Communicating with the Model from the Visualization Window

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Highlighting Bodies, Body Components, and Body Blocks Updating the Model Diagram Saving Visualization Settings to the Model

Highlighting Bodies, Body Components, and Body Blocks

If you have the Select Tool enabled, clicking a body, Body coordinate system (CS), or Body center of gravity (CG) in the SimMechanics visualization window causes the following:

• The displayed body or body component changes color:

  • A selected body surface or CS triad becomes yellow.

  • A selected CG changes from white-black to yellow-black.

• The visualization window displays the associated Body block or Body CS name and its path at the lower left just below the display window, in the status bar.

• The associated Body block is outlined in red in the model window.

To unhighlight, click the highlighted body again. You can select and highlight a body both in static display and during simulation.

SimMechanics Visualization Window with Highlighted Body and Body Block (Four-Cylinder Engine)

Enabling and Disabling Highlighting

You can enable or disable the highlighting of model Body blocks from the Model menu item Enable Model Highlighting. The default is enabled.

Whether model highlighting is enabled or disabled, clicking a body or body component in the window always highlights it. If you disable model highlighting, the associated Body block is not highlighted when you click the displayed body or body component.

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Updating the Model Diagram

You can update your Simulink model diagram from the model toolbar or Edit menu, or by pressing Ctrl+D from the keyboard.

You can also update it by clicking the Update Simulink Diagram button in the visualization window toolbar.

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Saving Visualization Settings to the Model

As you work with the visualization settings, you might want to save the setting changes that you make.

• Changes you make to the visualization settings apply only to the display while the window is open. If you do nothing else and close the window, then upon reopening the visualization window, the display will revert to whatever model requires for visualization settings. See Hierarchy of Body, Machine, and Model Visualization Settings in the Introducing Visualization and Animation chapter.

• If you want to save the display setting changes you made from the window controls before closing the window, you must save them to the model. Click the Save Visualization Settings to Model button on the visualization window toolbar. A warning dialog appears, asking if you want to save the model itself.

• If you want to save these display setting changes before closing the model, you must save or resave the model itself. Click the Save button in the model toolbar.

Caution   If the changes to the display settings include changing the displayed body geometries, the saved visualization settings will make the visualization window display whatever the setting requires (all convex hulls, all equivalent ellipsoids, or individual body geometries). But the saved visualization display settings do not change the visualization settings at the model, machine, or Body block level in the model described in the Introducing Visualization and Animation chapter.

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Adjusting the Camera View

Controlling Simulation from the Visualization Window

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