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Working with linked parts/assemblies in IronCAD


Chris Lohman

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IronCAD has the ability to link in/out parts and assemblies. There are two reasons to using linking:

 

1) You can create one part and insert it as a link into multiple scenes. You can then change that one part and have it automatically update across all of the scenes.

 

2) Linking reduces the size of a single scene. If you have ever created a large scene with a high number of parts in it then you know that eventually you can have more parts in a scene than your hardware is able to handle. This results in slower performance. If you link out different assemblies then you can load and work on just that one assembly, rather than having to load the entire product, thereby reducing the amount of parts on your screen at one time and improving performance.

 

Following is how to use linking:

 

Lets assume you have created a scene with some parts and assemblies in it. The operation is the same for both parts and assemblies. Select the part, pull down the Assembly menu and select Save As Part/Assembly. This will pull up a File Save dialogue. There is a checkbox in this dialogue titled Link to current scene. This should be checked by default in IronCAD 5.0. What you are doing in this dialogue is saving out a brand new scene file. That Link to current scene checkbox gives you the option to either save out the part/assembly into this file then link it back into your current scene, or if unchecked, you simply save out a copy of that part/assembly into a new scene but it isnt linked. If you save it out with the Link to current scene box checked then you should be able to go into the scene browser afterwards and expand the part/assembly and see under it a little icon of a sheet of paper with a path to the right of it. This icon indicates that it is linked out to another scene, and it display what scene files its in.

 

The reverse of this is to start with a blank scene and link a part/assembly into it. Pull down the Assembly menu and select Insert Part/Assembly. You are presented with a window in which you can browse to and select a file. There is also a Link to current scene checkbox that is not selected by default. If you leave it unselected then you will insert a copy of the scene into your current scene but it is not linked out to that scene so changes will not be reflected in either direction. If you check it then the link is established.

 

Now that we know what it is and how to use it, here are some quick tips:

 

1) When you use the Save As Part/Assembly to link out a part or assembly, you are linking out ONLY that part or assembly. If you then go into that new scene that you just linked out and add new parts, those parts wont necessarily be linked into the other scenes. Since you linked out only the part or assembly, only changes to that part or assembly will appear. For example, if you link out an assembly, then edit that new scene: If you add parts to the scene but do not place them under the assembly structure then theyre not technically part of that assembly and wont appear in other linked instances.

 

2) When you Insert Part/Assembly you insert absolutely everything in that scene. You can not insert only one part as a link from some other scene file. Its all or nothing.

 

3) Managing assemblies can become time consuming if you link out hundreds of parts across multiple scenes. You may need to discover exactly where a particular part is used. This functionality does not exist in IronCAD alone, but our new TeamVault product handles the job very well.

 

 

 

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Chris -

 

Linking in/out assemblies is indeed very handy. However, it gets very complex if you have several configurations in both the master and the linked scence, and even more so if linking goes across several levels.

I assume that somebody at IronCAD has spent quite some time figuring out how to make linking and configurations work together. Can you give us some guidelines, so we don't have to spend a lot of time figuring it out ourselves?

 

Beat

 

 

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Configurations that include external links are designed to meet the following two requirements:

 

1. Retain in-place editing functionality for external links. In other words, changes to the linked scene made in the context of the linking scene must be reflected in the linked scene.

 

2. Allow users to create exploded views of assemblies without the disturbance of the external links. This requires that changes made to the linked scene in the context of the linking scene not be reflected in the linked scene.

 

To meet these two seemingly contradictory requirements, configurations were divided into two categories: Exploded and Unexploded. An Exploded configuration is defined as a non-default configuration that stores position. An Unexploded configuration is either the default, or any non-position storing configuration.

 

Unexploded configurations conform to requirement #1 from above. When the user makes a change to a linked scene in the context of the linking scene, those changes will be reflected in the linked scene. To achieve this, we have prevented Unexploded configurations from storing any information about externally linked files. Unexploded configurations will never have any entries for externally linked shapes. The configuration information is actually stored in the active configuration of the externally linked scene. In this manner, externally linked files are responsible for maintaining their own configuration information for Unexploded configurations.

 

Exploded configurations confirm to requirement #2 from above. An exploded configuration in the linking scene will store configuration information about externally linked files. In this manner, the linking scene is responsible for maintaining configuration information about externally linked files for Exploded configurations.

 

Because of this dual behavior, special precautions were necessary to prevent user confusion. The scene browser now displays the active configuration for an externally linked file next to its name. An asterisk is placed next to the configuration name if the linking scene is in an Unexploded configuration. The asterisk is removed for exploded configurations. The asterisk is intended to indicate that modifications made to the linked scene will be applied to the active configuration.

 

 

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Guest dlalonde

Another reason to use external linked parts -- much easier to make drawings of a single part from the linked file than from the master assembly file.

 

 

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Guest Scott Wallis

Thanks for the explaination, Chris. Would you like to add anything about handling linked sheet metal parts with or without configurations. I haven't done it in 5.0 yet but it caused me a little grief in 4.2. Any tips?

 

 

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Guest Linas Martinenas

Couple of things to add.

If configuration contains externally linked parts which are sectioned in scene by section tool ( for illustration or let say , local cut-out pupose ) and section is in precise mode, saving the scene will save linked part as sectioned. Even if configuration doesn't save a position. Also if such a part is opened separately, the section tool doesn't show-up in it's scene browser. I don't know if it is a bug or it's intentional behaviour, but I am trying not to use the section tool in the configuration in which the scene is saved before closing.

Here is also a little bug when re-linking drawings. I'll post it in bug section.

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I've encountered similar problems. I had a sectioning tool active when I linked out parts from the scene. The linked parts then remained sectioned permanently and didn't react to switching the sectioning tool on and off in the linking scene anymore. Eventually found that toggling the kernel for each part affected would restore the unsectioned state.

 

Beat

 

 

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