Model Versioning and Provenance
Each model release is a versioned snapshot tied to a frozen design state, so any component can be cited unambiguously.
A model that has versions
Because the 3D model is a design record, it is versioned like one. Each release is a snapshot of a specific frozen design state: these dimensions, these fields, these layer thicknesses, computed together. A version identifier lets a reader know exactly which design the geometry represents and check it against the design papers of the same state.
What a version fixes
- The geometry of every component at that design state.
- The frozen parameter values the callouts report.
- The correspondence between the model and the published design work.
- A stable reference for citing a component.
Provenance
Provenance is the record of where the geometry and numbers came from. Each version traces its parameters back to the frozen canon and, through it, to the physics and engineering models that produced them. This chain is what lets the model be used in a design discussion: a claim about a component can be followed back to its source rather than taken on faith.
Why it matters for two tiers
The public and signed-in tiers of a given version describe the same design state at different levels of detail, so a signed-in dimension and a public dimension of the same part always agree. Versioning is what keeps the two tiers consistent, and what lets an update to the design propagate cleanly to both.
Citing across versions
A component name plus a version identifier is a stable citation. See the component labeling system for the naming and The Model as Design Record for why the model is treated this way.