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Editing parts from within an Assembly, AKA referring to external Parts

Parts can't be edited from within an assembly.
Are there any plans to be able to do this? I can't imagine how this would work since a Part is defined within a Part Studio and may require the context of other parts in order to edit it. I do the majority of my roughing out work in an assembly, and a Part Studio works well for that. However, when I incorporate bought-out items, I can only include them in the assembly (they belong to a different Part Studio).
So what to do when you want to refer to Parts from another Part Studio in your design?
A simple example here is: What if I want to include a bearing in my assembly, and I want to make a housing for that bearing. I can't simply refer to the faces of the bearing in order to create a cut-out for it in my housing. At the moment I have to measure the bearing, and create geometry to conform to the measure.
If you could include a reference from a Part Studio to a Part from another Part Studio would that help? It would solve my problem, but it would also cause a few problems of its own. The Part would not be editable, but you could use edges in a sketch, surfaces for an extrude, or in boolean operations.
Are there any plans to be able to do this? I can't imagine how this would work since a Part is defined within a Part Studio and may require the context of other parts in order to edit it. I do the majority of my roughing out work in an assembly, and a Part Studio works well for that. However, when I incorporate bought-out items, I can only include them in the assembly (they belong to a different Part Studio).
So what to do when you want to refer to Parts from another Part Studio in your design?
A simple example here is: What if I want to include a bearing in my assembly, and I want to make a housing for that bearing. I can't simply refer to the faces of the bearing in order to create a cut-out for it in my housing. At the moment I have to measure the bearing, and create geometry to conform to the measure.
If you could include a reference from a Part Studio to a Part from another Part Studio would that help? It would solve my problem, but it would also cause a few problems of its own. The Part would not be editable, but you could use edges in a sketch, surfaces for an extrude, or in boolean operations.
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Comments
This is extremely high on our list of things we will be addressing. We are planning for the ability to edit in the context of an assembly.
Joe
I don't think SW did a good job with assy's and I'm hoping OS does better.
OS is on the right track, loosing all the file references is a good start, and bringing multi-body parts front and center is a good start, but I would like to see more.