Overview of Bodies in 3D CAD

Sheet Bodies in 3D-CAD

Sheet bodies are composed from surfaces that have zero-thickness.

Sheet bodies appear in a brown color in the 3D-CAD View scene, and are identified by a icon in the Body Groups node.

The green edges on a sheet body correspond to free edges, and indicate the outer perimeter of the sheet body. See Free Edge.

Solid Bodies in 3D CAD

Solid bodies are closed bodies that have a finite volume.

Solid bodies appear in a gray color in the 3D-CAD View scene, and identified by a icon in the Body Groups node.

Faceted Solids and Faceted Sheets

Faceted solids and faceted sheets are light-weight representations of geometry based on tessellated faces.

Faceted models enable you to import large geometric models into 3D-CAD based on the light-weight (faceted) data only. These models can also be converted to geometry parts for use in meshing. For large models, this approach reduces the amount of bulk memory storage required and time required for processing.

Faceted solids appear in a silver color in the 3D-CAD View scene, and are identified by a icon in the Body Groups node.

Faceted sheets appear in a yellow color in the 3D-CAD View scene, and are identified by a icon in the Body Groups node.

Green edges on a sheet body correspond to free edges, and indicate the outer perimeter of the sheet body. See Free Edge.

A model containing both faceted bodies and faceted sheets appear in a black color in the 3D-CAD View scene.

The following file formats can be imported into 3D-CAD as faceted bodies or sheets:
  • .jt - JT Open B-rep files
  • .stl - STL files
  • .dbs - SQLBase file
  • .plmxml - PLMXML files containing faceted files as parts
  • All major CAD formats

Body Groups

Body groups are collections of bodies (solid bodies or sheet bodies) that are organized in a hierarchy. Body groups are similar to assemblies in other commercial CAD software packages with the exception that body groups do not have any assembly constraints. If you select a body or body group in the 3D-CAD tree, it automatically gets highlighted in the 3D-CAD scene, this option also works vice-versa.

Body groups are identified by a icon in the Body Groups node.

Solid bodies and sheet bodies do not require body groups and can exist at the same level as body groups.

To organise bodies using body groups:

  1. Right-click the Body Groups node and select Create Body Group.
  2. In the Body Groups node, click and drag the bodies into the body group.
You can create a body group for the selected bodies, name the body group, and change the parent body group of all bodies in a single operation:
  1. Select the bodies you want to add to a new body group.
  2. Right-click a selected body and choose New Body Group.
  3. In the New Body Group panel, you can:
    • Name the body group.
    • Add or remove bodies.
    • Choose the parent body group. If one of the selected bodies already has a parent, this is automatically selected.
  4. To delete all empty body groups:
    1. Right-click the Body Groups node and select Delete Empty Body Groups.

You can create additional body groups and move these body groups into other body groups to further organise the geometry model into sub-assemblies.

Naming Bodies and Body Groups

The names that are given to bodies in 3D-CAD are preserved when you use them to create geometry parts outside 3D-CAD. Bodies that have no given name are labelled as Default.

To set the name of a body:
  1. Right-click on the relevant body node and select Rename.
  2. In the inline editor, enter the new name for the body.
  3. To confirm the change, press <Enter>.