LAST CHECKED:
October 29, 2026
Emil Rindell
Jonas Bryntesson
Henrik Andersson
PUBLISHED:
2024-03-28
Emil Rindell
Jonas Bryntesson
Henrik Andersson
2024-03-28
Following this post and the video-based exercises will give you a basic understanding of how to build and modify Structured Part parts in IRONCAD.
As you may know, there are several different types of 3D elements in IRONCAD, where Innovative Part is the type most users rely on most of the time.
Through twelve distinct videos that clearly and step-by-step demonstrate how a Structured Part is structured and functions, you can learn how to model these yourself. The exercises are entirely based on experienced IRONCAD user Malcolm Crowe's post "Structured Parts - Key Differences" on the user forum.
We will explore how to use reference planes, 3D curves, and surfaces as part of the model's design, as well as how different features can be associated with each other to build individual bodies within the part. An important part of the exercises is learning how to manage these bodies and knowing when it is appropriate to use the Rollback State function to "roll back time" in the part's construction, feature by feature.
This initial overview of the Structured Part features demonstrates the result of the upcoming eleven exercises and how this part is constructed. The part itself is not complex or impossible to model in other ways—which will also be shown in the video—but it provides a comprehensive picture of the areas you must master to produce such a part.
To model complex multi-bodied models in IRONCAD (which cannot be modeled as single-body models using the Innovative Part principle), you need to use the Structured Part modeling principle.
Areas and functions such as local coordinate systems, reference planes, control and construction of Shape and Modification features, bodies, and the relationships between all of these are essential components for understanding the principles behind Structured Part modeling.
What makes it unique is how the various building blocks are interconnected and affect what happens downstream in the part structure. A well-thought-out model that changes in predetermined ways can thus be updated easily and quickly. This is also known as "Design Intent". You simply restrict the ways in which the model should and should not be able to change, which can also provide peace of mind. However, this also means that unforeseen yet necessary changes may not be feasible at all, leaving you to either start over from scratch with a new model or hope that the model holds together even when rolling back.
There is a dedicated thread on the user forum where user Malcolm Crowe showcases several examples of models built as Structured Parts.
An overview of how a Structured Part is built in the tree structure with its own local coordinate system. We also see that the part is a kind of "container" where we can control metadata like color. In this video we create a first part, but it is "empty" and not yet filled with any geometry or features.
A walkthrough of the structure under a Structured Part to see the difference between a feature and a body. An Extrude shape feature is created by dragging and dropping a block from the Starter catalog. A Blend modification feature is applied to it, following an edge vertically.
Here we delve into how to position shapes within a Structured Part when the TriBall and Smart Dimensions are not the primary tools. We change the setting for how a sketch within a shape feature is placed and related to the coordinate system and its origin.
This moves us away from the "free" position control with the TriBall that we are used to when modeling an Innovative Part, shifting to a property-driven, "relation-based" position control.
Editing the lines in the sketch to move the corner of the rectangle to the sketch origin. We then edit the size of the extruded block.
Applying a ten-degree Draft to taper the top face of the model using a Draft Faces modification feature related to a datum plane, which in turn relates to another datum plane connected to three corners of the extruded block. When the model changes size, the angled face associatively adapts via the two datum planes.
Here we clearly learn the difference between features and bodies as we mirror the previous shapes around the datum planes in the coordinate system. We combine all these newly mirrored bodies with the initial one into a single body using a Boolean modification feature, and then test the Rollback State function to "rewind time" in the part's construction, feature by feature.
We "rewind time" and add another shape feature in the form of an extruded cylinder dropped from the Starter catalog. Its position is controlled via associative rules against the coordinate system and previous geometries.
A cylindrical pattern is generated from the extruded cylinder shape, using a datum axis as the reference for the pattern center, and we test changing the number of copies in the pattern. Afterward, holes for the hole pattern are trimmed using a Trim Feature.
To split a part into two, a surface can be used as a parting plane. We start by placing a 3D curve associative to the geometry and then create an extruded surface from this 3D curve. Using the Delete Body command, we create a feature that can easily be toggled on and off using the suppress function or Rollback State.
The color property is primarily managed at the part level. However, by applying color at the surface level, we can color the faces belonging to each individual body, thereby visually separating them. We use the selection filter command to select the faces.
It is possible to use a reference plane in the local coordinate system to trim a body. The surface created from this command uses the part color by default, but it is possible to control the color of the surfaces created in the same way as in the previous exercise 11.
If you feel you want to learn more about Structured Part, additional material is available in a series of five English videos on the IronCAD Academy.
There are also several insightful posts about Structured Part on the IronCAD user forum.
