Defining Profiles by Importing or Manually Entering Data Points

From the Function Builder, you can define motor or force profiles from interpolated samples of a function of time or cycle angle.

Some Function Builder options are not available for Animation or Basic Motion study types.
  1. From the Motor or Force PropertyManager, under Type, click Data Points .
  2. Select the independent variable:
    • Time
    • Cycle Angle
    The independent variable defines the horizontal axis for each function.
  3. Select the function Value:
    • Displacement
    • Velocity
    • Acceleration
    For path mate motors in Motion Analysis type studies, select from the following:
    • Distance Along Path
    • Tangential Velocity
    • Tangential Acceleration
  4. Select the Interpolation type:
    • Linear
    • Cubic Spline
    • Akima Spline
  5. Click Import Data and select the .txt or .csv file containing two-column function data in a comma-separated file.
    The first entry of each row defines a value of the independent variable and the second entry is the value of the corresponding dependent variable.

  6. To add individual data points that follow the current data set, select Click to add row and enter the independent variable and value data.
  7. To enter an intermediary data point to the imported data set:
    1. Right-click the file data row of the table and click Expand.
      You cannot undo this step.
    2. Right-click the row for the point in the data set that succeeds the intermediary point and click Insert Row Above.
    3. Enter the intermediary point data in the new row.
    For motor profiles, you can view displacement, velocity, acceleration, and jerk in the Function Builder. For force profiles, you can view a plot of the force profile.
  8. Click OK.
    Before clicking OK, you can select Make function available to define other motors or forces for this model and enter a function Name. The function name appears in the PropertyManager.