I've been running into a problem for years with the way Solidworks deals with Patterns within a motion study, so I figured I'd finally see if anyone else has the same problem.

My company builds a lot of sculptural pieces, so I make a lot of assemblies with duplicate moving parts, and usually I create the assembly by making one set of parts and then using a circular or linear pattern to fill out the whole assembly.  This usually works fine.  However, when I try to create a motion study to make a video of the assembly, the patterned components don't move.  The original pieces move wherever I tell them to, but 90% of the time, the components in the pattern stay still.  Anyone know what causes this?  A Solidworks rep came by our office a few months ago, and he had never seen this problem before.

Dragging the original components seems to work better than using mates to define their positions, but sometimes that's not the best way to create the animation.  Using motors works, but I find mates much easier to work with.

I'm using SW2009 64-bit version, SP3.0.  My coworker is using a 32-bit version and has the same problem.

Thanks,

-Dave