Assembly Design > Top Down Design > Data Sharing > Copy and Publish Geometry Features > Copy Geometry Features > About Copy Geometry Features
  
About Copy Geometry Features
Using a Copy Geometry feature in a top-down design can reduce the amount of data in session, because the retrieval of entire reference source models is not necessary. Therefore, the Copy Geometry feature takes up only half the space on disk and in session.
You can create internal or external Copy Geometry. The feature can be edited and its type changed from internal to external. The Copy Geometry feature can be used to pass any type of geometric reference information and user-defined parameters to and from parts, skeleton models, and assemblies. When you create a copy geometry feature that copies the same part or assembly geometry, you are creating a local copy geometry feature.
 
When you use Copy Geometry, only reference geometry is copied. Only surfaces and datum features are copied, not solid features.
Items of the Copy Geometry feature are added to a layer in the target model automatically when those items exist on a layer with the same name in the source model.
By default, the location of copied geometry is updated when component placement is changed, even if some components are excluded or are in a Graphics Representation. Change the default with the update_copy_geom_location configuration option.
A Copy Geometry feature can be externalized. This action is irreversible. With this technique you can create features in one model that reference the geometry of another model that is not in session. You can also create an external Copy Geometry feature in Part mode and copy references from one part to another.