SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part VII: Working with Specialized Functionality

To create the actual motion in the MotionManager, you handle things just like in the other exam-

ples, but when you move the time bar, you double-click the angle mate and change the value.

Driving animations with angle or distance mates is an effective way to get more exact motion.

In this case, the angle mate is the only thing driving the motion. There is some view orientation

movement at the end of the movie, where I also copied the motion from the first half of the movie,

and ran it again a little faster with different angle values closer up.

Animating with Basic Motion

Basic Motion is the functionality formerly known as Physical Simulation. It involves setting motors

to turn parts, gravity to move parts and springs, and collisions to create animations that cannot be

driven by mates or free motion. It uses a different solver than the rest of the animations in this

chapter.

Basic Motion does not take into account effects such as momentum, bounce, resistance/friction,

viscosity, reaction forces, and so on. To analyze for these effects, you will need to use Motion

Analysis (formerly COSMOS Motion).

The study type selection box appears in the upper-left corner of the MotionManager. You will need

to use Basic Motion, shown in Figure 33.21, for this example.

Using gravity and contact

Figure 33.21 shows an assembly that demonstrates the gravity and contact functions of Basic

Motion. The problem is easy to set up. The part that is to move (ball) is underdefined, using only

one mate to keep it in plane as it moves. The zigzag part uses a Fixed constraint. The assembly

used in this example is on the CD-ROM and is called Chapter 33 zig zag.sldasm.

FIGURE 33.21

Setting up contact and gravity