Basic Concepts

In Natural Assembly, you work in two different authoring views: 3D design view and turntable view. In the 3D design view, a smart selection ladder and 3D bounding boxes work together to let you graphically navigate and explore the structure of complex assemblies without losing your context.

This page discusses:

See Also
Changing to Turntable View
Choosing the Right Context
Using 3D Bounding Boxes to Move 3D Parts and Products
Assembling the Two Case Halves

Authoring Views

3D design view
Lets you create and compose projects, and move and position 3D parts and products.
Turntable view
Dedicated to working on structure, lets you edit and navigate product structures, and compose your design using search and insert capabilities. 3D parts and products are visualized on turntables.
For specialized product types with no associated geometry (under Types in the New Content dialog box), a thumbnail (simplified representation) of the type is displayed.

To change view, click the 3D Design-Turntable switch displayed in the lower-right corner of the work area.

You can change the viewpoint in each view independently, and provided you remain within the same tab when you switch between views, the last viewpoint specified is retrieved.

Smart Selection Ladder

In the 3D design view, a smart selection ladder appears in the lower-right corner of the work area when you select a part and move the pointer over the 3D Design-Turntable switch.

Moving up and down the ladder lets you explore the structure:

  • The bright blue rung and selection ladder hand identify the active structure level.

    Tip: Drag the selection ladder hand or double-click a rung to change the active structure level and select parts in this level.
  • Symbols to the left on the rungs of the ladder identify the object type: product , 3D part .
  • A thumbnail replaces the 3D Design-Turntable switch and shows the parts at the current structure level.
  • Dynamic highlighting in the 3D also provides feedback about the current level and particularly which parts belong to this level.
  • Parts not in the active structure level are transparent.The selection ladder hand appears dimmed when you move over the corresponding rung.

3D Bounding Box

In the 3D design view, 3D bounding boxes help identify the assembly of parts you want to move as well as help you choose the right active structure level when using the smart selection ladder.

A bounding box appears when you select a part. By default, it is orange and has handles that enable you to move and position 3D parts and products.

A set of bounding boxes from the root to the selected part and corresponding to the various structure levels in the work area appear when you move over the 3D Design-Turntable switch.

To...Then...
Highlight parts at a given structure levelMove over a box.
Select parts at a given structure level Click a box.

You can then cut, copy, delete and paste selected parts.

Change the active structure levelDouble-click a box.