Viewing Feature Relationships

To view feature dependencies, you can display graphical relationships between items in the FeatureManager design tree.

Use Dynamic Reference Visualization to view the parent and child relationships between items in the FeatureManager design tree. When you hover over a feature with references in the FeatureManager design tree, arrows display showing the relationships. Parent and child relationships are enhanced to avoid overlapping text and lines. Blue arrows show parent relationships. Purple arrows show child relationships.

You can break, unlock, or lock external references by using dynamic reference visualization.

If a reference does not show because a feature is not expanded, the arrow points to the feature that contains the reference. The reference appears to the right of the arrow.

Arrows start from the circle to indicate the feature whose parent and child relationships you are viewing.

All references visible One reference hidden

Dynamic reference visualization is disabled by default.

To enable dynamic reference visualization:

  1. In the FeatureManager design tree, right-click the first item (part or assembly).
  2. In the context toolbar or from View > User Interface, click one or both of the following options:
    • Dynamic Reference Visualization (Parent)
    • Dynamic Reference Visualization (Child)
In assemblies, if you turn dynamic reference visualization on or off at any level, the change affects the entire assembly.

Managing External References by using Dynamic Reference Visualization

With Dynamic Reference Visualization enabled, you can use the following tools to manage external references:
  • Break Reference
  • Lock Reference
  • Unlock Reference

When you break a reference, the break is permanent. You cannot activate an external reference after it is broken.

When you break a parent reference of a sketch, you are prompted to replace the broken relation with a fixed sketch relation or keep the broken relation.

To break a reference by using Dynamic Reference Visualization:

  1. Open an assembly that has external references.
  2. In the FeatureManager design tree, right-click the top-level assembly, and click one or both of the Dynamic Reference Visualization (Parent) and Dynamic Reference Visualization (Child) options.
  3. Select a component that has external references.
  4. Click the circle and then click Break Reference .
  5. In the dialog box, review the external reference to break and then click OK to break the reference.