Why are there different Sketch icons in my Feature Tree?

Today’s question from the support log is “Why are there different Sketch icons in my Feature Tree?”

The original support call we received the customer was only asking about 2 specific icons that they saw but for this article I thought I would expand on all the different icon symbols that you could see in the Feature Tree for a part file.

First up is the state of a sketch:

• (+) - Over Defined


• (–) - Under Defined


• (?) - The sketch could not be solved


• No prefix - Fully Defined

With any of these Sketch states you may also see a second sketch icon that has a polygon and included circle. This indicates that one has used "Sketch Contours" for a feature. Sketch Contours are a means to use parts of a sketch (region(s)/boundaries) to create a feature.

Next up are the Errors and Warnings that are displayed next to part, feature, or sketch icons and described in tooltips (when the pointer hovers over the item) and in the What's Wrong? Dialog box.

•  - An error in the model


•  - An error with the feature


•  - A warning underneath the node


•  - A warning with the feature

The last item is the state of External References that are displayed next to part, feature, or sketch icons:

• If a part or feature has an external reference, its name is followed by –>. The name of any feature with external references is also followed by –>.


• If an external reference is currently out of context, the feature name and the part name are followed by ->?


• The suffix ->* means that the reference is locked.


• The suffix ->x means that the reference is broken.

Josh Altergott

CATI Support Team Leader