About Joints

Joints are mechanical relations between bodies used to drive the motion of the mechanism. You can create joints automatically, based on existing defined , or manually.

Note: A joint is usually defined between two markers. It describes the translation and rotation of the second marker according to the translation or rotation of the first marker.

This page discusses:

Automatic Joints
Manual Joints
Joint Limits

Automatic Joints

By default, at the creation of a mechanism, the app creates a joint for every associated with the mechanism.

Note: For example:

A revolute joint is created from an existing revolute .
A curve tangency joint is created from an existing roll curve or slide curve .

Joints created from existing have the same properties as the associated . The app computes the joint properties. You can review them but not edit them.

Manual Joints

Joint Limits

If joint limits are reached during the dynamic simulation of a mechanism, the joint behaves as a unilateral spring-damper and the following contact properties apply:

Restitution coefficient: 0.666
Stiffness: 1.0e8 N_m (translation) or 1.0e8 Nxm_rad (rotation).

Note: You cannot access these properties nor modify their value.