Quick Start

Body constraints include the following types:
■ Coplanar: Two planar faces are made to lie in the same plane
■ Center: Two cylindrical faces are made to lie along the same axis
■ Parallel: Two planar faces are made to be parallel
■ Perpendicular: Two planar faces are made to be perpendicular
All of these body constraint types are accessible from the Constrain command.
Note: In addition to body constraints, the Constrain command offers the
ability to create inter-component (assembly) constraints. Component
constraints are discussed here: Position and Constrain Components on page
200
Body constraints are used to constrain faces and edges within a single
component. You can constrain faces or edges between different bodies within
the same component, but you cannot use body constraints between faces or
edges of different components.
Body constraints cause the body to change shape to meet the constraints. In
contrast, Component (assembly) constraints treat each component rigidly.
Inventor Fusion solves body constraints first, and then component constraints.
When you use the Constrain command to create body constraints:
■ Only the appropriate type of faces are available to be selected (cylindrical
faces for Center constraints, planar faces for the other types).
■ The first face that you select is marked as grounded, using the Anchor
glyph. This means that when the constraint is first applied, the grounded
face will remain where it is, and the other face will move (as well as any
other faces that may need to move).
■ You can switch the grounded face with the Tab key, before applying the
constraint.
■ The groundedness is temporary; after the constraint is created, either or
both faces may move to satisfy the entire set of constraints. There is no
way (nor no need) to make a face permanently grounded. Unconstrained
faces are never moved by the solver. (In contrast, assembly components
can be grounded.)
Locked Dimensions
Dimensions and Body Constraints | 185