[LDCad] Kinematics in LDCad

[Johann Eisner]

Hi guys

I was asked a question that I couldn't answer 100 percent. As far as I know, it doesn't work.

Here's the question:

Hi Johann. Is there a possibility to move the kinematics in the LDcad? Example: I have a rectangle built from individual parts and want to move it to a parallelogram by twisting an arm around its pin at one of the joints. In the LDD, if you built the joints according to a certain scheme, then the movement of the remaining parts ran smoothly.

 Johann

[Orion Pobursky]

The only editor to actually do this was SR3DBuilder. LDCad does not support the ability to move connected objects.

[Johann Eisner]

The only editor to actually do this was SR3DBuilder. LDCad does not support the ability to move connected objects.

Hi Orion
That is / was my level of knowledge.  Thank you for the confirmation. 

Johann

[Roland Melkert]

Hi Johann. Is there a possibility to move the kinematics in the LDcad? Example: I have a rectangle built from individual parts and want to move it to a parallelogram by twisting an arm around its pin at one of the joints. In the LDD, if you built the joints according to a certain scheme, then the movement of the remaining parts ran smoothly.

As Orion wrote this isn't supported in the editor of LDCad.

But you can animate it if you want, by writing a lua script.

And in the upcoming 1.7 interactive animations will become possible.

So if you need it for some mechanics demonstration or something that could be an alternative.

[Johann Eisner]

As Orion wrote this isn't supported in the editor of LDCad.

But you can animate it if you want, by writing a lua script.

And in the upcoming 1.7 interactive animations will become possible.

So if you need it for some mechanics demonstration or something that could be an alternative.

Hi Roland

Thanks for the answer. 
My friend is less concerned with animation.
He just wants to test certain flexible connections to see if the model can be built that way.
I'm looking forward to the 1.7 or maybe the 2.0 version. Is there already a time horizon?

[N. W. Perry]

Hi Roland

Thanks for the answer. 
My friend is less concerned with animation.
He just wants to test certain flexible connections to see if the model can be built that way.
I'm looking forward to the 1.7 or maybe the 2.0 version. Is there already a time horizon?

Although LDCad can't (yet) do this interactively, it's pretty easy to calculate certain rotations using the Selection Info feature, especially for something simple like a parallelogram.

I've also used rubber band templates to "draw" circles of a known radius in my model, showing for example the rotations of different parts to see where, and if, they intersect. (I've always thought it would be handy if Selection Info could display these circles automatically, and compute their intersections, like it can already do with triangles. But you could probably create a script to do that, too.)