Preface
ArtiSynth Modeling Guide
John Lloyd and Antonio Sánchez
Last update: July, 2024
Contents
Preface
How to read this guide
1
ArtiSynth Overview
1.1
System structure
1.1.1
Model components
1.1.2
The RootModel
1.1.3
Component path names
1.1.4
Model advancement
1.1.5
MechModel
1.2
Physics simulation
1.3
Basic packages
1.3.1
maspack
1.3.2
artisynth.core
1.3.3
artisynth.demos
1.4
Properties
1.4.1
Querying and setting property values
1.4.2
Property handles and paths
1.4.3
Composite and inheritable properties
1.5
Creating an application model
1.5.1
Implementing the build() method
1.5.2
Making models visible to ArtiSynth
1.5.3
Loading and running a model
2
Supporting classes
2.1
Vectors and matrices
2.2
Rotations and transformations
2.3
Points and Vectors
2.4
Spatial vectors and inertias
2.5
Meshes
2.5.1
Mesh creation
2.5.2
Setting normals, colors, and textures
2.5.3
Automatic creation of normals and hard edges
2.5.4
Vertex and feature coloring
2.5.5
Reading and writing mesh files
2.5.6
Reading and writing normal and texture information
2.5.7
Constructive solid geometry
2.6
Reading source relative files
2.7
Reading and caching remote files
3
Mechanical Models I
3.1
Springs and particles
3.1.1
Axial springs and materials
3.1.2
Example: a simple particle-spring model
3.1.3
Dynamic, parametric, and attached components
3.1.4
Custom axial materials
3.1.5
Damping parameters
3.2
Rigid bodies
3.2.1
Frame markers
3.2.2
Example: a simple rigid body-spring model
3.2.3
Creating rigid bodies
3.2.4
Pose and velocity
3.2.5
Inertia and the surface mesh
3.2.6
Coordinate frames and the center of mass
3.2.7
Damping parameters
3.2.8
Rendering rigid bodies
3.2.9
Multiple meshes
3.2.10
Example: a composite rigid body
3.3
Joints and connectors
3.3.1
Joints and coordinate frames
3.3.2
Joint coordinates, constraints, and errors
3.3.3
Creating joints
3.3.4
Working with coordinates
3.3.5
Coordinate limits and locking
3.3.6
Example: a simple hinge joint
3.3.7
Constraint forces
3.3.8
Compliance and regularization
3.3.9
Example: an overconstrained linkage
3.3.10
Rendering joints
3.4
Joint components
3.4.1
Hinge joint
3.4.2
Slider joint
3.4.3
Cylindrical joint
3.4.4
Slotted hinge joint
3.4.5
Universal joint
3.4.6
Skewed universal joint
3.4.7
Gimbal joint
3.4.8
Spherical joint
3.4.9
Planar joint
3.4.10
Planar translation joint
3.4.11
Ellipsoid joint
3.4.11.1
OpenSim compatibility
3.4.12
Solid joint
3.4.13
Planar Connector
3.4.14
Segmented Planar Connector
3.4.15
Legacy Joints
3.5
Frame springs
3.5.1
Frame spring coordinate frames
3.5.2
Frame materials
3.5.3
Creating frame springs
3.5.4
Example: two bodies connected by a frame spring
3.6
Other point-based forces
3.6.1
Forces between points and planes or meshes
3.6.2
Example: point plane forces
3.6.3
Example: point mesh forces
3.7
Attachments
3.7.1
Point attachments
3.7.2
Example: model with particle attachments
3.7.3
Frame attachments
3.7.4
Example: model with frame attachments
3.8
Mesh components
3.8.1
Fixed mesh bodies
3.8.2
Example: adding mesh bodies to MechModel
4
Mechanical Models II
4.1
Simulation control properties
4.1.1
Simulation step size
4.1.2
