The Properties Window

The Properties window provides multiple pages that provide easy access to a variety of controls for each body. You can switch from one page to another with the tabs at the top of the window. You enable property pages by selecting a body and then clicking on settings in the Properties List of the Object Manager.

• The Appearance page gives you the option to name the body or to have it named automatically. You can set many aspects of how the body appears in the modeling window — Shown (or hidden), Position tracked, Center of mass shown, or translucent — and select the body’s color. If the body is a meter, you can also choose whether to display a graph or numerical values.

• The Position page provides control over the body’s initial position and orientation.

• The World Position page provides control over the body’s world position and coordinates. For bodies, the World Position is always identical to that shown on the Position page, unless the body is part of a sub-assembly.

• The Velocity page provides control over the body’s initial velocities (linear and angular).

• The Material page provides control over the body’s mass, density, and volume, as well as allowing you to set the coefficient of restitution and the coefficient of friction.

• The Geometry page provides control over the body’s width, length and height.

• The Vectors page allows you to choose vectors to display on a body to help you visualize the magnitude and direction of certain properties as a simulation runs.

• The Color page allows you to set values for the Red, Green, and Blue components of the body’s color. You can set constant values (which has the same effect as picking a color on the Appearance page), or you can enter formulas that will change the body’s color as the simulation runs.

• The Central Inertia page provides control over the body’s moment of inertia.

• The CM page provides control over the center of mass offset, allowing you to set parameters for X, Y, and Z, as well as whether to show the center of mass.

• The Keyframe page allows you to record animated motion. See Animation.

• The Surface Rendering and Texture pages allow you to create photorealistic surface effects. See Photorealistic Rendering.

• The Clipping page allows you to set the properties of clipping planes for bodies and subassemblies. For more information, see Clipping Planes.

Note: The Contact page and the Surface Velocity page will appear only when the SimWise Motion component is installed. See Advanced Features. Likewise, the FEA page and the Distributed Load page appear only with the SimWise FEA component installed. See Functional Modeling with FEA. All of the mentioned pages appear for SimWise4D.

To open the Properties window for a body:

1. Select the body.
2. Either (a) double-click the body in the document window, (b) double-click the body in the Object List, or (c) choose Properties from the Edit menu, or (d) right-click the object and choose Properties from the popup menu.
3. Click the tab of the properties you want to set.

Note that the Properties window is a floating window. You can place it anywhere on your screen, and the window stays frontmost and remains open (until you close it) while you are using SimWise.