Parametric Technology Corporation

Design Animation Tutorial #1

Assembly sequence of manifold
This short tutorial will walk through the process of creating a simple
assembly sequence using a manifold assembly. This will demonstrate the
basic capability of Design Animation, but it does not include features such
as drivers, mechanism connections, etc.. The files were created in
Pro!"#$"!!% &'''i. The picks and ($ in this document are for release
&'').
1. *pen the assembly manifold.asm. Turn off datum entities and
shade model. +ou may wish to see the individual parts you will
be working with by e,ploding the assembly -View/Explode.,
une,plode the assembly before moving to Animation.
(View/Unexplode)
2. !nter the Design Animation e,tension by picking Applications/
Animation. The icons in the tool bar from left to right are/ new
animation, animation icon display, body definition, drag and create snap
shots, key frame sequence, body lock, create driver, view at time,
component display at time, edit, undo, redo, delete, run animation,
playback results, and e,port frame file. Also notice there is a new
Animation pull down menu and other menus such as (tilities and 0iew
now have Animation specific buttons. The Animation menu does
everything the tool bar does and also provides some e,tra functionality.
"ote that the connections created in 1echanism Design are displayed on
the model and can now be used to create the animation sequence.
3. 2irst, since we are working with a constrained Pro! assembly,
Animation groups the parts in one body. 3odies are groups of
parts that move together using the same idea as in 1echanica
1otion. 2or this assembly we will change this so each part is its
own body. (se icon or menu Animation / ody !efinition / "ne
#a$t #e$ ody. The manifold block will be the ground reference
part. / pic% &$ound / Edit / pic% t'e pa$t
(A)*+",!-,"./ f$om t'e 0$ap'ics window o$ model
t$ee / .lose
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1. "e,t, create snapshots to be used in a key frame sequence. 3y
either selecting the icon or Animation / 2naps'ot.
$nitial67napshot is automatically created every time the Drag
window is opened. 7ee below for a description of this ($. The
bottom image is for the Contraints tab.
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7nap 7hot icon
Drag in any orentation
Drag in fi,ed orientation
Drag in 8, +, and 9 directions relative
to active Csys
%otate about 8, +, and 9 a,is relative
to active Csys
7elect active Csys
Drag using package move functionality
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Parametric Technology Corporation

3. The first snapshot will be of the assembled manifold, so you only
need to select the camera icon in the upper left corner to create the
first snaps'ot. -7napshot). "ote/ $nitial67napshot) could also be
used.

4. "ow, drag functionality will be
used to create a series of snapshots
for the animation. The same series
of steps will be repeated for several
components.
7elect icon to pick cu$$ent
coo$dinate system.
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Create a snapshot
1ove bodies by aligning surfaces
1ove bodies by mating surfaces
1ove bodies by orienting surfaces
:ock bodies together
Disable!nable mechanism connections
Copy constraints
Paste constraints
Drag bodies using package move
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Parametric Technology Corporation
7elect the third Val5e-nut in
the model tree or graphics
window. 7ee picture to
previous page.
7elect icon to move in y
di$ection.
7elect Val5e-nut
!$a0 and place component
with left mouse button.
Pick camera icon in upper left
corner to take a ;snaps'ot.<
-7napshot&.
6. 7elect the third Val5e-coil part in the
model tree or graphics window. Drag
and place. Pick camera to take a
;snaps'ot.< -7napshot=.
7. %epeat this process for other two nuts
and coils. >eep in mind the view
orientation of the model does not
matter when you are creating these
;snapshots.< The snapshots are capturing the e,plode information
and view can be controlled later.
7elect cu$$ent coo$dinate
system icon
Pick one of the other two
5al5e-nut parts
7elect y di$ection icon
!$a0 and place 5al5e-nut part
Take snaps'ot -7napshot ?.
Pick 5al5e-coil pa$t
!$a0 and place
Take snaps'ot -7napshot @.
%epeat for other valve parts
-7napshots A B C.
8. %epeat drag process for the three
=D6valve parts.
7elect cu$$ent coo$dinate
system icon
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7elect 39-5al5e pa$t
Pick y di$ection icon
!$a0 and place part
Take snaps'ot -7napshots E, 5, B )'.
1:. %epeat for process for P*C part -7napshot )).
11. "ow create a key frame sequence using all of
these snapshots. (se the icon or menu /
Animation / /ey +$ame 2equence / Add /
pic% a snaps'ot f$om t'e pull down list / ; /
add the snapshots in reverse order from
7napshot)) to 7napshot). 7ee below.
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Parametric Technology Corporation
12. #ic% odies <ab and select first item in list, hold down shift key
and select bottom item in list. This will highlight all snapshots.
Pick the =equi$ed button. "/ / .lose to e,it dialog.
13. 7tart Animation by selecting Animation/ 2ta$t or the start icon.
Datch the animation. "ote that the view is the orientation the
model was in when the animation started. The animation can be
played back including interference checking by selecting/
Animation / #laybac% / #lay / use t'e playe$ a$$ow buttons /.
11. To control views/ 7tart with saved view 7T!P)
2elect Animation / View >
<ime or icon
2ill in dialogue like image to
right.
Pick Apply button. "ote an
event is placed above the first
snapshot in the time line.
13. %epeat for final saved view 7T!P&.
Change dialog to match image
on right.
This will create an event at the
last snapshot in the series.
Apply
.lose dialog
14. Create a component display state to make the
1anifold6block a no6hidden display. / View / (odel 2etup /
.omponent !isplay / .$eate / $etu$n / )o ?idden / pic%
(anifold-loc% / !one / !one =etu$n.
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16. Apply the component display at a
specific time in the animation. Create
the no hidden component display at time
@. (se the icon or menus / Animtion /
!isplay > <ime /
Apply a master rep display at
the beginning. 7ee image at
right. / Apply /
2ill the dialogue again like
image to right / Apply / .lose
17. 2ta$t the animation again and see that
the view slowly changes from the
beginning to the end.
18. To e,port animation files, be sure the
final run is complete. Then play back the results using the icon or
the menu. $n the playback dialogue pick .aptu$e. This gives the
option to create an 1P!# movie or 4P!# frames. There is also an
option to photo render the output. The photo render settings can
be set up in Pro!"#$"!!% to control the room environment,
lights, te,tures and reflections.
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