Integrator
4.1.3
Position stabilization
4.2
Units
4.2.1
Scaling units
4.3
Render properties
4.3.1
Render property taxonomy
4.3.2
Setting render properties
4.3.3
Texture mapping
4.4
Custom rendering
4.4.1
Component
render()
methods
4.4.2
Implementing custom rendering
4.4.3
Example: rendering body forces
4.4.4
The
prerender()
method
4.5
Point-to-point muscles, tendons and ligaments
4.5.1
Simple muscle materials
4.5.1.1
SimpleAxialMuscle
4.5.1.2
ConstantAxialMuscle
4.5.1.3
LinearAxialMuscle
4.5.1.4
PeckAxialMuscle
4.5.1.5
BlemkerAxialMuscle
4.5.2
Example: muscle attached to a rigid body
4.5.3
Equilibrium muscles
4.5.4
Equilibrium muscle materials
4.5.4.1
Millard2012AxialMuscle
4.5.4.2
Thelen2003AxialMuscle
4.5.5
Tendons and ligaments
4.5.5.1
Millard2012AxialTendon
4.5.5.2
Thelen2003AxialTendon
4.5.5.3
Blankevoort1991AxialLigament
4.5.6
Example: muscles with separate tendons
4.6
Distance Grids and Components
4.7
Transforming geometry
4.7.1
Nonlinear transformations
4.7.2
Example: the FemModelDeformer class
4.7.3
Implementation and behavior
4.7.4
Use in model registration
4.8
General component arrangements
4.8.1
Container components
4.8.2
Example: a net formed from balls and springs
4.8.3
Adding containers to other models
4.9
Custom Joints
4.9.1
Joint constraints
4.9.2
Unilateral constraint engagement
4.9.3
Implementing a custom joint
4.9.4
Implementing a custom coupling
4.9.5
Example: a simple custom joint
5
Simulation Control
5.1
Control Panels
5.1.1
General principles
5.1.2
Example: Creating a simple control panel
5.1.3
Example: Controlling properties in multiple components
5.2
Custom properties
5.2.1
Adding properties to a component
5.2.2
Example: a visibility property
5.3
Controllers and monitors
5.3.1
Implementation
5.3.2
Example: A controller to move a point
5.4
Probes
5.4.1
Numeric probe structure
5.4.2
Creating probes in code
5.4.3
Example: probes connected to SimpleMuscle
5.4.4
Data file format
5.4.5
Adding probe data in-line
5.4.6
Smoothing probe data
5.4.7
Numeric monitor probes
5.4.8
Numeric control probes
5.5
Application-Defined Menu Items
6
Finite Element Models
6.1
Overview
6.1.1
FemModel3d
6.1.2
Component Structure
6.1.2.1
Nodes
6.1.2.2
Elements
6.1.2.3
Shell elements
6.1.2.4
Meshes
6.1.3
Materials
6.1.4
Boundary conditions
6.2
FEM model creation
6.2.1
Factory methods
6.2.2
Loading external FEM meshes
6.2.3
Generating from surfaces
6.2.4
Building elements in code
6.2.5
Example: a simple beam model
6.3
FEM Geometry
6.3.1
Surface meshes
6.3.2
Embedding geometry within an FEM
6.3.3
Example: a beam with an embedded sphere
6.4
Connecting FEM models to other components
6.4.1
Connecting nodes to rigid bodies or particles
6.4.2
Example: connecting a beam to a block
6.4.3
Connecting nodes directly to elements
6.4.4
Example: connecting two FEMs together
6.4.5
Finding which nodes to attach
6.4.6
Selecting nodes in the viewer
6.4.7
Example: two bodies connected by an FEM “spring”
6.4.8
Nodal-based attachments
6.4.9
Example: element vs. nodal-based attachments
6.5
FEM markers
6.5.1
Example: attaching an FEM beam to a muscle
6.6
Frame attachments
6.6.1
Example: attaching frames to an FEM beam
