When the rigid groups and the joints are defined, there is a mechanism in due form, and when the assembly is included in an assembly of a higher level, the articulations can be activated when positioned in relation to the other parts of this assembly.

However, it can also be useful to visualize certain key positions of the mechanism locally, without having to include it in another assembly.

This is done using the configuration notion.

A configuration of the mechanism is actually a position of the mechanism which is compatible with the constraints of its joints.

The system automatically creates a configuration which cannot be deleted and which corresponds to the position of the parts at the end of the modeling stage, the configuration of design.

Other configurations can be created, including, for example, configurations defined by positioning constraints by virtue of the 'Constrained configuration' command, as if the mechanism had been included in an assembly of a higher level: the rigid groups are displaced taking into account the constraints of the joints in order to meet the positioning constraints which can be creating using different commands from the Mechanism menu (in a similar way to the constrained positioning used during the modeling of an assembly by reassembly).

One of the different existing configurations is called the current configuration , its name displayed in the corresponding drop down list of the menu, and it can be changed by selecting another configuration.

When working in the Mechanism stage, the parts are in their position corresponding to the current configuration.

Creation stages / Use:

Click the icon or select the Mechanism > Constrained Configuration... command from the drop-down menu.

Modifications / Additional information:

Configuration can be edited, renamed or deleted using the popup menu on the intended configuration in the Configurations sub-folder in the Mechanism folder in the entities tree.

The Design configuration default configuration cannot be deleted or renamed.