29 Replies Latest reply on Feb 23, 2018 2:16 PM by Milo Wilhite

parts disappearing from drawing

Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 10:31 AM

this is a bit of a first for me. I have an electrical panel assembly full of components and when I move that in to a drawing most (but not all) of the components disappear! You can still wander around the drawing and pickup on their edges but they are not visibly there. Perhaps even more interesting is I may see parts of an assembly (eg a DB connector) but then not the assembly it is a part of!

I did manage to find this thread https://forum.solidworks.com/message/514813?q=parts%20disappearing and tried the CTRL-Q but it did not work. I've also tried creating a new drawing, copy/pasting sheets, rebuilding, rebooting, etc. I am really at a loss for this one. Interestingly enough there are no other drawings in this project I am having issues with - I have used many of these same parts in drawings previously and not had issues.

here is a link to the pack-and-go (44mb) https://files.viengineering.com/url/3mdythcy269vnktk

here are screen shots of the assembly and drawing:

Re: parts disappearing from drawing

John Stoltzfus Jun 22, 2017 10:58 AM (in response to Mike Young)

Try this -

Change the Display Style to Hidden Lines Visible and then back to Hidden Lines Removed
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 11:10 AM (in response to John Stoltzfus)
  
  that didn't work; however, it may have gotten a bit more interesting!
  
  if I go to "wire frame" everything shows up as it should (sorta, top view looks a bit funky). Switching back everything disappears as it was.
  
  if I go to "shaded with edges" - everything shows up as well
  
  switch back from this - GONE AGAIN!
  
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  - Re: parts disappearing from drawing
    
    John Stoltzfus Jun 22, 2017 11:21 AM (in response to Mike Young)
    
    You mentioned "Wire Frame & Shaded" - did you try it with Hidden Lines Shown??
    
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    - Re: parts disappearing from drawing
      
      Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 11:29 AM (in response to John Stoltzfus)
      
      yes. on both 'hidden lines removed' and 'hidden lines visible' the parts are not there. they do show up in every other display type.
      
      did you try and download these files, did changing display types for you fix it?
      
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      - Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Steve Calvert Jun 22, 2017 12:21 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        Try saving the drawing with one display state showing the components and then close the drawing and open it back up and then change the display state back to what you want and see what happens.
        
        Steve C
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 1:34 PM (in response to Steve Calvert)
        
        good news and bad news.
        
        sure enough this did work. but as soon as I attempt to save the drawing or even work in it, it updates and everything disappears again.
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Dan Pihlaja Jun 22, 2017 1:48 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        Did you try loading the drawing lightweight?
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 2:05 PM (in response to Dan Pihlaja)
        
        did just now - no results
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Dan Pihlaja Jun 22, 2017 2:14 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        Can you share the drawing/assembly and some of us can try it on our end to see if we get the same result?
        Never mind...I just saw the link that you put in the first post.
        
        You are using a newer version than I am.
        
        What version of SW are you using?
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 2:15 PM (in response to Dan Pihlaja)
        
        in the first message there is a link to a file cloud download, 44mb ZIP file. I am currently using SW 2016 SP5.0
        
        I appreciate the effort here guys this is a new one for me!
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Dan Pihlaja Jun 22, 2017 2:17 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        I edited my reply.....I am a no go. Maybe someone else can download and try it out.
        
        If no one bites....try sending it to your VAR.
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Jim Steinmeyer Jun 22, 2017 2:52 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        Is there any chance that you are using envelopes? I had something similar happen and as i recall envelopes were involved. Let me look a bit.
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Jim Steinmeyer Jun 22, 2017 2:59 PM (in response to Jim Steinmeyer)
        
        Just tried it. This is wild, I opened properties, selected show envelope and everything showed great in all views. Then as I was opening this thread to reply......off they went again. Strange, but this is where I would get the VAR involved as there surely is something wrong here. I changed the properties back and everything showed again until it had fully rebuilt again, then poof it's gone again.
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 3:11 PM (in response to Jim Steinmeyer)
        
        well this makes me feel a little better
        
        I've contacted my VAR with this issue and have linked to this thread. I will keep you all updated with whatever findings and solution we arrive at.
        
        thanks again everyone for your time and suggestions.
        
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        Re: parts disappearing from drawing
        
        Vladimir Urazhdin Jun 22, 2017 3:46 PM (in response to Mike Young)
        
        I tried your files with SW 2017 SP 1. Everything looks exactly the way you have described and nothing helps.
        Sure the case is deserved to be reported to SW.
        
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Carmen Brown Jun 22, 2017 2:18 PM (in response to Mike Young)

I read once about a similar sort of problem of "disappearing parts". It was related to a SW device known as the bounding box.
Not sure if that is related, but if nothing else works, perhaps look into resetting the bounding box. There's a post somewhere on how to do it >>> My SOLIDWORKS Assembly Disappeared!
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Dennis Schuette Jun 22, 2017 3:33 PM (in response to Mike Young)

Have you made sure this box wasn't checked in your settings?
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Jim Steinmeyer Jun 22, 2017 3:39 PM (in response to Dennis Schuette)
  
  Not checked in my case, and since it is a system option, if that had been the case it would have behaved different on my machine anyway. That is an interesting option, why would a person want to hide components when the view was created?
  
