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(continued...) Length and mass units are defined for the motion model by the host modeller assembly settings and force and time are by default automatically set to be of a consistent unitary system.
Other settings include the direction and magnitude of gravity, and the size of motion symbols displayed over the model.
Assembly constraints are converted to joints in motion terminology, each constraining different numbers of translational and rotational degrees of freedom.
Motion generators are applied to the relevant joints.
All parameters are readily accessible through the IntelliMotion Browser tree although any computed results must be deleted for viewing or editing.
Defining the overall duration and number of frames that are calculated sets the resolution of the simulation.
Clearly the number of steps needs to increase with the speed of the mechanism in order to avoid both jerky animation and more importantly missing events in the behaviour of the mechanism.
The speed of the mechanism in 'model time' as defined by the motion parameters is independent of the animation which is largely determined by the host computer performance.
Parameters for the ADAMS/Solver can also be set in order to trade performance against accuracy.
A slider in the Browser allows any existing results to be stepped through manually and VCR style play controls are provided on the Dynamic Designer toolbar.