Grouping Sketch Elements Together

You can group various sketcher elements together. You can make this group rigid, if required. The grouped elements can be translated, rotated, or scaled.

The internal constraints of the group remain intact.

Note: The external reference constraints of the sketch can limit the operations that can be performed on the group. For example, a Fix constraint on an element of the groups disables all of them.

This capability is helpful for the 2D kinematics studies in the Sketcher.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin: Create a sketch with geometrical elements.
See Also
About Grouping Elements Together

Create a Group and Make it Rigid

You can group certain elements in the sketch and make the group rigid.

  1. Select the geometrical elements to group together.
    Selection of the elements to be grouped

  2. From the Sketch section of the action bar, click Group .
  3. In the Group.x dialog box, select or clear the Rigid check box to change the rigidity status.

    A non-rigid group is indicated by a mask in the tree.

The elements are grouped and an icon appears in the work area indicating the grouping. A Group node is added to the tree.

Rigid group

Non-rigid group

Tip: Click the icon in the work area or the node of the group in the tree, and on the context toolbar, click Select geometrical elements . This selects all the geometrical elements in the group.

Edit the Group and its Rigidity

You can edit the created group and change its constituent elements. You can also change the rigidity status of the group.

  1. Double-click in the work area or the node of the group in the tree.
  2. In the Group.x dialog box, select or clear the Rigid check box to change the rigidity status.

    Tip: Alternately, click in the work area or the node of the group in the tree, and on the context toolbar, click Attach Group to make the group rigid and Detach Group to make it non-rigid.

  3. In the list, add or remove elements from the grouped geometry.

Translate or Rotate a Group

Once a group is created, you can translate or rotate it without affecting the internal constraints.

  1. Click the icon in the work area or the node of the group in the tree.
    • A box envelopes the group. If the group is non-rigid, then handles appear on the box.
    • A Robot appears on the group.
  2. Drag the box by the edges in the work area to freely translate the group.
  3. Drag the Robot by the central circle and place it anywhere in the work area.

    The circle is the center of rotation of the group.

  4. Rotate the arc of the Robot.
    The group is rotated about the center of the Robot.

Scale a Group

You can scale a non rigid group.

  1. Click the icon in the work area or the node of the group in the tree.
    • A box envelopes the group. If the group is non-rigid, then handles appear on the box.
    • A Robot appears on the group.
  2. Drag a handle to scale the group.