Translating a CAD Part into a Body

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Locating the SinglePart Assembly Files
Viewing the CAD Assembly
Exporting the CAD Assembly
Generating the SimMechanics Model
Locating the SinglePart Assembly Files
In this example, you export an assembly with one part and no constraints. Look for the
following two example CAD files in the SimMechanics Link demos folder:
The full assembly file,
The part, a cup, in a file called
Although it has only one part, you must export the full assembly into XML, not just the
cup part.
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Viewing the CAD Assembly
Open the cup assembly file in your CAD platform and check its geometry and mass
properties.
Cup Assembly in a CAD Platform
Property Value
Volume 0.0001 cubic meters
(m
3
)
Surface area 0.0381 square meters
(m
2
)
Density 3.0 grams/cm
3
= 3000
kg/m
3
Mass 0.2906 kilograms (kg)
Principal moments of inertia at
the center of gravity
I
x
= 0.00015, I
y
=
0.00067,
I
z
= 0.00067 kgm
2
The inertia tensor is computed at the center of gravity, with the coordinate axes aligned
The inertia tensor is computed at the center of gravity, with the coordinate axes aligned
with assembly baseorigin axes, indicated in the preceding figure, Cup Assembly in a
CAD Platform. The xaxis is the cups axis of symmetry, and the y and zaxes point
across the cup.
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Exporting the CAD Assembly
Using the SimMechanics Link interface to your CAD platform, export the assembly into
Physical Modeling XML format. The XML file appears in your
working CAD folder.
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Generating the SimMechanics Model
To import the Physical Modeling XML with the SimMechanics importer:
Move or copy the exported XML file into a MATLAB working folder to generate a
SimMechanics model from the file.
1.
Generate the model from with the
command.
2.
Once you generate the SimMechanics model, it has six blocks, a combination
representing the entire assembly:
Machine Environment Root Ground Weld Root Part Weld Cup
The Ground origin is coincident with the World origin and maps the CAD
assembly origin.
The Root Part is a nondynamical zeromass/zeroinertia body inserted between
ground and the cup.
The second joint is a Weld because the original CAD assembly has no degrees
of freedom.
Deleting the Root Part and one of the Welds does not physically change the model, as
long as you reconnect the remaining blocks.
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About the CAD Translation Case Studies Translating CAD Constraints into Joints
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Acknowledgments