How do I select multiple solids for an extrusion cut?

[jpblower]

I need to do a cut extrusion on a multibodied part and need to select the solids.  As of right now I have to select each one individually rather than doing a drag box or something like that.  Does anyone know how I can do this fast, I've got a multibody part w/ over 1000 solids (I didn't create it, yes I know this is probably excessive).

[SBix26]

I don't know of any way to do that, sorry.  A thousand solids!!  Well, now we know that that many is possible.  Are all of these solids derived into individual parts?

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
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Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.16.2
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

[blair]

Possibly some iLogic master may have a solution.

[fakeru]

Is it mandatory to keep the part with multibodies? If not, combine them into one, it's easy to select all the bodies using Shift button under this operation.

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

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@fakeru wrote:

Is it mandatory to keep the part with multibodies? If not, combine them into one, it's easy to select all the bodies using Shift button under this operation.

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And there's your answer!  To select multiple bodies for your extrusion cut, expand the Solid Bodies folder in the browser and use shift- and/or ctrl-select to grab as many as you want.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.16.2
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

[fakeru]

In INV2012 you can't select the solids using Shift button while under Extrude/Cut command.

I'm not sure about 2013 version.

[SBix26]

I verified it in 2013 before I posted.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.16.2
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

[jpblower]

No, the fact that it's over a thousand solids means that if I try to combine I wind up crashing the comp.  Due to rounding errors and poor construction it would have tons of union problems.  Bottom line I tried that and got nowhere,  plus it makes the model look ugly because I have to combine in groups to get anything to cooperate. 

Right there's a seam wherever there's weld and it was modeled as an individual part.  I use the multibody feature because I can't open the file if I use each as it's own seperate part (total 35k for the whole model).

[jpblower]

Nice, It's not perfect due to the nature of it's build but certainly a ton easier.  Thanks.

[swhite]

Open the solids folder, you can select one solid, hold down shift and select the last one, this will select all in between.

[dmacdonald]

My situation is very similar but more difficult due to the fact that I am only trying to select a few of the parts. There is no order to the solids in the browser so I still have to individually select them.

The multi-body part I have is from a STEP file supplied by my customer. I need to simplify it by deleting about 2/3 of the solid bodies. 

WHY CAN"T I SELECT BY WINDOW? 

[WHolzwarth]

Perhaps like this:

- Select all bodies in browser (Entries beneath Origin, not Solids)

- Copy to Construction (Construction environment needs to be enabled in Application Options)

- Delete all bodies in Modeling environment (ME)

- Switch to Construction environment

- Create new group and set it invisible

- Select Bodies to be deleted with window and move to the new group

- Select the remaining ones and Copy Object (Option multibody) back to ME

- Delete the rest in invisible group or delete whole CE

Be happy

Walter