How to 3D model a complete system of boards ?

[snoopy]

Hello

What's the best way to model a set of boards to see if everything fits in an enclosure ?

Do I export a step file of each board and then import them into another CAD package or can I do it in Altium ?

cheers

[HighVoltage]

Well, I do it like you and import the step files to Solidworks and then see, if it fits the housing.
It works well for me, since I do the enclosure / housing design anyways in Solidworks.
 

[alexanderbrevig]

You can do it in Altium just add the 3d bodies and place them according to where they will go (requires some tongue-in-cheek technique and patience):


Probably not a full featured experiences in comparison to tools made for this, but it's enough for my needs.

[free_electron]

export step for sub assemblies
then make a new pcb file holding only the step files : load step files but do NOT embed them , link em ( click on the 'file' button as opposed to the  'embed' button. )
that way if you alter the step file altium detects a file operation and can reload on the fly.

[ajb]

There's a plugin for SolidWorks that allows you to work collaboratively on the same PCB from SolidWorks and Altium, which *looks* pretty nice the last time I saw a demo, but of course requires AD, SW, and the co-design license, so it's not a cheap solution.

The method free_electron describes works fairly well, or if you're designing a PCB that needs to accommodate a finished plug-in board, you can link the step file for the plug-in board into the PCB design file for the main board rather than a separate PCB file. 

[snoopy]

export step for sub assemblies
then make a new pcb file holding only the step files : load step files but do NOT embed them , link em ( click on the 'file' button as opposed to the  'embed' button. )
that way if you alter the step file altium detects a file operation and can reload on the fly.

Yes this seems to work but after loading three boards one board disappears and becomes invisible !! Quite bizarre.

cheers

[snoopy]

export step for sub assemblies
then make a new pcb file holding only the step files : load step files but do NOT embed them , link em ( click on the 'file' button as opposed to the  'embed' button. )
that way if you alter the step file altium detects a file operation and can reload on the fly.

Yes this seems to work but after loading three boards one board disappears and becomes invisible !! Quite bizarre.

cheers

Ok it's working better today but the auto update has trouble with large boards and bombs out. Also I got an "out of memory" error with nearly 8 gigs of free memory left in the system !! Altium seriously needs to take advantage of 64 bits !!

cheers