Design Animation

®
Pro/ENGINEER
Wildfire™ 2.0
Design Animation
Help Topic Collection
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Table Of Contents
Design Animation........................................................................................... 1
About Animation ............................................................................................ 1
Design Animation Toolbar Buttons .................................................................... 1
Creating an Animation ................................................................................. 3
To Define an Animation................................................................................... 3
Animation Dialog Box ..................................................................................... 5
Editing the Animation ..................................................................................... 5
Displaying Icons ....................................................................................... 6
About Icon Visibilities ..................................................................................... 6
To Set Icon Visibilities..................................................................................... 6
Defining Bodies ........................................................................................ 7
About Bodies ................................................................................................. 7
To Create a Body ........................................................................................... 8
Body Definition Dialog Box .............................................................................. 8
Drag Operations ....................................................................................... 9
About Drag Operations ................................................................................... 9
Drag Dialog Box............................................................................................. 9
Buttons on the Drag Dialog Box ......................................................................10
To Create a Snapshot ....................................................................................11
To Drag a Body.............................................................................................12
To Drag a Point.............................................................................................13
Snapshots Tab on the Drag Dialog Box.............................................................13
To Define Constraints for a Drag Operation .......................................................14
Constraints Tab on the Drag Dialog Box ...........................................................14
To Lock a Body Prior to a Dragging Operation ...................................................15
To Change Connection Status for a Snapshot ....................................................16
To Drag with a Selected Coordinate System ......................................................16
Advanced Drag Options..................................................................................17
To Use Snapshot Construction ........................................................................18
v
Table Of Contents
To Edit a Snapshot ........................................................................................19
Using Assembly States...................................................................................19
Creating Key Frame Sequences .................................................................20
About Key Frame Sequences ..........................................................................20
To Define a Key Frame Sequence ....................................................................20
To Control Bodies in a Key Frame Sequence......................................................21
Key Frame Sequence Dialog Box .....................................................................21
Key Frame Sequence Finder Form ...................................................................22
Bodies Tab ...................................................................................................23
Sequence Tab...............................................................................................23
KFS Instance ................................................................................................24
Example: Reference Body...............................................................................24
Creating Servo Motors..............................................................................24
About Servo Motors.......................................................................................24
Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box ...................................................................25
To Define a New Servo Motor..........................................................................25
To Specify the Servo Motor Type .....................................................................26
About the Type Tab in the Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box...............................26
To Specify the Servo Motor Profile ...................................................................28
About the Profile Tab in the Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box.............................28
To Specify Servo Motor Magnitude as a User-Defined Function.............................29
About Magnitude Settings ..............................................................................30
Example: Types of Motor Profiles.....................................................................31
Magnitude as a Table Function ........................................................................32
Magnitude as a User-Defined Function .............................................................33
Expression Definition Dialog Box .....................................................................34
Expression Parameters Dialog Box ...................................................................35
Servo Motor Profile for SCCA ..........................................................................35
To Define Table Servo Motors .........................................................................36
Graph..........................................................................................................37
Segmenting a Graph......................................................................................38
vi
Table Of Contents
Managing Graphs ..........................................................................................38
X Axis and Y Axis Tabs...................................................................................38
Data Series Tab ............................................................................................39
Graph Display Tab.........................................................................................40
To Include a Servo Motor in the Animation........................................................40
Servo Motor Time Domain ..............................................................................40
Geometric Servo Motors.................................................................................41
Plane-Plane Rotation Servo Motor....................................................................41
Plane–Plane Translation Servo Motor ...............................................................41
Plane–Point Translation Servo Motor ................................................................42
Point–Plane Translation Servo Motor ................................................................42
Point–Point Translation Servo Motor.................................................................42
About Joint Axis Settings................................................................................43
To Specify Joint Axis Settings .........................................................................43
Defining Joint Zero References ........................................................................44
Locking Bodies ........................................................................................45
About Lock Bodies.........................................................................................45
To Lock Bodies .............................................................................................46
Defining Connection Status .......................................................................46
About Connection Status ................................................................................46
To Define Connection Status...........................................................................47
Connection Icons ..........................................................................................48
Defining Events .......................................................................................48
About Events................................................................................................48
To Define an Event........................................................................................49
Including Subanimations ..........................................................................49
About Subanimations.....................................................................................49
Subanimation Dialog Box ...............................................................................50
Running and Playing Back the Animation.....................................................50
About Playback .............................................................................................50
To Run the Animation ....................................................................................51
vii
Table Of Contents
To Play Back the Animation ............................................................................51
Movie Schedule.............................................................................................52
Interference .................................................................................................52
Animate Dialog Box .......................................................................................53
Capture Dialog Box .......................................................................................54
Create Motion Envelope Dialog Box..................................................................55
Defining the Time Domain.........................................................................57
About Time Domain.......................................................................................57
To Change the Time Domain...........................................................................57
Time Domain Length and Frame Count.............................................................57
Time Domain Length and Rate ........................................................................58
Time Domain Rate and Frame Count................................................................59
Defining Views ........................................................................................60
About View @ Time .......................................................................................60
To Define Views for an Animation ....................................................................60
Interpolation ................................................................................................61
Defining Displays.....................................................................................62
About Display @ Time....................................................................................62
To Define a Display for an Animation ...............................................................62
Defining Settings .....................................................................................63
About Animation Settings ...............................................................................63
To Define the Animation Settings ....................................................................64
Defining Transparency..............................................................................64
About Trans @ Time ......................................................................................64
Transparency @ Time Dialog Box ....................................................................65
To Define Transparencies for an Animation .......................................................66
Interpolation ................................................................................................66
Design Animation Timeline...........................................................................67
About the Animation Timeline .........................................................................67
Animation Timeline Shortcuts .........................................................................68
Changing the Timeline Display ........................................................................68
viii
Table Of Contents
Index ..........................................................................................................71
ix
Design Animation
About Animation
Use the Application > Animation command to invoke the Design Animation option.
With Design Animation, you can coordinate the components of an animation
sequence and play back an animation.
When you select this command, a timeline window appears below the graphics
window, and a toolbar appears below the Pro/ENGINEER toolbar. You can run,
create, and manage your animation using the menu commands, the toolbar buttons,
or the timeline window.
You can use Design Animation to do the following:
• Visualize your assembly's operation. If you have the concept, but have not
defined the mechanics, you can drag bodies to different positions and take
snapshots to create an animation.
• Create an assembly or disassembly sequence animation of your model.
• Create a maintenance sequence, a short animation of steps to take to instruct a

user in how to repair or build a product.
For an introduction and overview of the Design Animation module, and for typical
steps to take to create an animation, see the Design Animation Concepts Guide
online document.
Many of the modeling entities that you create in Mechanism Design will transfer to
Design Animation.
Design Animation Toolbar Buttons

When you click Application > Animation, the Design Animation toolbar opens with
a set of default buttons. You can select which buttons appear on your toolbar by
using the Tools > Customize Screen command. For more information on this
command, search for information on customizing screen commands in the PTC online
help system.
Button Action Comments
Control the display of icons The Display Entities dialog

on your model. box opens.
Create a new animation. The Animation dialog box

opens.
Define bodies in your The Body Definition dialog

assembly. box opens.
Drag model and create The Drag dialog box opens.

snapshots.
Create a key frame The Key Frame Sequence

sequence. dialog box opens.
1
Design Animation Help Topic Collection
sequence. dialog box opens.
Create body–body locking. The Lock Bodies dialog box

opens.
Create a servo motor. The Servo Motor Definition

dialog box opens.
Create a new view at time. The View @ Time dialog box

opens.
Create a new transparency at The Transparency @ Time

time. dialog box opens.
Define component display at The Display @ Time dialog

time. box opens.
Edit the selected entity in the A dialog box opens that

timeline. corresponds to the selected
entity.
Undo.
Redo.
Remove the selected entity

from the animation timeline.
Generate the animation. The current animation starts.
Play back the animation. The current animation plays.
Export the animation. The current animation is

exported as a .fra file.
Change the connection The Connection Status dialog

status. box opens.
Create an event. The Event Definition dialog

box opens.
Include a subanimation. The Include in dialog box

opens.
Define the interpolation The Interpolation dialog box

settings for views and opens.
transparency.
Zoom in on time scale. The time scale decreases to

the selected size. Click and
drag a rectangle around the
2
Design Animation
part of the time scale you want

to see.
Zoom out time scale. The time scale increases

incrementally until it reaches
the original setting.
Zoom to refit time scale. The time scale returns to the

original setting.
Change the animation time The Animation Time Domain

domain. dialog box opens.
Change the animation The Settings dialog box

settings. opens. You can set the
tolerance level for the
assembly, and specify the
action when an animation run
fails.
Creating an Animation
To Define an Animation
You can create an animation to do many different things. Depending on your
objective, you may use different steps to create your animation.
Following are the typical steps you might take to create an animation:
1. Open an assembly in Pro/ENGINEER.
2. Open Design Animation by clicking Applications > Animation.
The Design Animation toolbar and timeline appear. An Animation menu is added
to the Pro/ENGINEER menu bar. You can create your animation either by
selecting commands from the Animation menu or by clicking the toolbar
buttons.
3. Create a new animation by clicking Animation > Animation or click on the

Design Animation toolbar. The Animation dialog box opens with a default name
for your animation. Use the Rename command to give your animation a
meaningful name.
4. Check your body definitions:
o For a Pro/ENGINEER assembly, you probably want to select One Part per
Body and then edit the body to put the parts into the appropriate moving
groups.
o One Part per Body will empty the ground body of parts. You should edit
the body named ground and reassign ground parts to it.
3
o For a Mechanism Design assembly, you should check that the body
definitions are as desired.
5. Define animation components that create movement.
To specify general movement, create key frame sequences. To create key frame
sequences, take snapshots of your assembly at specific positions, using the drag
functionality to move bodies to new positions. Design Animation will interpolate
between these key frames to produce a smooth animation.
To create specific movement between bodies connected by joints or between
geometric entities, define servo motors on joints or geometric entities.
6. If not already on the timeline, include the servo motors and key frame sequences
on the timeline. Any components included on the timeline form the basis for your
animation. You can edit the timeline length and increments, the length of the
servo motor or key frame sequence in the animation, and the relative timing of
all components in the timeline.
7. Optional: If you have not already included body locking, events, or connection
status in the timeline, you can add them now.
o If you want a group of bodies to be fixed relative to each other for a part of
the animation, you may want to set up body locking for that time period.
o Changing the connection status is useful for assembling and disassembling

your model. If you are working with key frame sequences, you can change
the connection status on the Drag dialog box while dragging bodies to
position them in snapshots. If you are working with servo motors, you want
to use the Animation > Connection Status command.
o If you need to have animation components sequenced in a particular order,

you can specify a system-defined or user-defined event as a reference, or
you can group them together in a subanimation.
8. Start your animation by clicking Animation > Start.
The Run dialog box opens. The model moves as specified by the animation
components in the timeline, and the timeline shows the progress of the
animation.
If you have problems, try one of the following:
o Make sure your mechanism is not overconstrained. For example, check that
a servo motor and key frame sequence are not requiring conflicting
positions.
o Increase the number of time steps (Tools > Time Domain).
9. If you want to view the animation again, or to change the speed or direction,
click Animation > Playback. If desired, you can check for interference and other
results.
10. Define views along your animation to view orientations and magnification of your
model. You can also choose an interpolation method for your views.
4
Design Animation
11. Specify component displays along the animation for your assembly components.
12. Rerun the animation and view results.
13. Save your animation and results. You save your results by clicking on the
Playbacks dialog box. Design Animation saves your playback results to a .pba
file. You can also export to a .fra file. Save your animation using the File >
Save command. Design Animation saves your animation to the .asm file with
your model.
Animation Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to create a new animation, or to open or delete an existing
animation. When you click Animation > Animation, or click , this dialog box
opens.
This dialog box contains the following items:
• New—Create a new animation. Design Animation gives it a default name. You
can now define the components that make up your animation, including key
frame sequences and servo motors.
Warning: This command clears the current animation from the timeline. If you
do not save your model before selecting this command, you will lose your
animation data.
• Open—Select an animation from the list.
• Delete—Remove the selected animation from the list.
• Rename—Rename an animation. Select one of the animations from the list. Edit
the name in the entry box. Click Rename. The new name appears in the list.
Editing the Animation

Use the following commands on the Edit menu to manipulate components of your
animation. You can also access these commands from the buttons on the toolbar.
• Selected—Edit the component you have selected on your timeline. The
appropriate dialog box opens.
• Undo—Undo the previous command in the animation timeline. You can click
Undo multiple times to take you back to when you started the animation or last
saved your model.
Note: Editing a servo motor, key frame sequence, view at time, or snapshot
cannot be undone. You can undo only modifications to instances in the animation
timeline.
• Redo—Perform the previous command in the animation timeline that was

undone.
• Remove—Remove the selected element from the timeline.
5
Displaying Icons
About Icon Visibilities
You can use View > Display Settings > Animation Display to open the Display
Entities dialog box. The Display Entities dialog box has the following selections
that you can toggle. The default is that all icons are visible.
Servo motors
Joints
Slots
Cams
Gears
LCS
Dependency
After you toggle a visibility off, that icon is still visible under the following conditions:
• Servo motor icons are visible when you open the Servo Motors dialog box.
• All joint icons are visible while Joint Axis is selected as a Driven Entity on the
Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
• All connection icons are visible while you are setting the connection status during
a dragging operation.
• The current local coordinate system (LCS) is visible during dragging operation.
This LCS is used as a reference for each component during dragging operation.
• Body LCS icons are visible while you are editing a body.
• The Dependency selection adds a dotted line on the timeline between an

animation element, such as a keyframe sequence, and an event that it
references.
To Set Icon Visibilities

The following steps outline the process of turning the Design Animation icons on and
off for viewing.
1. Use View > Display Settings > Animation Display or click to open the
Display Entities dialog box.
2. Toggle on the icons you want to be visible. Your choices are the following:
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Design Animation
o Servo motors
o Joints
o Slots
o Cams
o Gears
o LCS
o Dependency
You can toggle off icon visibilities that have been toggled on previously.
3. If you want all of the icons to be visible, click .
4. If you do not want any of the icons to be visible, click .
Defining Bodies
About Bodies
A body is made up of one or more parts that do not move relative to each other. By
default, bodies in Design Animation are created following the Mechanism Design
body rules—parts with a Pro/ENGINEER constraint between them are placed in a
single body. For more information, search for bodies in the PTC online help system.
Bodies definitions that you make in Design Animation will not transfer to Mechanism
Design.
If you created your assembly without mechanism connections or packaging but
simply with Pro/ENGINEER constraints, you will want to redefine the model using
One Part Per Body or Add.
Note: If a body definition has been edited and saved in a subassembly, you cannot
edit the body in a higher level assembly. You must edit the body in the subassembly,
then save it.
If a subassembly body configuration has not been saved, you get the default body
definition and you can edit it.
When you select Animation > Body Definition, the Bodies dialog box appears:
• New—Create a new body and add parts to it. The Body Definition dialog box
opens.
• Edit—Edit a selected body. The Body Definition dialog box appears, enabling
you to add parts to your body. Any parts added to a body are removed from any
other bodies that previously contained them. All parts belong to the ground body
if they were added to the assembly using Pro/ENGINEER constraints.
• Remove—Remove a selected body. The parts contained in that body are moved
to the ground body.
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• One Part per Body—Create bodies using the one part per body rule. Design
Animation keeps connections during this operation.
Note: Use this with caution with large assemblies because every part in the
assembly will become an individual body. You will also have to redefine Ground.
• Default Bodies—Revert to the bodies defined by Pro/ENGINEER constraints.

