Bodies and Multi-Body Parts
Solid bodies
A part can contain several solid bodies. A boss that doesn't touch the existing material makes a new body; untick Merge result to keep a touching boss separate. A cut that slices a body in two leaves two bodies.
The Solid Bodies (n) folder at the top of the tree lists the bodies:
- Click a body to select and highlight it.
- Double-click (or right-click ▸ Rename) to name it. Unnamed bodies are named after the last feature that changed them.
- Bodies are identified by the feature that created them, so names and materials stay attached when you change dimensions.
- Folders: right-click ▸ Add to New Folder or Move to folder to organise bodies.
- Identical bodies are listed once with their count (×N). Open the item to see each body. Right-click for Isolate, Hide or Show all of them. Identical means the same volume, surface area, principal moments of inertia, handedness and material (and for sheet metal, the same thickness and flat pattern).
Body Properties
Right-click a body (tree or view) ▸ Body Properties…. It holds the body's name, material, description and any number of custom properties (name/value pairs such as part number or finish). It also shows the body's mass, volume, area and centre of mass. For sheet metal bodies it adds the sheet data (Sheet Metal chapter).
Materials
The Material item in the tree sets the part material (Tools ▸ Edit Material…). A body set to Use part material follows it. A body given its own material keeps it when the part material changes and is drawn in that material's colour. Mass Properties adds up every body with its own density. The material list is in Appendix B.
Appearance
Right-click a face ▸ Appearance… or a body ▸ Body Appearance… to give it a colour, or Default colour to set it back. Face colours stay with their face when the model changes. A body's own appearance wins over its material colour and over colours imported from a STEP file.
Exploded views of a part
A part with two or more bodies can have exploded views: Insert ▸ Exploded View…, or right-click the Solid Bodies folder. Only the display moves; the model stays as it is. The steps are made as for an assembly (see Exploded views in the Assemblies chapter).
Combine and Subtract Bodies
Combine joins bodies with Add, Subtract or Common; the first body clicked is the main body. Subtract Bodies picks a cutting body and target body; Consume cutting body (on by default) removes the cutting body afterwards.
Split
Cuts bodies into separate bodies with a plane, a flat face or a surface body. With a plane or face you can keep all the pieces or just the piece on one side.
Move/Copy Bodies
Moves or copies solid and surface bodies.
- By coordinates: ΔX/ΔY/ΔZ plus a rotation about X/Y/Z or a reference axis, through the axis or the bodies' centre. Copies repeat the step.
- With mates: Coincident, Distance, Parallel, Perpendicular, Angle and Concentric between an entity of the moving bodies (face, edge, vertex) and fixed geometry (another body, a plane, axis or point). Flip alignment turns a mate around.
Delete Body
Removes a body from the model from that point in the history. Deleting the Delete Body feature brings the body back.