New 2D component

A 2D component is a macro that can be edited with a dimension table. A component can also be used as a drawing-specific object you wish to position in a drawing as a single entity.

Using components speeds up the handling of parametric drawings, because the internal constraints of components are not resolved when the drawing's constraints are resolved.

The creation of the new component proceeds as follows:

  1. Draw the geometry of the component in the drawing.
  2. Add geometric constraints. Dimension constraints have numerical values.
  3. When you want to edit the component based on a certain dimension constraint, define a variable for the dimension constraint. Select the dimension constraint for editing, and enter a variable name in the Formula field of the dialog box.

    Dimension Properties

    Define the Formula Field

    You must not remove the numerical value of the dimension constraint from the dimension data.

    Before forming a drawing-specific component from the elements, add all necessary elements and dimension constraint variable definitions to the geometry.

  4. When you add a component to a drawing, you can select the component by its thumbnail image. The thumbnail image is saved together with the component. If you do not want the thumbnail image to include the dimensions, you can hide them. Select the dimensions to be hidden, then select 110 Hidden Dimensions and Texts as the Layer property from the contextual toolbar.

    Dimension Properties

    Select Layer

    Library Thumbnail Image

  5. Select all elements belonging to the component from the drawing and form a drawing specific component from them by selecting the Create Component function.

    Drawing Specific Component

  6. You can open a component's dimension table for editing by selecting the component from the drawing and then selecting the Edit Component function.

    Editing a Component

  7. Create a component dimension table that can be used to control the component's geometry. Fill in dimension data for the component in the dimension table.

    Dimension Table Data

  8. Select the component from the drawing and save it to the library by selecting Save Component.

    Saving a Component to the Library