T-FLEX Parametric CAD. Fundamentals. 2D Design

Moving and Copying Drawing Elements. Arrays. Use of Clipboard
When creating a hatch based on an array elements, hold on to the following technique: before creating the
hatch, set the maximum necessary number of copies in the array. The hatch should be defined using the
automatic contour search mode. In this case, the hatch will behave correctly in the future and will not
“break” under any modifications to the number of copies in the array (within the initially defined range).
In the three-dimensional modeling mode, a 2D array placed on a workplane can be used for creating a 3D
profile. The profile can be created based either on the graphic lines directly, or on the hatch constructed by
those graphic lines. When using an array with a variable number of elements, use of an intermediate hatch
(based on the lines of the array) for the profile creation makes sense only in the case when you know the
maximum number of copies in the array. In all other cases, the 3D profile should be created based on the
graphic lines of the array. In the course of future construction, keep in mind that indexing of geometrical
items within the resulting 3D element (such as edges, vertices, etc.) will be changing, as you modify the
number of copies in the array that defines this 3D element.
Copying via Clipboard
Besides the moving, copying and array creation commands, T-FLEX CAD also supports the mechanism of
copying via the clipboard. Its function is mostly similar to the copying command “XM: Create Copy”, yet
has some additional capabilities. The clipboard allows copying any 2D elements, except for the drawing
views and multipage text and BOMs. This mechanism is recommended for use in the following cases:
• For copying across several documents within the same T-FLEX CAD application;
• For exchanging data with other applications.
Copying via the clipboard includes four commands available in the context menu and in the menu “Edit”
after selecting the objects to copy: “XC: Copy”, “XI: Copy with Insertion Point”, “XP: Paste”, “XE:
Paste Special”.
The standard key combinations are used with the clipboard: , ,
, .
The command “XC: Copy” - places the selected object on the clipboard:
Keyboard Textual Menu Icon
,
“Edit|Copy”
To use this command, simply select the elements, and then call the command. No additional actions are
required. When later pasting the copied objects into the T-FLEX CAD document, you can use the
characteristic points of the copied object (center, upper left corner, upper right corner, etc.).
449