CAD Forum

In an assembly, is there a way to toggle between using simplified parts?

If I make a bunch of simplified part configurations, is there some flag or setting in an assembly which I can set so that the assembly uses all simplified parts? Or is the way to do this to make a new assembly using the simplified part configurations? In that case, isn't it a problem keeping the simplified assembly in sync with the detailed one?

You would create the simplified configurations at the part level.

Then, you would create 2 configurations at the assembly level.
1 config would have the unsimplified parts
the 2nd config would have the simplified parts.

An easy way to create this config in your assembly, is to select all the components in your assembly that you want to simplify and RMB on them and select "Configure component"

This will bring up a table.
In that table, you can create new assembly configurations, and then you can select which part configurations apply to each assembly configuration.

If you missed adding some components, you can double click on them in the tree and they will be added to the table.

Then, its just as easy as switching configurations.

If I have two assembly configurations, when I add a new part to one assembly, I will have to go to the other assembly and click to use the part's simplified configuration? Is that right?

Would an alternative be to make a global variable in the assembly (called "Simple" perhaps) and link that to the parts via a file. Then use that variable in the parts to control whether they use their simplified or detailed configurations.

mitchb wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:41 am If I have two assembly configurations, when I add a new part to one assembly, I will have to go to the other assembly and click to use the part's simplified configuration? Is that right?

Would an alternative be to make a global variable in the assembly (called "Simple" perhaps) and link that to the parts via a file. Then use that variable in the parts to control whether they use their simplified or detailed configurations.

I am not sure how you would do that, honestly. But I think that you can do it just a couple of clicks. Give me a few and I will post a video.

mitchb wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:41 am If I have two assembly configurations, when I add a new part to one assembly, I will have to go to the other assembly and click to use the part's simplified configuration? Is that right?

Would an alternative be to make a global variable in the assembly (called "Simple" perhaps) and link that to the parts via a file. Then use that variable in the parts to control whether they use their simplified or detailed configurations.

Here is how I would do it with configurations.
Click the pic below to see the GIF video. I am not sure how to do it using global variables. I thought that you could only control suppression of components via global variables. Which would mean that you would have to place 2 of every component and suppress/unsuppress each type as needed. Maybe there is a way that I don't know about though.

That makes sense. Thanks for illustrating it so clearly.

I'd have one Assembly, with two configurations, one for simplified and one for detailed. Have the same two configurations for each Part.

In the Assembly, right-click on one of the components and select "Configure Component" from the drop-down. That will open a simplified design table with a row for each Assembly configuration, and two or three columns for the Part (depending on your SW version). One of these columns will allow you to select the Part configuration for each Assembly configuration. You can delete the columns you don't need.

Double-click on other Parts to add more columns, and make the appropriate selections for each. You can also enter a name for the table near the bottom, then save it, for later edits, but it's not necessary to do that. You can always repeat the process.

I made some simplified parts and created an assembly configuration using them. In my assembly, the mirrored parts don't inherit the configuration of the originals. Do I have to explicitly change the configurations of the mirrored parts to the simple versions?

mitchb wrote: ↑Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:19 am I made some simplified parts and created an assembly configuration using them. In my assembly, the mirrored parts don't inherit the configuration of the originals. Do I have to explicitly change the configurations of the mirrored parts to the simple versions?

Mirrored or patterned components should use the parent configuration, but they don't always, so yes, you may need to change them manually. You can also select one or more of the components, right-click, and choose the Component Properties icon.

That will open a dialog box where you can choose to have the components configuration follow the parent.

You can also use the File/ Open functionality to load the parts in a certain named configuration.