SolidWorks 2011 Assemblies Bible - Matt Lombard [194]
Putting the rotate into an animation timeline
In the Animation Control Options window, set the rotation to last 3 seconds and the start time to zero. You will change these settings later to get some practice making edits to timelines and key points. When you click Finish, you should get the result shown in Figure 23.12.
When making an animation, it is nice to have a gap between the start of the movie and the motion of the parts, to give the viewer some time to adjust to what they are seeing on the screen. Of course, if you are making a movie that you want to use as a continuous loop, the gap might interrupt the motion. You could also insert a gap between the end of the motion and the end of the movie, which might make the gap seem more natural.
In any case, you want to add a gap of a second or one-half second at the beginning of this animation. To do this, drag a marquee window around the heavy black line and black key points in the Orientation and Camera View row, and then drag them to the right by slightly less than 1 second.
FIGURE 23.12
Using the Animation Wizard to add key points to the animation timeline
Adding the explode to the animation
You can now add the explode to the animation. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start the Animation Wizard again, but this time select the Explode option and click Next.
2. In the Animation Control Options window, set the duration again to 3 seconds, with the start time at 6.25 seconds, and click Finish. The result is shown in Figure 23.13.
Making a part look flexible
Click the Calculate button on the MotionManager toolbar. Notice that when the strap moves up, the part actually shortens. The part will also twist later in the animation when you change the angle of one of the parts. In general, SolidWorks cannot animate flexible parts, but you can use some tricks to make parts appear flexible. You do this by using in-context relations, and driving mating parts by changing distance or angle mates. Therefore, the appearance of flexibility only comes through animating parts with in-context relations.
FIGURE 23.13
Bringing the explode steps into the MotionManager timeline
Collapsing the exploded assembly
Now you will add the collapse, but this time without running the wizard. To accomplish this, follow these steps:
1. Drag a marquee rectangle around all of the key points created by the explode.
2. Ctrl+drag them so the first copied step lands at about 7.5 seconds on the timeline.
3. With the block of key points still selected, right-click one of the copied key points and select Reverse Path. The copied explode now becomes a collapse.
4. Change the order of the explode by dragging key points or pairs of key points. For example, the Bushing has three key points in its path. You can delete the middle key point and shorten its motion to match the Head.
Animating a zoom
The next step is to zoom in to the looped area of the strap. To do this, you have to first make sure that the view is the same as the last change made to the Orientation. Do this by dragging the timebar back to the last key point of the revolve, which is about 3.75 seconds, then move the timebar forward to the end of the collapse, which should be just short of 10 seconds.
Next, copy the last key point from the rotate motion (Ctrl+drag) to the same time that the collapse finishes (about 9.75 seconds). Then move the timebar forward to 10.25 seconds, zoom in so you can see the fork and the looped section of the strap, right-click the timebar in the row for Orientation, and then select Place Key, as shown in Figure 23.14.
There are other ways to place this view orientation key, such as by enabling the Orientation and Camera Views item. If you enable the Orientation, the MotionManager