Creating smart 3-D models in the CATIA environment allows designers and engineers to explore and test the feasible envelopes in component-assembly systems. Parametric models are created based on design rules at both the component and master-assembly level. Once the subcomponents are created, assemblies test associative properties such as connection points, packaging, manufacturability, structural integrity, and substitutive affinity. By mapping all the possible solutions in an unbiased and systematic open-tree structure, conventions can be questioned and design opportunities investigated.