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 3:42 PM (in response to Dennis Schuette)
  
  not checked here. did not know that was an option.
  
  also - wouldn't that hide all of the components and not just some, as in this case? Another thing to consider is it shows the DB connectors on that top row of parts (those parts are assemblies) but it does not show the other components.
  
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Dennis Schuette Jun 22, 2017 3:59 PM (in response to Mike Young)

I think it worked for me...
I am not missing any of the components that I can tell. I am running 2015 SP5 so it came in a a "future version" model but looks to be fine.
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 4:05 PM (in response to Dennis Schuette)
  
  the top row components still have some issues - but without question it's better looking than mine.
  
  have you tried everything listed so far in this thread to see if there are any changes?
  
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  - Re: parts disappearing from drawing
    
    Dennis Schuette Jun 22, 2017 4:39 PM (in response to Mike Young)
    
    Those items in the top row don't even show up in my model so that would be why they are missing on my drawing.
    I didn't try everything because mine looked as complete as what was in the model I downloaded.
    
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Mike Young Jun 22, 2017 4:59 PM (in response to Mike Young)

Okay everyone I got in contact with my VAR and here is the solution we arrived at:

first thing we updated was my system settings, changed both of those to draft quality.

next thing we re-imported the assembly, in draft quality, and everything seems to show up.

by checking the boxes in the system setting it allows you to have the option for "draft" or "high" quality in the display style for the drawing view.

what I'm told is that one, or more, of these parts/assemblies has conflicting display settings at a part level. Only a few of these parts are "new to me" parts not used before in models so I suspect one of those could be the culprit.

I'm not a huge fan of this fix as I have made system level changes and all of my drawings are now "draft" quality by default; however, I can hobble along through this for the next few days and hope this doesn't become a more regular occurrence.

glad you could all join me on this journey. one last time thank you all again for your time and assistance and thanks to my VAR for quickly getting me through this.
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Ned Hutchinson Jun 22, 2017 7:08 PM (in response to Mike Young)
  
  Hi Mike i was just looking for something like this thread yesterday cause was having same problem.
  2015 SP5
  Drawing would show up when you change them to wireframe, shaded or shaded with edges.
  But then would dissapear when you changed to hidden lines removed or hidden lines visible.
  And looking at my pictures i do have it set to high quality on hidden lines visible which may be why they dissapeared.
  My fix was to reboot computer and thankfully they worked again.
  Ill try to remember the high quality for next time i see this happen
  
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  - Re: parts disappearing from drawing
    
    Edward Poole Jul 13, 2017 10:39 AM (in response to Ned Hutchinson)
    
    I'm also running 2015 SP5, same thing happens, totally random, i just get out of SOLIDWORKS, restart, and all is good. Odd behavior.
    
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Mike Young Jul 12, 2017 11:38 AM (in response to Mike Young)

I thought I might update everyone on the actual solution to this particular problem. I went back to my VAR and my understanding is this was escalated to "SolidWorks" support.

what I had always struggled with was - I had used all of these parts/models before - except one or two. I started to dig in to it further and found when I suppressed the linear pattern for the top row of components (WINFORD DB9 for those of you referencing the model) everything would work! So I had narrowed it down to something in that part file was causing the issue.

Sure enough there were some imported surfaces that seemingly caused the issue. In the assembly "WINFORD - BRK0MF-S-DIN (DB9 BREAKOUTBOARD).SLDASM" there is a part called "Straight Female Connector". In this part were three imported surfaces. Two of them did nothing and showed up as infinite center lines - those get deleted. Then I was instructed to do an import diagnostic to fix the remaining rebuild issues with that part. Then after that the problem would be solved and it was.

the bottom line is - there were two imported surfaces that seem to be the issue. I don't fully understand it but I thought I would let everyone know. Maybe just take a closer look at your parts, specifically if they are imported, and do some clean up if need be.
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Dan Pihlaja Jul 12, 2017 1:28 PM (in response to Mike Young)
  
  Awesome! Thanks for the update Mike.
  and glad you got your problem resolved.
  
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- Re: parts disappearing from drawing
  
  Edward Poole Jul 13, 2017 10:42 AM (in response to Mike Young)
  
  I had a similar problem a few years ago with a heavily modified imported part, it didn't like the mods I was doing and promptly disappeared. My VAR spotted that right away, sorry I didn't think of it sooner.
  
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Re: parts disappearing from drawing

Milo Wilhite Feb 23, 2018 2:16 PM (in response to Mike Young)

This has happened to me several times. i finally googled it and found this old thread and a couple similar threads. I haven't seen the solution I found yet so, here it is.
Often, switching from hidden lines removed to shaded and back works but not always.
There is something else I suggest trying. I noticed in some of my not showing views, that the cosmetic threads for my tapped holes showed even though the part itself didn't. i opened the part and removed the cosmetic threads in hole wizard and boom! parts show in the drawing again.
this has worked every time so far so, I no longer use cosmetic threads.
Hope this helps.
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