Generating Geometric Traces

You can create traces to plot the position of geometric elements at each step of the mechanism simulation.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin: Create and define a mechanism.
See Also
About Geometric Traces

Create Geometric Traces

  1. From the Mechanism section of the action bar, click Geometric Trace .
    The geometric trace element is created under the Probes node of the active mechanism.
  2. In the work area, select the geometric elements (points, vertex, curves, or edges) to trace.

    Note: You can select elements from a sketch, wireframe, solid, and surface.

  3. Optional: Select a Reference marker to trace the motion of the selected elements according to the relative motion of this reference marker.

    Note: If no reference marker is specified, the global frame of the mechanism is considered as the reference marker.
    Tip: To use a new marker as the reference marker, click and select Create new marker. For more information, see Creating Markers.

  4. Click .
You can now visualize the results of a swept volume by running an analysis case referencing the active mechanism. For more information, see Computing Analysis Cases.

After the computation of the analysis case:

  • The geometric trace appears in the 3D area.
  • In the tree, the result of the geometric trace appears under the Probes node of the Results element.
  • In the tree, under the Model node, a 3D shape corresponding to the geometric representation of the geometric trace appears under the root product. The list of geometric elements (such as points or splines) appear under the Geometrical Set node.


Tip: To hide the geometric trace in the 3D area, in the tree, under the 3D shape element of the Model node, right-click Geometrical Set and select Hide.

Edit Geometric Traces

You can edit a geometric trace to modify its visualization parameters or to generate the geometric trace of different geometries from the mechanism.

  1. To edit a geometric trace, in the tree, do one of the following. Under the Probes node of the active mechanism:
    • Double-click the geometric trace element.
    • Click the geometric trace and select Edit Feature on the context toolbar.
  2. In the Geometric Trace dialog box, edit the parameters of the geometric trace.
  3. Click .
To update the results of the geometric trace, compute the analysis case associated with the active mechanism. For more information, see Computing Analysis Cases.
Note: If you modify the properties of the analysis steps included in the associated analysis case and compute the analysis case again, the results of the geometric trace are updated.