assembly and motion

A model can contain other models. Put a case, a board and a carton in one scene and you have an assembly. From there it has two jobs: Mechanism shows how the parts move against each other, and Animate turns the assembly into a film.

place other models

On the model node, the references row has a +. It offers From this canvas and From another project. Choose another model's export (usually its GLB), an image, or a model file. The reference shows as a chip with a dot: green when it is live.

A referenced model stays linked. When the case changes, the assembly updates. Referenced images and live sandboxes, animations and image composers can also paint a surface, so a screen on a model can show a running app.

In Assembly & motion → Assemble you place parts and joint them. Click a part to get a move and rotate gizmo; <kbd>Shift</kbd>-click gathers several parts under one gizmo. The inspector shows each part's position and a Reference box:

• Reference marks a concept model, a scan or a stand-in that you model from. It is drawn in the editor and in previews, but left out of exports, weights and castings.

Referenced files keep their own named pieces (a case's shells and screws, a board's components by reference designator). You can aim at them later by name.

A board placed in an assembly draws its real components, not boxes, when its footprints have 3D models.

mechanism

Mechanism is for motion studies. The ribbon has:

tool	does
Joint	pick the part that moves (then, with <kbd>Shift</kbd>, the part it rides on; none means the world). Types: fixed, revolute, slider, cylindrical, with min and max
Coupling	drives one joint from another: gear, rack, screw, Scotch yoke, slider-crank, cam, or a formula
Spring	between two picked parts; reports length and force from its stiffness and free length
Key drivers (<kbd>K</kbd>)	records the driving joints' values at the playhead
Play	plays the animation
Attach here	at the playhead, hands a part from one carrier to another and keeps its pose

The dock plots one lane per joint over time. Driving joints are solid lines, driven joints dashed, amber where a joint reaches its limit. Click or drag the plot to scrub.

A joint at its limit is a contact, not an error. That is how a pen carriage lands on paper while its lever keeps turning. Springs read forces and do not push: there are no dynamics or contact solver.

animate

Animate builds a timeline of what moves, when. Its ribbon:

tool	does
Assemble	picks a board or parts and lands them one after another
Fly in	parts arrive from off to the side
Screw in	screws turn as they go in
Orbit	the camera circles the product
Key camera (<kbd>K</kbd>)	records the camera you are looking through at the playhead
Camera view (<kbd>C</kbd>)	looks through the animation's camera
Play	plays the timeline
Render	opens the render dialog

The dock under the viewport has a scrub ruler, a camera lane and one lane per clip. Drag a clip to retime it; the clips chained after it move too. Drag its right edge to change its duration. Time snaps to 0.05 s; hold <kbd>Alt</kbd> to place freely.

A motion is an offset from rest, so an assembly lands exactly where the design put each part. An Assemble clip on a board lands every component in turn. Re-lay out the board with new parts and the new parts assemble too.

Clips can also fold a carton (a fold clip runs the Packaging fold), tilt parts and ride a cloth. Callouts add text over the picture: a label whose arrow follows a part, a title, or a lower-third.

render a video

Render opens the dialog. Choose Still or Video, then:

• Quality: Draft (the viewport's look, fast), High (soft shadows, anti-aliased, motion blur) or Path traced (real glass and light, slow)
• Size: 1080p, 720p, square, vertical or 4K (up to 3840 × 2160)
• Frame rate: 24, 25, 30 or 60 fps
• Set: Cyclorama, Spotlight or Plain
• Look: Clean or Cinematic
• Render on: Auto picks a GPU machine when one is free, else your tab

A video comes out as an mp4 export, with an optional shader that turns the picture into pixel art, risograph or screentone with a palette you pick. Video exports render only when you ask.

rigged characters

A character model with a skeleton can be posed on the timeline: bones are rotated by degrees from rest, or told to aim at a point, and a prop can ride a bone, like a phone in a hand. The same numbers pose any rig whatever its bone axes are, using standard humanoid names such as hips, spine, left upper arm.

There are no rig tools in the editor yet. A pixie sets the poses for you. Ask for "the figure lifts the phone", then scrub.

limits & good to know

• Springs: up to 200 · couplings: up to 500 · saved views: up to 200.
• Renders need the model open on its canvas, or a render machine; nothing renders from a closed tab.
• Scene exports and card thumbnails show the design, not the animation pose.

related

• electronics · packaging · spaces
• variants and checks: check the moving parts for collisions
• the cassette use case