Part ExplodeCompound

Compound

CompoundFilter

Part

Part ExplodeCompound
Menu location
Part → Compound → Explode compound
Workbenches
Part
Default shortcut
None
Introduced in version
0.18
See also
Part Compound, Draft Downgrade

Description

Tool to split up compounds of shapes, to make each contained shape (child) available as a separate object in model tree. The children are automatically put into a Group if there is more than one child.

It is semi-parametric: the shapes of the children will update as the source compound changes, but if the number of children in the compound is changed, the explosion will be either missing some shapes, or have redundant objects in an error state.

Placements of extracted shapes follow the placements of the originals, plus the Placement property of each child.

The tool will also explode non-compound shapes into their lower-level constituents: compsolids into solids, solids into shells, shells into faces, faces into wires, wires into edges, edges into vertices.

Usage

1. Invoke the Part ExplodeCompound tool several ways:
   • Pressing on the button in the Part toolbar
   • Using the Part → Compound → Explode compound entry in the Part menu

Use cases

• Tweaking positions of shapes made by Draft OrthoArray
• Obtaining split pieces from result of Part Slice and Part Cut
• Obtaining individual contours from multi-contour sketches and faces
• Obtaining a pure solid from a solid-in-compound, for use in FEM Workbench.

Compound

CompoundFilter

Part

Part

• Primitives: Box, Cylinder, Sphere, Cone, Torus, Tube, Create primitives, Shape builder

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• Creation and modification: Extrude, Revolve, Mirror, Fillet, Chamfer, Make face from wires, Ruled Surface, Loft, Sweep, Section, Cross sections, 3D Offset, 2D Offset, Thickness, Projection on surface, Attachment

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• Boolean: Make compound, Explode Compound, Compound Filter, Boolean, Cut, Fuse, Common, Connect, Embed, Cutout, Boolean fragments, Slice apart, Slice, XOR

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• Measure: Measure Linear, Measure Angular, Measure Refresh, Clear All, Toggle All, Toggle 3D, Toggle Delta

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• Other tools: Import, Export, Box selection, Shape from Mesh, Points from mesh, Convert to solid, Reverse shapes, Create simple copy, Create transformed copy, Create shape element copy, Refine shape, Check geometry, Defeaturing, Appearance, Color per face

User documentation

• Getting started
• Installation: Download, Windows, Linux, Mac, Additional components, Docker, AppImage, Ubuntu Snap
• Basics: About FreeCAD, Interface, Mouse navigation, Selection methods, Object name, Preferences, Workbenches, Document structure, Properties, Help FreeCAD, Donate

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• Help: Tutorials, Video tutorials
• Workbenches: Std Base, Arch, Assembly, CAM, Draft, FEM, Inspection, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Points, Reverse Engineering, Robot, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Start, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework, Web

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• Addons: Addon Manager, External workbenches, Scripting and macros

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• Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub