Overview: Placing and constraining the model parts in an assembly

- Now that we have our parts modeled,…we need a way to bring those parts together…to study how they fit, function, and look…when they're put together.…The assembly file will allow us to do just that…as we bring in the parts and, in some cases,…smaller subassemblies into the main assembly file.…We are going to apply what I call a virtual glue.…Another word for them in Inventor words are constraints,…and we're going to apply that virtual glue, or constraints,…on the parts, which will give them the ability to move…in a certain way or not move…depending on how the model should function.…

So our caddy project doesn't include…difficult mechanical parts,…but you can imagine how handy this would be…if we were designing, say, a small motor…or something with multiple moving parts.…The idea behind an assembly file…is to create a virtual prototype to test your design,…and that saves a lot of time and money…before moving to a physical prototype.…So let's take a look at how to generate…an assembly file in Inventor.…We're going to begin at our main screen again,…