Hello,
I'm working on an animation for a tool design. part of this tool is a sheet metal plate which is affixed to the body of the tool at the center of the plate, but is connected to two moving rods on either end, I'd like to animate the rods moving up and down, and the metal plate forming a nice even arc as a reaction to the rod's positions.
I've played with the deform tools, and I think that I would have to create a number of configurations and show each of them in sequence, but I'm wondering if there's an easier way to accomplish this. Anybody have any ideas on what I could try, or am I just out of luck?
I'm working on an animation for a tool design. part of this tool is a sheet metal plate which is affixed to the body of the tool at the center of the plate, but is connected to two moving rods on either end, I'd like to animate the rods moving up and down, and the metal plate forming a nice even arc as a reaction to the rod's positions.
I've played with the deform tools, and I think that I would have to create a number of configurations and show each of them in sequence, but I'm wondering if there's an easier way to accomplish this. Anybody have any ideas on what I could try, or am I just out of luck?
The trick is to model your sheet metal part in the context of an assembly.
The assembly will have the rods mated at a distance from each other. That distance value can be changed with animator (aka Motion Study).
In the assembly, sketch an arc that is contrained to points on the rods. As the rods move relative to each other, the shape of the arc will change. You can dimension the length of the arc to hold it constant.
Use the arc as the basis for your sheet metal part.
If you need a demo, let me know which version you're using.