ANSYS Discovery SpaceClaim

Making objects tangent

The TangentLineA straight line, arc, or spline drawn in Sketch mode or on a layout plane. Lines have length but no area. When you pull a sketch into 3D with the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. tool, lines become edges. that touches a curve (arc or circle) at only one point, without crossing over, and is perpendicular to the radius at the point of tangency. You can sketch a line tangent to a curve or you can sketch an arc tangent to a line or curve. tool enables if a model is loaded, and it aligns two faces so they are tangent or aligns a face tangent with a line, point, or plane. Possible face types include planes, cylinders, spheres, and cones.

See the printable Assembly constraints reference chart for descriptions of all assembly constraints.

Click to replay

You can use the Tangent tool to move objects without assigning assembly conditions. If the objects belong to different components, uncheck Create conditions in the AssemblyHierarchy of components and subcomponents showing relationship within a design, as shown in the Structure tree. In manufacturing, a unit fitted together from manufactured parts. See Assembly tool, Component Options panelArea of the user interface that enables you to modify functions specific to tools. before moving.

To define a tangent condition

1. Click Tangent in the Assembly group on the Design2D or 3D model that contains at least one top-level component. tab.

   The Align tool guide is enabled by default.

2. Select an edge or face of the component that you want to move.

   You can Ctrl+click to select multiple objects.

   The Reference tool guide is enabled.

3. Select an edge or face of the component that you want to remain stationary.

   The components align. You can control the alignment animation with the Animate Full PullAdvanced Discovery SpaceClaim option.

   The constraint is added to the components in the Structure treeDisplay in the Structure panel that shows you each of the objects in your design. You can expand or collapse the nodes of the tree to view the objects. You can rename objects, create, modify, replace, and delete objects, as well as work with components..

   If you want to align to the other side of the plane, right-click the assembly condition in the Structure tree and select Reverse Sense.

Do it faster

Hold Ctrl and select the component that you want to move and the component that you want to remain stationary, then click Tangent in the Assembly group on the Design tab.

To reverse the sense of a tangent condition

Right-click a Tangent condition in the Structure tree and select Reverse Sense to align the components to the opposite side of the alignment plane.

You can also modify the Reversed value to True or False in the Assembly Condition section of the Properties panelArea of the user interface that displays editable details about the selected object(s). This panel is initially displayed on the lower left side of the screen, but can be moved..

To define an offset distance for a tangent condition

1. Select the Tangent condition in the Structure tree.

2. Change the angle value in the OffsetDistance an edge, segment, or curve is moved or copied. property in the Properties PanelSections of the user interface that initially appear along the left side of the application window and include: Structure panel, Layers panel, Selection panel, Groups panel, Options panel, and Properties panel. You can dock and detach these panels..  

To make objects tangent without an assembly condition

1. Click Tangent in the Assembly group on the Design tab.

   The Align tool guide is enabled by default.

2. Uncheck Create conditions in the Options panel.

3. Select an edge or face of the object that you want to move.

   You can Ctrl+click to select multiple objects.

   The Reference tool guide is enabled.

4. Select an edge or face of the object that you want to remain stationary.

   The components align. You can control the alignment animation with the Animate Full PullAdvanced Discovery SpaceClaim option.

Tool guides

The following tool guides help step you through the process. Use the Tab key to cycle through them. As soon as the tool guide switches, the cursor may change to reflect the active guide.