Sometimes it can be useful to create a parametric notebook, also called a case study. For example, you may want to track the size of an assembly envelope as the sizes of the assembly components change. A case study is a two-dimensional parametric sketch, similar to one created in Sketcher mode. Unlike a regular sketch, however, a case study can contain global relations associated with a notebook in addition to relations associated with the sketch.

A case study sketch has no associativity to the global notebook until dimensions have been declared. You use case study relations to specify case study dimensions to be the same as the global notebook dimensions. If one is modified, the other is automatically updated. Case study reference dimensions control additional parameters through relations, so you are not limited to the sketch dimensions.

The parametric nature of a case study makes it ideal for testing motion limits and interference in a mechanism before you design the parts. Change or move an entity in a case study to see how other entities move or change parametrically.

When you create a case study, a subwindow appears over the notebook containing Sketcher. You can create or retrieve two-dimensional geometry using typical Sketcher tools. In addition, you can copy any undimensioned geometry in the notebook into the case study window.