topic Re: COM ports and serial data in MotionBuilder Forum

COM ports and serial data

jwitt — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:02:14 GMT

Does anyone have experience with the "General Purpose Interface" device in Motionbuilder?

I am trying to read some serial data and I think that this is the device to use but I can't find documentation for it. There are 4 com ports visible in the windows device manager but when I go "on line" I get a "hardware not found" error.

Do I have to configure something in motionbuilders Settings/Preferences/Devices menu?

Thanks

Re: COM ports and serial data

jon.bell — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 01:12:39 GMT

Hello,

The biggest issue is how to read old RS-232 serial data into your PC to begin with. Most modern PCs don't have any type of serial ports, and you would have to get some sort of hardware converter (serial to USB?) to import the data, plus software to interpret it.

I do see in Motionbuilder that you can bring data in from Serial ports, but you'll have to add that hardware capability to your PC if it's not already present. Doing a Google Search on "serial port converters" shows multiple vendors who may have what you need.

Hope this information helps!

Best regards,

Re: COM ports and serial data

jwitt — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:18:31 GMT

Thanks for the reply Jon. I have a Moxa on the network that provides 4 serial COM ports. The Windows operating system recognizes these and they are visible in the device manager. The COM ports also appear to be visible to Motionbuilder as well and are listed under Settings/Devices/Serial Ports. My question is really about how to configure and use them in Motionbuilder. Should I use the "General Purpose Interface" device? I get a "hardware not found" error when I try to go "Online".

Re: COM ports and serial data

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 12:31:59 GMT

Thanks for sharing it