode.
The face or the point that has defined the working mode remains fixed until you close the dialog box.
The working mode is not modal.