Page 330 - Mastering SolidWorks

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302 CHAPTER 9 PAtterning And Mirroring

Figure 9.22
Using direction 2 with a
curve-driven pattern

Using a Sketch-Driven Pattern
Sketch-driven patterns use a set of sketch points to drive the locations of features. The Hole
Wizard drives the locations of multiple holes using sketch points in a similar way. However, the
Sketch Driven Pattern command does not create a 3D pattern in the same way that the Hole
Wizard does. Figure 9.23 shows a two-directional sketch-driven pattern. A reference point is not
necessary for the first feature.
Figure 9.23
Using a sketch-
driven pattern

The Centroid option in the Reference Point section is fine for symmetrical and other easily
definable shapes such as circles and rectangles, where you can find the centroid just by looking at
it; but on more complex shapes, you may want to use the Selected Point option.

Using a Table-Driven Pattern
A table-driven pattern drives a set of feature locations, most commonly holes, from a table. The
table may be imported from any source with two columns of data (X and Y) that are separated by
a space, tab, or comma. Extraneous data will cause the import to fail.