Hi guys.  Greg, thanks for the "assemble by 3 points" demo.  But alas, that doesn't work either.  Your example worked fine of course.   Is it possible that my assemblies have a different origin than the model, and they move relative to their own origin ?  I'm really stumped, please see what I'm talking about, here's two files:

The first, "monitor wall" shows the floor, walls and the correctly-positioned monitor wall frame.  I couldn't even tell you what jockying I did to get it into place.  The other file "1399 large frame" contains the frame as you see it in the other drawing. 

Open "monitor wall", and insert "1399 large frame".  Select the imported assembly, and move it onto the correctly-positioned frame already in the drawing using 'assemble by 3 points'.  When I do this, the assembly does *not* go to the right place.

These assemblies are imported from DesignCAD, but I have the same problem with an ACIS  monitor arm file I got from the manufacturer.  Does it have something to do with the origin of the assembly vs the origin of the current drawing ?

What is going on ?  Thanks !

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If I may jump in here...

Assemble by 3 Points worked for me in your files, but first I had to Group the inserted contents of 1399 Large Frame, 'cuz it's a collection of individual components. The Assembly operation was rather tedious because the object contains so MANY vertices that one has to zoom way in to select a source vertex, and then zoom way in again to select a destination vertex -- then repeat for the second pair of vertices, then do it once more for the third pair. But the operation did put 1399 Large Frame in exactly the same place as the existing frame.

Henry H

Well Henry, that it worked OK for you is even more frustrating !  I'm using v16.1 Build 47.5 if that makes any difference.  So I tried again using the same files I posted.  Opened "monitor wall" and inserted file "1399 Large Frame".  (BTW, the box around the left feet was so I'd have an easy place to pick a vertice or facet for positioning)

The inserted file came in way off to the side (I still haven't learned how to setup a place for the inserted file to appear).  So I zoom to extents, select the large frame and group it.  Drag move (yellow dot) the imported frame into the same visual area as the rest of the drawing for better zooming-in.  Rotate frame to correct orientation.  Zoom in and use the corner vertices of the angle blocks in the lower braces for assemble by 3 points.  NO JOY !

So now try this:  Attached is the drawing after importing the frame file.  I've grouped the imported frame, moved it to a closer visual position, and then drawn lines between frames to indicate where to pair vertices for assemble by 3 points.  When I do that operation, though, the frame appears to move into the right position, but rolling around examining the model shows that it's not.  Can anyone else duplicate this problem ? 

WTF ??  Is there some system or program setting I'm missing ?  Same problem whether I'm in ortho mode or not.  It's driving me crazy.

Thanks.
Steve



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Well Henry, that it worked OK for you is even more frustrating !  I'm using v16.1 Build 47.5 if that makes any difference.  So I tried again using the same files I posted.  Opened "monitor wall" and inserted file "1399 Large Frame".  (BTW, the box around the left feet was so I'd have an easy place to pick a vertice or facet for positioning)

The inserted file came in way off to the side (I still haven't learned how to setup a place for the inserted file to appear).  So I zoom to extents, select the large frame and group it.  Drag move (yellow dot) the imported frame into the same visual area as the rest of the drawing for better zooming-in.  Rotate frame to correct orientation.  Zoom in and use the corner vertices of the angle blocks in the lower braces for assemble by 3 points.  NO JOY !

So now try this:  Attached is the drawing after importing the frame file.  I've grouped the imported frame, moved it to a closer visual position, and then drawn lines between frames to indicate where to pair vertices for assemble by 3 points.  When I do that operation, though, the frame appears to move into the right position, but rolling around examining the model shows that it's not.  Can anyone else duplicate this problem ?  

WTF ??  Is there some system or program setting I'm missing ?  Same problem whether I'm in ortho mode or not.  It's driving me crazy.

Thanks.
Steve

Here's your drawing back, Steve, with your lines replaced by 3D Polylines, which connect to the Assembly vertices no matter which view you use. Assembly by 3 Points works just fine using those vertices. You still must zoom in really close to be sure of picking the correct points.

I'm using 16.2, BTW, but 16.1 should be OK.

*EDIT* I saved the drawing in v15 format and tried the exercise in 15.2. Works fine there, too.

Henry H

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