Motion cams overview

A motion cam maps a master position to a slave position through a curve you design, the software equivalent of the mechanical cam disc, and the same concept as the electronic cams in your motion controller (TwinCAT NC camming, SIMOTION/S7 technology objects).

Why cams, not keyframes

Machinery is synchronized by position, not by time. A filler, a labeller, a cross-sealer all do their thing at a certain machine angle, so if the line slows down, everything slows together and stays in phase. Cams express exactly that: slave position as a function of master position. Speed up the master and the whole choreography scales.

How they fit the variable system

1. Design a cam profile in the Motion tab using shared master/slave points.
2. Set a variable's mode to Motion Cam, choosing the profile and a master variable.
3. Bind that variable wherever the motion is needed, an axis, a mechanism input.

One master (a MasterTime clock in simulation; the real line-shaft position in Online mode) can drive any number of cams, and each cam output is an ordinary variable.

In this section

• Designing a cam profile, points, constraints and recipes
• Motion profile reference, automatic constraints plus expert Poly5, Poly3, Cubic and Straight profiles
• The cam visualizer, reading position, velocity and acceleration curves