Strategies for productivity in assemblies

Using Autodesk Inventor, you can manipulate component size and position, see assemblies in various views, see assemblies with components in different positions, select components based on certain criteria, and make components visible or invisible.

Click a link below to learn more about how and when to use these commands. In each topic, click the Procedure tab to go to a step-by-step procedure.

• Move components

  Move an unconstrained component, a component and all components constrained to it, or simulate mechanical motion by driving constraints.

• Constrain components automatically

  Use iMates to constrain frequently used components together in an assembly.

• Collision and contact

  Detect collision when driving constraints and facilitate contact between components.

• Component selection sets

  Select a group of components based on specific criteria.

• Flexible assemblies

  Each flexible assembly instance solves separately, so that each instance can be in a unique position.

• Adaptive components

  All instances of an adaptive assembly adapt size and position relative to constrained objects.

• Derived parts and assemblies

  Capture design intent using selected sketches, a part, or multiple assembly components as the base component in a new part or assembly.

• Design View representations

  Save multiple Design View representations within an assembly to preserve different display configurations, including component visibility, enabled state, and appearance overrides.

• Positional representations

  Capture kinematic "snapshots" of assemblies to evaluate various assembly positions and conduct motion studies. Retrieve later for further analysis or modification.

• Level of Detail representations

  Specify which components are loaded into memory. Create several representations to load different components of the assembly for different tasks.

  Take advantage of the three system-supplied Level of Detail representations when appropriate. Oftentimes, starting with nothing loaded (such as All Components Suppressed) and then loading only the components of interest is more efficient than loading the entire assembly.