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Restoring missing outlines in Assembly Drawings
andrew_troup
Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
I had a support ticket filed for incomplete display of parts in an assembly isometric view.
I just chanced to notice an RMB pick I hadn't previously seen (it may be new in this release) called "Show part intersections"
Somewhat to my surprise and relief, this resolved the problem.
Unless my situation is atypical, I think it should actually be called "Show intersecting parts"
The command is certainly more far-reaching in its effects than the following description, from "Help", suggests to me: (emphasis added by me)
Show or hide the virtual edges where parts intersect (for Assembly views only). This setting defaults to Hide for all new views to improve performance. When parts in the Assembly number less than 20, the setting is ignored and intersections are always calculated. If an Assembly view with more than 20 parts does not display correctly, toggle Show part intersections on.
Reading this, I visualised the "virtual edges where parts intersect" would be the edges which would suddenly appear in the display, in shaded view, if you carried out a boolean add operation, for several parts occupying the same space.
IOW, if a solid cylinder passed through (and normal to) a 12mm flat plate, they would be two parallel circles offset 12mm from each other.
Prior to carrying out the boolean, they would be notable by their absence.
Onshape: Please define "virtual edges"
The parts of the Help description which do tally with my situation are that my assembly had around 60 parts and there was an intersection. However the edges which had been missing were not what I describe above; they were the silhouette outline of the cylinder (straight lines), and the result of their display being suppressed by default, was that the cylinders (actually the OD of pipe handrails) became invisible all the way from the intersecting volume to the next bend in each direction
---
It may be helpful to new users of 3D solid modellers to take note that intersecting volumes are problematic for the software, in many contexts, and it pays to avoid them if you can. Even modelling interference fits can cause problems.
In my case, the intersection arose from an oversight: the pipes passed through a shroud whose cutouts had been inadvertently deleted from the tree (due to a cryptic three-factor bug: if you're running Chrome Browser on Chrome OS (ie on a Chromebook) at 90% zoom: do NOT RMB in the tree! And if you do, hit "Undo" immediately)
I just chanced to notice an RMB pick I hadn't previously seen (it may be new in this release) called "Show part intersections"
Somewhat to my surprise and relief, this resolved the problem.
Unless my situation is atypical, I think it should actually be called "Show intersecting parts"
The command is certainly more far-reaching in its effects than the following description, from "Help", suggests to me: (emphasis added by me)
Show or hide the virtual edges where parts intersect (for Assembly views only). This setting defaults to Hide for all new views to improve performance. When parts in the Assembly number less than 20, the setting is ignored and intersections are always calculated. If an Assembly view with more than 20 parts does not display correctly, toggle Show part intersections on.
Reading this, I visualised the "virtual edges where parts intersect" would be the edges which would suddenly appear in the display, in shaded view, if you carried out a boolean add operation, for several parts occupying the same space.
IOW, if a solid cylinder passed through (and normal to) a 12mm flat plate, they would be two parallel circles offset 12mm from each other.
Prior to carrying out the boolean, they would be notable by their absence.
Onshape: Please define "virtual edges"
The parts of the Help description which do tally with my situation are that my assembly had around 60 parts and there was an intersection. However the edges which had been missing were not what I describe above; they were the silhouette outline of the cylinder (straight lines), and the result of their display being suppressed by default, was that the cylinders (actually the OD of pipe handrails) became invisible all the way from the intersecting volume to the next bend in each direction
---
It may be helpful to new users of 3D solid modellers to take note that intersecting volumes are problematic for the software, in many contexts, and it pays to avoid them if you can. Even modelling interference fits can cause problems.
In my case, the intersection arose from an oversight: the pipes passed through a shroud whose cutouts had been inadvertently deleted from the tree (due to a cryptic three-factor bug: if you're running Chrome Browser on Chrome OS (ie on a Chromebook) at 90% zoom: do NOT RMB in the tree! And if you do, hit "Undo" immediately)
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In case of the simple example of a cylindrical tube partially sticking out of a cube, Without intersection the ellipse won't be computed where the cube intersects the cylinder. But because the intersection ellipse was not computed the silhouette edges of the cylinder won't transition correctly from hidden to visible at the intersection and depending on other factors the whole silhouette edge may be identified as visible or hidden. Hope this makes it more clear.
Thanks, that lines up closer than I expected with the hunch I had formed, prior to looking up help and ending up confused. I'm pleased to hear you will rephrase it. I hope you will also consider renaming the RMB menu pick.