Virtual or phantom pattern solid in an ipt.

[timdown73]

Is there a way to create virtual / phantom solid pattern so that I can see how a pattern is going to layout in my solid body file? See example below.  I do not want to create actual solid bodies but I'd like to see how my entire assembly (.iam file) is going to look without leaving my solid body .ipt. 

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

Maybe something like this?

[timdown73]

YES!! That's perfect! How exactly did you do that? I don't use surfaces much.

[timdown73]

The suspense is killing me...

[timdown73]

Figured it out. Thanks again!!!!

[timdown73]

JD, the solution you provided is working great, however if I make a change to the original solid the only way I can get the copies to update is to find them in the tree and RMB to "redefine".  I noticed there is an associative check box but It's always grayed out.  How can I get that option to work?

[salariua]

I am slowly picking up old threads and getting back to reading all posts in the forum but in this case you should try and keep the part as surface as long as possible (before the pattern) like this:

[timdown73]

Thanks so much for your help in this matter. I used to only use derived sketches from a master .ipt part sketch and then do all of my extrusions and features in separate .ipts. I have recently switched to multi-solid body modeling to derive all my solids to separate .ipt's and it is working great. This has really helped me work out a few of the kinks. BTW, I'm just curious; do you work this way? Using the multi-solid method?

[salariua]

Indeed I do, it's very powerful technique making it easy to edit all parts in a single place without playing with adaptivity and cross part references that need updating all time making it a memory hog.

Combine it wit ilogic or custom parameters to drive a whole project.

Do you use absolute origin instead of constraining by faces and edges?

http://www.widom-assoc.com/MA301-1P.pdf

[timdown73]

Yes I do use absolute origin. Found the benefits of that way back in my AutoCAD days. I've been surprised over the years at how many people don't use it. Also, I've noticed how much using this multi-solid method combined with absolute origin diminishes the need for constraints, which is great. I have not yet delved into iLogic. Is there a specific iLogic routine that is most useful to this multi-solid method?

[timdown73]

Salariua, Do you use the multi-solid modeling technique when you're working with very large assemblies? I'm deriving in a VERY large client assembly for reference into my multi-solid IPT and adding my own solids from there. Having the client assembly derived in seems to be really slowing things down even with a simplified LOD applied to the derived assembly.

[salariua]

Hi Tim,

You're previous message didn't got through so to answer that first I don't know is there is a specific ilogic routine for multi-body. I only meant that you can control suppression, and create rules to drive your geometry and parameters with ilogic.

On the latest post:

I don' use multi-solid modeling on large assemblies, and it's not on my daily list of commands. I do seem to remember that shwrinking up will only save video ram so you do need to play with LOD to lower the ram ussage.

What I think you need is a little ilogic and a form to hide some of your bodies (that you don't currently use/need) and suppress some of the features just like a level of detail and design view for assemblies.

Unfortunately I don't think it's possible to suppress bodies 😞

A couple of resources:

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/ilogic-solid-body-visibility.html

http://www.mastergraphics.com/wordpress/2014/inventor-tips-tricks-conditional-feature-suppression/

[timdown73]

Thanks! I figured out what was slowing things down. I had too many parts with derived subtractions referencing one another. Once I changed things around a bit the speed came back.

My IPT has 49 solids bodies each one has between 5 and 10 features. Do you consider that too be too big of a job for multi-solid body modeling? So far it's working very well for me now that I figured out the problem slowing things down, but I'm new to multi-solids and just wondering what you think is too large to work with them.

[salariua]

I don't consider anything too big until it starts to slow down productivity and becomes frustrating to work with. I am no expert on working with solids either, learning as I go along so thanks for sharing your findings.