Cannot use links to body in PD boolean operation

[tom]

I have a larger model, where I wanted to add a complicated feature multiple times to a body. The solution I found for the task was to first model the feature as dedicated master body and then create some derived bodies of that master body using the sub-object shape binder as base feature. Then I can place those derived bodies wherever I want and finally fuse them together with the main body using the PD boolean operation. This works fine, but is a bit complicated. So, I thought I can achieve the same result by just using links to the master body of the complicated feature instead of the sub-object binder/body pairs. However, when I select links to bodies for a PD boolean operation, then those links are not recognised by the tool. Is there any technical reason, why links can't be used in the PD boolean operation?

The attached file shows the principle of my current solution as well as the two body links, which can't be used for the boolean operation. In the model the PostBodyMaster is the complicated feature, which I want to attach multiple times to the MainBody. This is done using the sub-object binders PostBodyBinder1 and PostBodyBinder2. They become then base features of PostBody1 and PostBody2, which are finally fused with MainBody. IMHO it would be nice to just fuse PostBodyLink1 and PostBodyLink2 with the MainBody.

Code: Select all

OS: macOS High Sierra (10.13)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.20943 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: ceb23799c76df3ebfa7be4b9fe83bb62de60bc6c
Python version: 3.8.2
Qt version: 5.12.5
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: C/Default (C)