Ability to divide Inventor based Pipe Network Structures (IPE) in their original components

[pieter_haeck]

When creating Infrastructure Parts Editor (IPE) content, you need to model 3 elements in Inventor: Underground Structure, Surface Structure and grate/cover. These are assembled in IPE as an entire Structure and used as such in Civil 3D via the Generic Pipe Structure Catalogs (or your own IPE based catalog).

For documentation purposes, it would be helpful to be able to divide ('explode') those structures to their original components, e.g. to dimension the different parts per used structure in the network.

Export C3D Drawing, 'ExportToAutoCAD', explode,... results in one single 3D solid or just AutoCAD Surfaces/Regions, which are unusable for this purpose.

[cody.faltin]

Alternatively, let us just pick and choose which components we use for each structure.  In other words let us select a main structure and insert it into our drawings, and let us select a rim separately, and position it where we want on the top of a structure.  In the real world these do not always end up in the same location.