Delete Body Command

[Anonymous]

I wish Inventor will have a command that is a DELETE BODY so that in multi-body parts i can just easily delete the body that i want to be remove, because the delete face cannot do the job.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Marlon,

Indeed, Inventor does not have a Delete Body command. But, you can delete the feature generating the body and the body will be deleted. Delete Face command has a lump selection mode. You can delete lumps within a body. Certainly, even after all lumps are deleted, the empty body would still stay.

Could you show me a workflow that deleting body is better than deleting or editing the body generating feature?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Delete Body is useful if you are using multi-body parts modeling since you can edit one body then everything will update its like a Top Down design ( I Hate Top Down Design Too many clicks and error prone) using multi-body parts as a master model gives you the ability to have much control on the whole model then just delete the other body to create a parts for an assembly 

Thanks for reply

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Just to clarify a bit, turning a multi-solid body part into an assembly is also top-down design. It means that you define overall geometry as a whole and then subdivide it into individual parts. I think you were talking about skeletal modeling that you did not like. Skeletal modeling is actually also another kind of top-down design. It is like 2D top-down design, since geometry is driven by sketch instead of 3D body geometry. Multi-solid body is like 3D top-down design.

Like you mentioned, it would be nice to have Delete Body command. Wouldn't making body invisible also work? The reason I am asking is that there is implication of deleting a body. Should the body generating feature be deleted too? If not, how should the body generating feature be presented in the browser? If body generating feature needs to be deleted too, isn't it the same as deleting the body generating feature manually?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Thanks for the reply

If i get what you mean,

Let say i draw  box then again i draw a cylinder as a separate body on the top face of the box using the top face as a reference plane so now i have two body.

1. Wouldn't making body invisible also work?= making the box as invisible just make the file bigger but if you delete the box body the file become smaller you can save disk space and memory.

2. Should the body generating feature be deleted too? = i want to delete the box without breaking the parametric history

3. If body generating feature needs to be deleted too, isn't it the same as deleting the body generating feature manually? = If i delete the box manually i will encounter a error so i need a delete body tools so that i will not break the parametric history.

The delete body will function as the delete face the only deference is the delete face is for face and the delete body is for a body

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Marlon,

I got it. I think you need a way to remove the body which is no longer needed. In terms of file size saving, there will be saving in graphics storage for sure. However, the save is probably the same as making it invisible. In terms of saving in Brep data or history stream, it can get complicated. For example, assuming a body is deleted from the part, the operation will be recorded as a feature node in the feature tree. You can always get the body back by deleting the deleted body feature. So, the body data still need to be stored somewhere in some shape or form.

It is an interesting idea. It is not as trivial to do as it sounds like. If possible, you may consider adding it to Inventor Ideas. You can reference the thread too.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi, johnsonshiue

Thankyou its a good discussion i will post it in the idea section.

[AlexeyN]

I wish to have the Delete Body command too!

For now I am doing the folowing to delete the body and remove it from the part body list:

1. Combine all unwanted bodies into one (this will left in a body list only one of them)

2. Delete Face command for resulting united body with option to delete lumps (this will delete the Body geometry, but will not remove the item from the part body list)

3. Combine unwanted empty body with any other body that I wish to stay (this will delete the unwanted body item from the body list).

So, I think, it would be great not to make any new separate commands to delete the body, but it will be enough only to add a checkbox in Delete Face command dialog box, that will not only delete it's geometry, but also will remove deleted body from the part body list.

[kelly.young]

Hello @AlexeyN here is the idea link that @Anonymous was referring to:

IDEA: Improved multibody tools: Delete Body, Fill Void, and Isolate/Transfer Lump

Give it a vote and add any documentation to help clarify the idea!

[ACEDeSmedt]

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@johnsonshiue wrote:

Could you show me a workflow that deleting body is better than deleting or editing the body generating feature?

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* You download a step file of a aluminum profile with a fixed length. (20 mm)

* you create a sketch perpendicular on the length and project cut edges to retrieve the profile

* you create a extrusion (new body) with the length you want

* you remove the original body that came form the step file.

Deleting the feature of the original body results in a lot of lost references in the cut profile edge sketch feature.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@ACEDeSmedt

This is all so very easy to do without loosing any associativity/references.

Attach your example here if you can't figure it out.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! You can use Delete Face -> Lump selection -> to remove the lumps from the solid body. However, the solid body definition will still stay in the part. Is it Ok to have an empty body (no lumps)?

Many thanks!

[SBix26]

Why go to all that trouble?  Why to just use Direct Edit > Move Face?

Edit: I have done something similar to what you're describing to create a structural profile for the Content Center.  After projecting the face into my sketch, I deleted the Projected Loop feature and selected the whole sketch and added a Fix constraint.  Then deleted the Body1 feature.  That makes the sketch completely constrained and completely independent of the original body.  But I wouldn't do this for an ordinary part-- just use Direct Edit.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2019.1.1 | Windows 7 SP1
LinkedIn

[Kunal_Bhansali]

yes this is good suggestion.

For example I am splitting bodies using split command. At that time due to type of split tool, body is split in 3 different bodies. Now. I want to delete one of the body, at that delete feature will not work. DELETE BODY will be very much useful here.

[JDMather]

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@Kunal_Bhansali wrote:

yes this is good suggestion.
DELETE BODY will be very much useful here.

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This is trivially easy to do.

You might note that the original OP did not Attach example file here as suggested.

You should Attach your *.ipt file here

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Indeed, it would be great if Inventor has Delete Body command. Before it becomes available, you can use Delete Face -> Lump selection -> select the body to delete. The body will not be deleted but the geometry will be.

Many thanks!

[raja.dahya]

it occurs to me that delete body 'lump selection' is the same as delete body.
the Name is just misleading.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@raja.dahya wrote:

it occurs to me that delete body 'lump selection' is the same as delete body.
the Name is just misleading.

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Yep, it is exactly the same thing.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Folks,

Just to provide a bit clarification. Delete Face -> Lump is different than Delete Body. Though it may look similarly, they are different. Within Inventor, a lump means a chunk of geometry within a body. When the two lumps are overlapped within a body, they will be merged as a lump. Two separate bodies can stay by themselves until they are joined.

At the moment, Inventor does not have Delete Body command besides deleting the features generating the body or deleting the actual imported body. Delete Face -> Lump is just a workaround to remove excessive geometry. It is not Delete Body.

Many thanks! 

[wkeogh8CM84]

Thanks for the work around,  worked a treat,

I'm coming from solid-works and i'm really missing some features,  delete body was such a helpful one,  I'm surprised it's missing / hasn't been added.