Position and Constrain Components

You can position component instances in 3D space, and create constraints to keep instances precisely positioned relative to other geometry in your design.

Inventor has three methods to position and constrain components:

Move Components

The Move Components command uses the triad to change the location and orientation of components. Move Components cannot permanently position components.

Move Components makes local changes, so it can change the position of child components, such as the rod of a pneumatic cylinder.

Joints

Joints position component occurrences relative to other occurrences in a model.

Different occurrences of the same subassembly can have different positions and orientations using joints. For example, one occurrence of a pneumatic cylinder can be shown extended and another occurrence can be shown contracted.

Ground Component

The Ground Component command locks a component in its current location and orientation.

You can turn Ground Component on or off by right-clicking on the component in the browser and selecting Ground Component. A grounded component has a pushpin on its browser icon.