Setting a Support

To set up a support:

Select the faces to set as supports.

  1. Select Support from the dropdown menu of the Structural tool in the Physics group of the Simulation tab, or by selecting the Support tool in the Structural condition HUD.
  2. Select the faces to set as supports.

    If your model contains Named Selections, you can click Advanced filters, select Link named selections, and choose one from the list.

  3. Under Structural Support, select the most appropriate description for your support.
    Unless your forces are perfectly in balance, you'll need to provide supports. A fixed support is often used, as it prevents both translational and rotational movement, however, a number of other support types are available.
    • Fixed: Movement is prevented in any direction, including rotations.
    • Sliding: Rotation is prevented except for normal to the planar surfaces where it is free to rotate about the normal to the plane.
    • Hinged: Only applicable to cylindrical surfaces. With this support type, the support is free to rotate about that axis, which is defined as along the line of the cylinder.
    • Ball: Only applicable to spherical surfaces. Prevents translational degrees of freedom.
    • Displaced: Allows you to set the possible directions for moving and rotating. For each axis, you can specify whether it's fixed or free to move or rotate.
  4. For the Displaced support type:
    1. Enter a displacement value.
    2. Define the rotation and/or translation of the support. Specify 0 to prevent any motion in a given direction. The available directions will depend on the support type.
  5. Click Accept to complete the setup.