Sweep a part/assembly to create swept volume

[PeterKehoe]

When dealing with parts that move in an assembly, it is often helpful to know exactly what the swept volume of the moving parts is to ensure that there is no interference with other parts that move. The current process is to tediously move the moving parts step-by-step and do an interference check at each step. Instead, we'd like the abilty to specify a part or assembly plus a distance/direction or axis/angle and have that part or assembly be moved along the specified transformation to create a "swept volume" for the part/assembly. That swept volume could then be used to visualize the path of the part/assembly and used to check interference between the part/assembly as it moves compared to the stationary parts.

[ThomasKirkman]

This is possible with advanced assembly.  You can define moves and have parts move until there is a clash,  You can also automatically create an array of parts similar to how you are manually creating the move above.  However, this is faster and easier.

Regards

Tom

[JariElomaa]

I think this can be done by creating a motion envelope in motion analysis. http://youtu.be/qZCStk9TqV4

To have the envelope stay, save the analysis as a feature.

[PeterKehoe]

Moving until there is a clash can help determine IF there is a clash (although I've found it not always reliable), but it doesn't help me try to design to avoid a clash.

Creating an array of shared parts is the best workaround for now, especially if the motion is simple (linear or radial). But it can be tedious for complex motion (think about a mechanism where multiple parts are moving at the same time).

[PeterKehoe]

I'm sorry, but that won't help since that functionality is in Creo Parametric and I'm running Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.