Mold Design and Casting > Using Reference Parts > Design Part and Reference Part Relationship
  
Design Part and Reference Part Relationship
The relationship between the design part and the reference part depends on the method used to create the reference part. While assembling a reference part, you can inherit geometry and feature information from the design part to the reference part. Inheritance allows a one-way associative propagation of geometry and feature data from a design part to a reference part. Initially, an inheritance feature has its geometry and data identical to the part from which it is derived. You can identify the feature data that you want to modify on the inherited feature, without changing the original part. This provides greater freedom to modify the reference part without changing the design part.
You can also copy (merge by reference) design part geometry into the reference part. In this case, only the geometry and layers are copied from the design part. You can apply shrinkage to the reference part, create a draft, round, and other features that do not affect the design part. However, all changes in the design part are automatically reflected in the reference part.
As an alternative, you can designate a design part to be a Mold or Cast reference part. In this case, they are the same models.
In all cases, using the geometry of a reference model while working in Mold or Cast sets up a parametric relationship between the design part and the mold or cast components. Because of this relationship, when the design part is changed, the reference part and all associated mold or cast components are updated to reflect the change.