About Multi-Level Family Tables
A Family Table is not restricted to a single level of a table. You can create instances of instances by selecting an instance and creating a new table for it, using > in the Family Table menu bar. When you must do this depends on what you intend to model using Family Tables. The Pro/ENGINEER BASIC Library is itself constructed of several levels of tables.
You can also add new features or components directly to an instance. This facilitates the construction of multi-level Family Tables (families with subfamilies or instances with instances). The new feature or component appears in the instance in which it is added and in all subsequent instances of that instance. The feature or component is suppressed in other instances at the same level of the table and in generics at higher levels.
1. Create a generic model with the desired base features.
2. Create a Family Table with instances designating the subfamilies to be created.
3. Regenerate an instance and add features unique to its family. Repeat this until all levels of the family are completely defined.
When Creo Parametric creates a family instance, only those features that were created in a direct line from the top-level generic may be present. This means that some features may need to be re-created, because the instance is unaware that similar features exist in another (parallel) subfamily of the table.
Features from a parallel subfamily can be temporarily resumed within a particular instance and used, for example, as a guide to sketch a similar feature. Upon regeneration, however, the Family Table resuppresses the resumed features. Similarly, suppression of a feature only lasts until the next regeneration, when the Family Table resumes it.
When you create a feature that refers to the geometry of a resumed feature used in another instance, the new feature belongs to the other instance. It is best to create the sections of features that are common to different branches of the family in Sketcher mode and store the sections for later use.
You cannot redefine features added to an instance. If you cannot achieve the desired feature shape by modifying dimensions, you must delete the feature and start over. Modifying or deleting a feature affects all children of the instance, regardless of the instance from which the feature was modified or deleted.