User`s guide

Build Virtual Worlds to Visualize Dynamic Simulations
1-7
• Simulink model
• SimMechanics model
• MATLAB virtual world object
Simulink
The Simulink 3D Animation library provides blocks to directly connect Simulink signals
with virtual worlds. This connection lets you visualize your model as a three-dimensional
animation.
You can implement most of the software features with Simulink blocks. Once you
include these blocks in a Simulink diagram, you can select a virtual world and connect
Simulink signals to the virtual world. The software automatically scans a virtual world
for available VRML nodes that the Simulink software can drive.
All the VRML node properties are listed in a hierarchical tree-style viewer. You select
the degrees of freedom to control from within the Simulink interface. After you close a
Block Parameters dialog box, the Simulink software updates the block with the inputs
and outputs corresponding to selected nodes in the virtual world. After connecting these
inputs to appropriate Simulink signals, you can view the simulation with a VRML
viewer.
The Simulink product provides communication for control and manipulation of virtual
reality objects, using Simulink 3D Animation blocks.
For details, see “Virtual World Connection to a Model”.
SimMechanics
You can use the Simulink 3D Animation product to view the behavior of a model created
with the SimMechanics software. First, you build a model of a machine in the Simulink
interface using SimMechanics blocks. Then, create a detailed picture of your machine in
a virtual world, connect this world to the SimMechanics body sensor outputs, and view
the behavior of the bodies in a VRML viewer.
For details, see “Link to a SimMechanics Model”.
MATLAB
Simulink 3D Animation software provides a flexible MATLAB interface to virtual reality
worlds. After creating MATLAB objects and associating them with a virtual world, you
can control the virtual world by using functions and methods.