6.6.2
Adding joints to FEM models
6.6.3
Example: two FEM beams connected by a joint
6.7
Incompressibility
6.7.1
Volume regions and locking
6.7.2
Hard incompressibility
6.7.3
Soft incompressibility
6.7.4
Incompressibility and linear materials
6.7.5
Using incompressibility in practice
6.8
Varying and augmenting material behaviors
6.8.1
Example: FEM sheet with a stiff spine
6.9
Muscle activated FEM models
6.9.1
FemMuscleModel
6.9.1.1
Bundles
6.9.1.2
Exciters
6.9.2
Fibre-based muscles
6.9.3
Material-based muscles
6.9.4
Example: toy FEM muscle model
6.9.5
Example: comparison with two beam examples
6.10
Material types
6.10.1
Linear
6.10.1.1
LinearMaterial
6.10.1.2
TransverseLinearMaterial
6.10.1.3
AnisotropicLinearMaterial
6.10.2
Hyperelastic materials
6.10.2.1
St Venant-Kirchoff material
6.10.2.2
Neo-Hookean material
6.10.2.3
Incompressible neo-Hookean material
6.10.2.4
Mooney-Rivlin material
6.10.2.5
Ogden material
6.10.2.6
Fung orthotropic material
6.10.2.7
Yeoh material
6.10.2.8
Arruda-Boyce material
6.10.2.9
Veronda-Westmann material
6.10.2.10
Incompressible material
6.10.3
Muscle materials
6.10.3.1
Generic muscle
6.10.3.2
Blemker muscle
6.10.3.3
Full Blemker muscle
6.10.3.4
Simple force muscle
6.11
Stress, strain and strain energy
6.11.1
Computing nodal values
6.11.2
Scalar stress/strain measures
6.11.3
Strain energy
6.12
Rendering and Visualizations
6.12.1
Nodes
6.12.2
Elements
6.12.3
Surface and other meshes
6.12.4
FEM-based muscles
6.12.5
Color bars
6.12.6
Example: stress/strain plotting with color bars
6.12.7
Cut planes
6.12.8
Example: FEM model with a cut plane
7
Fields
7.1
Grid fields
7.2
FEM fields
7.2.1
Nodal fields
7.2.2
Element fields
7.2.3
Sub-element fields
7.3
Mesh fields
7.3.1
Vertex fields
7.3.2
Face fields
7.4
Fields for VectorNd, MatrixNd and Vector3d
7.5
Binding material properties
7.5.1
Example: FEM with variable stiffness
7.5.2
Example: specifying FEM muscle directions
7.6
Visualizing fields
7.6.1
Scalar fields
7.6.2
Vector fields
7.6.3
Grid fields
7.6.4
Render meshes
7.6.5
Example: Visualizing a scalar nodal field
7.6.6
Examples: Visualizing other fields
8
Contact and Collision
8.1
Enabling collisions
8.1.1
Collisions between specific bodies
8.1.2
Default collisions between groups
8.1.3
Example: collision with a plane
8.1.4
Collisions for FEM models
8.1.5
Example: FEM models and rigid bodies
8.2
Collision behaviors and collidability
8.2.1
Collision behaviors
8.2.2
Collidability
8.3
Collision meshes and compound collidables
8.3.1
Example: redefining a rigid body collision mesh
8.3.2
Compound collidables and self-collision
8.3.3
Example: FEM model with self-collision
8.3.4
Collidable bodies
8.3.5
Nested MechModels
8.4
Implementation
8.4.1
Contact methods
8.4.1.1
Contour region
8.4.1.2
Vertex penetration
8.4.1.3
Setting the contact method
8.4.2
Collider types
8.4.2.1
Collision meshes and signed distance grids
8.5
Contact rendering
8.5.1
Example: rendering normals and contours
8.5.2
Example: rendering a color map
8.5.3
Example: rendering contact pressures
8.6
Overconstrained contact
8.6.1
Constraint reduction
8.7
Contact regularization
8.7.1
