Mate Controller

CAD modeling method, system, and apparatus provide an on-demand mate controller for controlling settings of mating relationships in a CAD model. The names of mates of a CAD model assembly are auto-populated into an ordered list in the mate controller. The mate controller enables user interactive re-ordering of the listed names. With the mate controller, a user may temporarily unlock a mate, visually position assembly components, and relock the mate resulting in refined mate settings and degrees of freedom of assembly components. The mate controller enables a user to interactively change order of positions of the model assembly which in turn affects order of position changes in motion studies of the model assembly. The mate controller saves per position data of the model assembly including mate values and component degrees of freedom. The saved per position data can be readily used to create animations.