New Release SAM 8.3

2023-04-26

• • • new: dynamic intersection points even updatede during animation.
    • new: distance between objects and shapes, created in user expressions..
    • new: using the new “distance” function. collision detection is available now.

Revision 8.2.3

2023-03-13

• • • fixed: Input Motion definition: using more than 2 curve segments containing polynome (345) resulted in wrong connection of the position/velocity between the segments, after analysis.
    • fixed: for the same situation: velocity curve for multiple spline segments displayed a wrong connection in the dialog screen.

Revision 8.2.2

2022-03-31

• • • fixed: Optimization options – “Reject individual experiments …..”, this option could not be set at 100%.

Revision 8.2.1

2022-03-18

• • • fixed: Selection of nodes was impossible at overlapping elements/shapes.
    • fixed: At “freeze” positions the moving centrode curve was not displayed.
    • fixed: The status panel at right did not show the actual animation step.

Release 8.2 (new per 2022-03-02)

2022-03-02

• • • One selector mode for all item types.
    • Unified import of data (no more linking to files + option to interpret data as SI or current units).
    • Text box including call out pointer.
    • Graphic shapes with fill color.
    • Ordering of graphic shapes by user.
    • Display of multiple positions of the animated mechanism.
    • Logic dependencies of preference versus project option.
    • Element and node labels with real names instead of numbers.
    • Movable element and node labels.
    • Optimization: rejection of experiment based on percentage completed motion steps.

View upgrade details What is new in SAM 8.2.

Revision 8.1.9

2022-02-11

• • • fixed: User expressions, if any expression contained the parameter also used for the Graph x-axis, the expression was set to zero.
    • fixed: Graphics, creating a group of rectangles followed by ungrouping resulted in a crash.
    • fixed: Graph plot, switching between manual and auto scaling combined with an x-axis unequal to time could result in an error.
    • fixed: Zoom, zoom extents did not count with the size of a rack-and-pinion element.

Revision 8.1.8

2022-01-08

• • • fixed: assembling Input Motion with multiple curve segments, unexpected discontinuity in velocity profile occurred using some curve types like Quadratic.
    • fixed: for the same situation: incorrect position profile occurred with some curve types.
    • fixed: Optimisation, editing Step 2 of the objective in some cases resulted in an error called “abstract method call”.

Revision 8.1.7

2021-06-10

• • • fixed: Curved slider with points on a perfect straight line resulted in unexpected false torque and force output.
    • change: for new installations of SAM, the default value for the analysis tolerance is set to 1E-6 (was 1E-9).

Revision 8.1.6

2021-04-15

• • • fixed: curved slider – if an imported Bezier table had format errors, the file was blocked for use afterwards.
    • fixed: using multiple input motions -with different end times- the animation sometimes stopped at the shortest end time.
    • fixed: double-clicking a *.sam file in the explorer gave an unexpected and false warning.

Revision 8.1.5

2021-03-19

• • • fixed: torque value of a motor was erroneous set at 0.0 for the start position (error introduced in 8.1.4).
    • new: curved slider, the import table of a Bézier curve may contain the interpolation points only. In this mode the control points are generated automatically. Read more in the online help at the Elements chapter.

Revision 8.1.4

2021-03-13

• • • fixed: doing a long lasting analysis, the analysis step number was not updated.
    • fixed: doing a long lasting analysis, the cancelation of move-node action did not restore the previous positions.
    • fixed: the move-node action had a very slow response with more complicated mechanisms.

Revision 8.1.4 and 8.0.14

2021-03-13

• • • fixed: curvedslider – translating or rotating could result in a lock of the program.
    • fixed: curvedslider – changing the initial position of the motion resulted in a disposition of the curve.
    • fixed: curvedslider – the UNDO function did not work after changing curve points.
    • fixed: translating or rotating element(s) did not result in update of the plotted curves.

