How Parts are Displayed in an Assembly

When working with large assemblies that contain a number of parts and subassemblies, it is a good idea to hide the parts and subassemblies that are not needed for the current work.

Mock-ups are also used in lightening large assemblies. A mock-up is a simplified part that depicts the original part or assembly.

Hiding and using mock-ups reduce the number of parts drawn in the working window and thus speed up work.

Hiding a part or subassembly

The functions for hiding and restoring a part or subassembly can be found in the assembly tree. For example, when you wish to hide a subassembly in the assembly in order to make it easier to position a new part, first select the subassembly in the assembly tree and then hide the subassembly. The part/subassembly will be hidden. The symbol of the hidden part/subassembly will be displayed in gray in the assembly tree. The part/subassembly can be restored again later.

Displaying a mock-up of a part or a subassembly in a higher-level assembly

You can display a mock-up model in place of a part or subassembly selected from an assembly. The part or subassembly remains in the assembly as a link, based on which it can be restored to be displayed as the original model.

Select a part in an assembly

Selecting a part in an assembly can be difficult, especially when the assembly comprises many parts. When you select a part from the assembly tree, the part will be highlighted in the assembly.