Envelopes--Have you used them?

Y, but only once.

The only time I've ever used envelope parts was to add parts that were used to locate other pieces in an assembly without adding anything to the BOM or to the weight. I can't even remember now what they were and how they worked.

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"

I think there were three presentations at SWW that touched on envelope usage. There was an envelope in the old SW demo. Remember the assembly line that machined motorcycle crankcases?

Jerry Steiger wrote:

Yes. All the time

How - machining fixtures - the machine table with machine strokes (X, Y, & Z) is inserted as an envelope. Works very well for that.

and any other time bob z. wants something in the assy that he doesn't want to show up any where else (mass, etc.).

I use envelopes from time to time, for skeleton parts, or other parts that I don't want in the BOM, mass props, or higher assemblies. I don't think I've ever used them for their original purpose as a selection tool. I don't think I've ever even tried it.

And a drawing view property box STILL says "Envelop". Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

WT

The assembly line showed envelopes well. It had a workspace for a person as an envelope. It doesn't show up for mass, in the BOM, or anything significant. You can do advanced selection with the envelopes as well. You can hide or show anything in or out of the envelope which worked well for that "workspace". Enveplopes can be parts, assemblies, or sketches. I design faucets now and then and I use sinks and counter tops as my envelope parts.

KMaren

I use them for skeleton parts in assemblies. I've never used them for selection. Ed

i use an envelope body in an assembly. i make a driven body in an assembly in a new configuration and suppress all other bodies/parts. we are on the edge of usability on our large assemblies and this assists in speed and workability. iQ

I used envelopes for designing hinges, though not in their intended fashion.

For custom hinge design, we would get an environment to design in. Hinges are usually designed in closed position. I would design base leaf in-context as a regular component. I would design the moving leaf as an envelope. All in-context design was applied to the envelope. The moving leaf model was then added to assembly as a regular component.

This way, I could have > I need a quick head count of people who have used envelopes.

Can you send me an example of that, please? I run into those situations once in a while and I didn't quite follow your method. Thanks.

WT

Clever application. I like that. I have used a hidden part to do the same thing, with a second instance for motion, but the envelope is far better. Have you run into any quirks using a part as both an envelope and a regular part in the same assembly?

Paul,

I haven't used an envelope in years. They can be used in cool ways, but since they are mainly assembly tools, and I tend to work mostly on individual parts, I don't think I'm in many situations where they would be useful.

Matt

No major negative repercussions. The only annoying thing is that you can't see them in drawings or 2 levels removed.

I was us> > This way, I could have in-context features in a fixed position that

Got it - thanks. I'll take a good look at it when I get a chance.

WT

Wow! Sounds like another great feature that the average SW user doesn't know how to use. Perhaps the Inventor folks will find out about envelopes and use them as one of their next great sales features.... :-) They do sound useful.

Ed

I second that - very clever application. I have been doing my in-context the same as matt, usually hiding the components in my 'IN-Context' configuration. Then I have another config (actually, where motion is involved, I usually have dozens for design verification) where the in-context stuff is supressed and only the copies are active. Interestingly, changes will propgate through the suppressed in-context parts (at least last time I verified - I would not lay wagers on SWx not messing with it. It just feels like the kind of useful function that SWx would 'fix' so it didn't work any more)

I like the envelope approach.

Question - anyone have a way of making a part that is already in the assembly into an envelope? I tried looking into this a while ago, talked to some experts, and ran into a dead-end.

Ed

There were several presentations at SWW that used envelopes. I ran into an ex SW AE this week and he was of the opinion that nobody used them. The reason people don't use them is that VARs don't do much educating. Envelopes are one of the most stable features in SW. They behave just like parts in an assembly with the exception of mass and countability in a BOM.

The real beauty of an envel> T> > I need a quick head count of people who have used envelopes.

I've been waiting for this, and it hasn't happened. I don't know of a way to do it.

What I'd rather have is the ability to insert a base part with all features. I'd have the skeleton part at the base of every part that needed to move, and then I wouldn't have to fool with extra components and envelopes to hold in-context relations.