Revision 8.1.3 and 8.0.13

2021-03-05

• • • fixed: editing relative position of a node could result in unexpected position changes of another node in a later stage.
    • fixed: export the mechanism in the DXF format invloved an exception when any Bezier curve was inlcuded.
    • fixed: any zoom action involved an exception while creating a curved slider was not finished.

Revision 8.1.2 and 8.0.12

2021-03-02

• • • fixed: without cause or any activity the CPU-load due to SAM was about 30%..
    • fixed: large optimisation runs (2 hours +) could result in a memory overflow.
    • fixed: curved slider-> importing a closed poly Bezier curve failed.
    • fixed: optimisation-> switching off the plot of a penalty function resulted in a crash.
    • fixed: multiple input motions together with multiple curves per motion resulted in unexpected jam of the motion (8.1 only).

Revision 8.0.11 and 8.1.1

2021-01-24

• • • fixed: using dynamic intersection points in graphics caused exceptions after deletion of graphic parts..
    • fixed: undo and redo resulted in loss of elements when running SAM in simultaneous sessions.
    • fixed: recovery of the latest changes after a crash.
    • new: update and upgrade checking gives more detailed information.
    • new: use of the commandline for non-default settings is explained in the manual.

Release 8.1 (new per 2021-01-08)

2021-01-08

• • • new: analysis time is shortened by a factor of 4 to 5.
    • new: automatic synchronisation for multiple drives (Input motion).
    • new element type: rack-and-pinion.

Please visit the Download page and retrieve the manual. The introductory chapter describes the new features in detail.

Revision 8.0.10

2021-01-04

• • • fixed: deleting a graphics item (line, circle, rectangle etc) while the hint text of a point was pop-upped, resulted in an access violation error.

Revision 8.0.9

2020-12-16

• • • fixed: node 2 of the curved slider was unintended available for various kinds of angular connections like: fix angle, (relative-) input motion, rotational spring etc. Creating such a connection could result in a crash.
    • fixed: Graph x-axis was reset to full range after modification of any element.

Revision 8.0.8

2020-09-09

• • • fixed: changing the x-axis of the graph to any property unequal to time did not work in most cases. This error was introduced in the previous update (8.0.7).

Revision 8.0.7

2020-08-03

• • • fixed: user defined expressions caused crashes in some cases when elements were deleted.
    • fixed: the rotational sensor offered power and torque incorrectly as available properties in user defined expressions.

Revision 8.0.6

2020-05-25

• • • fixed: the Light edition of SAM did not calculate element-length information, resulting in graphs with constant value 0.0.
    • fixed: extreme zoom-in at the Graph could result in range check errors in an endless loop.

Revision 8.0.5

2020-02-03

• • • fixed: User defined expressions: the expression was invisible in case of an error and the indicated row number was wrong.
    • fixed: Gear and Belt properties dialog did not display the units.
    • fixed: Motor and rotational element properties showed a wrong unit as displayed on the x-axis of the graph.
    • fixed: Zooming repeatedly on the Graph could result in a crash.
    • fixed: Curved slider: change position using exact coordinates resulted in errors.
    • fixed: Curved slider: some transformations (rotate, mirror etc) resulted in a wrong location of the curve.
    • fixed: Curved slider: using optimization on nodes of the curved slider resulted in bad display of the curve.

Revision 8.0.4

2019-11-04

• • • fixed: using absolute angle or length of a Curved slider as argument in the force vector table resulted in incorrect forces. Also the warning message was inconsistent.

Revision 8.0.3

2019-10-21

• • • fixed: using absolute angle as argument in the force vector table could (under certain conditions) result in incorrect forces. Also the warning message was inconsistent.
    • fixed: the warning symbol “! ! !” concerning an incorrect range for the force vector table sometimes was drawn in a black rectangle.
    • fixed: in some cases the menu choice “Loads > Modify” resulted in the popup of the force edit dialog unexpectedly. This should happen only when there is just one load defined.

