Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 8 Creating and Working with Solid Model Features 193 In Figure 8-17A, the bottom shelf has been created as an extruded solid from an ellipse. The shelf is .375″ thick and is centered on the UCS origin. The underside of the shelf rests on the XY plane. A second ellipse is drawn on the XY plane and rests on the underside of the shelf. This ellipse serves as the path for the 3D path array. A construc- tion cylinder has also been created with its base resting on the XY plane. The construc- tion cylinder is 2″ in diameter and 2″ in height, the dimensions of the table feet. The construction cylinder is the item to be arrayed. During the operation, the base point of the array is specifi ed as the top center point of the construction cylinder. This aligns the top of the cylinder with the start of the path. Since the path is an ellipse, AutoCAD defi nes the start of the path as one of the quadrant points on the major axis. When the base point is selected, the cylinder is then aligned with the quadrant point. This is a suffi cient start point for the array. After selecting the ARRAYPATH command, the construction cylinder is selected as the item to array and the construction ellipse is selected as the path. The command sequence continues as follows. Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: AS↵ Create associative array [Yes/No] Yes: N↵ Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: M↵ Enter path method [Divide/Measure] Measure: D↵ Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: I↵ Enter number of items along path or [Expression] current: 4↵ Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: B↵ Specify base point or [Key point] end of path curve: (Use the Center object snap to pick the center of the top of the construction cylinder) Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: L↵ Enter the number of levels or [Expression] 1: 2↵ Specify the distance between levels or [Total/Expression] current: 2-3/8"↵ Select grip to edit array or [ASsociative/Method/Base point/Tangent direction/Items/ Rows/Levels/Align items/Z direction/eXit] eXit: ↵ The resulting array is shown in Figure 8-17B. The four cylinders on each level of the array are evenly divided along the elliptical path. Because a non-associative array was created, the cylinders can be selected and edited as independent objects. Notice that the four cylinders in the second level of the array rest on the top of the shelf at the correct position along the Z axis. In Figure 8-17C, the four cylinders in the second level of the array have been changed to 1″ in diameter and 14″ in height using the Properties palette. The edited cylinders form the table supports. A shaded version of the completed table is shown in Figure 8-17D after copying the shelf along the Z axis to create the top. NOTE NOTE Grips are available for editing an associative array after the array is created. Hover over a grip or pick on a grip to edit the array. If you pick a grip and more than one option is available, use the [Ctrl] key to cycle through the options.