Inventor Multi-body parts do not retain Mass iProperties

Issue:
Inventor Iproperties, such as Mass, do not retain their value when changing between model states for multi-body Autodesk Inventor parts (.ipt) . If there are multiple model states that use different bodies, in the multibody part, the mass will only stay updated for one model state configuration at a time. The Mass, in the Inventor iProperties, will display N/A for the other Model States until Update Mass is performed. If the Mass is updated for another Model State, the Mass for the original model state will display as N/A. Essentially, the Mass will only accurately display for a single multi-body part model state instead of retaining the mass properties for all model states for the part (.ipt).

Causes:
Per Autodesk, this appears to be “as designed” behavior for part(.ipt)files. A part is intended to be a single component with a single mass. It could also be considered a limitation of Inventor model states and multi-body parts.

Solution:
Currently there is not a solution but there is an alternate workflow. Instead of using a multi-body part (.ipt), create an Inventor assembly (.iam). By saving the components of the multi-body part as their own parts and creating an assembly from these new parts, the iProperties of the new assembly will properly display the Mass for multiple Model States with different configurations.

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Shawn Heator

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