Proper way to use adaptivity

[DRoam]

I could really use some help with the proper way(s) to use adaptivity.

I've used Inventor for literally thousands of hours, but using adaptivity for even the simplest of applications always, always, always results in broken assemblies when I try to use it. It might work at first, but once I make just the wrong change to my assembly, suddenly two or three parts which adapted fine before decide not to adapt, and I end up with several sick constraints. Even a Rebuild All will not repair the assembly.

In its simplest form, this is all I want to do:

I want to constrain one end of a part (such as a steel member) to one face, and constrain the other end to another face, and have the member change its length if the distance between the two faces changes.

That's it.

I could spend a couple hours describing all the ways I've tried to do this, but the short and sweet is that I'm very careful not to create unsolvable adaptivity situations. I always build my parts and constrain them so that there is one and only one correct "solution" to the constraints.

So, I'd like to hear the ways you all use adaptivity that work. Any tried-and-true methods would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Chris,

The advantages and drawbacks of Adaptivity have been discussed numerous times. It is quite contentious and subjective. I don't think I can add more information here.

In short, Adaptivity is a powerful in-context modeling workflow. But you don't want to overuse it. The analogy I like to use is treating it like a loan. You need to know which component borrows what geometry from whom and for what purpose. Such relationship needs to be one directional. You don't want to have cyclic relationship or too many lenders.

Using Adaptivity requires a lot of attention. I don't believe it is a perfect solution but it does have its own value.

Many thanks!