NOTE                Please see the Glossary topic to learn more about the vocabulary used afterwards.


PiXYZ STUDIO 2019.1 introduces a deep evolution of its Product Structure concept.



In PiXYZ vocabulary, the Product Structure designates the scene tree, or scene hierarchy.

In PiXYZ STUDIO 2019.1, the Product Structure is now composed of one node type only, called occurrence. An occurrence is similar to the gameObject concept in Unity3D.


This new Product Structure, replacing the 2018 one, is meant to:


  • Simplifying the Product Structure by keeping only necessary nodes.

For example, Instance nodes that were used to instantiate Parts or Assemblies in PiXYZ 2018 no longer exist (see the screenshot above), keeping the Tree as simple and compact as possible.
Also, a Part occurrence (or Part) can now parent another Part occurrence, which was not possible until then.


  • Preserving the exact Product Structure of CAD files at import, without adding non-existing nodes in the original CAD solution or useless intermediary nodes, keeping it as accurate and simple as possible.


  • Preserving the Product Structure when exporting models from STUDIO 2019.1 (or any PiXYZ solution able to export files), keeping it as simple and compact as possible.
    The FBX file format, for example, benefits a lot from these evolutions.


  • Simplifying scripting by replacing the old Scene Path concept used as input for Python API functions in STUDIO 2018.3, by a simpler one, making scripts shorter and easier to create and maintain.

With the above Product Structure example, here is how you get the highlighted occurrence:


PiXYZ STUDIO 2018.3: occurrenceScenePath = [1, 15, 42, 38, 40, 30]
PiXYZ STUDIO 2019.1: occurrence = 39


Due to this change, most API functions were updated to take an Occurrence (or an Occurrence List) as input. It means old PiXYZ Python scripts should be updated too.


  • Allowing new powerful tree manipulation and interaction:
    • Now the tree can be manipulated in the GUI, as a classic hierarchy
    • Each occurrence visibility can be handled from the Product Structure directly (and from the Inspector).
    • Instances of an occurrence (a Part occurrence or an Assembly occurrence) can be selected using the new Select Instances function.


Related Topics

To go further please refer to the following topics: