Derive insert vs drag in insert?

[Anonymous]

Could you enlighten me a little about the Derive command in Fusion 360? I've been learning/using Fusion for many weeks now, i discovered a lot of features (and many deficiencies, and the workarounds for most of them), but i've yet to use derive.

What i don't know yet, is basically how it differs from insert (i mean dragging in another design from the data panel, in a way that it becomes a referenced component). In the latter case i can't change the component in the design where i inserted it (please correct me if i'm wrong), just the original design.

How derive is different from this? What different workflows should i use it for?

(A quick search did not fully answer my question)

Thanks in advance!

[TrippyLighting]

With a few weeks into Fusion 360 you've barely scratched the surface 😉

The "Insert into current design" links that design into your current design.

If you wan to edit that linked design you'l have to open it separately and then make the edits and save them. Then in your main assembly design you'll get a waring then one or more components are out of date and yo'll be presented with a small yellow triangle. Clicking it will update the components.

Derive uses more resources but offers more flexibility. a word of caution, however. This functionality was only recently developed and there might be bugs in it.

You cannot only derive components into another design. You can also derive components out into the data panel for use in other designs. If you update a derived component in the original design then all copies will update.

You can modify a derived component in the design it was derived into as well and in essence create a variant of the initial component. Still, changes to the initial component will trickle down into the design it was derived into.

This cannot be done with inserted components.

Derive also allows you to derive sketches or bodies only.

Again, "derive" is a powerful feaster and with power comes responsibility. Only use it as a last retort if simpler things such as the "insert into current design" fail.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, so after all it is actually possible to edit a component of external origin (not created in the main assembly) in the context of a larger assembly? Then i might have to totally rethink my earlier method.

So it works like this: i create a component and save it (v1), after that i derive+insert into another design, there i can edit it, creating, lets say v2 version of the design? Can i work effectively with the same component having multiple versions in different assemblies? I know i should try and see it, but i need some first clues to get going in the (roughly) good direction.

Another question loosely connected to inserted parts (as you mentioned resource usage):

It seems to me that Fusion can generally slow down in a rather awful way when an assembly starts to get bigger (still not super complex though).

However, i noticed that if i insert the whole thing into another design with the drag-in method, as a referenced component, it gets better, even drawing views are maybe a bit faster. Is it caused by the fact that a non-editable referenced component takes less resources to handle than if it was editable in that context, or some other reason?

Thanks for your help!