Some part-building techniques such as patterning can link the movements of multiple parts. In some cases, this effect may be exactly what you want during an optimization—for example, you may need to retain an established distance between two geometric entities.

In other cases, linked movement may cause undesirable shape changes. For instance, one way to add the two holes to the shelf plate is to build the second hole as an identical pattern of the first:

When you pattern the holes in this way, the surface placement of hole 2 is tied to hole 1 through the dimensioning scheme. If you took this approach, and then controlled the horizontal positioning of hole 1 with a design variable, Creo Simulate would move hole 2 along with hole 1. Depending on the range of movement you defined for hole 1, you could encounter unexpected topology conflicts between hole 2 and the left surface of the plate, as shown below:

To move hole 2 independently, use another dimension as a design variable for hole 2.

Return to Strategy: Identifying Relationships that Affect Shape Changes.