About the ATB-enabled Neutral File Format
The Enable ATB option is selected by default in the import profile and the Import New Model and the File dialog boxes for the Neutral file format. Neutral part and assembly models are, therefore, imported with Associative Topology Bus (ATB) capabilities as Translated Image Models (TIMs).
The following standard ATB commands are available for the Neutral parts and assemblies imported as TIMs:
• Check Status—Checks the status of the TIMs, whether they are up-to-date or out-of-date.
• Update—Updates the TIMs that are identified as out-of-date.
• Change Link—Changes the links of TIMs.
• Make Independent—Breaks the association between the TIMs and the original reference models.
When you update a Neutral TIM part or a TIM assembly with part components that contain multiple solid bodies, ATB maintains the body structure of the source models in the TIMs as follows.
• If solid bodies were added to the source parts and assembly components, the associative update adds the solid bodies to the TIM parts and assemblies. A part or component with a single body is updated to contain two or more solid bodies.
• If empty bodies or solid bodies were removed from the source part or component models, the update removes the empty bodies or solid bodies from the TIM parts or components. A part or component that contained multiple solid bodies may contain only a single body after the update if all but a single body are removed from the source part.
• If all the solid bodies are removed from the source part or component, the update removes all the solid bodies from the TIM part or component.
• When geometry such as open or closed quilts is added or removed from a solid body of the source model, the corresponding solid body of the TIM part or component is updated to include or exclude the added or removed geometry.
• If the intersecting or flexible component that is a part with multiple solid bodies is removed in the source assembly, the TIM assembly is updated to an assembly without the intersecting or flexible component.
An ATB update ensures that the same number of bodies is maintained in the source models and the TIM parts and components, regardless of the empty bodies or solid bodies added or removed in the source models. If an associative update removes the contributing geometry of a solid, the solid body that has become empty is not removed from the TIM part or component after the associative update. Model associativity, geometric references, and the IDs of entities such as surfaces, edges, quilts, curves, and datum features are preserved.