Urgent Simulation latest update issue [Confusing how to use simulation now]

[sajjapongse]

Hello

I want to ask about new update that change the way to do Simulation.

Before I can just go to model and click on suppress to hide the part I don't want to simulate.

But now that option is gone how do I deal with this?

I try go to simplify and use remove component command and it work find for once.

However when I try to simulate for another component it look like that component is gone and I can not add it in later.

(Not in the model but in the simulation)

I try again by start new simulation but the removed part is still gone.

I can not delete the simulation and can not do anything to simulate another part.

This seem to be confusing and difficult to use compare to pre-update.

If possible please show me the way how to properly deal with current simulation.

I have work that need to finish immediately but due to this new feature I can not do what I did before.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @sajjapongse

Thanks for posting! It looks like you have some questions about the new Simplify workspace in the Simulation workspace of Fusion 360.

The Simplify workspace actually creates its own version of the design timeline from the model workspace. It sounds like your workflow was to;

1. Enter the Simplify workspace.
2. Right click the unwanted component and "Remove" it.
3. Run the simulation on the other components.

And you are now stuck because you need to find the removed component to use in a new simulation. The way to bring this component back is to re-enter the Simplify workspace and roll the timeline back to before the initial remove command. You can then start a new study which will include that component. This is shown in the screencast below.

Hopefully this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions - I am happy to assist. 

[sajjapongse]

Thank you very much.

It solve half of the problem.

Could you help me a few more problem?

1. After I finish simulation and go back to model to create new component, the simulation seem to not recognize that new component.

    The model that available in simulation are the  only one I created before simulation. How can I add newly create component to the simulation?

2. Can I separate simulation for each part? I try to use remove command but not only it remove model from, for example, study1 but also study2.

     Is there anyway I can seperate model in study1 and 2 and so on?

I do understand that software have to upgrade for the better but this time it seem so confusing.

in Question 1 and 2 can be done so easily before the update and I don't have to come and ask in forum like this.

the UI is well done and command is easy to understand even with out manual.

However this time around it feel like I walk in the maze. Just some comment for future improvement.

Best regard

Krittanai Sajjapongse

[mcmillr · Accepted solution]

Hello Krittanai, sorry the latest update has caused confusion.

To see the new part you added in Simulation you need switch to Model View on the Display panel on your toolbar. When you are in the Results view we only show the results from the last solve, we do not show changes you have made to the model, including the deleted or added parts.

To create a different Simulation model, go to the Simplify env and click Create | New Simulation Model, or you can right click on the Simulation Model browser entry and the New Simulation Model command is there also. This will give you a fresh copy of your Model and you can remove any parts you don't want to simulate. Once you switch back to the Simulation environment, you will be prompted to create a new Study for this new Simulation Model.

Another option is to use the Clone simulation model command from right click, this will make a copy of the current Sim model with any removed componets. You can then go to the timeline at the bottom and delete any "remove component" features which will bring back the components you want.

[sajjapongse]

That work even though it feel a little bit more complicate than before.

Thank you very much.

[mcmillr]

I am glad that worked for you. Yes, it is a little more complicated if all you want to do is remove components, but Simplify now allows much greater flexibility to modify your Simulation model without changing your original model. You can remove small fillets and holes to speed up meshing and solving, and even try different design changes to see if the simulation results improve. These Sim models can be shared between different studies or you can have several different Sim models with their own related Studies. When you do make a change to your original design, the Sim models will all be updated to reflect the change. We hope this greater power will offset the additional complexity.

[SonicFlow]

I agree with the original post that the suppression check boxes were a great feature. I think you should keep those even with the new functionality of the Simplify workspace.

I added this as an Idea: "Bring back component suppression check boxes"

[mcmillr]

With the introduction of Sim Models, we allow you to share Studies between a common model that you are able to simplify or modify however you want, without affecting the original model. This required that we show each of these Sim Models as the common parent of the studies in the browser. You can see that this creates some difficulty representing the suppression checkboxes (which are per-study) on a shared model representation. We could have just made these checkboxes affect the shared Sim Model, but the user might not realize that the change they are making in one study was affecting other studies, invalidating their results, etc. We could have made it so the checkboxes still only affected the current study, but this would have required resetting the checkboxes on the shared model tree when you switch to a different study, which might also be confusing to users. It also meant that there were two different ways to remove components from your model, making the product more complicated, more things that can go wrong, etc.

I would agree however that the new behavior makes it a lot more difficult to un-suppress things, and we could add some UI in the Simplify workspace to make this easier. Would that be sufficient, or do you still think we should pursue one of the other options I described above?

[SonicFlow]

Rob, Thanks for the reply! 

I don't fully understand the changes yet with the addition of Simplify.  But this sounds like a reasonable approach: """We could have made it so the checkboxes still only affected the current study, but this would have required resetting the checkboxes on the shared model tree when you switch to a different study""" 

Within Simplify I guess Remove works like Suppress. To UnRemove you then have to find the component in the timeline and get rid of the removal (Delete or Suppress that action)... it is not as easy as a checkbox on the component.  So at least adding that to Simplify would be an improvement. But I would rather have one approach that does not require going into the Simplify workspace. Removing some components seems like the most basic and common sort of edit to make to an imported model. 

With more ambitious thinking I could imagine something like SolidWorks Configure Component or Configure Feature.  ...Direct link was not working, you can see an example in help.solidworks.com  search for "configure feature". 

It would be a table where you could set the On/Off suppression state for multiple components and studies in one place. 

Keep up the good work.