Point to Deformable Curve (PTDCV)

The point to deformable curve joint constrains a fixed point on a body to slide along a curve that passes through the origins of a specified set of markers. These markers may belong to different bodies. As the markers move in space, the curve is calculated at every time step using CUBIC spline interpolation through the marker origins. Hence, the curve deforms as the markers move about.

In order to completely specify a point to deformable curve joint, the following entities must be created first:
  • Two reference surface entities (created using the Surfaces panel).
  • Two markers that belong to Body 1 and Body 2 of the joint and are located appropriately so that the surface entity can be meaningfully described as belonging to the coordinate system of the reference marker.

  1. If the Advanced Joint panel is not currently displayed, select the desired advanced joint by clicking on it in the Project Browser or in the modeling window.
    The Advanced Joint panel is automatically displayed.
  2. From the Connectivity tab, click the Body collector and select the body that is to slide on the deformable curve of this joint from the modeling window, or double-click the Body collector to open the Model Tree (from which the desired body can be selected).
  3. Click the Point collector and select the point of the PTDCV joint from the modeling window (or pick the point from the Model Tree).
  4. Click the DeformableCurve collector and select the curve that is to be used for the joint from the modeling window (or pick the curve from the Model Tree).