How to explode a components two bodies

[tomae]

I have a housing for a product which is made up of two bodies that are split down the middle.  Think of a simple electronics box that has a top and a bottom which join together.  I want to create an exploded view but when I go into the Animation workspace I only see one of the two bodies, a single component that is the housing.  Is there a way to have both bodies come in so I can spilt the housing apart in the exploded animation?  If I can only animate components and not bodies, is there an easy way to make these two bodies independant comonents without messing up all the work I have done to design them and create all the relationships with other objects (ie, joints) ?

[NicolasXu · Accepted solution]

Hi tomae,

In Animation workspace, we can only explode components. Are you working with the parametric modeling (we can see the timeline at the bottom of the application window) or the direct modeling (no timeline)? 

In parametric modeling environment, we can "create components from bodies" easily, without breaking the existing joints. Just make sure rolling the history marker to the end before performing the operation.

Best Regards,

[Mike.BeamanEVDYK]

Hi @NicolasXu 

When creating exploded views within the animation workspace for the purpose of creating assembly instructions, this causes issues for us as each component gets an item number (bodies do not). Items within the BOM without part numbers looks messy and confusing, and applying the same part number to each body could end up in over-costing jobs or over-ordering.

An example would be where we order a part in (such as an IP rated USB connector), it comes with a nut and gasket. We need to show that these are separate parts and how to connect them so we can get consistency in production and ensure the IP rating is maintained across all units.