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      <title>Terminology</title>
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      <div class="title_topic2" id="xps10_pagetitle">Terminology </div>
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      <p class="para_topic">Users of either I-deas or NX will need to communicate with their counterparts more closely than if they were just &quot;throwing IGES files over the wall&quot; with no expectations for associativity. It will help avoid confusion in communication if users of interoperability have a basic understanding of the differences in terminology used by the two systems.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Part vs. Part File</div>
      <p class="para_division">The terminology of a &quot;part&quot; and &quot;part files&quot; are different between I-deas and NX. An I-deas user refers to a part as the geometry defining the part, not the file that contains it. The part may be stored in a library or it may be retrieved into a temporary model file, but to the I-deas user, it is still the same part. Also, to the I-deas user, a part is perceived as one entity, not a collection of objects that define it. To an NX user, a &quot;part&quot; file may contain many entities used to construct the &quot;body&quot; of the final part.</p>
      <div class="title_division">.prt Extension</div>
      <p class="para_division">I-deas stores part files in libraries using the extension (.prt). These part files are normally not accessed directly by users, since the data management system owns and tracks them. I-deas part files are not used by interoperability and should not be confused with NX part files, which use the same .prt extension. NX .prt files may contain parts or assemblies. I-deas users may find it helpful to think of the NX .prt file as a container similar to an I-deas library item.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Model File</div>
      <p class="para_division">To an I-deas user, a model file is a temporary workspace to hold multiple parts and assemblies, etc, checked out from a central library. A difference is that I-deas users can have only one model file open at a time, where NX users can open multiple .prt files at the same time.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Layers</div>
      <p class="para_division">The use of layers is another difference between the two systems. I-deas only has the concept of layers with 2D drawings, not 3D part models. In NX, the &quot;body&quot; of the final solid part might be put on a different layer from all the other objects. Instead of using layers, I-deas users will put away parts not being used in a &quot;bin&quot; in the model file. In I-deas, the visibility of different displayable entities of parts can be turned on and off using the  <em>Display Filter</em>. An I-deas user will not know the layer conventions used by NX users, so information about which layer contains useful information will need to be communicated to the I-deas user importing a part from NX.
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      <div class="title_division">Reference Sets</div>
      <p class="para_division">Reference sets are another mechanism that NX uses to distinguish between geometry in the same .prt file. For example, the same .prt file could contain multiple versions of the same part. When used in an assembly, the geometry in only one reference set might be displayed in a specific context.</p>
      <div class="title_division">History Tree</div>
      <p class="para_division">I-deas and NX share similar concepts of the part history tree. This history is viewed and accessed using the &quot;Part Navigator&quot; in NX, and the &quot;History Tree&quot; in I-deas. In NX this history is shown as a vertical structure (A) similar to file folders in Windows Explorer. InI-deas, the history tree is displayed as an inverted tree (B).</p>
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      <div class="title_figure">NX Part Navigator &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I-deas History Tree</div>
      <div class="title_division">Bodies</div>
      <p class="para_division">In I-deas, there is little distinction between a solid part and an open part. In NX, a .prt file contains &quot;solid bodies&quot; and &quot;sheet bodies.&quot; The .prt file may contain sheet bodies that were used as cutter operators to construct the solid body. An I-deas user opening an NX part file will usually want to read in the solid body and ignore the sheet bodies in the same .prt file.</p>
      <div class="title_division">I-deas TDM</div>
      <p class="para_division">I-deas users normally store shared parts and assemblies in libraries using I-deas Team Data Manager (TDM). If configured, this system can be accessed inside NX to directly open I-deas parts and assemblies.</p>
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