Part Animator

Owned by Marc Lievin
Jul 24, 2023
2 min read

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.

        On the first step, the part is teleported to the position given by the Animation Transform and its velocity will be zero. Hence, the part has no velocity even if there is a difference between the Initial Transform and the Animation Transform).This input field could be connected to the transformation output field of the animation component.

        You can also connect this animation transform input to the output transform of an animation path using the Connection Editor.

      • 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.

        Remember to change the part's Control type to Animated. This can only be done by accessing the part through its related assembly.To do so, either open the assembly file directly, or right-click the assembly in the Explorer panel and click Open Assembly.... Once in the assembly, select the part. In its Properties panel, within the Inputs tab, set Control to Animated.If not set to Animated, a warning will appear and the transform is not affected by the Part Animator.

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

        The inputs Local Transform and Parent Transform at the assembly level are not used when a part is set as the Animated Part of a Part Animator. The World Transform output updates to reflect the real world position of the part.