annotate-modelica-animation

Annotate Modelica 3D Animation

Adds __Wolfram(Animation(...)) annotations to a MultiBody model so Simulation Center opens a configured 3D animation: named cameras, follow cameras, trace paths, playback behavior and vector scaling — all stored in the model file.

Only models using Modelica.Mechanics.MultiBody components with a visual representation get an Animation view. Simulate first (simulate-modelica): you need the trajectory extents to place cameras and size the scene, and a model that fails to simulate has no animation to configure.

Unlike the control-panel, graphics and plots annotators, this skill has no generator engine — you author the annotation text and splice it in by hand, then validate. That puts the merge-into-annotation(...) step (below) on you; get it right and confirm with validate-modelica. Because the edit is yours rather than a script's, it is also on you to leave the file's line endings as you found them — see Appendix → Line endings in .mo files.

This is a vendor-specific annotation (Modelica spec §18.1): other tools ignore it and preserve it on save, and it does not affect flattening — it only tells System Modeler how to build the 3D animation. It sits directly inside the class annotation(...), as a sibling of experiment and Documentation (never nested inside Documentation).

The annotation

annotation(__Wolfram(Animation(
  cameras = {
    Camera(name = "Follow", distance = 8, rotation = {0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5},
           follow = bodyShape.shape1, followMode = "NODE_CENTER_AND_AZIM"),
    Camera(name = "Top", center = {32, -19, 0}, distance = 90, rotation = {0, 0, 0, 1})},
  windows = {
    Window(name = "Default", camera = "Follow", preferred = true,
           autoPlay = true, repeat = true, timeScale = 0.5,
           trace = {bodyShape.shape1},
           vectorSettings = {VectorSettings(quantity = "Force", scale = 0.1)})})));

Splicing it into the model

The Animation(...) goes inside the single class-level annotation(...), as a sibling of experiment/Documentation — not in its own second annotation.