Nudging an assembly

Use the Nudge tool to adjust the position and angle of the root Assembly or an assembly , together with all of its associated items, in the Project Tree. You can centre the assembly, align the assembly with the X-axis, move the assembly along any of the three axes, or rotate the assembly around a specified origin.

To reposition an assembly:

1. In the Project panel, select the root Assembly or the assembly in the Project Tree that you want to reposition. The Assembly panel is displayed below the splitter bar.
2. In the Positioning area of the Assembly panel, click the Nudge button to display the Nudge panel below the splitter bar.
   Note: The name of the assembly in the Project Tree that you are repositioning is shown on the splitter bar. For example, Nudge - New Assembly.
3. To align the origin of the selected assembly with the world centre origin, click Centre Object in the Simple Transformations area.
4. To align the centre of the finger-hole within the selected assembly with the world centre origin during the centring process, ensure that Find ring centre when centring is selected.
   Note: If you have clicked Centre Object with Find ring centre when centring selected, but your selected assembly is not aligned with the X-axis, a message dialog is displayed asking if you want to align the item with the X-axis.

   Click Yes if you want to align the centre of the finger-hole within the selected assembly with the X-axis. Click No to continue without repositioning the selected assembly.

   Note: If ArtCAM cannot distinguish a finger-hole in the selected assembly aligned with the X-axis, a message dialog is displayed warning that the finger-hole must be aligned with the X-axis.
   Note: If there are no meshes displayed in the 3D view, a message dialog is displayed warning that there must be at least one visible mesh in the Project.
   Note: If the selected assembly has a distinguishable finger-hole aligned with the X-axis but is currently hidden, a message dialog is displayed warning that the item must be visible:
   Note: If the selected assembly has a distinguishable finger-hole aligned with the X-axis and a model is currently open, a message dialog is displayed warning that a temporary model must be created during the calculation process, and that you will be prompted to save any changes you have made to the open model.

   A temporary model is created during the centring process, although this is not shown in the Project Tree. A vector outline of the selected assembly and all of its associated visible items is created. This vector outline, referred to as an Assembly Silhouette, is drawn in the temporary model. When the selected item is centred, the temporary model is closed and discarded.

5. To align the selected assembly with the X-axis, click Orient Ring Along X-Axis in the Simple Transformations area.
6. In the Transform Relative To area, select the origin you want to use when repositioning the assembly. To transform the assembly relative to:
   • the X=0, Y=0, Z=0 origin, select World Centre. This method is selected by default.
   • its own origin, select Component Centre.
7. In the Step box, type the distance by which you want to move the item.
8. Use the arrows on the diagram to move the assembly around the specified origin along any of the three axes:
   Note: If you attempt to nudge an assembly in the Project Tree when it is hidden, a message dialog is displayed asking if you want to continue.

   Click Yes to nudge the selected assembly and close the message dialog; although you will not see the results until the visibility of the assembly is toggled on. Click No to cancel the nudge and close the message dialog.

   • Click to move the assembly up along the Z- axis by the increment specified in the Step box.
   • Click to move the assembly down along the Z- axis by the increment specified in the Step box.
   • Click to move the assembly up along the Y- axis by the increment specified in the Step box.
   • Click to move the assembly down along the Y-axis by the increment specified in the Step box.
   • Click to move the assembly left along the X- axis by the increment specified in the Step box.
   • Click to move the assembly right along the X- axis by the increment specified in the Step box.

   You can see that the arrow icons are colour coordinated with the model datum displayed in the 3D view. This makes it easy to display exactly how you want to move the assembly.

9. Click to select the X, Y or Z option to specify the axis around which you want to rotate the assembly.

   You can see that the X, Y and Z options are colour coordinated with the origin gnomon displayed in the 3D view. This makes it easy to picture how you want to rotate the assembly.

10. In the Angle box, enter the angle by which you want to rotate the assembly.
11. Use the arrows to rotate the assembly around the specified origin:
    • Click to rotate the assembly clockwise by the increment specified in the Angle box.
    • Click to rotate the assembly counter-clockwise by the increment specified in the Angle box.
12. If you have repositioned the root Assembly or an assembly for machining, you can apply or cancel its new position using one of the following methods in the Advanced area:
    Note: Click the icon in the Advanced area to display its settings. These are hidden by default.
    • To reset the assembly to its previous machining position, click Return To World Centre. The default machining position is set equal to the World Centre origin.
    • To save the current position of the assembly as its machining position, click Set World Centre.
13. Click on the splitter bar to close the Nudge tool settings.

Note: The availability of this feature is license dependent.