Translating Elements

You may either perform a simple translation (by moving elements) or create several copies of 2D elements.

The application provides a powerful command for translating elements. Translating elements also means re-computing distance, angle and/or length constraint values, if needed. Be careful: only non-fixed elements are updated.

This task shows you how to perform a translation on 2D elements by defining the duplicate mode and then selecting the element to be duplicated.

Before you begin:

Create an elongated hole and a construction line parallel to its axis.

Related Topics
Using SmartPick
Moving Elements by Symmetry

  1. Click Translate in the Operation toolbar (Transformation sub-toolbar).

    The Translation Definition dialog box appears.

  2. In the Instances field, keep 1 as the number of instances to be created.

  3. Keep Duplicate mode selected.

    The Duplicate mode option is activated by default, which means that the 2D elements you select will be copied. If you clear Duplicate mode, the element will be moved.

  4. Select Keep internal constraints.

    This option specifies that you want to preserve in the translation the internal constraints applied to the selected elements.

  5. Keep Keep external constraints deactivated.

    Any external constraint existing between the selected elements and external elements will be disregarded in the translation.

  6. Select the elements to be translated using the trap selection. You may either select one 2D element, or multi-select the entire 2D geometry by trapping it with the mouse as shown below.



  7. Click to indicate the translation vector starting point. You can define the translation length in the geometry area, using the mouse. For more precise results, enter a specific value for the translation length in the Translation Definition dialog box.



  8. Type 30mm in the length field and press Enter.

    Tip: You can use SmartPick to keep lines horizontal.

  9. Click to indicate the translation vector ending point.



  10. Click OK.

    The translation has been performed. You can notice that the internal constraints were preserved in the translated element (four tangency constraints, and a parallelism constraint), whereas the external constraint (an offset constraint) was not.