Part Animator

The Part Animator extension allows you to select a part in your scene or mechanism, and move it to a new position. The velocity of the part will be calculated by the displacement from the current position to the new position given by the part animator in a time dt, where dt is the time between two simulation steps.

To create a Part Animator:

1. Select Dynamics in the Toolbox.

2. Double-click Part Animator to add it to the scene or mechanism.

3. Configure the following fields in the Properties panel.

   • Inputs

     • Animation Transform: Transformation in a world frame that will be applied to the part. World frame linear and angular velocities will be automatically computed from the change between the previous and the next transformation, and the current application time step.

       
       
       

     • Reset: When True, the position of the part is set to the Reset Transform and the linear and angular velocities are set to zero. While True, the Animation Transform is not used.

     • Reset Transform: While Reset is true, the Animation Transform field will be ignored and the Reset Transform will be used instead to calculate the transformation of the part. Also, the linear and angular velocities will not be automatically computed, but instead will be set to zero.

   • Parameters

     • Animated Part: Press the details button in this field to select the part you want to animate according to the provided Animation Transform.

       
       
       

     • Initial Transform: Sets the starting position and rotation of the animated part, while in editing mode.