Lightweight Components
You can load an assembly with its active components fully resolved or lightweight. Both parts and sub-assemblies can be lightweight.
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When a component is fully resolved, all its model data is loaded in memory.
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When a component is lightweight, only a subset of its model data is loaded in memory. The remaining model data is loaded on an as-needed basis.
You can improve performance of large assemblies significantly by using lightweight components. Loading an assembly with lightweight components is faster than loading the same assembly with fully resolved components. Assemblies with lightweight components rebuild faster because less data is evaluated.
Lightweight components are efficient because the full model data for the components is loaded only as it is needed. Only components that are affected by changes that you make in the current editing session become fully resolved. You can perform the following assembly operations on lightweight components without resolving them:
When a component is lightweight, a feather appears on the component icon in the FeatureManager design tree.
To enable automatic lightweight loading of components:
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Click Options (Standard toolbar) or Tools, Options.
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On the System Options tab, select Performance.
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Under Assemblies, select Automatically load components lightweight.
If the previous option is not selected, you can manually open an assembly with its components lightweight.
To manually open an assembly with lightweight components:
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Click File, Open.
The Open dialog box appears.
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Select Lightweight, browse to the assembly file, and click Open.
All components of the assembly are loaded lightweight.
To set one or more resolved components to lightweight:
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For a single component, right-click the component and select Set to Lightweight.
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For an entire assembly, right-click the top level assembly icon and select Set Resolved to Lightweight.
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For a sub-assembly and its components, right-click the sub-assembly icon and select Set Resolved to Lightweight.
Related Topics
Component Suppression States
Loading Additional Model Data
Simplified Representations of Assemblies