When you select this option, the program carries out a Pro/ENGINEER
regeneration. Any body definitions created prior to selecting this button will be
ignored. This gives you a chance to start over, creating bodies as when you first
entered Design Animation.
Note: If you do not use default bodies in your animation, the Pro/ENGINEER
regeneration may fail when you leave Design Animation, or Pro/ENGINEER may
place parts in a different location than they were during your animation.
To Create a Body
A body is a part or group of parts that do not move with respect to each other. Use
these steps to define which part of your assembly will move independently during
the animation.
1. Select Animation > Body Definition or click on the toolbar.
The Bodies dialog box opens with a list of the bodies in the assembly.
2. Click New.
The Body Definition dialog box opens.
3. Enter a Name for the new body.
4. Select parts to add to the body.
The Number Of Parts count is updated as bodies are added.
5. Click OK.
The Bodies dialog box opens with the new body included in the list.
Body Definition Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to add parts to a new body.
You can select from the following choices on the Body Definition dialog box:
• Name—Name the new body.
• Add Parts—Use the selector arrow and the normal selection methods to select
the parts you want to add to the new body.
You can choose to add a subassembly to the body by selecting the subassembly
on the model tree.
The Number Of Parts display box incrementally updates as you add parts to the
body.
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Design Animation
Drag Operations
About Drag Operations
Use dragging to place bodies in position for a snapshot. You can drag a point or
body. You can choose free-form movement, or movement along a coordinate system
axis. Design Animation attempts to position the selected entity as close as possible
to the current cursor location. When the desired orientation is reached, click to
capture the current position and orientation of each body in the model.
If there are connections between the bodies in your models, you can choose to leave
the connections active, or to disconnect them during the drag operation. You can
also apply two types of temporary constraints to the model—align and mate. The
constraints are in effect only during the dragging operation. You can specify the
initial configuration of a joint axis as a given value.
You can specify that one or more bodies remain stationary relative to Ground during
a dragging operation by locking them. You can also lock or disable a connection, so it
does not move or is ignored, respectively. Design Animation saves the body locking
and connection status information with the snapshot, so if you edit a snapshot those
features will be active.
If you are creating a new key frame sequence or editing an existing key frame
sequence, the snapshots you take are automatically added to the key frame
sequence. However, if you click on the Drag dialog box to create snapshots,
Design Animation will not automatically add the snapshots to any key frame
sequence in the animation.
Drag Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to move components of the assembly and take snapshots. You
can also use this dialog box to apply or remove constraints for your snapshot, and to
turn the constraints on and off.
When you select Animation > Snapshot, the Drag dialog box opens with the
following items:
• Click to take a picture of your mechanism. The Snapshots list will update.
The snapshot includes the orientation, location, connection status, and
constraints that were defined at the time you took the snapshot.
• Click and select a point to drag. A marker is drawn on the part around the
location chosen and follows the cursor movement in such a way as to maintain
the connectivity of connections and bodies, if any.
• Click and select a body to drag. The body highlights and follows the cursor
movement in such a way as to maintain the connectivity of connections and
bodies, if any, and the current orientation of the body with respect to the
assembly coordinate system.
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• When you use the left mouse button to accept a dragged configuration, the
configuration is saved to a buffer. Click to display the previous configuration

from the buffer. This button acts as an undo command, displaying the part
positions as of the start of the last drag sequence.
• Click to display the next configuration in the buffer. This button acts as a
redo command.
• Current Snapshot—Use this field to rename the displayed snapshot.
The drag dialog box also contains the following tabs:

• Snapshots
• Constraints
For more options for the drag operations, click the arrow next to Advanced Drag
Options.
Buttons on the Drag Dialog Box

Button Action/Name
Snapshot
Point Drag
Body Drag
Previous Configuration
Next Configuration
Snapshots tab
Display
Borrow Part Positions from Other Snapshots
Make Available for Drawings
Update
Delete
Constraints
tab
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Design Animation
Align Two Entities
Mate Two Entities
Orient Two Surfaces
Body–Body Locking
Enable/Disable Connections
Joint Axis Constraint
Assemble Model Using Applied Constraints
Advanced Drag
Options
X, Y, Z Translation
X, Y, Z Rotation
Current Coordinate System
Package Move
Delete
To Create a Snapshot
In order to create a key frame sequence, you take snapshots of your assembly in
various positions and configurations. Design Animation interpolates between the
snapshots to create a smooth animation. Follow these steps to create a snapshot:
1. Select the Animation > Snapshot command or click on the toolbar.
2. The Drag dialog box appears.
3. If you want to apply constraints during your drag operation, select the
Constraints tab.
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4. Select the Snapshots tab.
5. Select a drag method.
o Point
o Body
6. You can also use drag methods based on your model's coordinate systems. Click
Advanced Drag Options to expand the dialog box, and select one of these
methods.
o X,Y,Z Translation—You can specify which coordinate system the
translation takes place in by clicking .
o X,Y,Z Rotation—You can specify which coordinate system the rotation
takes place in by clicking .
7. When you are satisfied with the position of your model, click to record.
The snapshot is listed in the Drag dialog box with the default name Snapshot#,
where # is a number incremented as snapshots are added to the list.
After you create your snapshots, you need to include them in a key frame
sequence. When you create a key frame sequence, the Key Frame Sequences
dialog box will also list the new snapshot.
Note: After you record a snapshot, click and select the Constraints tab to
review the constraint settings for that snapshot.
8. Repeat this procedure to create all of the snapshots for your sequence.
To Drag a Body
When you drag a body, its position onscreen will change but its orientation will
remain fixed. If the mechanism requires the body to be reoriented in some way in
conjunction with a change in position, then the body will not move at all since the
mechanism would not be able to be reassembled in the new position. Should this
happen, try using point dragging instead.
1. Select Animation > Snapshot or click . The Drag dialog box appears.
2. Click .
3. Select a body within the current model.
4. Move the cursor, and the selected body will follow the location of the cursor.
5. To complete the operation, click on one of the following mouse buttons:
o Left mouse button — to accept the current body positions and begin
dragging another body. Move the cursor away from the dragged body
before clicking.
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Design Animation
o Middle mouse button — to cancel the drag just performed
o Right mouse button — to terminate the drag operation, leaving the bodies
where you have just dragged them
To Drag a Point
1. Select Animation > Snapshot or click . The Drag dialog box opens.
2. Click .
3. Select a location on a body within the current model. The body will highlight as
you move your cursor over it.
4. Click the left mouse button on this location, and a circle will appear. This is the
exact location on the body that you will drag.
5. Move the cursor, and the selected point will follow the location of the cursor.
o Left mouse button—to accept the current body positions and begin dragging
another body. Move the cursor away from the body you are dragging before
you click.
o Middle mouse button—to cancel the drag just performed
o Right mouse button—to terminate the drag operation, leaving the bodies
Note: You cannot select Ground or locked bodies for point dragging.
Snapshots Tab on the Drag Dialog Box

Use the Snapshots tab on the Drag dialog box to display the list of saved
snapshots. To work with a snapshot, select its name from the list and then click one
of the following buttons on the left:
• Click to display the selected snapshot.
• Click to open the Snapshot Construction dialog box, from which you can
select part positions from other snapshots to use in a new snapshot.
• Click to change the name of the selected snapshot to that in the Current
Snapshot entry box. Also updates the snapshot with the current onscreen
configuration.
• Click to make the selected snapshots available as Pro/ENGINEER explode

states. The explode states can then be used in a Pro/ENGINEER drawing view.
When you click this button, Mechanism Design places an icon next to the
snapshot on the list.
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• Click to delete the selected snapshot(s) from the list.
You can also carry out these actions on a selected snapshot by clicking the right
mouse button.
To Define Constraints for a Drag Operation

This procedure assumes that you have selected the Constraints tab on the Drag
dialog box. You can specify various kinds of constraints, and turn them on or off for a
drag operation.
1. If you want to align two entities, click . You can align points, axes, edges, or
planes.
2. Select two entities on your model. The constraint is added to the list with a name
describing the entities included in the constraint.
3. If you want to mate two planes or surfaces, click , and follow Step 2.
4. If you want to change the distance between the selected planes, enter a value in
the Offset entry box and press ENTER.
5. If you want to orient two planes, click and follow Step 2.
6. If you do not want to orient the planes to be parallel, enter a value for the angle
in degrees between the planes in the Offset entry box.
7. If you want to fix one or more bodies relative to a lead body, see To Lock a Body
Prior to the Dragging Operation.
8. If you want to disable or enable a connection, see To Change Connection Status.
9. If you want to assemble your model using the applied constraints, click . Use
this option if your assembly has cams and slots.
10. If you want to toggle the on/off status of any constraints, select the constraint
from the list and click .
Constraints Tab on the Drag Dialog Box

Use the Constraints tab on the Drag dialog box to apply or remove constraints.
After you apply a constraint, Design Animation places its name on the list of
constraints. You can turn the constraints on and off by checking and clearing the box
next to the constraint selected from the list. You can use the right mouse button to
copy, cut, paste, or delete the constraint. You can also use the right mouse button to
toggle the constraint on or off.
You can also choose from the following options:
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Design Animation
• Click and select points, lines, and planes to create a temporary constraint to
align the entities. This constraint is valid only during the drag operation, but is
associated to a snapshot and is enforced when the snapshot is shown or updated.
• Click and select planes to create a temporary constraint to mate them. This
constraint is valid only during the drag operation, but is associated to a snapshot
and is enforced when the snapshot is shown or updated.
• Click and select planes to orient two surfaces at an angle or parallel to each
other. You can also enter an Offset value for the oriented planes.
• Click to specify an exact value for a joint axis initial configuration.
• Click to lock one body in its current position relative to another body.
Mechanism Design prompts you to select a reference body to which to lock, then
prompts you to select bodies to lock. The reference body can be Ground or
another body. You can select Ground by moving the cursor into the model
window and middle-mouse clicking.
• Click to disable a connection. Select connections to temporarily disable from

the mechanism. This status is saved with the snapshot. If you use this setting on
the last snapshot in the list and do not change the status later, the rest of the
snapshots will have the connection disabled.
• Click to to delete the selected constraints from the list.
• Click to assemble your model. Re-apply the selected mate or align constraint
to regenerate a snapshot.
• Offset—Enter the value for an offset if you are creating a mate or align
constraint. If you are creating an orientation constraint, you can enter a value for
angle or distance.
To Lock a Body Prior to a Dragging Operation

Lock bodies to fix bodies relative to a lead body. The reference may be one of the
bodies in your assembly or Ground. The bodies do not need to be touching or
adjacent to be locked together.
The bodies will act as if they are glued together, allowing no movement between
them. In many cases, body locking can improve the dragging performance.
This procedure assumes you have selected the Constraints tab on the Drag dialog
box.
1. Click .
2. Specify a reference body by doing one of the following:
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o If you want to specify one of the bodies on your assembly as the reference,
use the left mouse button to select the body.
o If you want to specify Ground as the reference body, click the middle
mouse button.
3. Select the bodies to be locked during the dragging operation. Design Animation
highlights each body as it is selected. Unselect any bodies you do not want to be
locked if they are highlighted. These bodies will stay fixed relative to the
reference body.
Note: Selecting Close from the Drag dialog box without taking a snapshot will
remove all locks. When you begin a new dragging session, no bodies will be
locked.
4. If you want to turn off a body lock constraint, select it from the Constraint list
and click .
Note: You cannot edit a body lock constraint. You must delete the existing
constraint and define a new one. To delete a constraint, select it from the
Constraint list and click .
To Change Connection Status for a Snapshot

This procedure assumes you are on the Constraints tab of the Drag dialog box.
Disable connections if you want to move apart connected parts during a drag
operation, for example to simulate assembling and disassembling your model. Be
aware that the connections will remain disabled in subsequent snapshots.
1. Click .
2. Select the connections on your model that you want to enable or disable during
the dragging operation. Design Animation highlights each connection as it is
selected. Unselect any connections you do not want to disable. Search the
Pro/ENGINEER online help for information on selection methods.
3. If you want to turn off a connection status for a snapshot, clear the check box
beside the disabled connection in the Constraint list.
Note: You cannot edit a connection status constraint. You must delete the
existing constraint and define a new one. To delete a constraint, select it from
the Constraint list and click .
To Drag with a Selected Coordinate System

You can drag a body along the axes of one of the coordinate systems in your
assembly. This method gives you more control over the dragging operation. This is
useful, for example, if you want to disassemble a model and reverse the procedure
to simulate putting it together. This procedure assumes you are in the Drag dialog
box.
1. Click the arrow beside Advanced Drag Options to expand the Drag dialog box.
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Design Animation
2. Click .
3. Select the body and its associated coordinate system to move.
4. If you want to translate the body along one of the axes of the coordinate system
of the selected body, click the following buttons:
o Click to translate along the X axis
o Click to translate along the Y axis
o Click to translate along the Z axis
5. If you want to rotate the body around one of the axes of the coordinate system
of the selected body, click the following buttons:
o Click to rotate around the X axis
o Click to rotate around the Y axis
o Click to rotate around the Z axis
6. Select the body on your model that you want to move.
7. Move the cursor, and the selected body will follow the location of the cursor.
o Left mouse button — to accept the current body positions and begin
dragging another body. Move the cursor away from the body you are
dragging before clicking the button.
o Middle mouse button — to cancel the drag just performed
o Right mouse button — to terminate the drag operation, leaving the bodies
Advanced Drag Options

