The reason I asked is because this is something that you might have done 10 years ago or so, or at least before we added the Product Outline function to NX.
To find this functionality go to...
Assemblies -> Context Control -> Define Product Outline...
Once defined, it will automatically provide a ultra-lightweight display of any Component which is NOT loaded when the Assembly file is opened. And as components are loaded (and unloaded), the complimentary Product Outline of that component will be removed (or added) from the display and the actual component will take it's place while the other unloaded components will still have their Product Outlines remain displayed.
Note that this topic has been discussed here on Eng-Tips before, the most recent just last week:
And one from a few years ago:
Note that while it is true that we have done a lot of work recently, particularly with NX 7.5 ti improve the performance when working with large assembly by making lightweight representations more ubiquitous, there are still times where that's still overkill and an alternative lightweight representation of overall assembly itself accessible without having to load the full assembly structure is still a useful tool and so we are continuing to support the Product Outline functionality described and discussed in the other forum topics referenced above.
Anyway, take a look a this and see if this will meet your needs.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.