protect model information

I have a large assembly of a machine. I want to give this to a consultant
company for them to incorporate it in a model of the building where the
machine is supposed to be.

How do I "protect" the assembly from being taken apart and investigated?

Can I "compile" a model from the assembly - and then also make it smaller?

Steve

 

You can export it out as .SAT or something.

WT

 

You can also save as a part in 2003.

Dave H

 

Save the assy as a part...and use only surfaces

Krister

steve <> skrev i
diskussionsgruppsmeddelandet:3faaaeda$0$27474$.
...

 

Steve,

Only give them as much as they need. Supress all internal details, "join"
all parts in an assembly, convert to parasolid. This will give them a
monolithic block that represents enough for a floor layout.

Regards

Mark

 

I second Krister's method- has worked best for me in this situation

 

Depending on complexity, the surfaces technique may slow things down
significantly, but check it out to see if it works for you.

There's another interesting method if you want to check it out. Save
your model as an STL file, then open it in SolidWorks, and in the open
dialog, hit the Options button. You can then bring it in as a "graphics
body". This gives you visual data, but no solid geometry (like an
eDrawing, or a permanently lightweight part), so it can be put in an
assembly, but cannot be measured or "FeatureWorksed". It can't be mated
either, which is an obvious drawback, but you could use planes to
position it.

On the downside, I've tried to make patterns of graphics bodies, and it
doesn't work the way you might expect it to..., and there are a few other
quirks, but it might be worth investigating.

matt

 

i third. save external faces. this will get rid of geomitry that you
can not see from the outside.

 

I just tried that - looks good - and can then be used in SW.

Can I somehow get rid of all the original parts in the feature tree? (now I
have like "green sheets" representing the surface of each original part)

Steve

 

I'm not sure about it ...but I don't think You can. Maybe someone else can
fill in with more details here.

Krister L

 

with a small macro you can:
1) hide the features (surfaces) from the feature manager. I don't know if it
is possible to hide also the "surface bodies". Note that the macro can
easily be modified to show the features again, so it is not really a
"protection"
2) change the names of all surfaces so that they don't match the parn name
anymore.
Is this what you want ?