About Mechanism Representations

Mechanisms are product representations used to perform motion simulations.

In the tree, mechanism representations appear under the Mechanism node of the product.

An engineering connection in a product becomes a joint if used in a mechanism representation. The configuration and motion of the mechanism depends on the degrees of freedom and on the relative motions allowed by the engineering connections.

You can create a mechanism representation using only a subset of the engineering connections from the product. You can also create multiple mechanism representations for a single product, each using a different subset of engineering connections.

For more information, see Creating Engineering Connections for Mechanisms.

A mechanism representation includes specific components, such as engineering connections, commands, and limits.

Mechanism element	Description	Displayed in
Engineering Connection	Relative motion defined between two parts.	Engineering connections appear under the Engineering Connection node and under the Joints node when enforced in a mechanism.
Command	An unrestricted degree of freedom in an engineering connection used to drive a simulation of the mechanism. Note: To simulate the motion of a mechanism, assign different values to a command.	Commands appear under the Mechanism Representation , below the node and individually under the node. Tip: the name of the engineering connection driven by a command appears after the command name, between parentheses.
Limits	Upper and lower bounds for each command defining the complete range of motion for an engineering connection.	Limits appear in the Mechanism Player when you run a simulation.
Dressup joints	Multiple rigid engineering connections fixing model components to the mechanism components. Tip: Dressup joints are created using the Dressup command. For more information, see Defining a Dressup for a Mechanism.	Dressup joints appear under the Dressup node when they connect a mechanism product to a model product. Otherwise, they appear under the Joints node .
Assembly	Collection of mechanisms assembled within a macro mechanism—also referred to as a multilevel mechanism.	Assemblies appear under the Assembly node of a macro-mechanism. Tip: To obtain more information, expand an assembled Mechanism node to view the Commands node inside it. For more information, see About Mechanism Assemblies.

For more information on the creation and configuration of mechanism representations, see Defining Mechanisms.