Geometry Options
Several options are available for the various types of geometry imported or attached to the DesignModeler application. Some options are available only for specific CAD packages, while others apply to some, but not all CAD packages. Below is a description of the geometry options, followed by a chart showing which options are available for each CAD package or file type.
Simplify Geometry: If Yes, the DesignModeler application will simplify the surfaces and curves of the model into analytical geometry where possible. Default is No. Relevant to the Mid-Surface feature, setting the Simplify Geometry property to Yes can significantly improve the speed of the Automatic Selection Method option. Performing a Simplify operation may increase the robustness of further modeling operations, including Share Topology.
Simplify Topology: If Yes, the DesignModeler application will remove redundant faces, edges, and vertices from the model where possible. Default is No. Relevant to the Mid-Surface feature, setting the Simplify Topology property to Yes can significantly improve the speed of the Automatic Selection Method option. Performing a Simplify operation may increase the robustness of further modeling operations, including Share Topology.
Heal Bodies: Attempts to heal geometry before performing Import External Geometry File or Attach to Active CAD Geometry operation. Default is Yes.
Clean Bodies: Attempts to heal geometry for solid and surface bodies after performing Import External Geometry File or Attach to Active CAD Geometry operation. Imported line bodies are ignored by the Clean Bodies option. Default is Normal with the options being No/Normal/High. High attempts additional cleaning steps, but can take noticeably longer. Instanced body import should be significantly faster when the Clean Bodies property is set to Yes, due to body cleaning only being performed one time for multiple body instances.
Tolerance: Choose either Normal, Loose or User Tolerance stitching tolerance. Default is Normal. Property appears in the Details View only when you select an IGES file for import. If your selection is "User Tolerance", then an additional property, "User Tolerance" appears, allowing you to set a tolerance value of your choosing. "Normal" tolerance is 1.0 e-4 in meters, and is 1.5 e-3 for "Loose". The default for "User Tolerance" will be either the "Loose" value, or a previous value that you set. You should exercise caution when using this property. It is used for sewing neighboring faces together and for some healing operations. Too small a value will leave many unwanted gaps, while too large a value can end up making some faces disappear, and can also lead to unwanted gaps. A large tolerance value can also cause future modeling operations to fail.
Replace Missing Geometry: If Yes, missing geometry will be replaced. Essentially, this will attempt to fill in holes in surface bodies. Default is No. Property appears in the Details View only when you select an IGES or STEP file for import.
Reader Save Part File: See the Advanced Geometry Options table in the Geometry Preferences section of CAD Integration for applicable CAD packages.
If on (set to Yes), the interface will save the part file of a model at the end of an update process using the same file name in the same directory.
Do Smart Update: See the Advanced Geometry Options table in the Geometry Preferences section of CAD Integration for applicable CAD packages.
If on (Yes), when you modify preferences such as the parameter key, attributes, import type, etc. will not be respected if the component can be smart updated. Further details available in the Mechanical application help.
If a modification of a preference(s) that changes the geometry import (Import types, parameter processing, material processing, etc.) is made it will override the smart update flag by turning it off for an update to keep the imported model consistent with the preferences and the CAD model. This override is not reflected in the user interface. Subsequent updates will occur using the smart update flag as defined by the user preference. See Geometry Preferences for options that are specific to the Mechanical application.
Stitch Surfaces: If on, the modeler will attempt to stitch together all surface bodies resulting from import. Property appears in the Details View only when you select an IGES or STEP file for import.
Analysis Type: A read-only indication of the current analysis type. See the Advanced Geometry Options table in the Geometry Preferences section of CAD Integration for applicable CAD packages.
Use Associativity: Indicates if action should be taken to allow associativity. The default is Yes.
Import Coordinate Systems: These are imported as Planes, with the default for Export of the Coordinate System set to Yes. See Imported Sub-features for usage information. See the Advanced Geometry Options table in the Geometry Preferences section of CAD Integration for applicable CAD packages.
Import Attributes: These are imported as Attribute features that can have multiple "Attribute Groups" within them with different values. See Imported Sub-features for usage information.