You can expand the Drag dialog box by clicking the arrow on Advanced Drag
Options.
The advanced options include the following buttons:
• Click to open the Move dialog box, allowing you to perform a package move.
Mechanism Design does not honor drag constraints in package move. For more
information, search for package move in the PTC help system.
• Click to specify the current coordinate system. Select a coordinate system by

choosing the body whose default coordinate system is the one you want to use.
X, Y, or Z translation or rotation will be in this coordinate system.
17
• To specify X, Y, and Z translation, click one of the following buttons to select a

coordinate direction, then select a body on your model. Your selection reduces
the movement of the body to the selected direction for drag operations.
Translation in other directions, as well as rotation of the body, is locked.
o Click to specify translation in the X direction of the current coordinate

system.
o Click to specify translation in the Y direction of the current coordinate

system.
o Click to specify translation in the Z direction of the current coordinate

system.
o To specify X, Y, and Z rotation, click one of the following buttons to select a

coordinate direction, then select a body on your model. Your selection reduces
the movement of the body to rotation about the selected axis for drag
operations.
o Click to specify rotation around the X axis of the current coordinate

system.
o Click to specify rotation around the Y axis of the current coordinate

system.
o Click to specify rotation around the Z axis of the current coordinate

system.
The dialog box also displays these fields:

• Reference Coordinate System—Use the arrow to select a coordinate system in
the model. The default is the WCS (World Coordinate System).
• Drag Point Location—Displays X, Y, and Z coordinates of the drag point in real

time with respect to the selected coordinate system.
To Use Snapshot Construction

Use the Snapshot Construction dialog box when you are creating a snapshot that
can use the configuration of some parts from other, previously saved snapshots.
For example, you may have a part that repeatedly performs the same motion. If you
do not want to drag the part to its different positions for every snapshot, you can
borrow its position from a previous snapshot using the following procedure:
1. Select Animation > Snapshot or click . The Drag dialog box appears.
2. Select one of the snapshots in the list.
3. Click . The Snapshot Construction dialog box opens.
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Design Animation
4. In the Snapshots list, select the snapshot you want to borrow from. The
configuration of parts from the selected snapshot appears in the display window.
5. Select the parts whose configuration you want to borrow.
6. Click OK. The model display returns to the original snapshot you selected. The
parts you selected in the Snapshot Construction dialog box will be in the
borrowed configuration.
7. If you want to return to the configuration of the snapshot you selected in step 4,
click .
8. If you want to repeat the configuration you undid in step 7, click .
To Edit a Snapshot
This procedure assumes you are on the Snapshots tab of the Drag dialog box,
which lists previously created snapshots.
1. Select a snapshot from the list.
2. Click to review the selected snapshot. The configuration depicted in that

snapshot appears in the model window. You can also double-click the name of
the snapshot in the list of open the snapshot.
3. If you want to rename the snapshot, enter the new name in the Current
Snapshot entry box.
4. If you want to update the positions of the bodies, drag the bodies to the new
locations and click .
5. If you want to delete the selected snapshot, click .
Using Assembly States

You can use the Drag dialog box to make snapshots available as explode states in
Assembly and Detail.
To make the snapshots available, select one or more snapshots, then click . The
Explode State column on the Drag dialog box displays an icon next to the
snapshot's name, indicating it is available. If you want to turn off the availability of a
snapshot state later, you can highlight the snapshot and click to toggle the
availability off.
These assembly states (snapshots) will be available in Assembly and Detail as
explode states.
Note: The snapshot and the explode state are linked together. If you change the
snapshot, the explode state changes. When modifying or deleting a snapshot in
which the explode state is in use, be aware of the following:
• Any changes you make to the snapshot will be reflected in the explode state.
19
• Deleting the snapshot causes the exploded state to become unlinked. The
explode state is still available, but is independent of any snapshot. If you then
create a snapshot with the same name as the deleted snapshot, the explode
state associates itself with the new snapshot.
For more information about explode states, search for Explode State in the PTC
online help.
Creating Key Frame Sequences

About Key Frame Sequences
Use the Animation > Key Frame Sequence command to create a key frame
sequence. When you create a new key frame sequence, Design Animation
automatically includes it on the timeline.
A key frame sequence is made up of a series of snapshots of your assembly in a
succession of positions and at specific times. Design Animation will interpolate
between the snapshots to create a smooth animation.
You can include a key frame sequence in an animation multiple times in different
locations. A key frame sequence included in an animation is called a key frame
sequence instance. When you edit a key frame sequence, all instances of that
sequence are updated. If you want to make a change to a key frame sequence
without changing the original sequence, make a copy of the original and edit the
copy. Then you can include an instance of the copy in the timeline.
When you select this command, the Key Frame Sequence dialog box appears, from
which you can select your reference body, take snapshots, and arrange them into a
sequence.
To Define a Key Frame Sequence

Every animation must have at least one servo motor or one key frame sequence in
order to move bodies in the animation. To create a key frame sequence, follow these
steps:
1. Select Animation > Key Frame Sequence.
The Key Frame Sequences dialog box opens.
2. Click New. The Key Frame Sequence dialog box opens.
3. Enter a name for the sequence.
The default name is KFS#, where # is a number that increments as you add
sequences.
4. If you want to use a reference other than the ground body, use the arrow button
under Reference Body to select a body on your assembly.
5. Click to create a new snapshot or select a snapshot from the list.
6. If you want to see your model in the selected snapshot, click .
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Design Animation
7. Enter a time for the snapshot and press ENTER.
If you want to change the initial snapshot in a sequence (time = 0), you must
remove it before defining a new snapshot with time = 0. For any other snapshot
time, you can simply select the snapshot and change the time.
8. Click .
The snapshot is listed according to time.
9. Select Linear or Smooth as an interpolation method.
This specifies the way Design Animation combines the snapshots into an
animation.
10. Click the Bodies tab to define how the bodies in your model are used in the key
frame sequence.
11. If you have changed the constraints associated with any of the snapshots in your
key frame sequence, click Regenerate. Design Animation regenerates the key
frame sequence with the new snapshot constraints.
Remember to include your sequence in an animation.
To Control Bodies in a Key Frame Sequence

This procedure assumes that you are in the Key Frame Sequence dialog box, and
have filled out the Sequence tab. Use these steps to control how Design Animation
moves the bodies in your model during the animation. In some cases, a key frame
sequence and a servo motor may try to move a body in conflict with each other. You
can change the body’s status to avoid the conflict.
1. Click the Bodies tab.
2. Select the reference body.
3. Select the bodies to be controlled by the key frame sequence.
4. Select Required, Desired, or Unspecified for each body.
The default status is Desired for all bodies. The bodies defined as Required or
Desired move relative to the reference body during the animation. The bodies
defined as Unspecified may move in an unpredictable way, if not controlled by
another key frame sequence or by a servo motor.
5. Click OK to accept the key frame sequence definition.
The new key frame sequence appears in the timeline.
Key Frame Sequence Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to create or edit a key frame sequence. You can add or remove
key frames, change the times and locations of bodies in snapshots, and change the
reference body and body status for the entire sequence.
This dialog box contains the following items:
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• Reference Body—Select the Reference Body arrow, then a body on your

assembly. All bodies whose status is desired or required in the sequence
(specified under the Bodies tab) will be located relative to this body. When the
reference body moves, the other bodies will move relative to it as specified by
the key frame locations.
By default, the reference body is Ground. Most key frame sequences should keep
Ground as the reference body. You may want to change the reference body from
Ground if the reference body will be used in two places.
• Sequence—Create the sequence by selecting or creating the snapshots to

include. You can also preview the snapshot and change the time of the snapshot
in the sequence.
• Bodies—Specify the status of the location of the bodies that are included in the
key frame sequence.
• Regenerate—Select to regenerate the key frame sequence. If you changed any

constraints on parts that are included in a key frame sequence, you should
regenerate the sequence so Design Animation can update locations based on
these changes.
Key Frame Sequence Finder Form

When you select Animation > Key Frame Sequence, the Key Frame Sequences
dialog box opens. You can select from the following choices:
• New—Create a new key frame sequence. The Key Frame Sequence dialog box
opens.
• Edit—Edit the selected key frame sequence. The Key Frame Sequence dialog
box opens. You can change the reference body, the status of the individual
bodies included in the sequence, and the order or the timing of the snapshots
included in the sequence. Any changes you make to a key frame sequence affect
all instances of that sequence used in the current animation.
• Delete—Delete the selected key frame sequence. If you want to remove an

instance from the animation without deleting the master sequence, select the
instance from the timeline and click .
• Copy—Make a copy of the selected key frame sequence. The new key frame
sequence is named copyofname, where name is the name of the selected key
frame sequence. For example, if your key frame sequence is named open, the
copy is called copyofopen.
• Include—Include a copy of the selected key frame sequence in the animation.

You can have multiple occurrences of a key frame sequence in an animation at
different times. A key frame sequence included in an animation is called a key
frame sequence instance. Each inclusion of a key frame sequence will be named
with a .n extension, where n is the next available number for that key frame
sequence. For example, if you include open2 in the animation, it will be called
open2.1.
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Design Animation
Bodies Tab
Use this tab to specify the status of the location of the bodies that are included in the
key frame sequence.
The status is valid for the entire sequence. You can change the status individually or
for multiple bodies all at once. Select multiple bodies with CTRL and the left mouse
button.
Use this status to tell Design Animation how important the key frame sequence's
control of the body is. For example, if there is a conflict between where a servo
motor wants to place a body and where a key frame sequence wants the same body,
the servo motor has precedence if the body's status is Desired.
Following are the options on this tab:
• Unspecified—The body's position is arbitrary and may be controlled by other
servo motors or key frame sequences.
• Desired/Required—Design Animation will keep the body as close to this

position as possible, but it may move based on the movement of any servo motor
or other key frame sequence.
When you run your animation, if the bodies do not move to the correct position,
especially at key frames, you should try using Desired.
Sequence Tab
Use this tab to build the sequence of key frames that defines your animation.
This tab contains the following items:
Item Function
Opens the Drag dialog box so you can edit or create a

snapshot.
Time Enables you to edit the time of a key frame in a sequence.

Time "0" for the first key frame is relative to the
beginning of the key frame sequence, not for the time in
the timeline. Press ENTER to update the time of the
highlighted key frame.
Displays the selected key frame.
Adds the selected key frame to the sequence in

chronological order.
Reverse Reverses the time sequence of all frames in the sequence.

Design Animation mirrors the time values for each frame.
This is useful for creating an assembly sequence by first
starting with the assembled model, and creating a
sequence showing its disassembly. If you reverse this
sequence it will simulate assembling the model.
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Remove Removes the selected key frame(s) from the sequence.
Interpolation Sets either a linear or smooth interpolation for translation

and rotation.
• A linear interpolation varies body position and orientation

linearly between key frames, exactly following your
assembly's placement at each key frame.
• A smooth interpolation will vary according to a cubic

spline fit between key frames, which results in a
smoother movement, but may not have the exact
placement of each body position as defined key frame to
key frame.
KFS Instance
When you select a key frame sequence instance on the timeline, right-click to bring
up the pop-up menu, and select Edit Time, the KFS Instance dialog box appears.
Use this dialog box to change the start time of your key frame sequence instance.
You can also drag the starting point on the timeline to change this time, but you
cannot change events using drag.
You can select the following items for the start time:
• Time—Enter the time you want the instance to start after the selected event.
• After—Select the event after which you want the instance to start.
For example, if you want Kfs2.2 to start 3 seconds after the end of Kfs1.1, enter the
following:
• Time: 3.00
• After: Kfs1.1End
Example: Reference Body

When creating a key frame sequence (kfs2), you may want one body to move as
defined by another servo motor or key frame sequence (kfs1), but other bodies to
move as defined in kfs2. An example is a window rolling down on a car door that is
opening. The door is referenced in kfs2, although the car is Ground. The window
slides down relative to the door in kfs2. The car door body is Unspecified in kfs2.
The car door is Required or Desired in kfs1 and is closing relative to the car
(Ground).
Creating Servo Motors

About Servo Motors
You use servo motors to impose a particular motion on your model. Servo motors
behave like motors, by forcing a specific type of motion to occur between two bodies
24
Design Animation
in a single degree of freedom. You can add a servo motor to a joint axis or a
geometric entity, such as part planes, datum planes, and points.
When you select the Animation > Servo Motor command, the Servo Motors
dialog box appears. You can select from the following items:
• New—Create a servo motor. The Servo Motor Definition dialog box appears.
After you create a servo motor, you need to include it in your animation.
• Edit—Edit the selected servo motor. The Servo Motor Definition dialog box
appears so you can change defined information for your servo motor.
• Remove—Delete the selected servo motor.
• Copy—Make a copy of the selected servo motor. The new servo motor is named
copyofname, where name is the selected servo motor's name.
You cannot copy an incomplete servo motor.
If a copied servo motor is used at the same time as the servo motor it was
copied from, and the difference between the two is not significant, the model
may lock up during the animation due to conflicts between the servo motors.
• Include—Include a copy of the selected servo motor in the animation. Design

Animation places the instance in the timeline for the entire duration of the
animation. If you created servo motors for your mechanism using Mechanism
Design, those servo motors are available to include in the animation. Each
inclusion of a servo motor will be named with a .n extension, where n is the next
available number for the servo motor.
Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box

You use servo motors to impose a particular motion on your model. Servo motors
behave like motors, by forcing a specific type of motion to occur between two bodies.
You can add a servo motor to a joint axis or a geometric entity, such as part planes,
datum planes, and points.
When you select New on the Servo Motors dialog box or click , the Servo
Motor Definition dialog box opens. This dialog box contains the following tabs:
• Type—Define the entities that you want the servo motor to control.
• Profile—Define the profile of the servo motor.
To Define a New Servo Motor

To make your model move during the animation, you can add a servo motor to a
joint axis or a geometric entity.
1. Select Animation > Servo Motor or click on the Animation toolbar. The
Servo Motors dialog box appears.
2. Click New. The Servo Motor Definition dialog box appears.
3. Enter a name for the servo motor.
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The default name in the entry box is ServoMotor#, where # represents a number
that increments as servo motors are added.
4. Fill in the information on the tabs of the form.
o Type
o Profile
For more information, search for servo motors in the PTC online help
system.
5. Click OK when you have completed the form.
The Servo Motors dialog box appears. The servo motor and its status are now
listed. There are three possible status conditions indicated. If your servo motor is
fine, the status column displays Available. If one or more of the entities
associated with the servo motor is suppressed, the status is Suppressed. If one
or more of the entities associated with the servo motor has been changed or
deleted, the status is Incomplete.
Also, a servo motor icon, indicating the motion direction, appears on your
assembly.
After you create a servo motor, select Animation > Servo Motors to include it in
your animation.
To Specify the Servo Motor Type

