Defining Rigid Bodies

You can apply a rigid body constraint to define an area within a model whose motion is defined by the motion of a single point.

See Also
About Rigid Bodies
Properties Section
Ordered Geometric Sets
Grouping Mesh Entities
In Other Guides
Support Selection
  1. From the Abstractions section of the action bar, click Rigid Body .
  2. Optional: Enter a descriptive Name.
  3. Select a geometry support.

    A rigid body constraint must be applied to one or more bodies. You can also use geometry from an ordered geometric set.

  4. From the Reference point options, select one of the following:
    OptionDescription
    Specify Selects a point from the model.
    Center of Mass Calculates the point as the center of mass of the selected supports.
  5. If you chose Specify in the previous step, select a Point on the model or a node-based group that contains a single node as the reference point for motion of the bodies.

    Tip: You can right-click the Point field and select Create Support to create a new point or to create a proximity or a manual mesh group containing the reference point.

  6. Optional: You can specify nodes in the rigid body to be either tie or pin nodes. In Tie support and Pin support, select the required nodes. You can select one or more points, edges, faces, solid bodies, mesh parts, groups, or publications. The tie nodes and pin nodes become part of the rigid body in addition to all nodes associated with the elements assigned to the rigid body.
  7. Click OK.