Hey thanks for the explanation. I am starting to see the light. It appears it is more of a file architecture style issue (top down design.) I can also see where creating a specific component would be essential for Joints. Otherwise you don't know what moves with what.
Sorry, not true. You absolutely can create the component first as shown above, and in fact is how you should do it.
Hmmm. I tried that. I did not have a "create component" menu choice until I created a body first. Where am I missing that?
Also, why does this matter? I could draw 4 different bodies in the same file and then go back and make all 4 individual components.
I guess I don't understand this statement "If you wait for the second part, then the first one is on a different level and is not like the others. "
Robert
EDIT:
I just figured it all out! I will leave the comments above in case any one else can learn from this.
First of all, I missed the "create new component" command. Previously I was only "creating components from bodies" so that command was absent if there was no body drawn. That was demonstrated in a tutorial.
Secondly, once you create components, one of them must be active. If you draw a new body in the file it will be part of the active component by default. (even if it is not physically contiguous.) None of this is well explained in the tutorials I saw.
It is still true that you could create several bodies first and then convert them independently to components. I do not see why that would be a problem.
Lars first video really does cover this fairly well as VTCNC noted.
Thank you guys for your help in clarifying this. I now have a much better understanding of how the software rules work.
Robert