[Sort of Solved]Assembly 3 Help Needed - All Bodies in same file - but need multiple copies of some

[LHC]

My study of the Assembly 3 workbench continues......

I think I know the answer to this, but I figured I better get some clarification before I get buried in the details.

I have a freecad document with a number of bodies in it that I have designed "in place" with a few shapebinders etc to make sure holes line up etc.

Now I want to make an assembly 3 with these parts - and some of them need multiples. With the parts in separate files, I see in jpg87's videos where you press CTRL and drag the body from one file to the assembly 3 container in the other, and it appears in there as a link to the file. There is a setting then in the property window that allows you to make a number of copies (instances) of this.

With all the bodies originating in the same file, the CTRL drag does not produce the same result - it simply moves the body from outside the assembly 3 object to inside it, and there is no property window setting to increase the number of copies when the body is highlighted.

Does the correct way to do this involve using the "make link" function? ie, I can make a link to the body, then drag the link into the assembly 3 container, and then in there I can go into the property window and set the number of instances?

EDIT - I did a quick check of this but it ended up with a bit of a confusing list of "i0..." , "i1..." items that are grouped under a main link to the body. Perhaps the i numbers are instance numbers but that didn't happen when I had bodies in separate files and CTRL dragged them in.

Hope I'm making sense here. Thanks !

Lewis

[jpg87]

With all the bodies originating in the same file, the CTRL drag does not produce the same result - it simply moves the body from outside the assembly 3 object to inside it, and there is no property window setting to increase the number of copies when the body is highlighted.

Does the correct way to do this involve using the "make link" function? ie, I can make a link to the body, then drag the link into the assembly 3 container, and then in there I can go into the property window and set the number of instances?

I noticed the same thing and I have to bypass the same reflex which consists in creating a link to find the "Count element" parameter. This deserves some clarification.

EDIT - I did a quick check of this but it ended up with a bit of a confusing list of "i0..." , "i1..." items that are grouped under a main link to the body. Perhaps the i numbers are instance numbers but that didn't happen when I had bodies in separate files and CTRL dragged them in.

"i0 ...", "i1 ..." are the links relating to the different instances of the multiple component. Each will have its own elements to be constrained to other components.

[bambuko]

Yes, you are making sense
I had exactly the same problem...
That's because the tutorials are mostly about separate files, instead what you are doing i.e. single file.
Things behave slightly differently...
You can use Link multiple times or do what you did (i.e. increase count)
Both result in multiple linked "copies"
PS I am not an expert - just on the same journey that you are on

[LHC]

Thanks lads ! Nice to know I'm not alone on this journey of discovery at least
I didn't try the multiple link button press version but will give that a go shortly. There's obviously room for improvement to smooth out the "user experience" here but anything is better than nothing. Poor realthunder is probably sleeping 1 hour a night lately trying to get the topo naming fix incorporated into the main line FreeCad, so I won't pester him with this if there's a suitable workaround.

I'm liking the Assembly3 workbench in general, but there are a few quirks that I can see are going to tie me up in knots later for sure. The abilty to select elements and slap constraints on things with wreckless abandon, and not bothering to name the constraints and elements is going to bite me good soon ! I need to force myself to rename things as I go to prevent a mess.

Cheers,
Lewis

[LHC]

Back again - I tried the process of creating links with the link button and then moving all the instances into the assembly. This works well. However, I thought I would clean things up by putting the multiple instances into a group, but this seems to void the visibility option for the individual instances. ie I can't seem to turn them on and off anymore once they are inside the group folder....