Add a Parallel Constraint

General

  • The parallelism of the planar surfaces means that they or their extensions do not intersect.
  • If you add a distance constraint between planar surfaces, that also sets the surfaces parallel.
  • Lines (segments) are parallel if they are in the same plane and do not intersect.
  • The parallelism of a planar surface and a line means that the surface normal and the line are parallel, i.e. the line intersects the surface in a position perpendicular to the surface.

Add a parallel constraint between parts

  1. Select Assembly | Constraints | Add parallel constraint.
  2. Select the appropriate face or line on the first part.
  3. Select the appropriate face or line on the second part.
    • The parts will be positioned in accordance with the constraint.
  4. Continue repeating steps 1 ... 3 until all the desired constraints have been added.
  5. Stop adding parallel constraints:
    • Select another function.
    • Press the Esc key.
    • Press the V key (Confirm).
    • Select the context-sensitive function OK.
    • Click the middle mouse button.

Example: Parallelism between a surface and a line

  • The parallelism is between the surface normal (purple in the figure) and the line.

Note:
  • You can also use this function by first selecting the two parts, and then
    • The ribbon bar function Add parallel constraint or
    • The context-sensitive function Constraints > Parallel.
    • Select the second part Ctrl+left mouse button.
  • You can define a constraint as configuration-specific by selecting the constraint and then selecting the context-sensitive menu function Edit.

    Edit Constraint

  • Zoom the part view by the Z key to select an element. Zoom all by pressing the A key.
  • Move a part by moving the cursor onto a part, then moving the mouse while holding down the left mouse button.