Defining Measure Probes

Measure probes are used to track distances and angles in a mechanism during a kinematics simulation.

You can define two types of measure probes:

  • Track the relative distance or angle between two geometric entities.
  • Track the absolute distance traveled by a geometric entity along a specific direction.

Before you begin: A kinematics simulation referencing a mechanism must be open in the Kinematics Simulation workbench.
Related Topics
Creating a Kinematics Scenario
Reviewing Scenario Results

  1. Click Measure Probe .

    The Measure Between dialog box appears:

  2. Select the Type of measure to track in the probe:


    • Minimum distance: Tracks the minimum distance or angle between two geometric entities.
    • Measure along a direction: Tracks the distance traveled by a geometric entity along a specific direction.

  3. Kinematics measure probes use all calculation modes: Exact , Exact else approximate or Approximate. Select the calculation mode:

    • Exact else approximate (default), that measures exact data and, wherever possible, gives true values. If exact values cannot be measured, approximate values are given.

    • Exact, that measures exact data, and gives true values.
    • Approximate, that measures tessellated objects and gives approximate values (identified by a ~ sign).

    All the geometric entities for the model are loaded automatically in the current session.

  4. Select the two geometric entities for the probe from the 3D or from the specification tree (the second geometric entity is ignored if you are creating a Measure along a direction probe).

    The selected geometric entities are highlighted both in the 3D and in the specification tree as you hover over them.

    Tip: You can also click the Groups icon to select a geometric entity or use the Selection mode fields at the bottom of the dialog box to filter selections from the model and specification tree.

  5. If you are creating a Measure along a direction probe, specify the measurement direction in the Other Direction field.

  6. To determine the types of values that are measured by the probe, select the Customize tab. See VPM Digital Navigation User’s Guide: Customizing Measures for more information.

  7. You can preview the measure probe in the 3D as you are creating it.

  8. Click OK to save the measure probe and to close the Measure Between dialog box.

  9. You can preview the probe without saving results by running a simulation preview (see Running the Preview); the probe values are displayed on the mechanism as you step through the preview.