Features

Use the Features tool to find and create geometric features in the displayed model.

1. From the Topology ribbon, click the Features tool.

   
   
   Figure 1.

   If there are no Features in your model yet, the Feature Recognition Parameters dialog opens.
2. Select the feature types you want to find and enter the minimum and maximum dimensions to include in the detection.
3. Click Find to begin the detection process.
   Tip: Using larger tolerances will capture more features but will increase processing time.
4. Optional: Click the Create Features satellite icon to manually create features.

   
   
   Figure 2.

   1. Select the config of the feature to be created.
   2. Select the type (Geometry or FE).
   3. Select the entities for the given config and type.
   4. Enter the feature parameters.
   5. Click Create to add the feature.
   Tip: Check Auto Compute to automatically compute the parameters.
5. Optional: Click the List Features satellite icon to open the Features view in the browser.

   
   
   Figure 3.

   Once the detection process is completed, the Feature Manager table opens.

   
   
   Figure 4.

6. Use the Feature Manager to select, review, and edit the detected features.
   By now, the feature entities are already in the model and can be also accessed via the Model Browser or by selecting them directly in the modeling window.

   The Feature Manager uses the same search, filter, and sorting mechanisms as the Model Browser.

   Status

   Green – Auto detected

   Blue – Edited/Manually created

   Red – Invalid

   Empty

   A Feature that does not have any entities.

   Edit Feature

   1. Right-click on a feature in the manager.
   2. Select Edit Feature.

   Tip:

   • The same entity cannot be in two features of the same category. For example, the same surface cannot be in two fillets.
   • A Feature is removed if all its entities are moved to the another feature of the same category. For example, a fillet is removed if all of its surfaces are moved to another fillet.
   • Feature editing cannot be done if it’s not continuous. For example, feature editing cannot be done if a surface is removed from a fillet by making it discontinuous.

   The functions on the toolbar are:

   Rerun feature detection

   Return to the Feature Recognition Parameters dialog. Clicking Find in this dialog first clears all features in the model currently then re-detects them using the current parameters.

   Optional:

   • Select Delete existing features to delete existing features before detection.
   • Select Preserve edited features to preserve manually created/edited features before detection.

   Update

   Sync data and attributes for all, or individually selected features with their currently associated geometry or mesh.

   Tip: Re-evaluating features with this button also updates the Invalid column in the Feature Manager table. Features can be flagged as Invalid if their associated geometries have been deleted or modified in ways that cannot be referenced anymore. Invalid features can still be selected and used but may have some missing associated geometries or inaccurate dimensions.

   Delete all features

   Clears all features from the model. To remove individual features, select them anywhere and press Delete.

   Fit view to selected features

   Turn on to automatically fit the view to the features selected in the table.