Add Link

Add links (component, assembly, surface, element, tag, node) at a time to one or more connectors using the Add Link option.

  1. Right-click on the connector(s) that you wish to add links to, and then select Add Link from the context menu.


    Figure 1.
    The Add Link window opens at the bottom of the Connector Browser.
    Tip: All of the connectors highlighted in the connector list at the time the Add Link tool is enabled will be affected. If you wish to cancel the add link function, click Reject, located in the upper right-hand corner of the Add Link tool.
    The Add Link window is laid out in a table format, with each Add Link option displayed in the Name column, and the controls and values associated with each option displayed in the Value column to the right.


    Figure 2.
  2. Edit the options in the Add Link window.
    Option Description
    Add Link Determine how you will be adding links.
    Click the Value column to select one of the two Add Link options from the pull-down menu:
    From scratch
    The connector gets into an unrealized state without any link information. When selected, previous link definitions have to be removed, but the Number of Layers and Tolerance can be reused.
    To existing
    A pure adding of links following the other settings. If no links are added, the connector will remain untouched and in a realized state, as long as it was realized before.
    Layers Select the number of thicknesses (layers) for the connectors.
    Click the Value column to select one of the following Layers options from the pull-down menu:
    Keep previous
    Allows you to work with a different number of layers at one time.
    Auto by tol.
    When this option is set, a tolerance needs to be defined. All link candidates found in the tolerance will be added as links.
    Note: This option is only available when From scratch is selected above.
    Increment +
    Activates the Value column in the following row, where you can enter the number of additional layers to be added to the current number of layers for each selected connector.
    Note: This option is only available when To existing is selected above.
    Number
    Activates the Value column in the following row, where you can enter the number of layers to display.
    Tolerance Select the tolerance to be used for link detection. If the link candidates are close enough to the connector (within the tolerance), then they could become links as long as other conditions are not fulfilled.
    Click the Value column to select one of the following Tolerance options from the pull-down menu:
    Keep previous
    Allows you to work with different tolerances at one time.
    Value
    Activates the Value column in the following row, where you can manually enter a tolerance.
    None
    Despite how far away the next links are, they will still be added. By default, the tolerance is set to 0.0.
    Link Type Select the type of entity that can be added to the selected connector(s) as a link reference.
    Links Select which entities in the model to which the connector will link to. The selection made from the Link Type option above will influence what is displayed in this option.
    Click the Value column to select one of the following options from the pull-down menu:
    All
    Selects all of the entities in the model to link to.
    Displayed
    Selects only the entities that are displayed in the model to link to.
    Select
    Opens the Entities selector in the following row, from which you can manually select entities to link to.
    Link State Determines whether the weld created during connector realization connects to geometry or mesh on the link. This option is significant for link detection. Only the entities of the right state, meaning elements or surfaces, will be taken into account. If the link state is set to geometry, then close elements will not be considered for link detection.
    Click the Value column to select one of the following Link State options from the pull-down menu:
    elems
    Specifies that the entity needs to be connected (welded) using its mesh.
    geom
    Specifies that the entity needs to be connected (welded) using its geometry (connect surfaces only).
    Link Rule Defines how a connector treats an entity added as a link.
    Click the Value column to select one of the following Link Rule options from the pull-down menu:
    At fe realize
    Ensures that each time a connector is realized the closest entity of the correct type is found and connected. This is useful when connectors need to connect to a closest part in an assembly.
    By ID
    Forces the connector to retain the link’s ID even if that link entity no longer exists in the database. This aids in part replacement, when a new part replaces an old part and both share the same ID.
    By name
    Forces the connector to retain the link's name even if that link entity no longer exists in the database. This aids in part replacement when a new part replaces an old part and both share the same name.
    None
    No link rule is created.