Auto Assembly add-on creates product types and assembly type for process modeling using existing components, nodes or features as a source. Add-on requires VC 4.4 or newer as on 4.4 there were new APIs introduced to access assembly types. Add-on package includes PDF instructions on how to use the add-on. There are few demo videos of different use cases.
EDIT (27.3.2026): I replaced the add-on package with the modified version from user “hans”, see the discussion on the thread. Thanks to him for a new feature. Now there’s option “Set Child DefaultProductType as Null” which allows you to define child steps as null products with specified boundary. This is sometimes handy in certain use cases like if you want the feeder to create a pallet without products in it.
Add-on has been updated so that it works also in 4.7. As there were some changes to product filters in 4.7 the old version of this add-on didn’t work anymore. Now the code has been updated, see the attachment in original post.
This version should work in 4.9. If you don’t see the button in 4.9 you could double check that the add-on is under “My Commands\Python 2” folder. Context for this here:
If you get some error when running the add-on could you post it here so I can debug it?
Auto Assembly is a great addon and has become a standard tool I use in VC. However in many cases in my simulations I had the need to create assemblies where some steps don’t have a default product and are instead defined by flow groups, for example.
So I actually made this modification to the plugin that you can create child steps with DefaultProductType as null and just define the boundary.
So with the regular settings you can create an assembly like this, a box with a pattern of products inside:
This might be useful for others as well, but I’m not sure how it works with publishing modifications to existing addons. I just have it in a private github repo at this point - let me know if it might be interesting.
Well these forum add-ons are just something our simulation experts have made to ease our daily chores. There’s no rigorous quality process so we can be agile with these. We just make a judgement call if it’s somewhat functional and useful in which case we publish these for others to use.
In this case looking at your explanation this seems like a straight up upgrade without any downsides so I can just replace your version to the attachment in original post. I’ll DM you for contact info.
