Consider any task involving 1,000 items. You might find it easier to manage 10 groups of 100 items than one group of 1,000 items. Similarly, when you work with large models, you can use a design group as a partition or a container to organize and manage large or small numbers of features in logical groups. For example, you can organize your features into logical groups, such as: Reference geometry, Target body, Tool bodies, Booleans, Features that modify the target body.

Features in a design group exist in relative isolation, independent of features in other groups; however, a feature in a later group can reference geometry in a previous group.

Using design groups can improve software responsiveness when you work with large models because features in other design groups do not roll back or update when you make changes to a feature in the active design group. You will also see improved responsiveness when editing features in design groups while using the Model Delay and Update Granularity option to control when features update.

In the latest update to NX, design groups see an improved responsiveness and faster exploration of feature history.

What's new?
•Enhanced ease of use through Make Current Feature, Edit with Rollback, and Roll-forward.
•Make Current Feature only rolls back features within the active Design Group and does not make downstream Design Groups and features inactive.