Define the Connectivity of Spring Dampers

The Connectivity tab on the Spring Dampers panel allows you to define the attachment bodies and endpoint points of a spring damper.

1. If the Spring Dampers panel is not currently displayed, select the desired spring damper by clicking on it in the Project Browser or in the modeling window.
   The Spring Dampers panel is automatically displayed.
2. Select the spring type, either coil or torsion, from the drop-down menu.
   Note: If the selected spring damper is a pair entity, first distinguish between the Left and Right tabs in the panel, and then edit the properties. When defining a pair spring damper, use pair entities for Body, Point, etc.

   Tip: Check the Symmetric properties option to make the spring properties symmetric. Once this option is activated, MotionView will ask you which side of the values of the pair entity (left or right) is to be used. Selecting any one side will make values of that side as “master” and the values of the other side will gray out and follow the values on the master side.
3. Click the Body 1 collector and select the first body to which the spring damper is attached from the modeling window, or double-click the collector to open the Model Tree (from which the desired body can be selected).
4. In the same manner, click the Body 2 collector and select the second body to which the spring damper is attached.
5. Define the endpoints of the spring damper.
   For a Coil spring, use the Point 1 collector to select the point on the first body to which the spring damper is attached and the Point 2 collector for the point on the second body. After the points are defined, the distance between the two points will be displayed.

   For a Torsion spring, define a point of origin using the first Point collector and an alignment axis using the second Point collector, or, by clicking the drop-down arrow to the left of the collector, select Vector and choose a vector from the modeling window or Model Tree.