Creating Joint Drivers

You can create drivers to determine the motion of the degrees of freedom of a joint through time, and by using a function.

  1. From the Mechanism section of the action bar, click Motion Driver .
  2. In the tree, select an existing joint.

    Important: You can only create drivers on joints with degrees of freedom. It is impossible to use a driver on a universal joint, or on a gear, rack, or cable joint.
    Note: To modify the selected joint, select another joint in the tree. You can also click and select Clear all selections.

    • The name of the joint is displayed in the Joint field.
    • An option appears for each degree of freedom included in the selected joint.
  3. Optional: To create a driver on a new joint, click and select Create new joint. For more information, see Creating Joints.
  4. In the Driven Directions section, select the check box for the degree or degrees of freedom (rotation or translation) to control.
  5. In the tree, select an existing function under the Functions node, or click to create a new function. For more information, see Creating Functions.
  6. In the Advanced section, define the relative position of the joint driver. To do so, select one of the following options:
    OptionDescription
    Initial assembly position Measures the distance or angle in the driven direction according to the initial assembly position.
    Joint absolute position Measures the distance or angle in the driven direction according to the joint absolute position.
  7. Click .
    The joint driver appears in the tree, under the Drivers node of the active mechanism.