Power copy : inputs unavailable

[racot84]

Hi to all,

I have to make a power and instatiate it from A1 to B1 part. I have done it with similar parts before (say from A2 to B2)

From A2 to B2, some of the external references inputs were a SURFACE and SUB-ELEMENTS from that surface : SURFACE, SURFACE/face.1, SURFACE/edge.1 and SURFACE/vertex.1
From A1 to B1 the same inputs are required to be selected : SURFACE, SURFACE/face.1, SURFACE/edge.1 and SURFACE/vertex.1

PROBLEM : I don't know what changed between then and now, but now I am unable to select (click) those SUB_ELEMENTS in the 3D. A "stop" sign appears in place of the cursor instead of the little hand. Like its not recognizing those elements as valid inputs. Some screen shots are attached to understand better.

Does someone have had the same situation once? What can cuse this? Is it license related? Is it the methodology when power copying (either the power copy itself or its instantiation), active level of the tree(I activated the part where I want my instantiation), design mode, isolated elements (I had none)? Is it in the options, do I have the check a box somewhere?

NOTE : not 100% sure, but I remember instantiating into the part (SKELETTON)containing the reference SURFACE instead of into the wanted part and then I was able to select the SURFACE/face.1/edge.1/vertex.1 But this solution isn't one since it's NOT where I want to instantiate my power copy, my instance must ABSOLUTELY point on that SKELETTON.

Thank you for your time!

 

[jackk]

Maybe your part instance is out of context? What does the icon look like in front of the instance in the assembly tree?

 

[racot84]

I don't think so, here's how I work every day on CATIA :

every part (and part instance) used in this (part containing power copy, instantiation part, skeletton parts) every part was NON-isolated (=NO red lightning bolt on the icon), updated (=NO yellow update spiral on the icon) and all synchronized (=green "P" on each external references icons, wich is not important since this whole thing is to change those ext. ref.). All this is LIKE my last try with power copy onA2 & B2 (wich worked fine).

Thank you jackk, any other ideas?
(unless I misunderstood your suggestion...)

 

[jackk]

Maybe your part instance is out of context? What does the icon look like in front of the instance in the assembly tree?

 

[jackk]

(I wish we could edit our posts...)

Please look at the icons in front of the A1 and B1 instances. (my guess is they are different)

My question is: what does the icon look like in front of the B1 part? (what color is the little gear in the icon" yellow, green, brown or white?)

 

[racot84]

It is true that they are not the same between the part instances and the skeletton.

Here are two screenshots showing the part (instances) icons and skeletton icons.

Part instance A1 (and B1): blue gear + green gear + red axis system + light blue kind of loop under gears (once in design mode, blue and yellow before design mode)

Skeletton instance : blue gear + yellow gear + red axis system

(should I mention the problems of unavailable inputs were only on inputs for wich there were "sub-elements" from the geometry that were asked as inputs for the power copy ex: geometry: surface geometry sub-element: surface/edge.1 the surface I can select when asked, the edge I can't when asked)

(should I aslo mention that the skeletton does contain normal geometries AND isolated geometries (with red lightning bolt) second thing, the geometries with unavaible sub-elements are NOT Isolated Geometries.

I put as many details I could, I hope it helps find the problem!


LONG NOTE : BYPASS THE PROBLEM FOR THOSE INTERESTED
I still look for the reason/cause/solution/way to not repeat the experience, BUT I should mention that to continue working we BYPASSED the problem by extracting the geometries sub-elements (edge and vertex) inside the destination part and then selecting those extracts as inputs during the power copy instanciation. It worked fine, but it is not an elegant way of working, plus, I was told that the sub-elements should probably NOT be asked as inputs because this means they were used in the part creation wich is, by our standards, a problematic way of design exposing us to certain future problems (like the waste of time over that power copy). I then searched for the children of those extracts in the new part born from power copy and got rid of the dependencies towards the edge and vertex. I take it that if I am to do a power copy starting from that new part, the sub-elements won't be asked as inputs, but I didn't have time to try and verify it yet. Still, I was able to do my power copy.

 

[jackk]

Thanks for the icon response. Good news is the part instance has a green gear icon and is in contact and that's not the problem. Bad news is that's not the problem and I just wasted 2-3 days of your time.

I'm not that familiar with PowerCopies, but I think your bypass comment makes sense about not using sub-elements.