Explain the effect on the size of data stored when you organize using components and instances.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

By organizing with components and instances, the data to be stored is significantly reduced. The component is referenced to an object, and all the component has to remember is that the component looks exactly like the object. When an instance of the component is placed in the assembly (or subassembly), all that has to be remembered is location of the instance relative to that of the component. In other words, when the instance is located for example 6 units along the x-axis and 0 units along both the y- and z-axes and it is rotated 90 degrees about Z relative to the component definition, the only thing to be remembered is the location of the instance compared to the location of the component. Thus, for each instance, only six pieces of data must be remembered by the computer-translations in X, Y, and Z and rotations about X, Y, and Z. The amount of data stored under this scheme is significantly less than what would be stored if copies of an object were placed directly into the system.