Synchronous Technology In Solid Edge ST3 – Part 4

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In the previous part of this series I explained how you could divide your model into two parts and work with it using direct modeling as well as history based parametric modeling. In this part I will explain the concept of moving features from the ordered side of the tree to the synchronous side of the tree. The reverse is not possible.

Moving features from ordered to synchronous is easy. Simply right click on the feature and click “Move to Synchronous”.

But there is a catch. All the features above it will be moved as well. I will explain why shortly. So let’s see what happens when I move the “Ordered Branch” feature to the synchronous side.

As you can see it has now been moved to the synchronous side and the only features left on the ordered side are the two ordered sub-branches. To illustrate the change graphically I have now colored “Ordered Branch” in green since it is not an ordered feature anymore.

Let’s stop here for a minute a try and understand what’s happening. You can consider the feature tree in Solid Edge ST3 as one big bunch of synchronous features from which ordered features grow out. It’s like importing a dumb solid into a history based parametric modeller as a base feature and then growing other features from it. Just that the base feature here in not dumb at all. It is already broken down into features (synchronous) which can be manipulated using direct modeling operations by means of the Solid Edge steering wheel UI gizmo.

But the current implementation of Synchronous Technology comes with a limitation, which I will explain in the next part.

Part 5 >>