This procedure assumes you are on the Type tab of the Servo Motor Definition
dialog box.
1. From the Driven Entity drop-down menu, select one of the three entity types:
o Joint Axis
o Point
o Plane
2. Click and use the normal selection methods to select a joint axis, point, or
plane on the model. This entity will move when you activate the servo motor.
3. If you selected a point or plane as the driven entity, select Point or Plane from
the Reference Entity drop-down list, and select the corresponding entity on
your model. The driven entity will move relative to the reference entity according
to the servo motor profile.
4. If you selected a point as the reference entity, click and select a edge or
datum axis to define the Motion Direction. A magenta arrow appears, pointing
in the direction the driven entity will move relative to the reference entity.
5. If you want to reverse the direction of motion, click the Flip button.
About the Type Tab in the Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box
26
Design Animation
Fill in the information on the Type tab to define which entity is driven and which
entity is the reference for your servo motor. You can define as many servo motors on
an entity as you like. However, to avoid overconstraining your model, do not allow
conflicting or redundant servo motors to run simultaneously in your animation. For
example, if you create both a joint axis rotation servo motor and a plane–plane
rotation angle servo motor in the same direction, do not include both of these servo
motors in the same time period in your animation.
The servo motor Type tab displays the following information:
• Driven Entity—The driven entity is the entity that actually moves in the model
when the motor activates. Select one of these entities from the drop-down list,
and then use the selector arrow to select the entity that you want to use for your
servo motor.
o Joint Axis
o Point
o Plane
Use a joint axis servo motor for well-defined motion in one direction.
If you select points or planes to define the servo motor, you are creating a
geometric servo motor. For geometric servo motors, the reference entity may
also move if it is not grounded. The servo motor simply specifies the relative
motion of the driven entity with respect to the reference entity.
• Reference Entity—This area changes according to the entity you select. The
driven entity moves relative to the reference entity according to the information
you specify on the Profile tab of the Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
o Point—Uses a point as the reference entity for the motion of your model.
o Plane—Uses a plane as the reference entity for the motion of your model.
• Motion Direction—If you select a point as the reference entity, you must also
specify the direction that the servo motor moves. Select an edge or a datum axis
to define the motion. If you define a rotational servo motor, the motion rotates
around the edge or datum axis.
• Flip—This button changes the motion direction of a servo motor that has a point
or plane as a reference entity.
The positive rotation direction is assumed using the right-hand rule. When your
thumb is aligned with the joint axis, and points in the direction of the joint axis
arrow, your fingers curl in the direction of the positive rotation.
• Motion Type—The motion type establishes a directional basis for the motion of
the entity. Depending upon the entity you select, you may not be able to change
the options in this area.
o Translational—Select this if you want your model to move in a line

without rotation.
o Rotational—Select this if you want your model to move about an axis.
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To Specify the Servo Motor Profile

This procedure assumes you are on the Profile tab of the Servo Motor Definition
dialog box. Use this tab to specify your servo motor's motion. The motion can be
specified as a time-dependent change in position, velocity, or acceleration.
1. Select one of the following choices for Specification:
o Position—This type specifies the position of the selected entity.
o Velocity—If you select this type, you can select an initial position, which by
default is set to Current. You can deselect Current and type in another
setting to change the initial position. You can view your new setting by
clicking .
o Acceleration—If you select this type, you can select an initial position and
an initial velocity, which by default are set to Current and 0.0,
respectively.
If you set an initial position for velocity or acceleration, Design Animation uses
this initial position when running the animation.
2. If you want to specify a reference position for the servo motor, click and fill
in the Zero Refs tab on the Joint Axis Settings dialog box.
3. Select one of the choices for Magnitude and fill in the appropriate fields. To use
tabular input for your servo motor, see To Define Table Servo Motors. For user-
defined input, see To Define a Servo Motor as a User-Defined function.
4. If you want to graph the profile for your servo motor with the current settings,
click .
You can then go back and change your data to change the profile. When you see
the profile you are interested in, accept the servo motor, make sure it is included
in the appropriate motion run, and run the animation.
About the Profile Tab in the Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box
The servo motor Profile tab displays the following information:
• Specification—The specifications define the type of movement you get from
your servo motor.
o Click to set or modify the zero position of the selected joint axis.
o Select Position from the drop-down list to specify the servo motor motion
in terms of the position of the selected entity.
o Select Velocity from the drop-down list to specify the servo motor motion
in terms of its velocity. By default, Design Animation uses the current
position of the servo motor when it begins the motion. If you want to
specify another Initial Position, clear the Current check box and specify a
value relative to the joint axis zero for a velocity servo motor.
28
Design Animation
o Select Acceleration from the drop-down list to specify the servo motor
motion in terms of its acceleration. You can also enter values for the Initial
Position and the Initial Velocity for an acceleration servo motor.
If you set an initial position for velocity or acceleration, Design Animation

uses this initial position when running the motion analysis. Select the
Current check box to use the current position of the model as the starting
position.
• Initial Position—This defines the starting position for your servo motor, and
only becomes available if Velocity or Acceleration is chosen.
• Initial Velocity—This defines the velocity of the servo motor at the beginning of
the analysis, and only becomes available if Acceleration is chosen.
• Magnitude—There are several types of servo motor magnitude settings. Each

type has its own input requirements.
• Graph—Defines the layout of the graph display.
o Position—Graphs the position profile of the servo motor.
o Velocity—Graphs the velocity profile of the servo motor.
o Acceleration—Graphs the acceleration profile of the servo motor.
o In Separate Figures—Displays the profiles in separate graphs.
o Click to open the Graphtool window, which displays the graphs you
have chosen.
To Specify Servo Motor Magnitude as a User-Defined

Function
This procedure assumes that you are specifying Magnitude in the Profile tab of the
Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
1. Select User Defined from the Magnitude drop-down menu.
2. Click to add a row containing a default expression x with no domain.
3. Click to open the Expression Definition dialog box.
a. On the Expression Definition dialog box, click the symbols to create an

expression.
b. Specify a domain for the expression. You can select exclusive or inclusive
upper and lower domain bounds.
c. Click OK. The expression and domain values appear in the Expression and
Domain columns on the Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
4. If you want to change an Expression or Domain value, click the value and edit
it.
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5. If you need to remove a row from the table, highlight the row and click .
About Magnitude Settings

Depending on the type of motion you want to impose on your model, you can define
magnitude of your servo motors in many different ways. The following table lists
different types of functions that Design Animation uses to generate the magnitude.
You need to enter the values of the coefficients for the functions. The value of x in
the function expressions is supplied by the simulation time.
Magnitude
Description Required Settings
Type
Constant Use if you want a constant q=A

motion.
where
A = Constant
Ramp Use if you want a constant q = A + B*x

motion or a profile that
changes linearly over time. where
A = Constant
B = Slope
Cosine Use if you want assign a cosine q = A*cos(360*x/T + B) + C

wave value to the motor
profile. where
A = Amplitude
B = Phase
C = Offset
T = Period
SCCA Use to simulate a cam profile For more information, see

output. SCCA can only be used Servo Motor Profile for SCCA.
when Acceleration is chosen.
Cycloidal Use to simulate a cam profile q = L*x/T – L*sin

output. (2*Pi*x/T)/2*Pi
where
L = Total rise
T = Period
Parabolic Can be used to simulate a q = A*x + 1/2 B(x2)

trajectory for a motor.
where
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Design Animation
A = Linear coefficient
B = Quadratic coefficient
Polynomial Use for generic motor profiles. q = A + B*x + C*x2 + D*x3
where
A = Constant term coefficient
B = Linear term coefficient
C = Quadratic term coefficient
D = Cubic term coefficient
Table Use for more complex profiles For more information, see
that you cannot specify with Magnitude as a Table Function.
the other functions. If you have
output measure results to a
table, you can use that table
here.
User- Use to specify any kind of For more information, see

Defined complex profile defined by Magnitude as a User-Defined
multiple expression segments. Function.
Use a single profile if possible. But you can use a combination of profiles to generate
certain types of motion. For example, a combination of ramp and cosine generates a
sinusoidal motion that ramps up over time. For more information, see this example,
which shows different types of motion the motor creates.
Example: Types of Motor Profiles

The following graph depicts different types of motion the motor creates.
31
Following are the values from the formulas that were used to generate the profiles in
this graphic:
Constant Ramp Cosine Cycloidal SCCA Parabolic Polynomial
A=8 A = 18 A=6 L = 12 0.4 A=4 A = –0.1
B = –1.2 B = 40 T=8 0.3 B = –0.6 B=1
C=3 5 C = –1.5
T=5 10 D=7
Magnitude as a Table Function
32
Design Animation
Table generates the magnitude of a servo motor with values you enter or import into
a two-column table.
When you select Table as an option for the magnitude definition of a servo motor,
the dialog box expands displaying the following information:
• Click to add a new row to the table. The table has a two-column format:
o Time—Enter values for time in this column. The values must be in either
increasing or decreasing sequence.
o Magnitude—Enter magnitude values in each row of the column.
o Click to remove one or more selected rows.
o Use the File area to specify the name of an ASCII file with an extension of .tab.
You can also use the file selector to browse for a file. Then click one of the
following buttons:
o Click to import table data from a .tab file that you previously created
with any text editor. The file must contain two columns of equal length
separated by spaces. Design Animation places the data from your file in the
table, adding or deleting rows as needed to match the number of rows in
the file.
o Click to write data from the table on the dialog box to the specified
.tab file.
• Use the Interpolation area to select the interpolation method:
o If you choose Linear Fit, a straight line will connect the table points.
o If you choose Spline Fit, a cubic spline will be fit to each set of points.
Using spline fit prevents sharp changes in the motion of the driven quantity.
Note: For acceleration servo motors, only linear fit is available.
Magnitude as a User-Defined Function

User-Defined generates the magnitude of a servo motor with a function you create
using sets of expressions and domain constraints. For servo motors, Design
Animation defines magnitude as a function of analysis time, substituting the time for
any x variables in the function's expressions.
When you select User-Defined as an option for the magnitude definition, the dialog
box expands displaying the following buttons and fields:
• Click to add a new row to the table. The table has a two-column format:
o Expression—When you add a new row, this column contains a default

expression t, representing time. You can edit the default expression directly
in the table cell.
33
o Domain—When you add a new row, this column contains no values for the
expression domain. You can specify the domain values directly in the cell.
For example, to enter a range of time between 1 and 10, enter 1 < t < 10.
o Click if you need to delete selected rows from the expression table.
o Click to edit the selected expression or domain. The Expression Definition

dialog box opens. Use the dialog box to enter a new algebraic expression and
domain. After you enter the new values, Design Animation places them in the
expression table on the Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
o When the magnitude was initially defined in a unit system different from the
current one, the Scale field becomes visible. This uneditable field displays a
multiplication factor that Design Animation uses to convert the numerical values
to the current unit system.
Expression Definition Dialog Box
You access this dialog box by clicking while describing the profile of your servo
motor as a user-defined function. Use the items on this dialog box to create a
function for the profile. Enter an expression in the entry box, or use the following
options to create your expression:
• Click to display the Operators dialog box and select an arithmetic operator
for your expression.
• Click to display the Constants dialog box and select a constant or

Pro/ENGINEER parameter for your expression.
• Click to display the Functions dialog box and select a mathematical function
for your expression.
• Click to display the Variables dialog box and select a previously defined
measure or variable for your expression.
• Click to display the Expression Graph dialog box and graph your
expression.
When you select one of the items from the Operators, Constants, Functions,
or Variables dialog boxes, it appears as part of your definition in the expression
entry area. The functions are expressed as functions of time t.
• Use the items in the Domain area to specify the range for your expression. You
can select exclusive or inclusive upper and lower domain bounds. You can make
your function open-ended by specifying only the lower limit of the domain for the
last expression segment. When the function consists of only one expression
segment, domain is optional. The time you specify are relative to the beginning
of your analysis.
34
Design Animation
When you click OK and close the dialog box, Design Animation copies the function to
the Expression column and the domain values to the Domain column on the Servo
Motor Definition dialog box.
Expression Parameters Dialog Box

You can add Pro/ENGINEER parameters to the Constants list on the Expression
Definition dialog box to use in defining your expressions. When you click , the
Expression Parameters dialog box opens displaying a table with these items:
• Parameter—Select a previously created Pro/ENGINEER parameter from the
drop-down menu. For more information on creating parameters, search the PTC
online help system.
• Value—Design Animation displays the current value for the selected parameter.
• Click to add an empty row to the table.
• Click to remove the selected row from the table.
After you close the Expression Parameters dialog box, the parameter name
appears in the Constants list on the Expression Definition dialog box. When
working with parameters, keep in mind the following:
• The parameter name must include only alphanumeric characters. You cannot use
parameter names with mathematical operators or the reserved words e, pi, and
t.
• If you change a parameter value in Pro/ENGINEER after including it in the user

defined function, the profile of your servo motor will be also updated.
• If you delete a parameter in Pro/ENGINEER, a servo motor will become

incomplete.
Servo Motor Profile for SCCA

This profile is only available for acceleration servo motors. The profile changes over
the time period as follows:
q = H*sin[(t*Pi)/(2*A)] for 0 < t < A
q=H for A < t < (1 – C)
q = H*cos[(t + C – 1)*Pi/(2*C)] for (1 – C) < t < (C + 1)
q = –H for (C + 1) < t < (2 – A)
q = –H*cos[(t + A – 2)*Pi/(2*A)] for (2 – A) < t < 2
You must input values for A, B, H, and T (the program calculates a value for C).
A — Fraction of normalized time for increasing acceleration
B — Fraction of normalized time for constant acceleration
35
C — Fraction of normalized time for decreasing acceleration, where

A+B+C=1
H — Amplitude of the profile

T — Period of the profile
t — Normalized time, where
t = actual_time*2/T
The SCCA profile stops when actual_time = T. If the actual time is longer than the
period, the profile will repeat itself.
To Define Table Servo Motors

