Distributed Design

[Anonymous]

Hi team,

I'm stoked about the new Distributed Designs Update. I am wondering about the depth of control to update a part that has been referenced in subassemblies. By this I mean, will parts have the option to be updated if they are in a subassembly at least two levels in (Original Part->Insert Original Part into Assembly -> Insert SubAssembly with Original Part into new Assembly)?

Thanks!

[schneik-adsk]

We are working on that for a future update. Most likely sometime around September.

[JFKANSAS]

Another thing that is needed in distributed design is 2 way flow of extrusions. For example I had a bracket and another piece linked to a main file. I needed to cut a hole from one piece to the other since the bracket didn't have any holes yet. In the distrubuted design when I projected a cut from a sketch the linked bracket design wasn't affected. I had to cut/paste the part into the main design and assemble, project the hole into the part, then cut/paste back into the linked file. Kind of a PITA.... Not sure if I will be using Distributed Designs going forward... 

[haughec]

A clarifying question: Is your goal to to have the the hole only at the assembly level, or do you want the hole to propogate down into the referenced part?

Thanks,

Charles

[JFKANSAS]

Yes, propogate down, or at least have the option to "include referenced parts". It would be a huge time saver. What if a design is fully assembled using referenced parts, then you decide for strength you need an extra bolt to attach the part. In a normal non distributed design you would sketch a hole, extrude the cut through both parts and you are done.

[haughec]

Thanks for the feedback.  We don't support propagating features down to referenced components.  Please feel free to log an Idea Station request.

There is a work-around to create an associative, editable copy of a referenced component (what Inventor calls a "Derived Part").  You can copy/paste a body of an inserted component, and the resulting body can be modified by features at the assembly level.  This work-around will likely be formalized into a proper command in a future release.

Charles