how best to use assemblies

don_howe

I'm developing a model for a 74 gun ship from days of sail. I have a part studio which will contain the keel and other skeletal features. I created a hull document to lay off the hull profiles at each station. I did this approach because my part studio tree was getting long and cumbersome and because the hull studio made it easier to lay off the profiles, it was just cleaner in my mind to do it this way. I only have a few profiles started and was looking for away to add my profiles to the assembly and see the overall progress. I recently asked OS support how to add my sketches to my assembly and received a reply about using derived sketches. So I asked for an explanation 

"The missing piece for you is to only use your assembly for motion. You would use a part studio to do your assembly layout. You could derive sketches into the part studio where your product layout is occurring. This would be a good topic for the forums to see how people are approaching their designs using Onshape. I know of at least a few people that are using the method I just described. Those people are also on the forums quite a bit." 

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/dc1712de51714aaf81b70417/w/155bffad7ba247e59f37be9a/e/76a9d0eddf1e447aa004416e

Am I using OS correctly.
Do you agree with OS reply?

don_howe

I think since this post the file name has changed so that might be why the link is broke? Otherwise it is a public document. I was aware of the ability to insert sketches and surfaces into the assembly as you have noted, thanks for letting me know though. I know a lot of OS users build everything in one part studio and this is fine as long as they don't mind sifting through a enormous feature tree. I like creating individual parts and creating an assembly. I guess I've been around SW to long. 

bradley_sauln

Hey @don_howe we have actually released the ability to insert sketches and surfaces into assemblies: https://www.onshape.com/cad-blog/whats-new-in-onshapes-latest-update-09/15/2016.

When I went to go view the document you have linked, it was unable to open. It looks like you may have removed the sharing permissions. Let me know if that link helps or if you need further help.

don_howe

I think since this post the file name has changed so that might be why the link is broke? Otherwise it is a public document. I was aware of the ability to insert sketches and surfaces into the assembly as you have noted, thanks for letting me know though. I know a lot of OS users build everything in one part studio and this is fine as long as they don't mind sifting through a enormous feature tree. I like creating individual parts and creating an assembly. I guess I've been around SW to long. 

edward_petrillo

@don_howe, I've worked with a few models where the tree grew way too big, so I began to apply a "leapfrogging" approach.  Make a judicious choice of a key part in a parts studio and derive it into a new PS, then grow the model further from that part in the new PS.  Keep the studios open in separate tabs.  You can then create a complete assembly by inserting the entire studios and removing the redundant part.  The smaller trees are easier to manage.