I am creating a real-time animation that I can move with my mouse curser. The file is made up of many subassemblies (some being flexible).  My number of top level mates is about 190 according to Assembly Xpert. Do I need to take into consideration flexible subassemblies with animation performance? I have 2 flexible subassembly each with 50 mates. Should I assume that the computer is dealing with actually 290 mates (including the flexible subassemblies)? I notice that, if I change the flexible subassemblies to rigid the number of top level mates doesn’t change but I get better performance.

Is it better to place all mates that need to move within the animation as top level assembly mates or have less top level mates and use flexible subassemblies? Which is more performance efficient?

Lastly, can I specify only certain mates within a subassembly to be flexible or does the whole subassembly have to be flexible?

Sorry about all the questions.

Thanks.