Inventor^® Training

Moving Sketch Geometry with Autodesk Inventor - Page 2

By David Melvin, PE, TEDCF Publishing

The first step is to select the geometry you want to move. So I’ve selected the construction line, and the circle. I also want you to notice that the diameter of the circle is defined by the .188 dimension, and it’s location is defined by the fx:.500 dimension. This dimension is equal to the .500 dimension on the left. The top end of the construction line is also constrained to the midpoint of the horizontal line on the top of the column. The question is which of these constraints will still be on the sketch after the operation?

The key to keeping the maximum number of constraints is your selection of the Base Point. The Base Point should be a node that is constrained to both the geometry you want to move and the geometry you don’t want to move. In other words, it needs to be a node that connects both sets of geometry. In this case the node is on the top end of the construction line. This is where the two sets of geometry intersect.

Click the Base Point button on the dialog box, and then select the node intersecting the geometry.

After you select the node a prompt will appear asking if you would like to remove constraints.

The constraints that will be removed are constraints that constrain the move geometry to the stationary geometry. So the coincident constraint on the top end of the construction line will be removed. The dimension may also be removed depending on how it was defined. If the construction line alone was selected to create the dimension, it will not be removed because it is not dependent on the stationary geometry. On the other hand, if the horizontal line and the circle were selected to create the dimension, it would be removed. In this case the dimension would be dependent on the horizontal line, which is part of the stationary geometry. We will need to remove the constraints that connect the geometry, so click Yes.

When you click Yes the move geometry is attached to your pointer. In this example the dimension was created by selecting the construction line. So it is self contained within the move geometry.

The next step is to select the destination point. You can use the green snap dot to constrain the geometry to the new location.

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