I am trying to get a small block to travel round a path.
I have a path mate between the box and the spline.
If I set the path constraint to "Free" then I can drag the box around the path with the mouse and there are no problems. I then set the path constraint to "percent along path" and set up an animation motion study. I set two keyframes for the path constraint 0%
and 100%.
I press play and nothing happens. The box does not move.
Is this my problem or a SW bug?
I'm sorry you misunderstood my question. I did not try to drag a block with percent Mate. I only tried dragging it when it was set to free. Then to do the keyframe animation I set the mate back to percent settings and then set two keyframes. The first at 0% and the second at 100%. This should interpolate between them. I do not want a 100% accurate kinematic study I just want an animation. Note that I am using animation not motion
If you change value of mates SW doesn't interpolate between both values. It will change value at that key frame.
Instead of 100% for second key frame, use 50%. You will see that component moves at second key frame.
When you use 100% it completes one round of path.
I can't agree that SW should not interpolate between values. In fact this GUI suggests you have good tweening control over the interpolation.
I added the 50% key as you suggested and it animates partly and gets stuck on the corner. See this video.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6jmiqoee3ejh0zl/2016-04-28_14-52-42.mp4?dl=0
You are right, I forgot that.
There is some problem in your setup.
Move the Time bar to start position > Un-suppress PathMate2 > Change Interpolation Mode to linear > LMB Calculate before Running.
Hope that will work
The reason behind getting stuck at corner is "Pitch /Yaw Control" option. Set it "Free" it will work fine.
See attached video
Both ends of the part still do not follow the path.
I added a coincident mate from the other corner to the path.
I also suppressed the Layout: Coincident7 mate.
Mine also gets "stuck at the corner", just as yours does:
SolidWorks Bug - Animator (Motion Study) and Path Mate - YouTube
The only way to get it to work is to disable the Pitch/Yaw control - which is unacceptable to me. Trains generally go around curves at a tangent.
What is the status of this SPR?
My VAR has submitted this to SolidWorks to get their feedback but it's been a few days and haven't heard back.
SolidWorks has finally admitted that this is a problem.
It is now registered under SPR 377123.
Hi Brad,
You cannot drag component after defining Path mate with percent. This mate blocks all DOFs. You can see message when try to drag component.
To animate this you have to specify Path mate motor.
Just add SW Motion Add-in and Create a Path mate motor, then calculate
Thanks,
Amit