1. Create and edit a two-column table containing the data for your servo motor
profile.
o Use any text editor.
o Put the time values in the first column, listed in ascending order, and the
magnitude of the velocity or acceleration of the servo motor in the second
column.
o Save the file with a .tab extension.
2. Click the Profile tab on the Servo Motor Definition dialog box.
3. Select Table from the Magnitude drop-down list.
4. Enter the name of the table file in the entry box under File, or click and
browse for the file. The data from the table appears in the Time and Magnitude
columns. The table data is kept in the .asm file and the assembly no longer refers
to the .tab file for the information.
5. If you want to change one of the values in the Time and Magnitude columns,
click the value and edit it.
6. Click to update the Time and Magnitude columns from the .tab file.
7. Click to add a row containing zeroes to the bottom of the table.
8. If you need to remove a row from the table, highlight the row and click .
9. Click to save the table information to the current working directory under the
file name in the entry box.
10. Select one of these methods under Interpolation:
o Linear fit will connect the table points with a straight line.
o Spline fit will fit a cubic spline to each set of points. Using spline fit
prevents sharp changes in the motion of the servo motor.
36
Design Animation
For more information on these options, search for information on servo motors in the
PTC Help system.
Graph
You can graphically view the profile of a servo motor to see the motion your
mechanism will take during the animation.
When you have entered data on the Profile tab of the Servo Motor Definition
dialog box, you can click to view the profile of the motion for the current
settings. You can then go back and change your data to change the profile. When
you see the profile you are interested in, accept the servo motor, make sure it is
turned on, and run the animation.
When you click , a Graphtool window appears. To work with the graph and
manage its appearance, use toolbar buttons or the following menu commands:
• File
o Export Excel—This option is available on Windows platforms only. Use it to

save the graph data as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. When you click this
command, the Export To Excel dialog box opens. Enter a path and a file
name on the dialog box. Then click OK to create a file with a .xlc
extension. The file contains a pictorial rendition of the graph as well as a
numeric table of graph values.
o Export Text—Save the graph data as a text file. When you click this
command, the Export To Text dialog box opens. Enter a path and a file
name on the dialog box to create a file with a .grt extension.
o Print—Send your graph to a printer. When you click this command, a

dialog box opens that allows you to output your graph to several print and
graphic formats, or save it as a file.
o Exit—Close the Graphtool window.
• View
o Toggle Grid—Display grid lines for your graph or turn them off.
o Repaint—Refresh the view of your graph, removing all temporarily

displayed information.
o Refit—Restore a graph to its original state. Use this command after you
zoom in on a particular graph segment to return to an unsegmented state.
The software automatically redraws the complete graph in the current
window.
o Zoom In—Zoom in on the graph to get a close-up view. This command is

especially useful when your graph contains too many points, 100 or more.
Zooming in on a section of the graph helps you to display a specific
segment of interest.
• Format
37
o Graph—Open the Graph Window Options dialog box to manage your

graph and its display window.
Segmenting a Graph
When your graph has too many points and looks crowded, you can segment it to
display a specific section of interest. Segmenting a graph is especially useful when
your graph contains 100 or more points. You can use one of the following methods to
segment your graph:
• Zoom In—Use the View > Zoom In command on the graph results window to
get a close-up view of a specific graph segment you select.
• Change the Axis Range—Reset minimum and maximum values for the graph
range to define a segment you want to display. The x minimum should display
the x coordinate that is at the left edge of the graph segment, the x maximum at
the right edge, the y maximum at the top edge, and the y minimum at the
bottom edge. Design Animation then redraws the graph to show the specified
segment.
After you finish studying a particular graph segment, you can restore a graph to its
original, unsegmented state. Use the View > Refit command. After you select the
command, Design Animation redraws the full graph in the current window.
Managing Graphs
When you select the Format > Graph command, the Graph Window Options
dialog box opens. You can also access this dialog box by right-clicking any item, such
as a legend or axis, in the graph display and selecting Format from the pop-up
menu.
Use the Graph Window Options dialog box to define the visual characteristics of
the graph display window. For example, you can change the background color of the
window or the color of the x and y axes to improve the overall appearance of your
graph. You can also specify new axis labels or adjust the scale for the graph to have
a better view. The data form contains the following tabs:
• Y Axis—Use to modify the appearance of the graph's y axis, its label and grid
lines, and to change the scale for the graph.
• X Axis—Use to modify the appearance of the graph's x axis, its label and grid
lines, and to change the scale for the graph.
• Data Series—Use to control the appearance of data series for the graph you
select and to toggle the legend.
• Graph Display—Use to control the display of the graph's title and to change the
background color of the window.
When you click Apply, or click OK to close the dialog box, Design Animation updates
the graph display to reflect the new settings.
X Axis and Y Axis Tabs
38
Design Animation
Use the X Axis and the Y Axis tabs on the Graph Window Options dialog box to
customize the appearance of the x and y axes, to specify new axis labels, and to
adjust the scale for the graph. The tabs display the following fields:
• Graph—This field appears on the Y Axis tab only and displays a list of subgraphs
when they are available. Design Animation uses subgraphs to plot multiple sets
of data that share a common x axis but have different y axes. From the list,
select a subgraph for which you want to customize the y axis.
• Axis Label—Use the input field to edit an axis label. The label is a textual line
that appears next to each axis. You can change the style, color, and size of the
label's font by clicking the Text Style button. Use the Display Axis Label check
box to turn the axis label on or off.
• Range—Change the range of the axis. You can use this area to modify minimum
and maximum values so that the window displays a specified segment of the
graph.
• Tick Marks—Set the number of major and minor tick marks on the axis.
• Tick Labels—Change the alignment of value labels for the major tick marks. If
you want to change the style, color, and size of the font, click the Text Style
button.
• Grid Lines—Select the style for the grid lines. If you want to change their color,
click the color selection button.
• Axis—Modify the thickness of the axis. If you want to change the axis color, click
the color selection button.
• Scaling—Use this area to adjust the scale for your graph:
o Log Scale—Change the values on the axis to a logarithmic scale. Using a

logarithmic scale can provide you with additional information that you may
not be able to see on a normal scale.
o Scale—This field appears on the Y Axis tab only. You can use it to change
the scale of the y axis.
Data Series Tab

Use the Data Series tab on the Graph Window Options dialog box to change the
appearance of data series. Design Animation can display multiple data series that
share common x and y axes in a single graph window. Use the following fields to
work with the data series:
• Graph—Select a graph or subgraph whose data series you want to customize.
• Data Series—Use the input field to edit the label for the selected data series. To
change the color of the graph's points and lines, click the color selection buttons.
You can also modify the points' style and interpolation and the lines' thickness.
• Legend—Use this area to toggle the legend. If you want to change the style,
color, and size of the font, click the Text Style button.
39
Graph Display Tab

Use the Graph Display tab on the Graph Window Options dialog box to specify
the graph's title and to change the background color of the window. The following
fields appear on the tab:
• Label—Edit the graph's label, which appears in the upper left corner of the graph
window. If you want to change the style, color, and size of the title's font, click
the Text Style button. Use the Display Label check box to display the title or
toggle it off.
• Background Color—Modify the background color. Click the Edit button to

customize the blended background color. If you clear the Blended Background
check box, click the color selection button to change the background color.
• Selection Color—Change the color you use to highlight points on your graph.
To Include a Servo Motor in the Animation

After you create or edit a servo motor, you must include it in your animation.
This procedure assumes that you have opened an assembly with existing servo
motors.
1. Click Animation > Servo Motor.
2. The Servo Motors dialog box appears with a list of previously created servo
motors.
3. If you want to define a new servo motor, click New.
4. Select a servo motor in the list.
5. Click Include.
The servo motor appears in the animation timeline. The default start and end
times are the start and end times of the animation. For information on changing
these times, see Animation Timeline Shortcuts.
Servo Motor Time Domain

When you select a servo motor on your timeline, right-click to bring up the pop-up
menu, and select Edit Time, the Servo Motor Time Domain dialog box appears
with the name of the selected servo motor.
Use this dialog box to change the start and end times of your servo motor. You can
also drag the starting or ending points on the timeline to change these times, but
you cannot change events using drag.
You can change the following items for the start and end of the servo motor:
• Time—Enter the time you want the servo motor to start or end after the selected
event. You can enter a time that is negative with respect to the selected event.
However, the time cannot be negative with respect to the animation time
domain.
• After—Select the event after which you want the servo motor to start or end.
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Design Animation
For example, if you want a servo motor to start 4 seconds after the start of the
animation and end 2 seconds after Servo motor1.1 ends, enter the following:
Start Servo Motor
• Time: 4.00
• After: Start
End Servo Motor

• Time: 2.00
• After: Servo motor1.1End
Geometric Servo Motors

If you select points or planes to define the servo motor, you are creating a geometric
servo motor. Use geometric servo motors to create complex 3D motions such as a
helix.
If you select Point or Plane, you must also select a point or plane as a reference.
If you select a point for the reference entity, you must also select a motion direction.
You can create the following geometric servo motors:
• plane-plane translation servo motor
• plane-plane rotation servo motor
• point-plane translation servo motor
• plane-point translation servo motor
• point-point translation servo motor
Plane-Plane Rotation Servo Motor

A plane–plane rotation servo motor moves a plane in one body at an angle to a plane
in another body. During a motion run, the driven plane rotates about a reference
direction, with the zero position defined when the driven and reference planes are
coincident.
Because the axis of rotation on the driven body remains unspecified, a plane–plane
rotation servo motor is less restrictive than a servo motor on a pin joint or cylinder
joint. Thus, the axis of rotation in the driven body may change as a function of time.
Note: Plane–plane rotation servo motors can be used to define rotations around a
ball joint. Another application of a plane–plane rotation servo motor would be to
define a rotation between the last body of an open-loop mechanism and Ground,
such as a front loader.
Plane–Plane Translation Servo Motor

A plane–plane translation servo motor moves a plane in one body with respect to a
plane on another body, keeping one plane parallel to the other. The shortest distance
between the two planes measures the position value of the servo motor. The zero
position occurs when the driven and reference planes are coincident.
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In addition to the prescribed motion, the driven plane is free to rotate or translate in
the reference plane. Thus, a plane–plane servo motor is less restrictive than a servo
motor on a slider or a cylinder joint. If you want to explicitly tie down the remaining
degrees of freedom, specify additional constraints such as a connection or another
geometric servo motor.
Note: One application of a plane–plane translation servo motor is to define a
translation between the last link of an open-loop mechanism and Ground.
Plane–Point Translation Servo Motor

A plane–point translation servo motor is the same as a point–plane translation servo
motor, except that you define the direction in which a plane will move relative to a
point. During a motion run, the driven plane moves in the specified motion direction,
while staying perpendicular to it. The shortest distance from the point to the plane
measures the position value of the servo motor. At a zero position, the point lies on
the plane.
Note: You cannot define the orientation of one body with respect to the other using
only a plane–point servo motor. Also note that the driven plane is free to move
perpendicularly to the specified direction. Lock these degrees of freedom using
another servo motor or connection. By defining x, y, and z components of motion on
a point with respect to a plane, you can make a point follow a complex 3D curve.
Point–Plane Translation Servo Motor

A point–plane translation servo motor moves a point in one body along the normal of
a plane in another body. The shortest distance from the point to the plane measures
the position value of the servo motor.
Note: You cannot define the orientation of one body with respect to the other using
only a point–plane servo motor. Also note that the driven point is free to move
parallel to the reference plane, and may thus move in a direction unspecified by the
servo motor. Lock these degrees of freedom using another servo motor or
connection. By defining x, y, and z components of motion on a point with respect to
a plane, you can make a point follow a complex 3D curve.
Point–Point Translation Servo Motor

A point–point translation servo motor moves a point in one body in a direction
specified in another body. The shortest distance measures the position of a driven
point to a plane that contains the reference point and is perpendicular to the motion
direction. The zero position of a point–point servo motor occurs when both the
reference and driven point lie in a plane whose normal is the motion direction.
Note: The point–point translation servo motor is a very loose constraint that must
be used carefully to get a predictable motion. You cannot define the orientation of
one body with respect to the other using only one point–point servo motor. In
reality, you would need six point–point servo motors for this.
Also note that the driven point is free to move perpendicularly to the specified
direction, and may do so if you do not specify otherwise. Lock these degrees of
freedom using another servo motor or connection. By defining x, y, and z
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Design Animation
components of motion on a point with respect to a plane, you can make a point
follow a complex 3D curve.
About Joint Axis Settings

You can specify the relative orientation or location of the two parts connected by a
joint axis. A joint axis will read zero when, for rotational joint axes, the zero
reference lines on the two parts are aligned, or for translational axes, the zero
reference planes are aligned. The zero reference line for each part lies in the plane
that is perpendicular to a rotational joint axis and passes through the joint point. A
zero reference plane is the plane that is perpendicular to the translational joint axis
and passes through the joint point.
A joint axis zero reference can only be set for a joint axis servo motor. You cannot
create more than one joint axis zero on any joint. Joint axis zeros are not required
for any servo motor, but if they are not set, Design Animation chooses an arbitrary
reference on each body, with unpredictable results.
Joint axis zeros and joint axis range limits can be set for all joint types except a ball
joint.
For more information, search for joint axis settings in the PTC online help system.
To Specify Joint Axis Settings

This procedure assumes you are in the Servo Motor Definition dialog box in Design
Animation.
1. Select the Profile tab.
2. Click under Specification. The Joint Axis Settings dialog box appears with
the name of the selected joint axis.
For rotational or translational joint axes, the dialog box displays in the Joint Axis
Position field the current angle or distance, respectively, between the two
bodies.
3. If you want to use the current orientation of the mechanism as the zero reference
position, clear the By Reference check box and click Make Zero. Design
Animation resets the Joint Axis Position field to zero and inactivates the
reference portion of the dialog box.
4. If you want to select different reference locations on the bodies, select the
Specify References check box. Design Animation highlights the selected axis
and colors the two bodies attached to the joint in cyan and green. The cyan body
is the component reference and the green body is the assembly reference.
Complete the following steps:
a. Select a point or plane on the green body as the zero reference for that
body.
b. Select a point or plane on the cyan body as the zero reference for that
body.
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5. If you want to set zeros at a specific offset from the current configuration,
complete the following steps:
a. Clear the Specify References check box.

b. Click Make Zero.
c. Enter a value for angle or distance in the Joint Axis Position field. For
angles, you can enter any number between –180 and 180 .
d. Press ENTER. The cyan body moves to show the configuration with the new
position value.
e. Click Make Zero again to reset the Joint Axis Position field to zero. The
current configuration of the bodies is now considered to be the zero
reference configuration.
6. If you want to set a range limit on the joint axis, select the Limits tab.
7. To specify limits for a rotational joint axis, select the Enable Limits check box
and enter Maximum and Minimum values.
o For rotational joint axes, enter values between –180 and 180 in a
counter-clockwise direction. The maximum angle should be greater than the
minimum angle.
o For translational joint axes, the upper limit must be greater than the lower
limit.
8. Click OK. The assembly appears in its original orientation.
9. If you want to check whether the limits you specified for the joint axis provide
the range of movement you expected, use the Drag dialog box and drag the
cyan body.
Defining Joint Zero References

Be aware of the following when defining a rotational axis:
• Point–Point Zero Reference—Design Animation draws a vector from each of
the two points in a direction normal to the rotational axis. These two vectors
should coincide for the joint zero. The points cannot lie on the joint axis
• Point–Plane Zero Reference—The plane containing the point and the rotational
joint axis should be parallel to the selected plane for the joint zero. The point
cannot lie on the joint axis.
• Plane–Plane Zero Reference—The two planes are parallel at the joint zero.
Both planes must be parallel to the axis of rotation.
Be aware of the following when defining a translational axis:

• Point–Point Zero Reference—The distance between the two points in the
direction of the translation joint axis will be zero at joint zero.
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Design Animation
• Point–Plane Zero Reference—The distance between the plane and the point in
the direction of the translation joint axis will be zero at joint zero. The plane must
be perpendicular to the joint axis.
• Plane–Plane Zero Reference—The distance between the planes is zero at joint

zero. Both planes must be perpendicular to the joint axis.
Be aware of the following restrictions when defining zero references:

