School of Advanced Manufacturing Robotics & Computer Integrated

and Mechanical Engineering Manufacturing

Assembly
Modelling

Introduction
• We usually distinguish between modelling of
components/parts and modelling of assemblies.
• A part is usually perceived as one piece of a
model; much like what you would put on a
workshop drawing.
• An assembly is composed from multiple parts;
much like an assembly drawing.
• The distinction between parts and assemblies is a
little vague.

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 Introduction

• A welded construction could be interpreted

as one part or as an assembly.
• Bolted constructions would normally be
assemblies.
• Mutually moving parts would always be
compiled in assemblies.

•When several “lumps” of

material are connected in a
part, they become one piece.

• When several “lumps” of

material are connected in
an assembly, they remain
separate.

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• Many CAD systems have been used to create
models of single components.
• Previous design procedure was to assemble the
actual components or prototype later in the
design cycle.
• Physical distance between design teams in
global corporations and the need for electronic
transfer fuelled the need for computer-based
assemblies.

Assembly Modelling

• Automotive and aerospace industries among

the first to make extensive used of assembly
modelling.

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 Assembly Modelling

• Provides a logical structure for grouping

and organizing components into assemblies.
• Structure permits:
– identification of components
– control of associated data (e.g. BOM)
– control of relationships between components
and sub-assemblies

Assembly Modelling
• Relationship data includes
• – Constraint information
– orientation and location of components with respect to
one another
– variational relationship between features of different
parts
• – Instancing information
– multiple occurrences of the same component
• – Tolerance and fit information
– part interference and clearance

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 Assembly Modelling

• Inter-part dimensions provide control when

an assembly depends upon key dimensions
(e.g. hole patterns)
• Provides a mechanism for propagating a
design change though out all components of
an assembly without modifying each
component individually.

Assembly Model Uses

• Creation of orthographic assembly

drawings.
• Creation of exploded assemblies.
• Facilitate packaging
• Perform interference and clearance checks.

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 Assembly Modelling

• Most modern feature-based, constraint

based systems have assembly capabilities.
• In addition to the Sketcher, Constraint
Engine and Feature Manager, they include
an Assembly Manager

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The Assembly Modeler

• In most CAD/CAM systems, there are two

distinct types of assembly construction:
– multi-part approach
– virtual assembly approach
• all the fully loaded piece parts that make up
the assembly.

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 Multi-part Assemblies

• This approach copies all resident part data

into the assembly file.
• This yields an unintelligent assembly
where none of the resident parts are linked
to their original parts.
§ It takes more memory to store all the fully
loaded piece parts that make up the assembly.

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Virtual Assemblies
• This approach takes advantage of linking part files
that make up an assembly.
• By linking part files instead of copying them, your
assemblies (and sub-assemblies) can take
advantages of the following:
• RAM requirements for your assemblies are
reduced
§ The display of the assembly can be simplified
without editing the underlying geometry.

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 Virtual Assemblies (con’t)
§ Assemblies are automatically updated if master parts
are changed.
§ Locational relationships between components in an
assembly can be defined.
§ Other applications (Drafting, Manufacturing, etc.) can
use the master data without having the ability to change
it.
§ There is only one copy of geometry data, so edits and
revisions done to the master part are reflected in all
assemblies that reference that part.

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Assembly manager

• Permits creation of:

– sub-assemblies from parts
– assemblies from sub-assemblies and parts
• Controls relative placement of parts/sub-
assemblies (constraints)
• Controls regeneration of
assemblies/subassemblies after modification

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 General Assembly Concepts

• There are two basic ways to define an

assembly model:
– Top-Down Modeling
– Bottom-Up Modeling

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Top-Down Modelling

• Top-Down assembly modelling presupposes

that you will be "designing in context",
creating new parts relative to other
components.
• As the name suggests, you create an
assembly at the top of the level hierarchy
and move down the hierarchy, creating
subassemblies and components.

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 Bottom-Up Modeling

• A Bottom-Up assembly modelling approach

starts by identifying the lowest level piece
parts that will make up your assembly, and
by creating component parts and
subassemblies as you move up the assembly
level hierarchy.

