Combining components into one part file

well don't you have an option to save an assy as a part in SW ?

Ok. I finally figured out how to do that - not very intuitive, but it worked.

Any ideas on the second half of the question? This is something that I do often.

Keep in mind that even though you save as a part, that part will still be dependent on the sub-parts. To get around that, you can join all the parts, then parasolid out, and bring back in. It will then be a simple, stupid, imported part - no ties. Kind of a pain, but usually works. We do it all the time with imported gearmotors.

WT

I am not sure what you mean about tied to the assy? the new part file stands alone does it not?

and you have options about how the assy is saved as a part...

On further review, when doing this there is a strange quirk. All the components are converted into surfaces in the new part, and any surfaces that were completely touching other surfaces are gone.

Never mind. I figured that one out.

the great thing about living in NZ is that being upside down enables you to see the world in a different way and think it is completely normal... ...and now I am going back to bed on an excessively frosty morning to rest my brain :O)

The only setting sort of answer I can find is the hidden switch for "Import multiple bodies as parts". It seems to imply it's a general setting, not for a particular format. The default appears to be "off". To get to it, go to file, open, then switch to iges or step, not parasolid, and you will get an Options button. The button isn't there for parasolid. I'm not sure if this switch affects parasolids, it doesn't seem to.

good luck.

That's a handy tip Wayne. I've never thought joining in SW then exporting out to parasolid.

I also use alot of geared motors. I've been unioning them in Acad before importing in SW. Often I them have to export out to parasolid to remove errors.

To select all your faces - enable face filter, turn on wireframe, box select the whole thing. Tada!

ed_1001 wrote:

I thought of that too but when I tested it I found it doesn't work as anticipated - at least for SW05 anyway -still had hidden faces unselected...which is why I suggested repeating the select from different viewpoints with crtl.

This is a common enough thing here that a few years ago I wrote an article on it, stepping through the process and explaining how to handle some of the errors. We have a guy here that still pulls it out whenever he does it. Let me know if you would like a copy.

WT

To select all the surfaces of a part turn on the selection filters. F5 toggles the 'Selection Filter' tool bar and F6 toggles the on/off state of filters in general. Turn on surface filter. Change your display to HLV or WireFrame and window select over the entire model. This will select all visible surfaces. Since you are in HLV or WireFrame this means ALL surfaces are visible. To verify you can switch back to a shade mode and you will see all surfaces onall sides of the part are selected. Wow after looking at a simple model in WireFrame I don't know how I ever worked that way in AutoCAD with full checking fixtures and still kept everything strait.

Regards, Corey Scheich

ed_1001 wrote:

CS, I tried that. It didn't work either. I cannot window select anything thru an assembly. I am using SW2006 SP4.1. Don't know if it works differently in other versions.

Ed,

I am doing it successfully in 2006 sp 4.0 in an assembly with WireFrame and Hidden Lines Visible

Regards, Corey

ed_1001 wrote:

Well when all else fails write a macro to do it =D. This macro will select all faces in a part or an assembly document. If you edit the macro you will see that there are a couple boolean values at the top you can toggle. The first one specifies only select visible bodies in a part. The second one lets you select subassembly faces or only top level assembly faces. The defaults are: Part - select all faces regardless of visibility status Assembly - select all faces including subassemblies.

The macro also handles faces generated by assembly features just f> CS wrote:

Mr. Who, I downloaded your macro, but it won't run. Just give the following error:

Something went horribly wrong with the macro. Error Code: 0 Description:

I have never done any VB coding, so I'm not sure what's wrong. Any ideas?

Mr. Who wrote: