Duplicating Mechanical Representations

You can duplicate several mechanism representations to manage configured assemblies.

As you can partially load assemblies (lighter authoring sessions), the Duplicate Mechanism command reduces time consumption in configuration contexts which do not require repetitive reconnections and updates of the mechanism.

Before you begin:
  • Create a configured assembly containing kinematics (with duplicated joints).
  • The Duplicate Mechanism command can only be used on mechanism representations and, cannot be used out of a configuration context.
  1. To add a new command in the action bar, select Me > Preferences > Customize.
    The Customize dialog box opens.
  2. In the Customize dialog box, select the Sections tab to view the list of commands.
    The Categories list allows you to filter the listed commands by category.
  3. Select the required section (Mechanical Systems Design for example) and click Add commands... .
  4. In the Commands list, select Duplicate Mechanism.
  5. Click OK.
    The command is added to the selected section of the action bar.
  6. Select the mechanism to duplicate.
    You can select one or several mechanisms to duplicate.
  7. From the Mechanical Systems Design section of the action bar, click Duplicate Mechanism .

    The selected mechanisms are duplicated and automatically reconnected with the new, duplicated engineering connections. The relation has been rerouted on the correct object in the mechanism assembly in session.

    With the Reconnect Assistant, you can also reconnect the cloned mechanism, and associate the opened joints and submechanisms to the duplicated mechanism. For information, see Assembly Design User's Guide: About Reconnecting Mechanism.

The Duplicate Mechanism command does not specify any effectivity on the new representation instance. You need to build a consistent session afterward.

It creates new representations in session. These representations are similar to the mechanism representation created by the usual command. They are propagated in the database only when you require it.

You can manage specific configurations and keep one set of mechanism's per configuration filter. And you can work with partially loaded assemblies. You can thus benefit from lighter authoring sessions which are easier to manage.