Editing Components
In some ways, editing a component is similar to editing a group, as explained on Editing and Modifying a Group. You can't just jump in and start moving edges or push/pulling the faces, since components live inside that protective envelope that enables you to select them with a single click. First, you must open the component for editing. You open components with a double-click or by right-clicking and choosing Edit Component. Then you can edit the edges and faces as you do other objects. Note one important difference when it comes to components: Any change you make to a component appears in every other instance of that component. This next exercise illustrates the point.
With the Select (space bar) tool, double-click any one of the fence board components.
The component opens in editing mode. A bounding box appears around the component you're editing. The other entities in the modeling window are temporarily grayed-out or faded.
With the Push/Pull (P) tool, click the face of the fence board, and then move the cursor back and forth.
As you make changes to the fence board component, all the other fence boards change, too. See Figure 5-17.
Figure 5-17. When you edit one instance of a component, all the other components change, too. That's one of the main differences between components and groups, and one of the features that makes components so useful.
Make the fence boards ...
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