I have been using the break external references to allow me to use parts that were originally "in-context" parts in other assemblies without leaving "->?" because the part is out of context. Is this doing any good as far as performance is concerned? If I break the external references on a model does Solidworks still try to resolve those references or are they ignored?
squawko,
Be careful when you choose to break external references!
Yes - after breaking the references, they will no longer need to be resolved by SolidWorks; however, the "in-context" relationships from the originally referenced assembly will be LOST.
If you don't need (or want) those original relationships to be maintained, that's fine, but - if future "in-context" updates are desired - you should make renamed copies of the parts to be used in the new assemblies.
Depending upon how you use the parts in the new assemblies, an alternative is to simply LOCK the external references. While locked, those references won't be resolved and this improves performance (even in the original assembly). The locking can be reversed at any time; however, if the part has been moved relative to its in-context references within the 3D space of the original assembly, it may rebuild in an undesirable form.
When locked, a part can NOT have NEW in-context references created (until the user unlocks or breaks the original ones.
Keep in mind that after breaking, it may be necessary (or at least desirable) to edit sketch and/or feature definitions in order to restore fully defined status to the part(s).
Per O. Hoel _____________
squawko wrote:
Breaking external references is a band-aid. Here is the fix. See this thread on how to do it right.
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