Model Browser

The Model Browser displays and organizes all of the entities in your model in a tree structure and enables access to objects that are not currently shown in the modeling window.

To open the Model Browser, click View > Model Browser from the menu bar.

The model structure is viewed as a flat, listed tree structure within the browser. However, if the model has an assembly hierarchy then the Model Browser accommodates this hierarchical structure. The browser can list every named entity within the session and places those entities into their respective folders; however, it does not support non-named entities such as nodes and elements. Some of the more important entities within the model include: assemblies, components, multibodies, properties, materials, entity sets, groups, load collectors, system collectors, vector collectors, and beamsectcols, all of which are placed into a tree-like display.

Assemblies can have sub-folders within the main Assembly folder, so that the items related to each assembly appear within that assembly’s folder in the Assembly Hierarchy. Materials, properties, entity sets, groups, load cols, system cols, vector cols, and beamsectcols cannot be organized into assemblies and are all placed at the top level of the tree, each in their corresponding folder. For example, all sets are placed as a flat list in the Sets folder.

Components and Assemblies may appear in multiple places in the tree; for example, a specific component might appear under Components and again as a sub-item of a specific Assembly. When appropriate, the color and display style of entities also display in the Model Browser.

Change the Entity View in the Model Browser

Quickly display all entities of a specific type in the Model Browser.

In the Model Browser, double-click on an entity or collector to open its respective view.

Figure 2.

All entities of that type will display in a flat list. Depending on the type of entity selected, additional columns may be appended to the Model Browser. The color of geometry and mesh in the modeling window will be changed if the entity type selected has a corresponding color mode.

Figure 3.
To return to the default view and display all entities in the Model Browser, click .

Tip: Many of the tools on the ribbons used to create entities incorporate a satellite icon

named List <entity type>. Click this icon to open the corresponding entity view in the Model Browser.

Add Attributes to an Entity View

Append attributes to the browser as columns to facilitate fast and efficient review, editing, sorting, and filtering in an entity view.

In the Model Browser, double-click on an entity to open its respective view.
Append attributes as columns in the following ways:
- Right-click on a column heading and select More from the context menu to access a list of all entity attributes that can be appended to the browser.
- From the Entity Editor, right-click on an attribute and select Add Column from the context menu.

Configuration Options

Configure the display and behavior of the Model Browser.

Local Options

Open the Browser Configuration dialog by right-clicking in the Entity State Browser and selecting Configure Browser from the context menu.

Delete association: Open the Delete component(s) and unique associations dialog when Delete Advanced is selected from the context menu. When this box is checked off, the Delete component(s) and unique associations dialog does not open when Delete Advanced is selected from the context menu, and the entities uniquely related to the selected component are automatically deleted.
Hide attached: Mask the attached elements in the modeling window when you hide the following entities: loads, load collectors, load steps, groups and contact surfaces. This can be observed if the elements are currently displayed. This will not change the display state to off; thus, that the local display icon will not be dimmed.
Show/hide/isolate Include files with References: Show, hide, isolate the contents of an Include file when you Show/Hide/Isolate the Include file. If you turn this option off, Show/Hide/Isolate will only affect the components and other HM entities that have graphics (vectors, systems, plies, laminates, loads) in the Model Browser, Solver Browser, and ID Manger Include files.
Show/Isolate/Isolate Only attached: View the attached elements in the modeling window when you Show/Isolate/Isolate Only the following entities: loads, load collectors, load steps, groups and contact surfaces. This can be observed if the elements are currently masked or the display state of the component's elements is turned off. This will also turn on the local display icon.
Save view with mask: If off, only the on/off state of the collectors are saved. The mask state of individual entities is ignored.; If on, both the on/off state of the collectors and the mask state of individual entities are saved.

Entities Tab

To select entity types to display in the browser, activate the checkboxes next to each desired entity type. A check mark indicates that the entity type will display in the browser. You can also use the select all, select none, and select reverse buttons in this mode.

Browser Attributes

Right-click on a column heading in the browser to configure the displayed attributes.

These attributes are common among all entity views.

ID: Unique entity ID
Color: Entity color
Include: ID of Include file the entity is stored within
FE Style: Lists the element style applied to each entity. Click the icon to change the style.
Geometry Style: Lists the geometry style applied to each entity. Click the icon to change the style.