Copy

copy() duplicates a finished solid at several positions, in a row or around an axis. The copies are clones of the shape as it is — no modelling operation is re-run. To re-apply a feature (a cut, an extrude) at each position instead, use Repeat. copy() also copies connectors, the frames an assembly mates to.

In the viewport

1. Click Copy on the toolbar. The Copy dialog docks on the right.
2. Pick the Type at the top: Linear copies along one or two axes, Circular around an axis. The third type, Along a repeat, is for connectors.
3. Click the solid to copy — any face or edge click in the viewport, or its timeline row. It fills the Solids & connectors slot.
4. Linear: in Direction 1, fill the Axis slot (click a world axis shown in the viewport, an axis() feature, an edge, or a connector), enter the Total Count (the original included) and the spacing — the Offset / Total switch decides whether the value is the gap between neighbours or the whole span, spread evenly. Add second direction opens a second axis and count for a grid.
5. Circular: fill the Axis slot (empty defaults to world Z), the Total Count, and the Angle — Total for the sweep, Offset for the degrees between neighbours.
6. Centered spreads the pattern around the original instead of away from it. Skip lists instance indices to leave out (1, 3).
7. Click Apply.

Linear copy

The code behind it

The Copy dialog's Linear kind with world X as the direction, a count of 4 and an offset of 150 writes this statement. No target is passed, so it copies every solid built so far — here, the one cylinder.

row.part.js

import { circle, copy, extrude, sketch } from 'fluidcad/core';

sketch("xy", () => {
    circle([150, 150], 100)
})

// A cylinder; extrude() with no distance uses the default of 25.
extrude()

// Four instances in a row along world X, 150 apart — the original counts.
copy("linear", "x", {
    count: 4,
    offset: 150
})

Options:

Option	Meaning
count	total number of instances, the original included
offset	spacing between neighbours
length	the whole span instead of offset; instances are spread evenly across it
centered	centre the pattern on the original
skip	0-based indices to leave out

Two directions

Pass two axes for a grid. count, offset and skip then take one value per axis:

copy("linear", ["x", "y"], {
    count: [4, 3],
    offset: [150, 100],
    skip: [[2], [1]]          // skip index 2 along X, index 1 along Y
})

Circular copy

The code behind it

ring.part.js

import { sketch, extrude, copy } from 'fluidcad/core';
import { circle } from 'fluidcad/core';

sketch("xy", () => {
    circle([80, 0], 30)
})

// One cylinder, 80 from the Z axis.
extrude(25)

// Six instances spread evenly over a full turn around world Z.
copy("circular", "z", {
    count: 6,
    angle: 360
})

Options:

Option	Meaning
count	total number of instances, the original included
angle	the sweep, cut into count equal steps
offset	degrees between neighbours instead of angle
centered	centre the sweep on the original
skip	indices to leave out

With angle, the step is always angle / count. Six copies over 360° sit 60° apart; over a partial arc the last copy stops one step short of the angle, so count: 4, angle: 90 puts them at 0°, 22.5°, 45° and 67.5°. Repeat spaces a partial arc the other way, angle / (count - 1), and lands its last instance on the angle: 0°, 30°, 60° and 90°. To match a repeat, give the copy offset: 30, or, for connectors, follow the repeat.

The axis is anything axis-like — a world axis name, an axis() feature, an edge — see Axes. A connector works too: its Z axis, through its origin.

Code forms

import { copy } from 'fluidcad/core';

copy("linear", "x", { count: 4, offset: 150 })            // every solid built so far
copy("linear", "x", { count: 4, offset: 150 }, a, b)      // specific solids
copy("circular", "z", { count: 6, angle: 360 })
copy("circular", axis(e.sideEdges(0)), { count: 6, angle: 180, centered: true })
copy("circular", "z", { count: 6, angle: 360 }, bolt)     // a connector: bolt.instance(1) … bolt.instance(5)
copy(holes, bolt)                                         // a copy of bolt on each instance of the repeat holes

Each copy is an independent solid. Later features reach the copies through their faces and edges, with selections and filters: the value a 3D copy() returns has no .instance(i) accessor. That accessor belongs to sketch copies, and to a copied connector, which is addressed on the connector — bolt.instance(3).

Copy versus repeat

copy() stamps the finished shape. repeat() re-applies a feature so that it interacts with the solid at every position — one solid with four pockets rather than four solids with one pocket each. See Repeat.

Copying connectors

A connector, the frame an assembly mates to, is copied with the same dialog; Repeat refuses connectors and points here. Each copy is a connector with no statement of its own, addressed bolt.instance(1), bolt.instance(2), …: copy 1 of bolt, and so on. An assembly mates one as flange.connectors.bolt.instance(3).

1. Click the connector's triad in the viewport (every connector shows while the dialog is open), or right-click its timeline row and choose Copy…. Solids and connectors can share the Solids & connectors slot; each one gets its copies.
2. Linear and Circular work as they do for solids, except that a Circular copy of a connector can't be Centered yet: the statement is refused.
3. Along a repeat, offered while every target is a connector, puts one copy on each instance of a repeat. Click the Repeat row in the timeline, or the repeated feature in the viewport, to fill the Pattern slot. The count, spacing, axis and skip fields go away: the repeat decides them, and when it changes the copies move with it.
4. Triads preview the copies. Apply writes the statement, and the Copy row appears in the timeline like any other feature; clicking it highlights the connector with all its copies.

copy("circular", "z", { count: 6, angle: 360 }, bolt)         // bolt.instance(1) … bolt.instance(5)
copy("circular", "z", { count: 6, angle: 360 }, boss, bolt)   // a boss and the connector on it
copy(holes, bolt)                                             // bolt.instance(k) on instance k of the repeat holes

A copy is the connector's frame moved by the pattern. It does not re-attach to the geometry where it lands, so a connector on a repeated hole should be copied Along a repeat: the copies then stay on the holes, over a partial arc too, where a Circular copy steps differently (above). The numbering, the read-only rules and how a grid renumbers are on the connector page.

An assembly's own connectors are copied from its Connectors rail, Linear or Circular about a world axis or another assembly connector: see Assembly connectors.

Inside a sketch

Called inside sketch(...), copy() duplicates sketch geometry, and the circular form takes a 2D centre point instead of an axis. See Copy in the sketch tools.