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• Classic-Fiction

• Lost references due to renamed parts or assemblies

• Convoluted references causing long rebuild times

• Circular references causing changes with each rebuild

• External references causing conflicts with motion

• Serious difficulties between in-context techniques and configurations

• Frustrated users who don't understand how to manage changes or references in an in-context scheme

However, you can overcome these difficulties. The remainder of this chapter shows you how to make the most of in-context modeling.

For those users who prefer to use model items in drawings, in-context techniques offer some challenges. Model items are either unavailable or limited in availability for features created in-context. This is because if you have used Convert Entities to copy edges of one part to another, no dimensions have been used, so none will show up in inserted model items. In-context model items would show up when you use offset-to-offset edges or dimension sketch elements to in-context edges. Aside from these, the only model item drawings you can create are in an assembly drawing. This is one of the many reasons why you should not use model items in drawings.

Identifying alternatives to in-context modeling

One of the most frequent problems with in-context modeling is related to file management. Inexperienced users may move or rename a file or a folder in Windows Explorer and unknowingly break links, or try to use an in-context part in some assembly other than where the in-context relation was created. As a result, they may not be able to make changes that they want to make, or changes may happen when they do not want them to.

Sometimes these problems are the result of users simply not understanding what to expect from the tool, and sometimes it is because the tool is not capable of doing what they want. Right or wrong, many users have developed an irrational fear of references that can control a part from outside of the part. In-context modeling in itself is not a bad technique, but sometimes it is not the best option, depending on the particular situation. You need to understand in-context and all related techniques first before passing judgment on any of the techniques.

It's always important to identify alternative techniques because one tool never solves all possible problems. In-context modeling is powerful, but in some situations, other techniques are more appropriate. The following sections will introduce you to a couple of techniques that share with in-context the ability to control individual parts from a centralized location, but achieve that in ways that are somewhat different: Assembly layout and Multi-body modeling. Assembly layout modeling enables you to control individual parts not from other parts but from an assembly-level sketch. Multi-body modeling enables you to control several parts from a single part without worrying about the file management issues of having another assembly as the middle agent.

Using Assembly layout modeling

Assembly layouts are powerful tools that remove much of what some people object to in in-context modeling. Relationships in this technique are controlled by top-level sketches, where a single or multiple sketches can control most of the features on all parts through relationships between part sketches or features and the assembly sketch. This still creates an external reference that requires the existence of an assembly to update the relationships, but it is not a direct link between different parts in the context of the assembly.

Assembly layouts do not lend themselves well to dynamic assembly motion, but they are great if you want to have a single location to drive an entire assembly. Assembly layouts come in two types: the generic layout, which is simply done using sketches in an assembly; and the formal Layout feature, which is essentially a 3D sketch in the assembly with special properties. The Layout feature is described in more detail later in this chapter. Assembly layout sketches are covered in more detail in Chapter