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Organizing Mates in the Instance Tree

joshua_meadowcroftjoshua_meadowcroft Member Posts: 10
edited May 2016 in Community Support
Hi All.  I recently started building my first assembly.  A collaborator on the assembly shared a file with me that was originally a STP file.  In Onshape there the easy Copy/Paste feature to move one part into another document.  However, with the STP file that feature seemed to not be available.  So, I save the file to my computer and uploaded it into a new document and then was able to add the part into my assembly.  Howeve, when I reloaded it, the Mates were lost.  I replaced the mates but there not under the parts mate section.  The got placed in the general Mate Feature section in the instance tree.  Is there a way to move the mates from this part into the mates tab of the part?

Hope this makes sense.  Thanks.

Answers

  • philip_thomasphilip_thomas Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,381
    edited May 2016
    Joshua - thank you for trying Onshape.
    I will try to answer your questions - although if it sounds as though i have not fully understood what you are asking, please let me know.

    There is no file format that is transferable between two parametric CAD systems that includes Features or Mates.
    Importing a STEP (or Parasolid) file will yield; part names, part colors and assembly structure.

    You can make a copy of any document.
    You can create a new branch on any document and develop your ideas independently.
    Any part studio may be copied and pasted (non-associatively) between any two documents.
    Any part (or sketch) may be derived into the part studio of any other document (associatively)
    Any part may be inserted into the assembly of any other document (associatively)
    Any assembly may 
    be inserted into the assembly of any other document (associatively)

    I hope that what you're looking for will be covered by one of these scenarios - if not, please feel free to ask more questions.

    :)
    Philip Thomas - Onshape
  • joshua_meadowcroftjoshua_meadowcroft Member Posts: 10
    Thanks Philip,
    This does help me to understand the overall features better.  In my case, my collaborator had not heard of OnShape and has been very familiar with Inventor.  He drew a part for me in Inventor and then created an OnShape account, imported the STP file and re-added the mates that were lost.  He then shared that part with me.  At this point I thought I could just copy and paste then part into the assembly I'm working on.  But that option was not found when I right-clicked on the tab, like it was for the other parts I designed in OnShape.  I'm assuming because it was originally a STP file.  But I'm not sure.  I hope this clarifies.   Also, my collaborator is thrilled so far with OnShape. :smile:
  • brucebartlettbrucebartlett Member, OS Professional, Mentor, User Group Leader Posts: 2,137 PRO
    Hi Joshua,

    You can not copy a assembly tab the same as you can with the part studio, hopefully this is functionality which will be added soon. You also can not replace a part with a new part picking up the old parts mates, it would be awesome if this were to be come available too. 

    However you can insert assemblies into each other and use the RMB "copy" to copy groups of parts from a sub assy to the top assy while maintaining mates, you can also drag parts from a between assemblies and create a new sub assembly if required, this also works on parts and assy's linked from other doc's. Not sure if this helps.

    Bruce
    Engineer ı Product Designer ı Onshape Consulting Partner
    Twitter: @onshapetricks  & @babart1977   
  • lanalana Onshape Employees Posts: 689
    @joshua_meadowcroft

    If your collaborator publishes a version in his document, you will be able to insert his part into an assembly in your document. via linked documents. 
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