• Create hard point mesh controls for all pre-meshed components as soon as is practical. If you create hard points early in the design process, you may be able to avoid remeshing individual components solely to make the mesh account for the hard points.

• Create beam, and spring idealizations, as well as rigid and weighted links for the top-level assembly before meshing the component. If you create the idealizations first, you may find placement of the hard points easier because you have already established where the connections will lie.

• If you want to connect two pre-meshed components to each other, be sure you have hard points on both components.

• If you want to establish geometrically-consistent node locations for two touching components, you can create exactly matched points on the pre-meshed component and the component you want to connect it to. You then use zero-length advanced springs to connect the points. This technique works best if you follow a specific process.

• Be sure that the connections you create do not conflict with the physical design of the assembly. For example, if you have two pre-meshed components that share a surface region, you should make sure the connections line up properly for the shared region.