Part made of surfaces refuses to show up in assembly. Any ideas?

[lkrenzler]

I have an converted STEP file that is made of surfaces.  When I place it in an assembly, it's invisible.  The object is there and when I highlight the "composite" feature in the browser, I can see the wireframe representation but it's ghosted.  Even though 'visibility' is on, it's invisible.

Any thoughts? - Thanks

[JDMather]

Can you zip and attach the original file here?

Have you installed Service Pack1 and Update3?

Does the behavior persist if you reboot the computer?

[lkrenzler]

I tried but seems the file is too large to attach (25meg).  The assembly is much too large to include.  The part itself views OK (although something is wrong with the colors).  When it's placed in the assembly it behaves like this.  It happens on 3 different systems and no, rebooting doesn't help.  I do have SP1 and update 3 installed.  

[JDMather]

Can you post it to Autodesk 360?
(I assume you are referring to the zipped size of the STEP file.)
If Inventor file then roll up the EOP before zipping and saving.

[lkrenzler]

I'm sorry, the company I work for won't let me log into 360 (some security concern).  I thought maybe I just missed a setting or something.  It might be the Update 3 for SP1.  I've had a lot of strange issues since I installed that.  Maybe I'll try taking that out.

[JDMather]

I am certain that it is something simple as your browser shows visibility turned off.

  Notice that your Composite is gray while mine is not.

What happens if you open the file outside of the assembly?

[lkrenzler]

Exactly.  I can't figure out why it's greyed out.  When I open the part by itself it is not like this.  Just in the assembly.  If I right-click on it, visibility is checked on.  I've tried turning it off and back on to no effect.  It's not suppressed.  

[rdyson]

Shooting in the dark but 2 things come to mind.

1. Check occurance tab in iam iProps:

2. Check to see if it's associated to a view rep:

[lkrenzler]

All that checks out.  It's enabled, visible (accept ironically it isn't), default bom structure and there are no levels of detail set in the assembly.  If I load the assembly and 'place' I can see it as I'm about to place it and then it vanishes as soon as it's actually placed.

Is there some setting somewhere that hides all surfaces maybe?  I can't seem to find one.

[karthur1]

Probably not it, but I am curious what your video setting is (Tools\application options, Hardware tab).  just for kicks, try changing it to either performance or compatibality.  Does changing it make it visible?

Kirk

[JDMather]

What happens if you place another instance of the component in this assembly?

What happens if you place an instance of this component in a new assembly?

[karthur1]

In your assembly (the one that you show the screen shot of), right click on the "ARS-1209 AC (PDC) repaired5" and set the view representation to "Master".

[lkrenzler]

It's a Quadro K2000.  I'll try playing with the setting like you say.  It's set on 'Quality' right now.  After today I'm on holidays so I'll experiement more when I get back.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Could you do the following and post the part here?

1) Open the part and move "End of Part" bar to the top.

2) Save.

The part will be much smaller with EOP at the top.

Thanks!

[lkrenzler]

It's still 12meg even with that and zipped 😞

Changing the hardware display settings made no difference.

I'll try uninstalling Update 3 soon I think.

Edit: nope, that wasn't it....

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Could you send it to me directly (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)? I don't think this is hardware related.

Thanks!

[lkrenzler]

JDMather: if I place another instance, it is also invisible (as are any more).

If I place in a brand new assembly, it places just fine....hmmmm.

karther1: I checked and it is set to "Master".

johnsonshiue: sending now...

Edit: just for kicks I tried updating my video card driver to the latest but that didn't change anything.

[lkrenzler]

OK, with Johnson's help we've figured it out.

If I go to View Tab/Object Visibility and turn on "Construction Surfaces" it shows up fine.  I'm not sure if this is intended behavior but it's working.

Maybe Johnson can comment further...

Thanks to all!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! You got it! This is not a bug actually. It is a confusing Inventor behavior. Design View reacts to individual component visibility control, surface body visibility control, and also the global Object Visibility control. With so many levels of visibility control absorbed by one option. The confusing behavior is the result. The composite surface is indeed categorized as construction surface.

I almost forgot about the behavior. Indeed, this is not the first time I heard about the complaint. I will follow up with the respective team and see how we can improve it.

Thanks!

Johnson

[joe.villanueva]

I know it's been a while, but I ran into this problem also.  After multiple searches and coming up empty handed, I was just about ready to give up.  Then I found the solution and thought it might help if posted here.

I looked at my Object Visibility settings under the View tab and enabled "Construction Sufaces" and, lo and behold, my surface parts appeared once again.