Attributes Key: This allows you to set the attribute processing prefix key. It is only shown if the option to Import Attributes is set to Yes. The default is SDFEA;DDM. This field can have any number of prefixes with each prefix delimited by a semicolon. If the filter is set to an empty string all applicable attributes will be imported. See Imported Sub-features for usage information.
Import Named Selections: These are imported as defined in the CAD system. This means that they may have items in them of differing dimensions such as bodies and edges. The DesignModeler application allows this, but they will be split into separate Named Selections if taken to the Mechanical application. See Named Selection Manager. If the items pointed at by the named selection do not exist once the Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature completes, the Named Selection feature will still be created, but the items that no longer exist will not be in it. See Imported Sub-features for usage information.
Named Selection Key: This allows you to set the named selection processing prefix key. It is only shown if the option to Import Named Selections is set to Yes. This field can have any number of prefixes with each prefix delimited by a semicolon (for example: NS_ForceFaces;NS_FixedSupports;NS_BoltLoaded). By default the filter is set to NS. If the filter is set to an empty string all applicable entities will be imported as named selections. See Imported Sub-features for usage information.
Work Points: Both work points and spot welds are imported as Point features. This option allows you to set only the work points processing from CAD system. Spot welds are processed always. See Imported Sub-features for usage information.
Decompose Disjoint Geometry: This option allows you to decompose a disjoint solid/surface body into separate solid/surface bodies or to decompose disjoint faces into separate faces. See the Advanced Geometry Options table in the Geometry Preferences section of CAD Integration for applicable CAD packages.
To ensure consistent behavior with Workbench and DesignModeler geometry types, this preference is now always set to Yes. For legacy models created prior to Release 14.5, the property is editable. Note that legacy Import or Attach features with this option set to No might have persistence issues on changing the Target Geometry Type and is not recommended.
| Simplify Geometry | Simplify Topology | Heal Bodies | Clean Bodies | Tolerance | Replace Missing Geometry | Stitch Surfaces | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACIS | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| AutoCAD | |||||||
| BladeGen | |||||||
| CATIA V4 | |||||||
| CATIA V5 | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| CATIA V6 | |||||||
| CATIA V5 CADNexus CAPRI CAE Gateway | |||||||
| Creo Elements/Direct Modeling | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Creo Parametric (formerly Pro/ENGINEER) | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| IGES | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ 1 | √ | √ |
| Inventor | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| JT | |||||||
| NX | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Parasolid | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Solid Edge | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| SOLIDWORKS | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| STEP | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ 1 | √ | √ |
Imported Sub-features
In the Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry features, there are options to import Coordinate Systems (Planes), Attributes, Named Selections, and Work Points. These enable importing "sub-features" within the Import and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature. These imported sub-features cannot be directly edited, other than their name and possibly an option or two, since they are directly dependent on the information coming from the CAD file/system. They can be deleted, and will be deleted automatically if the parent Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature gets deleted. That can only happen if no subsequent features depend on the Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry features or their sub-features. Their names are derived from the CAD system name. However, if there are characters in that name that are not valid in the DesignModeler application, then a default the DesignModeler application name is used and a warning is posted on the feature. You are free to change this name.
Note: If you change the name of one of the imported “sub-features” in the original CAD system and then Refresh, the original sub-feature in DesignModeler will remain, with a warning, and a new sub-feature with the updated name will be created.
Also note that if items pointed to by these sub-features do not exist after processing the Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature itself, then they will not be included in the sub-feature. If this effects all items in a sub-feature, then it might not get created at all. For example, if a Named Selection sub-feature points at an edge, but that edge is eliminated because "Add Material" is used in the main feature and when joined with the existing model, then the Named Selection feature will not include this edge.
Once these sub-features get created, they will be updated whenever the Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature is Refreshed. If you have modified the name of the sub-feature, the user assigned name will be retained. If a sub-feature is no longer in the CAD system, it is retained, but marked with a warning that it was not updated. Likewise, if during a Refresh, the option to import a sub-feature type is changed to no, then the existing sub-features of that type will remain (in the feature Tree Outline and graphics) and be marked with the not updated warning. If a sub-feature is deleted, then it will remain deleted even when its parent feature is refreshed. If you really need to get the sub-feature back, you will need to insert a new Import External Geometry File and Attach to Active CAD Geometry feature.