My AD v8 has a mind of its own!

[Cameraman]

My AD v8 has a mind of its own!

Okay, so I am still assuming that this was user error, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how I did it . . .

I am working on a relatively simple bracket, but two of the mating parts (subassemblies, actually) are currently modeled in Autodesk Mechanical Desktop (MDT), so I asked the Designer to export the models to STEP files for me and he was kind enough to do so. (I had some wierd problems importing them, but that's a subject for another thread.)

Yesterday, I created my assembly, tweaked my bracket design exactly how I wanted it, printed out an assembly view for posterity's sake, and started working on the detail drawing of the bracket so that I could get some prototypes made.

Then, this morning, I opened the assembly and one of the subassemblies that I had imported yesterday had been modified -- one of the parts, a metal plate, had been replaced by the other part that I had imported! When I opened the subassembly by itself, sure enough it had been modified.

This is very difficult to explain in words, so I will load some pics in the binaries section in a few minutes.

I've been using CAD for about 15 years now and have never seen such a thing . . . what on earth could I possibly have done to cause this?

Regards,
Greg

 

[Cameraman]

Crap, I'm an idiot . . . as I was preparing the pics for the binaries section, I figured it out . . .

When you import a model that has more than one part (or, I guess, even if it only has one part), AD gives the parts names: Part1, Part2, etc.

When I imported the first model, it had 3 parts, which AD called Part1, Part2, and Part3 (really quite catchy, when you think about it).

Then I imported the second model, which had only one part, and AD called it Part1, so that even though I gave the MODEL a unique name when I saved it, the PART in that model had the same name as one of the parts in the previous model that I had saved, and AD saved each part as a separate model which caused this new Part1 to overwrite the previous Part1.

I assume that there is some way to rename the parts, or, better yet, to bind all of the parts into a single "part" so that only one file is saved in cases like this, but I was in a hurry again . . .

Sorry to bother y'all with this. I've got SO much to learn <heavy sigh>.

Regards,
Greg

 

[archimedes]

Sorry to bother y'all with this. I've got SO much to learn <heavy sigh>.

Greg,
No bother to this newbie-- this post & many others
all contribute to flattening out my own learning curve.
I may not know "exactly" where you are at AD wise, but
every little bit adds up.
Thanks for posting your experiences.
Its all good! :idea:
scott

 

[Willbur]

I assume that there is some way to rename the parts, or, better yet, to bind all of the parts into a single "part" so that only one file is saved in cases like this, but I was in a hurry again . . .

If you want to turn an assembly (your 3 part import) into a single part, export it as a .sat file and reimport it - this will give you a single solid piece and I haven't had any problems with the reimport. I use this to get iges files (since you can only export parts that way) for import into Pro/E, etc.

As for renaming the parts of the imported assembly, if you edit them in a separate window (hold shift when clicking Edit Part) you will be prompted for a name to save the part as when you exit that extra window (I generally do this to change material densities - the renaming of the part is just an added benefit).

 

[Gaspar]

It was your deduction of what happened what I liked the most :idea: Solving that kind of incidences becomes tricky :!:

As Wilbur says, you can turn the whole step into a single part by export/reimport as ACIS, and you can achieve the same asking for an IGS file from the start. I know that AutoCad uses Acis as its kernell so I wouldn't be surprised if Inventor does the same, in which case you can ask for an ACIS from the start.

Any way, I always ask for STPs becuase I like my imported geometry to be an assembly, not a solid (also, steps usualy have a lot less errors than IGS, I will post a question on this matter later). What I do is to save each imported model in a different folder within my project folder. No worries about names.

A second solution is that when doing the first save, you can change the name of any or all the parts you are saving. The save window has a tree with all your parts on the left. Touch any of those parts and the modify its name on the window below. You will see the name change in the tree as you write. You can even select a folder for each part doing this.

As Scott said, thanks for sharing, you may have saved a few hours for a bunch of us :wink:

 

[Gaspar]

Re:

I assume that there is some way to rename the parts, or, better yet, to bind all of the parts into a single "part" so that only one file is saved in cases like this, but I was in a hurry again . . .

I'm almost sure that the names of the parts are assigned by the exporting software.

The reason why I think this way is because I get a bunch of models from different sources and in some, the names of the parts have the initials of the original designer (Tund1, Tund2, etc for a guy called Anthony Tundo), some others have names in German (coming from VW), some are just Part1, Part2 etc.

 

[Gaspar]

Its funny how, after you messed up and then found a clever explanation by yourself, every one is telling what you SHOULD have done :roll:

That's just a joke. The truth is that I love the spirit around this community. Its a great and fun place to learn

Thanks to all folks :!:

 

[Cameraman]

Re:

Its funny how, after you messed up and then found a clever explanation by yourself, every one is telling what you SHOULD have done :roll:

That's just a joke. The truth is that I love the spirit around this community. Its a great and fun place to learn

Thanks to all folks :!:

I agree, and fortunately I've matured enough (or at least I've convinced myself of such) that I don't take offense when people smarter than me give me information that will help me to do my job better, thereby improving my ability to support my family! :wink:

Regards,
Greg