Later in the process, you can publish these place holders into real assembly and part files, and then add geometry to the parts using the sketch data brought in from the assembly layout sketch. You can also have sheet metal virtual parts, but now (starting in ST6) that you can have sheet metal features in non-sheet metal parts, I assume this is less important than it once was (VC has been around since version 16 or 17). You can also mix real parts with these virtual components, as you can see with the last two entries in the first image. The place holders can represent parts or subassemblies. The place holders do not yet have any geometry and are not yet associated with files outside of the assembly. (Notice that virtual part and virtual assembly icons in the figure to the right are slightly different from regular part and assembly Pathfinder icons.) This list might use names, descriptions, or numbers.
![solid edge cad projects solid edge cad projects](https://solidedge.siemens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/resources-whitepaper-cad-drawings2-750x428.jpg)
This is just text within the assembly file that represents the organizational structure of the Solid Edge model. When you initially start a modeling project, you can lay out the scope of the work by creating a bill of materials in the Pathfinder. Let’s take this apart and look at the individual pieces – really three steps in a process – to understand the whole thing. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the ultimate goal of the VC process is to have a library of a bunch of pre-defined components that can be placed in layout sketches using 2D references (called component sketches), and then at some point “turn the lights on” and all the 2D turns into 3D. But with a little imagination, it’s not hard to come up with independent uses for each of these three states. I think that the intention behind VC was for the place holder – source – pre-defined process to be considered a sequential set of steps to build library parts. OR, you could think of these as three distinct states, each usable on its own.
![solid edge cad projects solid edge cad projects](https://develop3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Solid_Edge_PCB_Design_2019.jpg)
You can think of these as sequential steps with the end goal of making a library of pre-defined components that can be re-used easily in projects that use similar components arranged differently. Pre-defined components – placed in assembly using 2D sketch, but also contains 3D data.Source component – Assembly layout sketch geometry is moved into place holder parts.Place Holder– parts with no files and no geometry, they exist only in the assembly Pathfinder.
#Solid edge cad projects pdf
If you really want to understand this functionality, I recommend you do the tutorial starting on page 3-2 of this PDF document which is part of the Solid Edge Help. I’ve re-written this article 3 or 4 times as my understanding of Virtual Components (VC) has evolved.