About Opening Designs From 3DEXPERIENCE Database

Opening a design copies it from the 3DEXPERIENCE database to your computer and opens or inserts it in another design open in Inventor depending on your choice.

Your preference settings and the global preferences set by the Integration Administrator control the open process. You can open a design to download a file updated by another user or to modify the design in Inventor.

You can use the Open option to open designs from 3DEXPERIENCE database in Inventor or the Insert option to insert the design from 3DEXPERIENCE database in the currently active design in Inventor.

This page discusses:

About Iterations and Revisions

This section explains the behavior of iterations and revisions when you use the open or insert functionality.

When you search for a design that has multiple revisions, then each revision is listed in a separate row.

For any specific revision of a design, all iterations from the revision are listed in the drop-down in the Revision (Rev) column. By default, the latest iteration of this design appears in the search results. You can select other iterations from the revision using the available drop down menu.

If the selected design has child designs then, on expanding the selected revision of the parent design and applying the selected Document Iteration view, the relevant child designs as per this view are displayed below it.

By default, the Latest Revision is the Document Iteration view. You can select a Document Iteration view as per your requirement. For more information, see Document Filter Options.

Document Iteration view is not applied on the root design. It is applied only on the child designs. For any root design, you can select an iteration using the drop down menu.

By applying the "As Built" Document Iteration view on the non-latest iterations in a revision of the root design, you can open the As Built structure of those specific iterations of the root. If the "As Built" Document Iteration view is applied on the latest iteration in a revision of the root design, then the As Built structure of the revision is retrieved.

If there are new iterations only for sub structures below a root design (E.g.: sub-assemblies or for the components within an assembly / drawing), the children will have multiple iterations, while the root design has only one iteration.

In such a case, to work on a specific iteration of the child design, you need to specifically search for the child to open its specific iteration from 3DEXPERIENCE database.

In case of an iteration conflict during 3DEXPERIENCE -> Open or Insert, the latest iteration from the conflicting iterations is opened from 3DEXPERIENCE database.

About Opening Designs With Attachments

Attachments are files that are embedded or linked to a Inventor design.

If you open a part, assembly, or drawing that has a linked attachment in Connector for Inventor, the attachment is also opened along with the model.

The 3DEXPERIENCE Open dialog box does not display the attachment in the structure of the design. The attachments are copied with the design from 3DEXPERIENCE database to the specified Checkout directory.

Attribute Synchronize

Attribute synchronization ensures that the attributes in the design file on your computer match the attributes of the associated 3DEXPERIENCE object.

Attributes are synchronized each time you open a design in Inventor.

If you are not connected to ENOVIA while opening a design, the 3DEXPERIENCE Attribute Synchronization message is displayed. Click Login to 3DEXPERIENCE to launch the 3DEXPERIENCE Login dialog box or click Continue Load to load the design without synchronizing attributes.

For example, the Description attribute in ENOVIA is mapped to the Comments attribute on CAD file and a User A modifies the Description attribute of a design Part A in ENOVIA. If you search and open Part A from ENOVIA while being connected to ENOVIA,, then the attributes are copied from ENOVIA to the Inventor file.

You can open a design using the following menu:

  • 3DEXPERIENCE > Open
  • 3DEXPERIENCE > Insert
  • Local file open in Inventor

The attributes are copied only if CAD to ENOVIA attribute mapping is defined for the GCO assigned to your role and if the attribute on the ENOVIA object is different from what is defined on the CAD file.

Note: In Connector for Inventor for open and insert operations, the attribute mapping of ENOVIA to CAD Relationship is not supported.

You can also synchronize the attributes when you save designs to 3DEXPERIENCE database.

Your Integration Administrator specifies which attributes and properties can be synchronized. For details on mapping attributes and enforcing attribute synchronization, see Connector for Inventor - Installation and Administration : Attributes.

About Opening Multiple Designs

Using 3DEXPERIENCE Open or 3DEXPERIENCE Insert dialog box, you can search, select, and open or insert multiple designs from ENOVIA in Inventor.

The global preferences set by the Integration Administrator or the options selected in 3DEXPERIENCE Options dialog box are applied for all the selected designs.

Preferences that are enforced by the Integration Administrator cannot be modified.

Selected designs are opened in the working directory and loaded to the active session.

When multiple designs are selected to open simultaneously, then a conflict may occur Latest Version rule is not enforced by the business process. Multiple iterations of the same design cannot be opened at the same time.

For example, when iteration 1 of component X that is not a part of any assembly and iteration 3 of the same component that is a part of the assembly are selected in the 3DEXPERIENCE Open dialog box. If you open the selected designs and a version conflict occurs, the version conflict is resolved automatically and the latest version is downloaded and opened.

About 3D Exposition

You can expose the positional matrix of Inventor Assembly occurrences in 3DEXPERIENCE upon checking in the assembly.

The positional matrix is exposed as a relationship attribute named “spatial location”.

The positional matrix of the assembly is retrieved from Inventor and stored on CADSubComponent relationship in ENOVIA upon saving the assembly.

ENOVIA to CAD Relationship attribute mapping is not supported.

To enable this, you need to select the Copy Relationship Attribute in the Preferences and mapping should be present for CAD to ENOVIA relationship attribute with its value in respective GCO. For more information on the attribute and its value, see the Connector for Inventor - Installation and Administration : Setting Up and Configuring : Setting Preferences and Connector for Inventor - Installation and Administration : Setting Up and Configuring : Relationship Attribute Support.