Moving Components

  • You can add SmartMates while moving a component.
  • You cannot move a component whose position is fixed or fully defined.
  • You can only move a component within the degrees of freedom allowed by its mating relationships.

Dragging to Move a Component

To move components by dragging:

Drag a component in the graphics area.
The component moves within its degrees of freedom.
To prevent this behavior, clear Move components by dragging in Tools > Options > System Options > Assemblies.

Using a Triad to Move a Component

To move components with a triad:

  1. Select a component.
  2. Drag elements of the triad:
    • Dragging an arm drags the component along the axis of the arm.
    • Dragging a ring drags the component along the plane of the ring.
  3. To enter specific coordinates or distances, right-click the center sphere and select from the following:
    Option Description
    Show Translate XYZ Box Moves the component to a specific XYZ coordinate.
    Show Translate Delta XYZ Box Moves the component by a specific amount.
  4. Click in the graphics area to turn off the triad.
    To move or align the triad:
    • Drag the center ball to drag the triad freely.
    • Alt + drag the center ball or an arm and drop it on an edge or face to align the triad with the edge or face.
    • Right-click the center ball and select Align to, Align with Component Origin, or Align with Assembly Origin.

Using the PropertyManager to Move a Component

To move components with the PropertyManager:

  1. Click Move Component (Assembly toolbar) or Tools > Component > Move.
    The Move Component PropertyManager appears, and the pointer changes to .
  2. Select one or more components in the graphics area.
  3. Select an item from the Move list to move the components in one of following manners:
    Option Description
    Free Drag Select a component and drag in any direction.
    Along Assembly XYZ Select a component and drag in the X, Y, or Z direction of the assembly. The coordinate system appears in the graphics area to help orient you. To select the axis you want to drag along, click near that axis before dragging.
    Along Entity Select an entity, then select a component to drag along that entity. If the entity is a line, an edge, or an axis, the component you move has one degree of freedom. If the entity is a plane or a planar face, the component you move has two degrees of freedom.
    By Delta XYZ Type an X, Y, or Z value in the PropertyManager, and click Apply. The component moves by the amount you specify.
    To XYZ Position Select a point of a component, type an X, Y, or Z coordinate in the PropertyManager, and click Apply. The component’s point moves to the coordinate you specify. If you select something other than a vertex or point, the component’s origin is placed at the coordinate you specify.
    You can select and move one component or group of components after another while the Move Component tool is active.
  4. Under Advanced Options, select This configuration to apply the movement of the components to only the active configuration.
  5. Click or click Move Component again when finished.