• Planar Connection—For planar connections, you can define point–point zero
references only for planar translation axes. Also, you can define plane–plane zero
references only for planar rotation axes.
• Bearing Connection—You must select a point or plane on the body that

contains the direction definition of the bearing joint—in other words, the line in
the point–line constraint. Design Animation aligns this reference to the point
defining the bearing joint.
Locking Bodies
About Lock Bodies
Lock bodies to fix bodies relative to one lead body over a specific time period during
an animation. The bodies will act as if they are glued together, allowing no
movement between them. The body locking does not take effect until the start time
you define for the body lock event. If you or the animation drags or moves your
mechanism into a different configuration before the body locking takes effect, you
may have unexpected results.
Note: Body positions at each key frame are specified by a snapshot. However, a
locked body can override the key frame position if that body is Unspecified or
Desired in the key frame sequence definition. If the body lock ends before the key
frame sequence, the snapshots then determine the body position. This can result in
bodies jumping to a new position if they were marked as Desired.
When you click Animation > Lock Bodies, the Lock Bodies dialog box appears
with the following items:
• Name—Design Animation supplies a default name. Accept the default, or change
to another name.
• Lead Body—Select a lead body, or select Ground. This body dictates the relative
position and orientation of the follower bodies.
• Follower Bodies—Select the bodies you want locked to the lead body. The
follower bodies will latch onto the lead body in the configuration they happen to
be in when the body lock takes effect and follow it in the same relative
orientation while the lead moves, until the end of the body lock. They will then be
allowed to move on their own.
• Remove—Select a body and remove it from the locked configuration.
• Start Time
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o Value—Set the time value. The body locking will take effect by the
specified amount of time after the selected event.
o After—Select the event after which you want the body locking to start.
• End Time
o Value—Set the time value. The body locking will turn off after the specified
amount of time after the selected event.
o After—Select the event after which you want the body locking to end.
To Lock Bodies
Use this command to keep one or more follower bodies stationary with respect to a
lead body during a specific time period in the animation.
1. Click Animation > Lock Bodies or click .
2. The Lock Bodies dialog box appears.
3. If you want to change the name of the Lock Bodies event, enter a new name.
The default name is BodyLock#, where # represents a number that is
incremented as events are added.
4. If you want to specify the ground body as the lead body, click the middle mouse
button.
5. If you want to specify one of the bodies in your assembly as the lead body, select
the body.
6. Select the follower bodies.
The bodies are outlined in red.
7. In the Start Time area, specify or select the following:
o a start time in the Value entry box
o a reference event from the Start Time After list
8. In the End Time area, specify or select the following:
0. an end time in the Value entry box
1. a reference event from the End Time After list
9. Click Apply.
The locking event is added to the timeline. If you want to change the start or end
times, see Animation Timeline Shortcuts.
Defining Connection Status

About Connection Status
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Design Animation
If you created your assembly in Mechanism Design, use connection status to manage
the connections defined for your assembly. You can change the connection status of
joints, cam-follower connections, slot-follower connections, and gear pairs from
Mechanism Design.
When you click Animation > Connection Status, the Connection Status dialog
box opens. You can also change the status of a connection within the Drag dialog
box for use when you are taking snapshots to use in a key frame sequence.
Note: If you define a connection status using this dialog box, an icon will appear in
the timeline. This connection status takes precedence over any defined in the Drag
dialog box and included in a key frame sequence.
After you select a connection, you need to specify the following:
• Time
o Value—Set the time value. The connection state and locking status will
take effect by the specified amount of time after the selected event.
o After—Select the event after which you want the connection to take effect.
• State
o Enable—Enable the connection. When you click Apply, a connection icon

on the timeline will reflect the connection status.
o Disable—Disable the connection. When you click Apply, a connection icon

on the timeline will reflect the connection status.
• Lock/Unlock
o Lock—Lock the connection. This has the effect of gluing the two bodies
together, allowing no movement between the bodies.
o Unlock—Unlock the connection. This is only available after you have locked
the body.
• Reset — Reset the dialog box information to its original state.
To Define Connection Status

You can specify that any of your connections remain inactive, or become disabled,
during a period of time in the animation. Use the Connection Status command
when you define motion using servo motors rather than key frame sequences. Use
this command, for example, to illustrate disassembly of your model, or to focus on
the movement of one connection at the expense of others.
1. Click Animation > Connection Status or click on the toolbar.
2. The Connection Status dialog box opens.
3. Select a connection.
4. Enter a time and select a reference event from the After list.
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The connection status begins after the reference event and entered time. The
time you enter can be negative with respect to the selected event, but cannot
occur before the start time of the animation.
5. In the State area, select Enable or Disable.
6. In the Lock/Unlock area, select Unlock or Lock.
7. Click Apply.
The appropriate connection icon appears in the timeline.
Connection Icons
When you change the status of a connection, the timeline reflects the change with an
icon. Following are the connection icons and what they represent:
Icon Connection Status
Disabled connection
Enabled, unlocked connection
Enabled, locked connection
Defining Events
About Events
Use events to maintain an associative relationship between animation elements.
For example, if you tie one timeline component to start when another one ends, then
if the end time of one component in the animation changes, any subsequent
elements that are defined to start after that end time are shifted automatically.
Design Animation automatically creates events for the beginning and end of any
animation component included in the current animation. In most cases, you will be
able to use one of these system-defined events and not have to create one yourself.
When you click Animation > Event, the Event Definition dialog box opens. In this
dialog box, you can do the following:
• Name the event.
• Specify the time after your reference event that you want this event to start.
• Select a reference event. Select the down arrow to display the list of available
reference events.
The event you are creating will take place by the specified amount of time after the
reference event.
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Design Animation
When you create a new event, a symbol with the name of the event appears in the
timeline.
When you define an animation element to start after an event, Design Animation
defines a relationship between the element and event and draws a dashed line
between them. To control the visibility of this dashed line, use the View > Display
Settings > Animation Display command.
To Define an Event
Use events as markers in the timeline to order the timing of animation components.
The default event, which specifies the time at the beginning of the animation, is
Start, and is always listed. Use these steps to define other events.
1. Click Animation > Event or click on the toolbar.
2. The Event Definition dialog box opens.
3. Enter a name for the event in the Name entry box.
4. Enter a time and select a reference event from the After list.
The new event begins after the reference event and time. The time you enter can
be negative with respect to the selected event, but cannot occur before the start
time of the animation.
5. Click OK.
An event symbol, with the name of the new event, appears in the animation
timeline. If the event is referenced to an existing component in the timeline, a
dotted line leads from the reference event to the new event.
Including Subanimations
About Subanimations
Use the Subanimation command to include an animation created with your
assembly or any of its subassemblies in the current animation. This included
animation becomes a subanimation. By default, a subanimation references Ground.
If your subanimation moves relative to another body, you must reference the other
body. You can specify the reference body through the Subanimation dialog box.
You should note the following points about subanimations:
• Make sure that the reference body is not part of the subanimation. If the
reference body movement is defined in the subanimation, the animation may be
erratic due to the conflicting body specifications.
• When inserting a key frame sequence in a subanimation, make sure that only the
bodies you want to move are defined with Desired (the default) or Required.
Any bodies defined with Unspecified will not move with the reference body. You
can change how the bodies are defined through the Key Frame Sequence
dialog box.
49
• Only those bodies that are actively defined in a subanimation will move with
reference to the specified body. As soon as a body is not specified, it will not
move. For example, a door that is opening on a moving car will stop moving with
the car if it is specified for only half of the animation.
When you click this command, a dialog box opens, listing the animations for the
current assembly. Select the animation you want to include in the current animation
and click Include. By default, the included animation starts at time 0.0 in the
current animation.
This subanimation will appear on the timeline with no details of its animation
elements. To view details of the subanimation, click + , which appears at the start of
the subanimation in the timeline.
Subanimation Dialog Box

When you create a subanimation, it references Ground by default. If you need to
change the reference body, or the time frame for the subanimation, use the
Subanimation dialog box. You can access this dialog box by selecting the
subanimation in the timeline window and doing one of the following:
• Click Edit > Selected.
• Right-click on the subanimation in the timeline and click Edit from the pop-up
menu.
• Click on the Design Animation toolbar.
You can choose from the following items:

• Reference Body—Select the new reference body.
• Start Time—Enter the relative time you want the animation to start after the
event you select. The time you enter can be negative with respect to the selected
event, but cannot occur before the start time of the animation.
• End Time—Displays how long the subanimation will run. If you want to change
the duration of a subanimation, you must open that animation and edit its time
frame.
Running and Playing Back the Animation

About Playback
After you run your animation (using Animation > Start), use the Playback
command to review, save, remove, or export the information. You can change the
rate or beginning frame of your animation easily. You can also set up the animation
to run in a continuous loop, or to reverse and run backwards. This is a convenient
way to control your animation for a presentation.
Click Animation > Playback to display the Playbacks dialog box with these items:
• Select the animation you want to play back from the Result Set list.
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Design Animation
• Click to play back the animation. The Animate dialog box opens, enabling
you to rewind, fast-forward, play, and repeat the animation. Design Animation
plays the animation on the model window and scrolls across the timeline. If you
play an animation, then select another animation and click , Design Animation
plays the animation on the model window but does not update or change the
information in the timeline window.
• Click the file selector button to restore animation results. This option enables you
to select a results file from disk. You can then select it from the Results Set
scroll box and click Play to view the animation. You can restore animation results
only for the current assembly.
• Click the file save button to save the current animation results to disk with a .pba
extension. Each animation can save only one file. You can rename the file, and
browse to select a directory to save the file.
• Click to remove the current animation results from the current session.
• Click to export the animation playback to a frame file with a .fra extension.
You can use this file with the Pro/ENGINEER File > Save a Copy command to
create a motion envelope.
• Create a Motion Envelope
• Interference
• Movie Schedule
• Display Arrows—This tab is not active in Design Animation.
To Run the Animation
1. Click Animation > Start or click to start running the animation.
2. If the animation runs into any problems, you can use these items in the Failure
Options area of the dialog box to specify how to proceed.
o Pause—Click to pause the animation. You can then choose to continue or

cancel the animation. If you continue, Design Animation will skip to the
next frame and try to continue.
o Continue—Click to continue running.
3. If you do not want the assembly to move on the screen as Design Animation runs
the animation, clear the Graphical Feedback check box.
After you run your animation, you can use Animation > Playback to view the
results.
To Play Back the Animation
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You must run your animation at least once using the Animation > Start command
before using the Playback command.
1. Click Animation > Playback.
The Playbacks dialog box opens.
2. Select an animation from the Result Set list.
3. If you want to play an animation saved in a previous session, click and

browse to find the .pba file.
4. Select one of the options on the Interference tab.
5. If you want to specify which portions of the results to view during playback,
select the Movie Schedule tab, and clear the Default check box.
6. Click .
The Animate dialog box opens. Use the options on this dialog box to control the
speed and direction of your playback.
Movie Schedule
When you play back the results of your animation, you can specify which portion of
the run you would like to view. If you want to see the entire run, click Default on
the Movie Schedule tab of the Playbacks dialog box.
If you want to see a specific portion of the run, clear the Default check box. You can
now choose from the following options:
• Start Time—Specify the start time of the segment you want to view.
• End Time—Specify the end time of the segment you want to view.
Note: If the start time is greater than the end time, the movie will run in
reverse.
• After you specify a start and end time, click to add the segment to the list for
playback. You can replay this segment multiple times by adding it to the list
multiple times.
• To change the start or end time of a playback segment, highlight that segment
and click . You can now update the start and end time.
• To delete the movie segment, highlight that segment and click .
Interference
When you play back the results of your animation, you can specify whether Design
Animation will check for interference, and select a type of interference checking.
Select one of the following options on the Interference tab of the Playbacks dialog
box.
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Design Animation
• Mode
o No Interference—Will not check your assembly for interference.
o Quick Check—Do a low-level check for interference. Automatically selects

Stop Playback as an option.
o Two Parts—Specify two parts for which to check the interference. Design
Animation highlights the area on the model where interference occurs.
o Global Interference—Check for any kind of interference in the entire

assembly. Design Animation highlights the area on the model where
interference occurs.
• Options
o Include Quilts—Include surfaces as part of the interference check.
o Stop Playback—Stop the playback if any interference is detected.
Animate Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to play back the results of your animation. The dialog box
contains the following items:
Button Function
Frame sliding bar List the frame that is currently displayed.
Play backwards.
Stop.
Play.
Reset the animation to the beginning.
Display the previous frame.
Display the next frame.
Advance the animation to the end.
Repeat the animation.
Reverse directions at ends.
Speed sliding bar Change the speed of the animation.
Capture Record the animation to JPEG or MPEG.
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When you play back the animation, Design Animation plays the animation results on
the display screen while scrolling across the timeline window.
Capture Dialog Box

When you click Capture on the Animate dialog box, the Capture dialog box opens.
You can record your animation as a series of JPEG, TIFF, or BMP files or as an MPEG
file, and use the recorded animation for your presentation.
Use the following items to record your animation:
• Name—Design Animation enters a default name, with the extension determined
by the image type. The default directory to save the file is the current working
directory. You can change the name in the Name entry box. If you want to select
an existing file to overwrite, or change the directory for saving the file, click
Browse and select a directory and file.
• Type—You can record your results in MPEG, JPEG, TIFF, OR BMP file format.
Design Animation saves a single MPEG file. If you select one of the other formats,
Design Animation saves a series of files, one for each frame of your analysis
results. The files in the series are named filename_x, where x is a number from 1
to the number of frames. You can change the number of frames in your
animation with the Tools > Time Domain command. Use graphics software to
combine these files into an animated file, or inspect them separately.
The file name extension is based on the file type, as follows:
o MPEG files have extension .mpg
o TIFF files have extension .tif
o JPEG files have extension .jpg
o BMP files have extension .bmp
• Image Size—Design Animation captures your animation in image files with the
width and height values in this area. The default values are the dimensions of the
current model window, excluding the Animation timeline or the navigation
window. The width and height values will not be updated if you resize the model
window while the Capture dialog box is open.
• Lock Aspect Ratio—Select this check box if you want to change either the width
or height, and have the width-to-height ratio remain the same as that in the
current model window. If you do not select this check box, and you change one
value, the other value will not be affected.
• Photorender Frames—Select this option if you want to use Pro/ENGINEER's

photorendering functionality to record your animation. Set the options for the
photorendering before capturing the animation. Use the Pro/ENGINEER View >
Model Setup > Render Control command. For more information, search for
photorender in the PTC online help system.
• Frame Rate—Select one of these frame rates for MPEG files:
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Design Animation
• 25 fps
• 30 fps
• 50 fps
When you click OK, the recording begins.
Create Motion Envelope Dialog Box

After you run an animation, you can create a faceted solid motion envelope model
that represents the full motion of the assembly during your animation, including
changes due to disabled connections. You can use the motion envelope export in the
same manner as a standard Pro/ENGINEER part.
You can also create a motion envelope by first creating a frame file and then using
the MotionEnvlp option from the Pro/ENGINEER File > Save a Copy command.
If you have run an animation in the current session of Design Animation, or have
restored a .pba file, when you click on the Playbacks dialog box the Create a
Motion Envelope dialog box opens. This dialog box includes the following items:
• Quality—Specify the quality level for Design Animation to use when creating the
motion envelope model, by entering an integer from 1 to 10.
Quality is inversely proportional to the size of the triangles used to create the
faceted model. At a lower setting, the system creates fewer, larger triangles
faster, producing a roughly accurate representation of the motion envelope. At a
higher setting, the system creates many smaller triangles, producing a more
detailed, more accurate representation of the motion envelope. Increasing the
quality level makes for a more complete representation but also increases the
creation time.
The recommended method for creating a motion envelope model is to set a low
quality setting and preview the results, only gradually increasing the quality level
as necessary. When you raise the setting, the system initially displays a warning
message: "At high quality levels, creating a Motion Envelope may take a long
time and require a lot of memory. It is best to try low levels first, and move up
only if the results at those levels are unsatisfactory. To disable this warning, use
the config option MOTION_ENVLP_ALERT NO."
• Select Components—Choose the parts, bodies, or subassemblies on your

assembly that you want to use for the motion envelope. Design Animation selects
all components in your assembly by default, and displays the number of
components in the text box. If you do not want to include all the components in
the motion envelope, click and use the commands on the GET SELECT menu
to unselect components.
• Special Handlings—If you want Design Animation to ignore any skeletons or

quilts in your model, select Ignore Skeletons, or Ignore Quilts. For more
information on quilts and skeletons, search the PTC online help.
• Invert Triangle Pairs—After you preview the motion envelope, you can use the
options in this area to adjust the motion envelope model. The faceted motion
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envelope model is comprised of a set of contiguous triangles. If the

automatically-computed motion envelope does not accurately represent the
motion of your assembly, click , and click the edge between two triangles.
Design Animation replaces the triangles with the other two triangles that make
up the tetrahedron defined by the triangles' four vertices.
• Output Format—You can save your motion envelope model in one of four
formats. For more information on these formats, search for tessellated files in the
PTC online help system.
o Part (default)—Creates a Pro/ENGINEER part with normal geometry.

