Copy colours when using pattern feature

That is because the color is applied to the surface after the cut. The pattern is taken from the original cut. Also, you are changing the color of a surface, which didn't exist before the cut/pattern. Try changing the color of the solid body and then do your pattern to see what happens.

I didnt want to change the color of the whole part, just the surfaces that were created by the feature. For example, I make the cut, apply colors to its surfaces then pattern the cut. Just thought there would be a way to have pro/e apply these colors to the pattern automatically?

In case anyone else was curious, I finally found out how to do the above, article taken from proe.com:

--------

How to Quickly Set Color to All Machined Surfaces By Florin Neamtu, Belcan

Fig. 1 - A cast part. (All images courtesy of Belcan).

After completing machining operations such as holes and cuts, it is often necessary to to assign different colors to these machined surfaces. In Wildfire 2.0, this can be done very quickly with the use of the improved Search Tool.

For example, a cast part may look like Figure 1 at left.

After a few machining operations, it may look like Figure 2 (open the image window and click on the Forward button to scroll through images).

To show the machined surfaces, colors can be quickly assigned to these surfaces. Select View>Color and Appearance and select "Surfaces". Now launch the Search Tool by selecting the search icon (binoculars).

Feature in the "Look By" field. Select the "Options" tab and choose "Build Query". Select the "Type" radio button and select Hole and then Cut in the "Value" field. This will search for all surfaces created by a cut or hole feature. Select "Find Now", and then select all the surfaces found. (See Figure 3).

After assigning the colors to these surfaces, our model would look like Figure 4. Notice how much easier it is to recognize the machine surfaces.

Florin Neamtu works for Belcan Corporation. For any questions on this tip or any other Pro/ENGINEER questions, please contact him here.

Published 12/01/2004 00:00:00 ConnectPress, Ltd =A9 2005

Fig. 1 - a cast part. Fig. 2 - Cast part after a few machining operations.

Fig. 3 - The Search Tool dialog box. Fig. 4 - Model with colors assigned to machined surfaces.

But that does it all after the cuts have been applied. Your original questions was how to do it as you applied the cuts.

I just remembered a talk at last years user meeting that might work to do what you want.

Change the color of the faces of the solid before the cuts. As you apply the cuts, the changed face is replaced by the new face which is the color of the original solid body. Now your part shows a different color for your cut faces.

It wasnt exactly the solution I needed, but it makes selecting the patterned features alot faster, instead of manually clicking on 100+ surfaces:) If I change the color of a surface before the cuts, the underlying material will not change, it is the underlying (i.e. machined) material I want to change colors on.

Thanks for your help

Sandy

But the underlying surface is a different color than the unmachined surfaces. Change the cut surfaces color or cut away the changed surfaces. You still end up with the uncut surfaces one color and the cut surfaces a different color.