Multi-Body Options
As of release 2019 R1, aPriori Professional provides a preference setting for Multi-Body Options. This enables you to specify how aPriori should interpret CAD model files that contain more than one distinct solid body.
To open this dialog, select Tools è User Preferences è Multi-Body Options.
This dialog provides three options:
• Keep Free Bodies
• Preserve CAD - (for NX Assembly files with Keep Free Bodies) – only applies when Keep Free Bodies is selected.
• Ignore Missing Component – (for NX files with a rare error) – only applies when Keep Free Bodies is selected.
Each option in the dialog is fully documented:
• 
Prior to 2019 R1, the only way to change the processing of multi-body CAD files was to change the values of three corresponding entries in the apriori.properties file and then restart aPriori. These three properties are:
o apriori.keep.free.bodies
o apriori.free.bodies.preserve.CAD
o apriori.free.bodies.ignore.missing.component
These properties are discussed in the aPriori Professional System Administration Guide, in the “apriori.properties” section. There is also a discussion later in this User Guide of using these properties with Bulk Costing at Costing multi-body parts (free bodies).
The Multi-Body Options dialog allows you to make these changes more quickly and easily without restarting aPriori. However, note that any changes to the options in this dialog will affect CAD files that you open subsequently, not to already opened files. If you open a CAD file and the current settings of those options do not produce your desired results, delete the unwanted/incorrect scenarios to avoid confusion in the future, then change the Multi-Body Options settings and reopen the file and re-extract GCDs.
Caution: Note that aPriori always applies the current settings of the Multi-Body Options when opening previously-saved scenarios. aPriori does NOT “remember and reapply” the settings which were in effect when the scenario was last saved. If the current settings are different than when the scenario was saved, the scenario will become disassociated from its CAD file, as indicated by the “broken connection” icon (see screenshot below).
If you observe this disassociation or otherwise believe the current Multi-Body Options settings are not appropriate for the scenario, do the following:
• Close the scenario without saving it.
• Change the Multi-Body Options settings as appropriate.
• Re-open the scenario.
• Re-associate the CAD file by clicking File è CAD File Association and selecting the CAD file.