Design Animation appends the extension .prt to the file name.
o LW Part—Creates a lightweight Pro/ENGINEER part with lightweight,

faceted geometry. Design Animation appends the extension .prt to the file
name.
o STL—Creates an STL (Stereolithography) file. Design Animation appends

the extension .stl to the file name.
o VRML—Creates a VRML file. Design Animation appends the extension .wrl

to the file name.
o Output File Name—The system assigns the motion envelope model a default file
name based on the name of the source model, in the format
model_name_env0001. When the source model is a simplified representation of an
assembly, the default name of the motion envelope model is
simplifiedrepname_env0001. The system automatically appends the extensions
.prt to part file names, .stl to STL file names, and .wrl to VRML file names.
o Use default template—If you have specified a default template in

Pro/ENGINEER, the system uses that template, or start model, for the motion
envelope part. You can use the Tools > Options command to set the
configuration file option start_model_dir to specify the location for the default
template. Using a template as a start model allows you to include critical layers,
datum features, and views in the motion envelope model. It is possible but
difficult to do this after the motion envelope model has been exported.
o Preview—Click this button to obtain graphical and textual feedback about the
information that will be captured in the motion envelope model. Design Animation
displays a shaded representation of the motion envelope model and the
Pro/ENGINEER message window reports the number of triangles that make up
the facets of the model.
o Create—If you selected the Part or LW Part output format, the system creates
a solid motion envelope model, and displays it in its own window. Activate this
window and use the File > Save command to save it to a part file.
If you selected the STL or VRML output format, the system saves a .stl or .wrl
file to the current working directory. The Create Motion Envelope dialog box
remains open, and the source model remains in session as the current object.
56
Design Animation
Defining the Time Domain

About Time Domain
Use the Time Domain command to create a time frame for the current animation.
When you click Tools > Time Domain, the Animation Time Domain dialog box
opens. You supply different information for the dialog box, depending on which of the
following you select for the time domain:
• Length and Rate—Enter the end time (in seconds) and the frame rate (the
number of frames per second) for the animation. The system calculates the total
number of frames and the length of the run.
• Length and Frame Count—Enter the end time (in seconds) and total frame
count for the animation. The system calculates the frame rate and the length of
the run.
• Rate and Frame Count—Enter the total frame count and the frame rate or
interval of the animation. The system calculates the end time.
After you select one of these time options, fill in the appropriate fields on the rest of
the dialog box.
To Change the Time Domain

Follow these steps to alter the rate and duration of your animation. You can use time
domain factors to alter your time scale, or to increase or decrease the smoothness of
the interpolation between frames.
1. Click Tools > Time Domain or click .
2. The Animation Time Domain dialog box opens with the name of your
animation.
3. Select one of the methods to control the animation. Change the duration to fit
your animation. To have a smoother transition between key frames, you may
want to increase your frame count.
4. If you want to change the timeline scale, deselect Default box in the Display
Interval area, and enter a new value for the interval. When you click Apply, the
timeline displays your changes.
Note: A smaller display interval results in more divisions on the timeline scale,
and allows you to make finer movements when using the mouse to move timeline
elements.
Time Domain Length and Frame Count

Use this method to control the number of frames in your animation, and the length
of the animation run. Decrease the length if your animation is shorter than the
default value. Increase it to make room for more components in the animation.
Increase the frame count to make the transition between key frames smoother, or to
see more details.
57
Enter information in any of these fields. The default time unit is seconds.
When you click Apply, the program updates other fields. Click OK to accept the
values and exit the dialog box.
• Start Time—Enter the time that you want the animation to start running. The
animation starts at the time you enter, but the timeline does not display the new
start time.
• End Time—Enter the time that the animation ends. The timeline displays the
new duration, and the program updates the interval and frame rate in the dialog
box.
• Frame Count—Enter the total number of frames for the animation. The program
updates the interval and frame rate in the dialog box.
The frame count, interval, frame rate, start, and end times are related by the
following formulas:
Frame Rate = 1/Interval
Frames Used = [Frame Rate * (End Time – Start Time)] + 1
Note: The Frame Count value on the dialog box does not change if you increase
the Start Time. This is the number of frames available for the entire animation, and
is used to calculate the Frame Rate and Interval. When you run or play back the
animation, however, the number of frames is that determined by Frames Used.
For example:
Start Time 0 5
End Time 10 10
Frame Count 101 101
Frames Used 101 51
Time Domain Length and Rate

Use this method to control the duration of your animation and the time between
frames. Enter information in any of these fields. The default time unit is seconds.
Decrease the duration if your animation is shorter than the default value. Increase it
if your animation is greater than the default value, for example, to follow the
animation with a new component. Decrease the frame rate to see more details in the
animation.
• Start Time—Enter the time that you want the animation to start running. The
start time.
58
Design Animation
• End Time—Enter the time that you want the animation to end. The program
updates the frame count.
• Rate—Enter a frame rate in frames per second. The program updates the
interval and the frame count.
• Interval—Enter the interval between frames. The program updates the frame
count and rate.
Change either the frame rate or interval. The start time, end time, frame count,
interval, and frame rate are related by the following formulas:
For example:
Start Time 0 5
End Time 10 10
Frame Count 101 101
Frames Used 101 51
Time Domain Rate and Frame Count

Use this method to control the number of frames and the interval between them in
your animation. Enter information in any of these fields. The default time unit is
seconds. Increase the frame count to make the transition between frames smoother,
or to see more details in the animation movement.
• Start Time—Enter the time you want the animation to start running. The
start time.
• Frame Count—Enter the total number of frames for the entire animation. The
program updates the end time on the dialog box and on the timeline.
• Rate—Enter the rate in frames per second. The program updates the frame
interval and end time.
• Interval—Enter the interval between frames. The program updates the end time
and frame rate. The timeline displays the new duration.
59
Change either the frame rate or interval. The frame count, interval, frame rate, start,
and end times are related by the following formulas:
For example:
Start Time 0 5
End Time 10 10
Frame Count 101 101
Frames Used 101 51
Defining Views
About View @ Time
Use the view-at-time functionality to view different orientations of your model at
specific times. Used in conjunction with the Tools > Animation Interpolation
command, you can view your animation smoothly moving between different
orientations during the animation.
When you click Animation > View @ Time, the View @ Time dialog box opens,
listing the following items:
• Name—Select one of the named views. You can create additional views using the
Pro/ENGINEER View > View Manager command.
• Value—Enter the time value you want this view to take effect after the named
event.
• After—Select the event after which you want the view to take effect.
• Apply—Adds a view at the selected time with the given name.
Note: The view saved is the one in the graphics window when you click Apply
(including orientation and zoom level). This may not match the saved view in the
name field if you have moved the model on the screen.
To Define Views for an Animation

You can use views you have saved within Pro/ENGINEER to change the orientation of
your model during the animation. For example, you can change the view from the
front to the side while putting your assembly together.
60
Design Animation
This procedure assumes you have previously saved views of your model using the
Pro/ENGINEER View Manager command. Select View > View Manager, and select
the Orient tab to define a new view. For more information, search for views in the
1. Click Animation > View @ Time or click on the toolbar.
2. The View @ Time dialog box opens with a list of previously created views.
3. Select a view.
4. Enter a time and select a reference event from the After list. As the animation
progresses, it will change to the view after the time and reference event.
5. Design Animation interpolates between views, so there are no abrupt changes.

The current settings for the interpolation are listed in the dialog box.
6. If you want to change the current settings for view interpolation, use the
command Tools > Animation Interpolation.
7. Click Apply. The View @ Time event appears in the timeline.
The view saved is the one in the graphics window when you click Apply,
including orientation and zoom level. This may not match the saved view in the
name field if you have moved the model on the screen. An event marker appears
in the timeline.
Interpolation
When you select Tools > Animation Interpolation, the Interpolation dialog box
opens. The dialog box contains the following items:
• View Interpolation—Use this area to specify how you want Design Animation to
change between views you defined on the View @ Time dialog box.
Check the Interpolate box to have Design Animation make a smooth transition
from one view to the next during the animation. If you do not select this check
box, Design Animation jumps to the next view without any transition.
Tip: There may be times when you want Design Animation to stay on a view for
a specific length of time and then start moving toward another view. Because you
cannot select Interpolate for only part of the animation, you will need to apply
two instances of the same view, one at the beginning and one at the end of a
time period to make the view constant. You can then apply a third view that
Design Animation will transition to.
• Transparency Interpolation—Use this area to specify how you want Design

Animation to change between transparencies you defined on the Transparency
@ Time dialog box. The state of the Interpolate check box determines whether
transparency events fade from one state to the next or completely change state
at the event transition times, as follows:
o If the Interpolate check box is on, Design Animation treats the transition
from one transparency event to the next as a change over time. In this
61
case, the animation displays the change in component transparency states

by fading from one state to the next.
o If the Interpolate check box is off, Design Animation treats the transition
as a single change from one transparency state to the next. As an example,
assume a two-event transparency. In this case, the animation shows the
transparency state defined for the first transparency event until it reaches
the start time for the second event. At that point, the animation
immediately switches to the transparency state defined for the second
event.
Provided the check box is on, you can change which transparency events Design
Animation interpolates by dragging transparency events in and out of timeline
rows. When you drag an event out of an existing row, you turn off interpolation.
Likewise, when you drag an event into an existing row, you turn on interpolation
for that event.
Defining Displays
About Display @ Time
Use this command to control the display of your assembly components during an
animation or playback. You can define an event during which some of the
components are invisible, or in which the display modes, such as Wireframe or
Hidden Line, are different for different components.
You can create several Display @ Time events for your animation. Only one event
can be active at a given time. Design Animation moves from one Display @ Time
event to another with no interpolation.
Use the Pro/ENGINEER View Manager command to define a display representation
for the components in your model. Select View > View Manager, and select the
Style tab. For more information, search for information on the View Manager in the
When you click Animation > Display @ Time, a dialog box opens with the following
items:
• Style Name—Select the name of a component display from the list.
• Time
o Value—Define the starting time for the display event.
o After—Select the event after which the display representation will be

active. The list includes all elements in your animation, including the start,
end, and any user-defined events.
• Apply—Click Apply to add your Display @ Time event to the Design Animation
timeline. Design Animation will append an extension number to each instance of
the event.
To Define a Display for an Animation
62
Design Animation
This procedure assumes you have previously saved display states of your model
using the Pro/ENGINEER View > View Manager command. For more information,
search for information on the View Manager in the PTC online help system.
1. Click Animation > Display @ Time, or click on the toolbar. The Display @
Time dialog box opens with the list of previously defined display styles.
2. Select a display.
3. Enter a Value for the time, and select a reference event from the After drop-
down list. As the animation progresses, it will change to the display after the time
and reference event. Design Animation does not interpolate between displays.
4. Click Apply. The Display @ Time event appears in the timeline.
Defining Settings
About Animation Settings
Use the Tools > Animation Settings command to specify the tolerance that Design
Animation uses to assemble your mechanism, and to specify the action that Design
Animation takes when a connection analysis fails.
You may also use the tolerance setting to help fix a failed assembly.
When you select Animation Settings, the Settings dialog box opens. The Settings
dialog box includes the following areas:
• Relative Tolerance—Select Default, or enter a value. The relative tolerance is
the multiplier that Design Animation uses to scale the characteristic length to
derive the absolute tolerance. The default value is 0.001, which represents 0.1%
of the characteristic length of your model.
• Characteristic Length—Select Default, or enter a value. The characteristic

length is the sum of all the part lengths divided by the number of parts. A part's
length (or size) is the length of the diagonal of the bounding box that contains
the part completely.
The absolute assembly tolerance is the maximum amount that any mechanism
position constraint can deviate from a perfectly assembled state. The absolute
tolerance is derived from the product of the relative tolerance and the
characteristic length.
The formula for absolute tolerance is:
absolute tolerance = relative tolerance x characteristic length
If you have a mechanism with significant variance in the parts' sizes, or have
results that seem incorrect, you may need to change at least one of the settings.
If the characteristic length is not representative of the mechanism's moving
parts, consider changing the characteristic length. For example, if you are
interested in the motion of a small body in a large assembly, change the
characteristic length to be closer to that of the smaller body. Otherwise, adjust
the relative tolerance.
63
• Assembly Failure—Select the Issue Warning Upon Failure check box to

receive a warning message whenever the mechanism fails to connect.
• Run Preferences—Select Graphical Display During Run to have your

mechanism display update as you run an animation. If you clear this check box,
the display will not change, and the calculation may be faster relative to the
calculation with the graphical display on.
• Failure Action—Select Pause or Continue to choose the action that Design

