Methods and systems for dynamically loading portions of a computer-aided design model on demand

A complicated CAD model may include thousands or tens of thousands of parts, each comprising dozens or hundreds of individual features. To reduce memory requirements and regeneration times, the present disclosure features systems and methods for dynamically loading portions of a computer-aided design model on demand. In one embodiment, a CAD application may progressively load portions of a CAD model as needed by a user for a particular design task. This reduces both memory and processing requirements, and creates the potential for a executing a CAD application with access to a complete CAD model on devices with limited resources, such as a laptop, a tablet computer, a smartphone, or any other system.