Compliant contact
8.7.2
Contact force behaviors
8.7.2.1
Computing forces based on pressure
8.7.3
Elastic foundation contact
8.7.4
Example: elastic foundation contact of a ball in a bowl
8.7.5
Example: binding EFC properties to fields
8.8
Monitoring collisions
8.8.1
Collision responses
8.8.2
Available information
8.8.3
Example: monitoring contact forces
8.9
Tips and limitations
8.9.1
Contact jitter
8.9.2
Passing through objects
8.9.3
Stray vertices
8.9.4
Coulomb friction and stability
9
Muscle Wrapping and Via Points
9.1
Via Points
9.1.1
Example: a muscle with via points
9.2
Obstacle Wrapping
9.2.1
Example: wrapping around a cylinder
9.3
General Surfaces and Distance Grids
9.3.1
Example: wrapping around a bone
9.4
Initializing the Wrap Path
9.4.1
Example: wrapping around a torus
9.5
Alternate Wrapping Surfaces
9.5.1
Example: wrapping for a finger joint
9.5.2
Example: toy muscle arm with wrapping
9.6
Tuning the Wrapping Behavior
10
Inverse Simulation
10.1
Overview
10.1.1
Tracking controller operation
10.1.2
Motion tracking
10.1.2.1
Chase control
10.1.2.2
PD control
10.1.3
Generating excitations using a quadratic program
10.1.4
Force tracking
10.1.5
Incremental computation
10.1.6
Setting up the tracking controller
10.1.7
Example: moving a point with multiple Muscles
10.2
Tracking controller components
10.2.1
Exciters
10.2.1.1
Excitation coloring
10.2.2
Motion targets
10.2.2.1
Motion target term
10.2.2.2
Motion target rendering
10.2.3
Regularization
10.2.3.1
L2 Regularization
10.2.3.2
Excitation damping
10.2.4
Example: controlling ToyMuscleArm
10.2.5
Example: controlling an FEM muscle model
10.2.6
Force effector targets
10.2.6.1
Force effector term
10.2.7
Example: controlling tension in a spring
10.2.8
Target components
10.2.9
Point and frame exciters
10.2.10
Example: controlling ToyMuscleArm with FrameExciters
10.3
Tracking controller structure and settings
10.3.1
Controller structure
10.3.2
Controller properties
10.3.3
Motion term properties
10.3.4
Properties for other cost terms
10.4
Managing probes and control panels
10.4.1
Inverse simulation probes
10.4.2
Example: using
InverseManager
probes
10.4.3
Inverse control panel
10.5
Caveats and limitations
11
Skinning
11.1
Implementation
11.2
Creating a skin mesh
11.2.1
Example: skinning over rigid bodies
11.3
Computing weights
11.3.1
Setting weights explicitly
11.4
Markers and point attachments
11.4.1
Markers
11.4.2
Point attachments
11.4.3
Example: skinning rigid bodies and FEM models
11.4.4
Mesh-based markers and attachments
11.5
Resolution and Limitations
11.6
Collisions
11.6.1
Example: collision with a cylinder
11.7
Application to muscle wrapping
11.7.1
Example: wrapping for a finger joint
12
DICOM Images
12.1
The DICOM file format
12.2
The DICOM classes
12.2.1
DicomElement
12.2.2
DicomHeader
12.2.3
DicomPixelBuffer
12.2.4
DicomSlice
12.2.5
DicomImage
12.3
Loading a
DicomImage
12.3.1
Time-dependent images
12.3.2
Image formats
12.4
The
DicomViewer
12.5
DICOM example
A
Mathematical Review
A.1
Rotation transforms
A.2
Rigid transforms
A.3
Affine transforms
A.4
Rotational velocity
A.5
Spatial velocities and forces
A.6
Spatial inertia