How Parts are Displayed in an Assembly

General

  • Parts and subassemblies can be hidden and restored in assemblies.
  • Hiding can be used together with configurations to describe slightly different products, allowing the same model to represent several products.
  • Hiding can also be used to lighten and make designing easier, especially with large assemblies.
  • Mock-ups are also used in lightening large assemblies. A mock-up is a simplified part that depicts the original part or assembly.

Hiding a part or subassembly

The functions for hiding and restoring a part or subassembly are selected from the functions of 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 hidden part or sub-assembly is not visible in the model window, but the tree displays its label grayed out.
  • The hidden part is displayed in the model window with a highlight color if you click it in the feature tree. The part will be hidden again when the cursor is moved away from the part label. This momentary display does not apply to a hidden subassembly.
  • See Hide a Part or a Subassembly

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.
  • The hidden part is also highlighted in the assembly.