Try it: open SolidCraft above and build a hole or boss feature, then pattern it. This page covers the Object Type: Features mode added in v0.22.0, which is different from patterning a whole body.
What changed in v0.22.0
Before v0.22.0, Mirror and the two Pattern commands only copied solid bodies — the whole shape, geometry and all. The v0.22.0 release notes list "Mirror and pattern can use a pattern or mirror feature as the source" among the modelling changes, and the underlying mechanism goes further: Object Type: Features lets you select the source features in the timeline (or their faces in the viewport) and replay their original operation on each copy.
The practical difference: a patterned hole still cuts into the target solid at each new location, and a patterned boss still adds material. It isn't a copy-paste of a finished shape — it's the same parametric operation run again at each position.
Mirror, Rectangular Pattern, Circular Pattern
All three commands live in the Solid Create panel. Switch Object Type to Features to get this mode:
- Pick the source. Select the feature(s) in the timeline, or select their faces in the viewport before opening the command — doing it beforehand fills the Features input automatically.
- Pick the copy geometry.
- Mirror needs a mirror plane. Its New Body / Join option is for body mirroring and is hidden here, since feature mirroring always targets the existing solid.
- Rectangular Pattern takes up to two directions, each with its own Quantity, Spacing, Flip and Center controls. The two directions can meet at any angle, and a missing second direction just produces one row.
- Circular Pattern takes a Quantity and a Total angle, plus Flip and Center.
- Check the preview, which runs the same command the final OK will run, then confirm. Cancel leaves the design and history untouched.
Count and spacing behavior worth knowing
Quantities always include the original feature. For Circular Pattern, six instances over 90° land every 18° — including both ends of the arc — and a full 360° circle divides evenly without duplicating the source at the closing angle. Center keeps the original fixed and distributes the rest on both sides: four instances split as 0, +1, -1, +2, and Flip swaps that to 0, -1, +1, -2. Direction vectors for Rectangular Pattern are saved with the feature, so editing a picked guide line later does not retroactively change the pattern.
How this differs from sketch patterns
SolidCraft also has Mirror, Rectangular Pattern and Circular Pattern tools inside sketch editing (the PATTERN toolbar group), which copy 2D curves within a single sketch using mirror lines, sketch axes or a center point — not solid features. If you're trying to repeat a hole or cut on a 3D model, use the Solid Create panel's feature mode described here; if you're repeating lines or arcs while still sketching, that's the separate sketch pattern tools.
Why pattern features instead of bodies
Patterning the feature keeps the operation parametric: change the hole's diameter or the boss's height once, and every copy in the pattern updates because they're all still running the same timeline step. Patterning a finished body instead gives you independent copies with no shared link back to a single feature definition — useful for genuinely separate parts, but not for repeating one cut or boss across a face.