Creating Rigid Joints

You can create a rigid joint to fix a body to another.

This task shows you how to:

See Also
About Joints

Define the Properties

  1. From the Mechanism section of the action bar, click Joint .
  2. In the dialog box, select Rigid from the list of joint types.
  3. Select the two markers between which to create the joint.
    1. Click the From marker field and select a marker in the work area.
    2. Click the To marker field and select a marker in the work area.

    Tips:
    • To edit the selected markers, click and select Edit. The Markers dialog box opens.
    • To modify your selection, click and select Clear selection. You can select another marker in the work area or in the tree.

  4. Enter a position value for the element along the x, y, and z-axis.
  5. Select one of the following rotation sequences:

    • Extrinsic: Rotations that apply to an axis in the world coordinate system. The orientation follows the x, y, and finally the z-axis.
    • Euler: Three angles that describe the orientation of a rigid body with respect to a fixed coordinate system. The orientation follows the z, x', and finally the z'"-axis.
    • Cardan: Rotation sequence from angular orientation data. The orientation follows the x, y', and finally the z"-axis.

  6. Specify a value for each orientation angle.
  7. Click .
    In the tree, the joint appears under the Joints node.

Edit the Joint

  1. To edit a joint, in the tree, do one of the following:
    • Double-click a joint.
    • Click a joint and select Edit Feature on the context toolbar.
  2. In the dialog box, edit the joint parameters.
  3. Click .