Design Doctor not working properly

[terje.antonsen]

Hi,

I have noticed that the design doctor gives warnings in large assemblies sometimes when it seems like no relation to the part changed. If you will, please have a lokk at the attached file. 

You can add as many features as you like, without the design doctor giving warning. 

But, If you change extrusion 3 by 1mm, it warns of an intersecting flange on flange 2, that was there all along. 

For this one part, not a biggie, but in larger assemblies(900+ parts), this belated warning really gives me a headache when a flange length edit gives me 15 new inconsisting constraint warnings a week after the change is made!

I hope you can help me with the following: 

-Establish that this is in fact something that should be fixed with an update. (If there is another way, great.)

-Report, or direct me to a an Autodesk Member on this forum.

edit: too large file, adding pics instead.

[-niels-]

From what i can make of your image, there is something wrong with a "flange".
So even though you are editing an extrusion, it's further down the line that something goes wrong.

Looking closer, i think i see an "i" in "flange2" which is hard to spot because it's adaptive.
Does that feature need to be adaptive?
In the "correct" state when you do not have an error, what happens if you rebuild the part?

True, the design doctor does not light up for "i" but it does indicate that there is something that needs attention.

[terje.antonsen]

From what i can make of your image, there is something wrong with a "flange".
So even though you are editing an extrusion, it's further down the line that something goes wrong.
Yes.
Looking closer, i think i see an "i" in "flange2" which is hard to spot because it's adaptive.
Does that feature need to be adaptive?

Not really, but this is just one example, There are many cases where I need adaptivity, and this i" I don't think is useful for errors relating to inconsistent constraints in a large assembly. For that I need the popup, or else I would have to look through the entire (sometimes really huge) browser tree for maybe 10 "i's" in different locations.

In the "correct" state when you do not have an error, what happens if you rebuild the part?
Not sure I understand what you mean? DO you mean if I model the same thing again, does it behave the same way?
True, the design doctor does not light up for "i" but it does indicate that there is something that needs attention.

But why does it light up for the same thing at a later stage, but only if I change something earlier in the tree. The error will be of the same magnitude. 

[-niels-]

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@terje.antonsen wrote:

In the "correct" state when you do not have an error, what happens if you rebuild the part?

Not sure I understand what you mean? DO you mean if I model the same thing again, does it behave the same way?

---

By "correct state" i meant the same model before you edited the extrusion.

The "Rebuild all" function is on the manage tab, this forces inventor to recalculate the model which will sometimes "wake up" the design doctor.

[terje.antonsen]

Yes, rebuild all gives the design doctor warning.

It's starting to look like what I need is an automatic "rebuild all". To my logic it should be default at doing an automatic check, maybe not for "all" but all possible conflicts.

I am trying what Curtis mentions here http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-General/Subassembly-constraints-constantly-need-rebuilding/td...

But I am unsure what the rebuild all does in an assembly.(the only button that does not give an expanded tooltip?) "cleaning" in large assemblies often gives "inconsistent constraint" errors or "reference geometry" errors. I feel like I need those to be warned of at the moment they occur, not when prompted. especially since we are multiple users on the same product. i.e. - who knows what is the correct resolving of a spesific constraint error from a week ago?

[-niels-]

"Rebuild all" at assembly level will rebuild/recalculate every part in the assembly.
That will get errors to show, but it will also flag every part as "dirty" and require it to be saved.
I can imagine this is not something everyone would want, because you'll also save parts that are perfectly fine.

The only thing i can suggest is that when a part with such a complex model tree, like your picture, has to be edited, the person making those edits should rebuild before releasing it back into the production environment.

I only have one co-worker, but we both know that if we change something it can have an effect in a lot of different locations.
So we try to catch as many as we can at the moment we do our edits, but there's always stuff that gets forgotten.

[terje.antonsen]

Thank you for your tips and input, Niels. Rebuild all is useful, And I didn't know much about it.

However, I don't see why (in this case) a flange that immediately creates a collision, doesn't give a popupwarning or activates the design doctor when first created. As of now, it gives an "i" at first, and if rebuilt or changes are made higher in the tree, does it give warning. 

I must emphasise, the real problem isn't one flange on one part, but "reference geometry" and "inconsistent constraint" errors in large assemblies. 

Does any of you experts agree that this needs imporvement? or if there is a natural reason for the way it is, please let me know. 

I hope an autodesk official reads this, and if considered an error, takes steps to have it fixed with an update.