Configurations and Representations

Use configurations to maintain a common set or series of designs. Use representations to control the view and positional aspects of the design.

Configurations

Use iParts, and iAssemblies to manage product configurations. Use Model States to manage manufacturing stages and assembly level features or a set of designs.

Edit Scope

The following settings determine how Model States, iParts and iAssemblies react to edits. All members respond to edits when Edit Factory Scope is enabled. Only the active member responds to edits when Edit Member Scope is enabled. To change the scope settings:

Note: Delete is a global operation and ignores the Edit Member Scope setting. To remove a feature or component from participating in the active member, enable Edit Member Scope and edit the table.

To remove members from participation:

You can also change the scope settings in the browser. Click Toggle Edit Scope to toggle between Edit Member Scope and Edit Factory Scope.

Edit Member Scope applies edits to the active member. Edit Factory Scope applies edits to all members. In the following image, Edit Member Scope is enabled on the left, and Edit Factory Scope is enabled on the right.

Representations

Use representations to maintain a group of saved states and attributes for a document.

Tip: Right-click the Representations folder in the browser to set the desired representations.

How do I know which one to use?

The following chart contains a description of the usage and areas of impact for the configurations and representations. Use this information to determine the appropriate type and combination to use.

Tool View Position Model States iParts/iAssemblies
PurposeVisibility state, color overrides, camera position, section view, sketch, dimension, annotation, and work feature visibilityDisplay assemblies in different physical positions or statesCreate table driven parts and assemblies in a single file.Primary model generates table driven parts and assemblies. Each member is stored in a separate file that can be managed and released.
Separate filesNoNoNoYes
Used to manageVisibility and other view attributesConstraint value, grounding status, positional offset valuesFeature and component suppression, assembly simplification (substitutes)Component exclusion, part feature suppression (and other configuration properties)
Effect on graphics windowMultipleModifies position of assembly componentsModel display changes to reflect active memberModel display changes to reflect active table row
Effect on assembly BOM and drawing manager parts listYes (parts list can be filtered to show only design view members)NoYes

Suppressed components do not participate in the BOM or Parts List

Yes

Excluded components do not participate in the BOM or Parts List

Drawing manager command accessBase View, Edit ViewBase View, Edit View (for Base View only)Base View, Edit View (view can display any of the defined configurations)Base View, Edit View (view can display any of the defined configurations)
Usage in drawing managerCreating custom, or specialty views without reorganizing the assembly. Speed up view generation, filter the parts list to show only design view membersShowing assemblies in different positionsDocumenting manufacturing stages, assembly features, or a set of designsDocumenting product families and variants
Note: *View representations can lower graphics memory consumption and speed up view creation because hidden lines are not calculated for invisible components. They can also affect system memory. If an assembly is loaded using a View representation, not all portions of the invisible file(s) are loaded into memory. However, if all components are turned on, all segments are loaded into memory. Once loaded, turning visibility off does not unload any part of the file from memory.