Assembly Mate Constraints Visualizer¶
Learning Objective¶
Identify common mate constraint types, explain what degrees of freedom each removes, and analyze how combinations of mates fully constrain a part in an assembly (Bloom L1–L4: identify, explain, analyze).
- Bloom Level: Remember / Understand / Apply / Analyze
- Bloom Verb: identify, explain, analyze
- Library: p5.js
Preview¶
Specification¶
The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 4: Computer-Aided Design and Modeling.
Type: interactive-infographic
**sim-id:** assembly-mate-visualizer<br/>
**Library:** p5.js<br/>
**Status:** Specified
**Learning objective:** Identify common mate constraint types, explain what degrees of freedom each removes, and analyze how combinations of mates fully constrain a part in an assembly (Bloom L1–L4: identify, explain, analyze).
**Description:** An interactive p5.js diagram showing two simple block-shaped parts in isometric view. The student selects mates from a palette and applies them between the parts, watching the DOF counter decrease and the parts snap into their constrained positions.
**Canvas layout (700 × 480 px, responsive):**
- Center: Isometric view of two parts — a base block (fixed, gray) and a movable block (blue, starts floating off to the side)
- Top bar: "Degrees of Freedom Remaining: 6" counter (updates with each mate added)
- Right panel: Mate palette with six mate buttons (Coincident, Concentric, Distance, Angle, Parallel, Fixed), each with a tooltip describing what it does and how many DOF it removes
- Below mate palette: Applied mates list (numbered, with delete button)
- Bottom: "Assembly Status" badge — UNDER-CONSTRAINED / FULLY CONSTRAINED / OVER-CONSTRAINED
**Interactions:**
- Clicking a mate button applies it between the selected faces of the two parts (clicking a face on either part highlights it as the selection)
- The movable part animates to its new position after each mate is applied
- DOF counter decrements appropriately
- At 0 DOF, the badge turns green: "FULLY CONSTRAINED — Part is locked in place"
- Adding one more mate turns the badge red: "OVER-CONSTRAINED — One constraint is redundant or conflicting"
- Clicking a mate in the applied list highlights the constrained faces on the 3D view
- "Reset" button clears all mates
**Responsive behavior:** Scales to container width; DOF counter and status badge remain prominent at all sizes.