Animation takes when a run fails. If you select Pause, and your mechanism fails
to assemble during a run, a dialog box appears that allows you to terminate or
continue the analysis, and to choose whether to view further warnings if the
analysis fails again.
To Define the Animation Settings
1. Click Tools > Animation Settings or click . The Settings dialog box opens.
2. If you want to change the Relative Tolerance setting for your assembly, clear
the check box and enter a value between 1e–10 and 0.1. The default value of
0.001 is usually satisfactory.
3. If you want to change the Characteristic Length setting, clear the check box
and enter a different value. You should consider changing this setting when the
largest part is much larger than the smallest part.
4. Clear the Assembly Failure check box if you want Design Animation not to warn
you should the assembly fail.
5. Clear the Graphical display during run checkbox in the Run Preferences area
to improve run performance by turning off the graphical display during the
analysis run.
6. Select one of the options under Failure Action:
o Click Continue to continue your animation if your assembly fails to

assemble.
o Click Pause if you want Design Animation to stop when your run fails, and
to offer you the opportunity to terminate or continue.
7. Click OK.
Defining Transparency
About Trans @ Time
Use the Animation > Trans @ Time command to control the transparency of your
assembly components at specific times during an animation or playback. You can
make a component partially transparent so you can see through the component's
surfaces, or you can make the component completely invisible. This functionality is
especially useful when you want to focus on the animation of the components hidden
inside other components while the outer components fade.
64
Design Animation
You can only use the Trans @ Time command effectively if you set the model's
display style to Shading and activate the Transparency option on the
Pro/ENGINEER Model Display dialog box Shade tab.
When you click Trans @ Time, the Transparency @ Time dialog box opens that
you use to define the transparency. After you create the transparency event, it
appears in the timeline window where you can directly edit, copy, or remove the
transparency. You can also select another event in the timeline as a new reference
entity for the transparency.
You can create several Transparency @ Time events. Transparency events for
different components appear on different rows in the timeline. But, when you create
a series of transparency events for the same component, all the events for that
component appear in the same row.
Whether Design Animation transitions the display of transparency events by fading
from one state to another or by jumping between event states depends on how you
set the Transparency Interpolation check box on the Interpolation dialog box.
Transparency @ Time Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to define transparency for the assembly or its components. The
dialog box opens when you click Animation > Trans @ Time or click on the
toolbar.
The following items appear on the dialog box:
• Name—Enter a name for the transparency event or accept the default name.
• Transparency—Specify the transparency value for one or more components you

select. You can enter a value between 0 and 100 into the entry box or move the
transparency slider from Opaque to Clear. While you set the transparency,
Design Animation dynamically renders the components to help you visualize the
settings.
The Transparency area includes an Ignore Surface Properties check box.

This check box determines whether Design Animation renders the transparencies
with surface properties—color, reflectivity, and so forth—turned on or just uses
standard model shading. This check box is on by default to ensure the best
animation performance. If you are not concerned about performance and want
the transparencies to show all surface properties, clear the Ignore Surface
Properties check box.
Note: For models that have multiple instances of the same component, each with
different surface properties, performance can be a more serious consideration.
• Time—Specify the time at which the transparency event becomes active. The
time is relative to a reference entity in the Design Animation timeline.
o Value—Set the amount of time you want to lapse before the transparency
event becomes active.
65
o After—Select the reference entity after which the time count begins. The
list of reference entities includes all elements in your animation, such as
start, end, and any event you defined previously.
o Apply—Click Apply to add your Transparency @ Time event to the Design

Animation timeline.
To Define Transparencies for an Animation
1. Click Animation > Trans @ Time or click on the toolbar. The

Transparency @ Time dialog box opens.
2. Enter a name for the transparency event or accept the default name.
3. Select one or more components, on which you want to apply transparency.
4. Enter a value from 1 to 100 for the Transparency. You can also move the
transparency slider from Opaque to Clear to alter the transparency.
5. Enter a time Value and select a reference event from the After list. As the
animation progresses, the transparency event becomes active after the specified
amount of time lapses from the selected reference event.
6. Click Apply. The Transparency @ Time event appears in the timeline.
7. Change settings on the Interpolation dialog box if you do not want Design
Animation to interpolate between transparencies.
Interpolation
When you select Tools > Animation Interpolation, the Interpolation dialog box
opens. The dialog box contains the following items:
• View Interpolation—Use this area to specify how you want Design Animation to
change between views you defined on the View @ Time dialog box.
Check the Interpolate box to have Design Animation make a smooth transition
from one view to the next during the animation. If you do not select this check
box, Design Animation jumps to the next view without any transition.
Tip: There may be times when you want Design Animation to stay on a view for
a specific length of time and then start moving toward another view. Because you
cannot select Interpolate for only part of the animation, you will need to apply
two instances of the same view, one at the beginning and one at the end of a
time period to make the view constant. You can then apply a third view that
Design Animation will transition to.
• Transparency Interpolation—Use this area to specify how you want Design

Animation to change between transparencies you defined on the Transparency
@ Time dialog box. The state of the Interpolate check box determines whether
transparency events fade from one state to the next or completely change state
at the event transition times, as follows:
o If the Interpolate check box is on, Design Animation treats the transition
from one transparency event to the next as a change over time. In this
66
Design Animation
case, the animation displays the change in component transparency states

by fading from one state to the next.
o If the Interpolate check box is off, Design Animation treats the transition
as a single change from one transparency state to the next. As an example,
assume a two-event transparency. In this case, the animation shows the
transparency state defined for the first transparency event until it reaches
the start time for the second event. At that point, the animation
immediately switches to the transparency state defined for the second
event.
Provided the check box is on, you can change which transparency events Design
Animation interpolates by dragging transparency events in and out of timeline
rows. When you drag an event out of an existing row, you turn off interpolation.
Likewise, when you drag an event into an existing row, you turn on interpolation
for that event.
Design Animation Timeline

About the Animation Timeline
Use the timeline window to view and manipulate the items that make up your
animation. After defining animation components, you must include them on the
timeline in order for them to be part of the animation. You can create or edit the
elements using the commands on the Animation menu. In addition, you can use
mouse shortcuts to edit all of the timeline's components.
You can display a list of commands related to a selected animation component by
selecting the component and clicking the right mouse button.
• If you select a key frame sequence instance, you can edit the instance's start and
end time, edit the key frame sequence, copy, or remove it.
• If you select a servo motor instance, you can edit the instance's start and end
time, edit the servo motor, copy or remove it.
• You can also select an event in the animation to reference a key frame or servo
motor instance to.
• If you select a Display @ Time, View @ Time, or Transparency @ Time event,

you can edit, copy, or remove it. You can also select another event in the
animation to reference the event to.
• If you select a subanimation, you can edit, copy, or remove it.
For a new animation, the timeline is set by default to show 10 seconds, and the
animation duration is set to 10 seconds. You can change either or both of these
default times. To see more details of your animation, select View > Timescale
Zoom in, then draw a rectangular box around the area you want to view more
closely. To change the animation duration, double-click on the time scale and change
the animation time domain.
Following is an example of a timeline, with 3 key frame sequences, a body lock, an
event, a connection status change, and a subanimation.
67
Animation Timeline Shortcuts

You can use shortcuts on the timeline window to perform many of the commands in
the Design Animation toolbar and some additional ones.
Operation in Timeline Window Mouse Shortcut
Single select Click the left mouse button.
Multiple select Hold down CTRL and click the left

mouse button.
Edit component time Select a component and double-

click the left mouse button. You can
also drag the component to the
desired time.
Edit time Hold down the left mouse button

and drag.
Edit vertical position Select a component, hold down the

middle mouse button, and drag.
Undo previous operations Hold down SHIFT and click the left
mouse button.
Redo previous undo operations Hold down SHIFT and click the
middle mouse button.
Access a pop-up menu for a Select the component with the left
selected timeline component. mouse button, then click the right
mouse button.
Edit the animation time domain Double-click on the time scale.
Expand the display of subanimation Click the circle at the beginning or

information end of a subanimation
Changing the Timeline Display
68
Design Animation
Use the following commands on the View menu to change the visible scale on the
timeline.
• Timescale Zoom in—Zoom in on the timeline to view details. After you select
this command, drag a rectangular box around the timeline area you want to view
more closely.
• Timescale Zoom out—Zoom out on the timeline. Use this after you use Zoom
In to incrementally see more of your timeline. Using this command repeatedly
will return you to your original setting.
• Timescale Refit—Return the animation timeline to its original setting.
69
Index
A C
animate dialog box........................54 coordinate system
Animation dragging with ............................17
capturing as MPEG or JPEG ..........54 coordinate system.........................17
creating ..................................... 3 D
defining a servo motor ................26 Design Animation
defining displays ........................63 capturing MPEG or JPEG ..............54
defining views............................61 component display .....................63
editing ....................................... 5 connection icons.........................48
events ......................................49 connection status
generating a movie.....................53 for mechanism models .............47
including a servo motor...............40 defining a servo motor ................26
playing back ..............................52 dragging .................................... 9
running.....................................52 events ......................................49
subanimation.............................50 including a servo motor...............40
time domain ..............................57 movie generation schedule ..........53
timeline ....................................68 playing back the animation .... 51, 52
timeline shortcuts.......................69 running.....................................52
toolbar buttons ........................... 1 SCCA servo motor profile ............36
viewing at specific times..............61 servo motor profiles....................29
Animation ..................................... 1 servo motors .............................25
assembly states ............................19 subanimations ...........................50
B time domain ..............................57
bodies timeline ....................................68
control in key frame sequence......21 toolbar buttons ........................... 1
creating ..................................... 8 using ......................................... 3
defining ..................................... 8 view at time ..............................61
dragging ...................................12 views........................................61
locking................................ 15, 46 Design Animation ........................... 1
bodies .......................................... 7 Display at Time command ..............63
71
Drag dialog box in animation sequence tab .............................23
advanced options .......................18 snapshots .................................12
buttons.....................................10 key frame sequences .....................20
constraints tab...........................15 L
snapshot tab .............................13 lock bodies...................................46
Drag dialog box in animation ........... 9 M
E magnitude
events as a table function ......................33
defining ....................................49 as a user-defined function ...........34
events .........................................49 magnitude ...................................30
G movie schedule in animation...........53
geometric servo motors .................41 MPEG file for animation ..................54
graphing ......................................37 P
I plane-plane rotation servo motors ...42
icon visibilities plane-plane translation servo motors

...............................................42
setting ....................................... 7
plane-point translation servo motors42
icon visibilities ............................... 6
playback for animation...................51
J
point-plane translation servo motors43
joint axis settings
point-point translation servo motors 43
specifying .................................44
points
joint axis settings..........................43
dragging ...................................13
joint zero references......................45
points..........................................13
JPEG file for animation ...................54
R
K
reference body .............................25
key frame sequences
S
bodies tab .................................23
SCCA servo motor profile ...............36
connection status .......................16
servo motor profiles in animation
controlling bodies .......................21
graphing ...................................37
defining ....................................20
table servo motors
finder form ................................22
defining..................................36
instances ..................................24
72
Index
servo motor profiles in animation ....29 time domain for animation .............57
servo motors in animation timeline
defining ....................................26 changing the display ...................70
geometric .................................41 shortcuts...................................69
including in an animation.............40 timeline ................................. 68, 70
plane-plane rotation ...................42 tolerance
plane-plane translation ...............42 absolute....................................65
plane-point translation ................42 relative .....................................65
point-plane translation ................43 tolerance .....................................65
point-point translation.................43 Trans at Time command.................65
specifying entities ......................26 V
specifying the servo motor profile .28 View at Time command
table servo motor.......................33 changing between views........ 62, 67
time domain ..............................41 View at Time command..................61
user-defined servo motor ............34
servo motors in animation ..............25
settings for animation ....................64
snapshots
connection status .......................16
constructing from existing ...........19
creating ....................................12
editing ......................................19
snapshots ....................................12
subanimations ..............................50
time domain for animation
changing...................................58
length and frame count ...............58
length and rate ..........................59
rate and frame count ..................60
servo motor time domain ............41
73

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About Animation ............................................................................................ 1

Design Animation Toolbar Buttons .................................................................... 1

Creating an Animation ................................................................................. 3

Animation Dialog Box ..................................................................................... 5

Editing the Animation ..................................................................................... 5

Displaying Icons ....................................................................................... 6

About Icon Visibilities ..................................................................................... 6

To Set Icon Visibilities..................................................................................... 6

Defining Bodies ........................................................................................ 7

About Bodies ................................................................................................. 7

To Create a Body ........................................................................................... 8

Body Definition Dialog Box .............................................................................. 8

Drag Operations ....................................................................................... 9

About Drag Operations ................................................................................... 9

Drag Dialog Box............................................................................................. 9

Buttons on the Drag Dialog Box ......................................................................10

To Create a Snapshot ....................................................................................11

Snapshots Tab on the Drag Dialog Box.............................................................13

To Define Constraints for a Drag Operation .......................................................14

Constraints Tab on the Drag Dialog Box ...........................................................14

To Lock a Body Prior to a Dragging Operation ...................................................15

To Change Connection Status for a Snapshot ....................................................16

To Drag with a Selected Coordinate System ......................................................16

Advanced Drag Options..................................................................................17

To Use Snapshot Construction ........................................................................18

To Edit a Snapshot ........................................................................................19

Using Assembly States...................................................................................19

Creating Key Frame Sequences .................................................................20

About Key Frame Sequences ..........................................................................20

To Define a Key Frame Sequence ....................................................................20

To Control Bodies in a Key Frame Sequence......................................................21

Key Frame Sequence Dialog Box .....................................................................21

Key Frame Sequence Finder Form ...................................................................22

Bodies Tab ...................................................................................................23

KFS Instance ................................................................................................24

Example: Reference Body...............................................................................24

Creating Servo Motors..............................................................................24

About Servo Motors.......................................................................................24

Servo Motor Definition Dialog Box ...................................................................25

To Define a New Servo Motor..........................................................................25

To Specify the Servo Motor Type .....................................................................26

To Specify the Servo Motor Profile ...................................................................28

To Specify Servo Motor Magnitude as a User-Defined Function.............................29

About Magnitude Settings ..............................................................................30

Example: Types of Motor Profiles.....................................................................31

Magnitude as a Table Function ........................................................................32

Magnitude as a User-Defined Function .............................................................33

Expression Definition Dialog Box .....................................................................34

Expression Parameters Dialog Box ...................................................................35

Servo Motor Profile for SCCA ..........................................................................35

To Define Table Servo Motors .........................................................................36

Managing Graphs ..........................................................................................38

X Axis and Y Axis Tabs...................................................................................38

Data Series Tab ............................................................................................39

Graph Display Tab.........................................................................................40

To Include a Servo Motor in the Animation........................................................40

Servo Motor Time Domain ..............................................................................40

Geometric Servo Motors.................................................................................41

Plane-Plane Rotation Servo Motor....................................................................41

Plane–Plane Translation Servo Motor ...............................................................41

Plane–Point Translation Servo Motor ................................................................42