Forum Discussion

_marco_'s avatar
_marco_
Ideator I
21 days ago

Solid Edge derived part (Part Copy of a Part Copy) → empty 3D viewable, conversion task "Succeeded"

Hi all,

We're seeing an empty 3D viewable for some Solid Edge parts, and we'd like to know whether anyone has hit the same thing. 

 

Environment

- Aras Innovator 20

- Aras 3D Visualization , Monolithic + Dynamic Viewer (no Streaming)

- Solid Edge 2025

- Conversion rule: "Aras 3D CAD to PDF Conversion", file type "Solid Edge Part"

 

Scenario

A 2-level chain of derived parts, built with Solid Edge Part Copy:

PART_C.par (Part Copy of PART_B) → viewable EMPTY

└─ PART_B.par (Part Copy of PART_A) → viewable OK

      └─ PART_A.par (base part) → viewable OK

 

  1. Is it a known limitation or issue that a part with CAD Structure children is converted as a dynamic-assembly root and loses its own body, specifically with 2+ levels below it?
  2. Is this specific to Solid Edge Part Copy, or have you seen it with other derived-part mechanisms (SolidWorks derived parts, Inventor derived components, NX WAVE)?

 

Thanks, Marco.

3dv: 3d visualization
CAD
Visual Collaboration

1 Reply

  • _marco_'s avatar
    _marco_
    Ideator I
    6 days ago

    Update / resolution

    A follow-up for anyone who runs into this. Aras Support confirmed it is standard behavior. It is not a conversion problem and it is not specific to Solid Edge Part Copy.

    - The conversion itself is fine. The tasks complete successfully, the viewable contains the part's body, and the standard 3D Viewer shows it correctly.

    - The Dynamic Viewer builds the scene when it opens, by reading the CAD Structure. Innovator treats any CAD item that has CAD Structure rows as an assembly, and in the Dynamic Viewer an assembly's own geometry is not displayed. Only its children are shown.

    - So a derived part whose source part is linked as a CAD Structure child shows only the source body. One level is enough to reproduce this; you don't need a 2-level chain.

    - We confirmed it on clean test data. If we remove the CAD Structure row, the Dynamic Viewer immediately shows the correct shape without any re-conversion. If we add the row back, the problem comes back.

    Workarounds: use the standard 3D Viewer for these parts, or don't store the Part Copy source as a CAD Structure child of the derived part (e.g. adjust the CAD connector/save logic, or model the relationship as a separate assembly that contains both parts, as Aras suggested).

     

    My second question is still open: has anyone seen the same thing with other CAD connectors that add derived-part sources to CAD Structure (SolidWorks, Inventor, NX)? I'd expect the same behavior there.

     

     Thanks, Marco.