Free Rotate and Free Move

[RDG3PO]

Seriously now, are these not one of most useless commands in Inventor? On so many occasions do I just want to rotate an assembly or part about an axis a specific amount, and can't find a way to do so without deleting and re-dropping, or finding somthing to constrain it to, and delete the constraints. And there in my RMB flyout toolbar is Free Rotate and Free Move, moking me with their unfathomable uselessness. 

Am I missing something? Does someone use these commands for anything?

[Cadmanto]

Feel free to incorporate your ideas in the Inventor IdeaStation if you think you have better method. 

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[RDG3PO]

Many thanks, CADMANTO, I'll use the link you provided. How often do these ideas ever get noticed or implemented?

[Cadmanto]

No problem.  They get looked at constantly.  I have quite a few in there and some have been accepted.

Take a look through the site and there might be some in there you would like to see implimented.

The more kudo votes they get the better chance they have of being implimented.

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[blair]

These tools are designed for inspection of Constraints, especially the Free Move. It's primary function is to display which constraints affect the selected item in a IAM file. They are not there to move items around the assembly.

[jtylerbc]

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@RDG3PO wrote:

Am I missing something? Does someone use these commands for anything?

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You're not missing much with regards to Free Rotate and Free Move, but you might want to look into the Grip Snap tool.  It might already be very close to what you would be posting as an idea.

[RDG3PO]

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@Blair wrote:
These tools are designed for inspection of Constraints, especially the Free Move. It's primary function is to display which constraints affect the selected item in a IAM file. They are not there to move items around the assembly.

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Hey Blair, this diesn't make sense either. When I partially constrain a part in an assembly, I can select the part and drag it in it's free degrees of freedom without selecting a command in order to move it. Was this not always the case?

[RDG3PO]

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@jtylerbc wrote:

You're not missing much with regards to Free Rotate and Free Move, but you might want to look into the Grip Snap tool.  It might already be very close to what you would be posting as an idea.

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Thanks for the lead, jtylerbc. I did find the grip snap tool and started to play with it, but it wasn't immediately clear how it works. I'm gonna have to do some reading, I hope you're right.

[Anonymous]

I find I use free rotate mainly when INV picks the 'other' way of interpreting an incompletely constrained relationship and moves a part to the wrong place (aligning a shaft with a hole springs to mind).  Free rotate allows me to swap the shaft around and the contraint will then snap on properly.

[cwhetten]

I use the free rotate tool in much the same way as spackle42.  I also use the free move tool when I need to temporarily move a component out of the way for better visibility (without messing with LODS or view reps, and without having to suppress or otherwise modify constraints).  Then when I am done, I just hit the update button and it resolves the constraints, and the component snaps back into its proper place.

These are not tools I use all the time, but when I need them, they come in pretty handy.

Cameron Whetten
Inventor 2014