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Mixing and Matching

• Realistically, you will probably mix these

two approaches, when necessary, to add
flexibility to your assembly design needs.
• You can, for example, initially work in a
bottom-up mode, and then switch to a top-
down mode as your design process
progresses, switching back and forth
between the two modes as required.

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 The Master Model Concept
• The idea of a Virtual
Assembly, taken to its
logical conclusion, leads to
the Master Model
paradigm.
• The power of implementing
a Master Model is that
diverse yet dependent
design processes can access
the same master geometry
during development.

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Master Model Concept

• Each application uses a separate assembly
file.
• When the master model is revised, the other
applications will automatically update with
minimal or no associativity loss.
• The design intent of the various design
applications can be maintained through
protection of the master model.

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 Example
• Manufacturing engineers have the need to design
fixture devices, define machining operations,
designate cutter tools and save this data in their
models.
• By creating a manufacturing assembly and
retrieving components into it, manufacturing
engineers can then generate their application
specific geometry/data referencing master
geometry:
- This avoids duplication of model geometry
- Multiple manufacturing designers can work in separate
files simultaneously

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• Manufacturing has the ownership of their

assembly file(s) without necessarily having
Write access to the master model which is
being referenced.

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 Part/sub-assembly placement
• Examples of constraints applied to assemble
components
• – alignment
– surfaces, axes
– with offset distances
• – mating
– surfaces, edges
• – coincidence
– points, edges

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Simplified Representation
• Large assembly models can seriously slow
down the processor capabilities of the
hardware system being used.
• In these cases, many assembly modellers
provide means for simplifying the
assembly.
• The use of instancing helps reduce
complexity.

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 Simplified Representation

• Another technique used is agglomeration.

– Grouping components and sub-assemblies into
a single static definition.
• Many systems also support the use of
simplified representations.
– complexities such as fillets/rounds removed
– representation may simply be the “envelope” of
the part with mating features.

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SHADING
Photorealistic Display

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 Photorealistic Display

• Topic includes…
– Hidden line removal
– Rendering
• light sources
• surface properties
• smoothing algorithms

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Digital Images
• created on a 2D screen with fixed dimensions.
• Sampling rate
– determines how much detail the picture can contain.
• Aspect ratio
– ratio of image width to image height (usually 4:3)
• Resolution
– amount of detail that may be reproduced

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 Types of display devices

• Major display devices can be divided into

two categories:
• Vector vs. Raster Scan

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Vector displays

• Images represented on the screen by a series

of lines or vectors mapped onto the screen.
• Electron beam maps traces each line from
endpoint to endpoint on CRT’s phosphorous
coating.

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 Vector displays

• Lack the capability of efficient area colour

files and variable point intensity.
• Traditional CAD display devices until the
early 1980’s.
• They have been since superseded by raster
scan devices.

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Raster scan
• Image generated by illuminating points in
the raster (a set of horizontal lines of pixels)
• The electron gun scans each line, top to
bottom and back, mapping an array of
illumination points (bitmaps).
• Image “map” stored in memory referred to
frame buffer.
• Original efforts were monochromatic

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 Raster scan (disadvantages)
• Discrete nature of pixels as opposed to
entities defined by endpoints, curves
(integer vs. continuous function)
• Entities must be “scan-converted” to
component pixels in frame buffer.
• Pixels produce inclined lines and curves
using horizontal elements (stair casing
effect “aliasing”).

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Raster scan: Advantages

• Permits area fills

• Intensity of each pixel in rectangular screen
array may be controlled
• Variable intensity allows for “antialiasing”
techniques to reduce staircasing effect.
– Change the intensity for adjacent pixels to
produce a “blurring”, this serves to hide the
jagged effect.

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 Anti-aliasing

Before Anti-aliasing After Anti-aliasing

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Shading
• Output of a shading routine is the determination of
a light intensity level for a point ( or a series of
points) on a display.
• To find this intensity value:
– an incident ray is considered to be cast from a light
source upon the surface
– characteristics of the ray’s reflection are determined.
• In most cases this requires intensity calculations
for many surfaces.

