Animate Model States?

[petestrycharske]

All,

Good morning!  I had an interesting question posed to me the other day, while teaching a class on Model States.  Is it possible to animate the model states for a progressive forming scenario?  For example, if I have 6 Model States that show each step in the forming operation, could these be sequenced and animated in a short video?  I haven't put any time into this yet, so I thought I would reach out to the community to see if anyone else has tackled this yet, before I put any of my own research time into this 😉  Therefore, I appreciate any thoughts that you can throw my way!  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.  Hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete

[sundars]

Hi @petestrycharske 

Unfortunately, I dont see an easy way to animate different model states in one single operation. Presentation storyboards and snapshot views only work on one model state at a time.

You could consider publishing each model state as its own media file (wmv or mp4) and then stitching them together with an external program.

If you want to show this as a static image/pdf you could create a top level assembly and insert your components and toggle them on/off using model state activation or viewreps.

Top
 + MS1

 + MS2

 + S1<MS1>

 + S1<MS2>

Thanks

-shiva

[Bill_Bogan2]

There is a way, albeit roundabout, that you can leverage part model states for animation. It may not be what you want to do and it probably isn't useful for complex states. It requires some preplanning.

In the attached image I created three model states (MS) - flat, 30d up, and Both.

MS: Flat -shows a piece 24"x6"x0.120 "stock" material. MS:30d up is suppressed in this MS.

MS: 30d up - shows the piece as it has traveled through a roll form (albeit a single stage and pretty thin one). Flat is suppressed.

MS: Both: nothing is suppressed and is used for the animation.

The parameters for Flat and 30d up lengths are exported so Inventor Studio can use them.

In Inv. Studio you click on Parameter Favorites and select both params (checkbox).

Then animate each parameter to show the flat stock going into the form and the formed stock coming out. 

Inventor studio output of results attached.

It's not elegant by any means, but it does allow you to use model states and get some animation results from them.

Hope that helps or at least serves as a catalyst for ideas.

[Bill_Bogan2]

Corrected image., rectangles were out of place in the parameter editor img.

[Bill_Bogan2]

I should also say that all of this could be done without model states using parameters. But, this does show that with some creative license and planning you can use model states for simple animations and leverage them for all their other uses.

[petestrycharske · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone, thanks for the ideas!  I was pretty slammed, but decided to go the iLogic route.  If you curious on the method I landed on, please see this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/y1TpHenyiao

Hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete