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Overview

Some CAD work isn’t hard, it’s just repetitive: the same drawing template applied to two hundred parts, the same defeaturing rule run across a supplier library, the same title-block field updated on every sheet in a project. Doing it by hand doesn’t take skill, it takes hours. Nexus runs a single instruction across an entire folder, assembly, or file list — applying the same operation consistently everywhere, and reporting back what changed on each file. Anything you’d otherwise do with a macro, Nexus can usually do from a plain-language instruction, and it can save the sequence as a reusable skill for the next time the same job comes up.

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What Nexus can help with

  • Bulk drawing creation — Generate a standard drawing for every part in a folder or assembly, using the same template and view scheme.
  • Batch defeaturing — Apply a simplification rule (suppress fasteners, remove small fillets, strip cosmetic features) across every file in a set.
  • Batch export — Convert a folder of parts to STEP, IGES, PDF, or another format in one pass, with consistent naming.
  • Bulk metadata and title-block updates — Update a custom property, revision, or title-block field across every drawing in a project.
  • Repeatable skills — Save a sequence you run often as a named skill, then re-run it on a new file or folder with one prompt.

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Example prompts

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A typical batch workflow

1

Scope the batch

Tell Nexus exactly which files are in scope — a folder, a file list, or every component in an assembly — so nothing outside the intended set gets touched.
2

Dry-run on one file

Validate the rule on a single representative file before applying it everywhere.
3

Run across the batch

Apply the validated rule to the full set.
4

Report results

Ask for a structured summary rather than assuming every file succeeded silently.

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Feature tree optimization

A feature tree that only makes sense to the person who built it is a liability the moment anyone else — a teammate, a reviewer, a configuration tool — has to touch the part. Renaming and reorganizing it by hand, feature by feature, is exactly the kind of repetitive work Nexus can take on directly.

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What Nexus can help with

  • Descriptive renaming — Replace generic names (“Boss-Extrude12”, “Cut-Extrude3”) with names that describe what each feature does.
  • Folder organization — Group related features into folders by function or build stage, so the tree reads top to bottom as a sequence of intentional steps.
  • Redundancy cleanup — Flag features that duplicate or could be consolidated with another (two separate fillet features that could be one, a sketch with unused geometry).
  • Automation prep — Name and tag the specific features and dimensions that drive variation, so a configuration tool like DriveWorks — or a design table — can reference them reliably.

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Example prompts

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Generative design assistance

Sometimes the question isn’t “automate this known step” but “show me options I haven’t thought of.” Nexus can generate alternative geometry for a part under a stated load case and target — a starting point to explore, not a finished design.
Treat generative output as a concept to evaluate, not a part to release. Validate the strongest candidate with a full analysis (see Simulation preprocessing) and a DFMA pass before it goes anywhere near production.

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What Nexus can help with

  • Concept generation — Propose alternative geometry (rib layouts, lattice regions, load paths) for a part given boundary conditions and an objective, such as minimum mass or maximum stiffness.
  • Variant comparison — Generate several distinct concepts side by side so you can compare trade-offs before committing to one direction.
  • Constraint-aware exploration — Respect stated keep-out zones, mounting interfaces, and envelope limits while exploring the rest of the geometry freely.

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Example prompts

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Tips for automation prompts

  • Scope the batch explicitly — name the folder, file list, or assembly, and confirm the count before running. This catches an over-broad or under-broad selection before it touches the wrong files.
  • Validate on one file first — for a new rule, run it on a single representative file and check the result before applying it to hundreds of files.
  • State what should not change — “leave the originals untouched”, “don’t touch files already at revision C” — batch operations are only safe when the exclusions are explicit.
  • Ask for a per-file report — request a table of what happened to each file, not just a summary. Batch failures are usually a handful of edge-case files, and you need to know which ones.
  • Save recurring jobs as skills — if you run the same batch operation more than once, save it as a skill. Reusing it by name is faster and more consistent than re-describing the steps each time.