Stage Precision

Kinetics and Physics Simulation

SP has a built in Physics engine and can be used to simulate an object with mass being hung/driven from motorized winches.

Prerequisite

Setup

  1. Make sure that there is 1 Kinetic Construction already created. Kinetic Construction is the object in SP that is representing the object that will be winched up and down.
  2. Define the location of where the Kinetic Construction is located under Kinetic Construction – Coordinates – Position
  3. Under the Kinetic Construction, in Kinetic Construction – Kinetic Construction – Point Count, you need to define the number of points that the object would be hanging from (typically this would be at least 2 or more points)
  4. For each of the points that the object would be hanging from. Define the relative position under Kinetic Construction – Kinetic Construction – Point (x) – rel Pos
  5. For each of these points, link with a Kinetic Driver under Kinetic Construction – Kinetic Construction – Point (x) – Driver
  6. For each of the Kinetic Driver, define the range of motion for the kinetic driver under Kinetic Driver – Kinetic Driver – Configuration – Drive Range Min & Drive Range Max

Enabling the Physics Engine

  1. Turn on the Physics Engine of SP under Project Settings – Physics
  2. Adjust the length of each of the Kinetic Drivers to start moving the Kinetic Construction to prove that the configuration is set up correctly.
  3. Linking each of the Kinetic Drivers to the incoming signal from a winch under Kinetic Driver – Maps – Maps Input – (+)
  4. Create the link to the protocol that would be receiving the winch data

Fine Tuning

There are properties within SP that can be adjusted so that the simulation would match better to real life.

For each of the Kinetic Drivers, under the Physics section, there are the method of the chain, mass of the chain, and segments in the chain. For details please refer to the Kinetic Driver object.

For the overall Kinetic Construction, under the Physics section, there are settings like the mass of the overall object, dampen movement and dampen rotation. For details, please refer to the Kinetic Construction object.