How to embed 3D shapes within a user library

Hi,

I was wondering about if one can embed the 3D shapes used in some object into a user library for easier sharing and this is the answer I got from Jeff at Flexsim.

Hope it helps someone!

Axel

I've touched base with the dev team about how packed media works.

If you look at the object data under the model node, you'll see a node called packedmedia. The subnodes are built just like a file system. If there are several media files under the same absolute path, they'll be organized in the same way here. The final level where you find binary data nodes, those nodes hold the actual data of the packed media.

These nodes may be absolute paths or relative paths - however they are used by the objects in your FlexSim model. When you linked to media, if you used an absolute path, then here under model>packedmedia you'll see absolute paths. Likewise for relative paths.

When a model opens, FlexSim will first look at the filesystem to see if the media exists at the specified path. If the media is there, it uses it from your filesystem. If it is missing from the filesystem (like if you shared the model file with someone), then FlexSim checks the packed media as a secondary source. In this way, you can continue to edit 3D files, other media, etc, and then File>Reload media (or open your model, if FlexSim was closed) and the latest version of your media will show up (and be saved into packed media for later sharing).

The packedmedia subnode under the model object is just a standard attribute node. This node could be removed from the model (if you don't want media packed for every object in your model) and instead added to a visual tool or any other object in your model. If you add to a visual tool, which can hold other objects in it, then any sub-objects in that visual tool will have their media packed.

The same concept works for User Libraries. That way you can pack all the required media into saved user libraries for easier sharing.