Creating a Swept Volume

You can review the total space taken up by a particular assembly path by creating a swept volume of a part as it moves along that path. You can compute the swept volume from a track, an animation, or an assembly sequence.

This task shows you how to:

Compute a Swept Volume of a Track or Assembly Sequence

You can create a representation of a swept volume and use it to verify that your assembly path does not come into clash with objects.

Before you begin: Open a manufacturing simulation containing a track or an assembly sequence that contains tracks.

  1. Open the Excitations panel, right-click the thumbnail of the track or assembly sequence, and select Compute Swept Volume.
    The Swept Volume dialog box appears.
  2. Modify any options necessary and click OK.
    The representation of the swept volume opens in a new tab.

The representation of the swept volume can be saved; the image shows an assembly sequence that comprises two tracks. It appears in the tree as part of the model content.

Note: All the tracks included in an assembly sequence are considered when creating a swept volume. However, the order of the tracks in the sequence can influence the resulting swept volume.

Create a Swept Volume from an Animation

You can compute a swept volume from an animation you have created.

Before you begin: Open a manufacturing simulation containing an animation of content that follows at least one track.
  1. Open the Results panel, right-click the thumbnail of the animation, and select Compute Swept Volume.
    The Swept Volume dialog box appears.
  2. Modify any options necessary and click OK.
    The representation of the swept volume opens in a new tab.