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 Image is dependent upon

• Viewing parameters such as, line-of-sight

and object placement
• Projection type employed in display:
– parallel vs. perspective
• Lighting and surface specifications

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In any shading model, surface

appearance is based upon

• Types of illumination(light sources)

– Point, directed, ambient
• Surface properties
– Colour, texture, reflectance
• Surface orientation: with respect to light
sources, viewer and other surfaces.

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 Data required for calculation

• Geometric database information regarding

surface
• The surface normal vector
• Angle of incidence of the light ray with
respect to the surface in question
• Reflectance characteristics of the surface

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Illumination

• A surface may be illuminated by:

– light striking it directly
– reflected light
– ambient (“all around”) light

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 Light sources

• Point sources:
– Light rays which emanate evenly from a single
source
– Intensity of all rays is equal
– A simple analogy would be that of an
incandescent light bulb

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Point Light

Point of omni-directional
light source

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 Light sources

• Directed:
– Infinitely distant point source.
– A simple analogy would be a distant sun
– Light rays are parallel and equal in intensity
– Requires specification of a “target”

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Directed or Distant Light Source

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 Light Sources

• Spot Light
– A variation of the directed source
– Light rays not parallel but emanate in a cone
– Requires specification of a “target”
– May have control of an inner “hot cone”

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Spot Light
Source Location

Spot Light

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 Light Sources

• Ambient:
– Distributed uniformly in all directions,
regardless of location.
– Assumed to produce constant illumination of all
surfaces, regardless of their orientation.

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Ambient Light

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 Reflectance (surface property)

• Specifies the relationship between the light

sources and the surfaces to be illuminated
and shaded.
• Reflection characteristics may be diffuse,
specular of some combination of both
effects.

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Ambient reflectance
• Ambient light impinges equally from all
directions
• Effect on surface illumination is a material
property.
• Effect of ambient light sources on a surface
given by formula: Ra = Iaka
– ka is coefficient of ambient reflection, value
between 0 (black) and 1 (white).

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 Diffuse reflection

• Reflected light is scattered equally in all

directions. The surface’s brightness appears
the same when viewed from different
angles.
• Diffuse reflection produces a dull, matte
type finish.
• Diffuse reflectance reveals surface details

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Diffuse Reflectance

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 Specular reflection

• Light is reflected in
one direction only
• Produces a shiny
mirror-like effect
• Effect is dependent
upon viewer location

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Software controls

• Lighting: Typically allow user to

– specify types and numbers of light sources
– specify light color
– set intensity of incident light
– position lights in 3D space
– specify light “fall-off”\
– Translucency

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 Software controls

• Reflectance: Allow user to

– specify the surface reflectance for each type
(ambient, diffuse, specular)
– assign colours (including specular reflectance
colour)
– assign texture maps

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Shading

• Both diffuse and specular reflection from all

light sources (point, ambient, distant)
combine to product an intensity value for
each ray traced.
• For chromatic displays, three distinct
intensity calculations, one for each of the
colours being used, are performed for each
component.

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 Flat vs. Smooth shading

• Most common (and most basic) form of

shading is Flat shading.
• In a flat shade, the reflected light intensity is
determined for the surface using the surface
normal vector and all points within the
surface are assigned this same intensity.

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Smooth Shading
• For realistic appearance, smooth shading
algorithms are used.
• The two most frequently used are Gouroud and
Phong shading techniques.

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 Gouroud Shade Algorithm

• The intensities determined from the surface

normal vectors are interpolated from surface
to surface.
• Each pixel of the surface is assigned an
intensity based upon this interpolation.

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Phong Shade Algorithm

• Rather than an interpolation of the light
intensities, the surface normal vectors are
interpolated from surface to surface.
• Each pixel location within the surface is
assigned an interpolated surface normal
direction which is used for the intensity
determination of that point.

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 Ray tracing
• Brute force method based upon the principle that
the viewer “sees” an object by having light strike
the object and return to the viewer.
• “Ray” is typically traced from the viewer toward
the object through the center of all pixels on a
raster grid.
• Determination is then made of which part(s) of an
object are intersected by the ray.

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Ray tracing (con’t)

• All intersections are calculated and a depth
sorting is performed.
• If combined with algorithms which
determine surface normals, may be used for
determining shading.
• Entire path of ray followed, allowing for
secondary and tertiary effects of reflection
and refraction

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