Revision 8.0.2

2019-08-30

• • • update without functional changes.

Release 8.0 (new per 2019-08-26)

• • • introduction of motor element.
    • new element type curved slider.
    • new element type gas spring.
    • extended force/torque definition.
    • improved mobility diagnostics based on SVD.
    • new animation player toolbar.
    • new graphic components: Polyline, Bézier and rectangle.
    • functions in formula editor: RMS, FIRST,LAST and integration function.
    • element properties like mass or pulley radius available in formula editor.
    • dynamic construction aid.

Please visit the Download page and retrieve the manual. The introductory chapter describes the new features in detail.

Revision 7.0.97

• • • fixed: using “angle” in user expressions for Beam and Slider resulted in false values when also applying the “length” in an expression. In that case “angle” values were replaced by the “length” value.

Revision 7.0.96

• • • fixed: Gravitational forces in slider element not taken into account.
    • fixed: Analysis performed in case mechanism is statically overdetermined plus simultaneously kinematically indeterminate.

Revision 7.0.95

• • • fixed: User defined expressions (formula’s), opening the formula editor dialog resulted in an unexpected ending of SAM in some cases.
    • fixed: Results, values of mechanical power in gear and belt were zero.
    • fixed: Nodal forces, moving nodes showed wrong values in some cases. Bearing forces of neighbouring elements were correct.
    • fixed: Optimisation using Path, a non-fatal crash occurred when using a path of 2 points only.

Revision 7.0.94

• • • fixed: Export Results in SAM Motion Format, units and scaling was wrong in some conditions. This format allways exports SI-rad units.
    • fixed: Export Results in SAM Motion Format, the list-preset showed too many checked items sometimes.
    • fixed: Export Results, the items-list sorting did not work correctly.
    • corrected: Element Properties dialog some German text was cut-off.

Revision 7.0.93

• • • fixed: symbols for English dimensions concerning Force related items [lbf, pound force] were named wrong [lb, pound].
    • fixed: Optimisation-objective could not be defined in special cases: after deletion of Element Nr 1, and next creation of an angle fixation.

Revision 7.0.92

• • • fixed: Reference curve for Optimization displayed a constant value of 0.0, when applied to angular properties of a Beam.
    • fixed: After using the Optimization dialog, and exiting by Cancel, the Graph was not displayed anymore.
    • fixed: Reference curve for Optimization can be removed (=hidden) by the regular toolbar item for removing curves from the Graph.
    • fixed: Undo-action did not respond at the first click, when previously an Element was deleted.

Revision 7.0.91

• • • fixed: license activation for business networks is automated now.
    • changed: from now we call the “Build” number “Revision”. This number is moved from the 4th digit to the 3rd digit in the file properties. The 4th digit is the so called private build number.

 Build 7.0.90

• • • fixed: when using an alternative x-axis property (not Time), the label values for the x-axis were wrong. This only happened during animation, not while moving the cursor over the graph.

Build 7.0.89

• • • fixed: after changing the property of the Graph X-axis into a nodal property ( position, displacement, velocity etc.), the graph of angular curves ( i.e. angle of a beam) was incorrect. In some cases the curves turned into a constant value of the initial angle of the beam.

Build 7.0.88

• • •  new: at startup of a Floating-license SAM session, while creating a connection to the server a popup message is displayed.
    • fixed: the Statistics form showed a wrong file version number after creating a new mechanism.
    • fixed: Classroom kit installation with a license server resulted in connection problems (“Duplicate user not allowed”), when using cloned PC’s.

Build 7.0.87

• • • fixed: the Demo version of SAM could not open files from previous versions.
    • fixed: the properties of the rotation spring showed faulty units for the stiffness value.
    • fixed: a user expression shorter than 3 characters resulted in an unexpected error.

Build 7.0.86

• • • fixed: the properties of the rotation damper showed faulty units for the damping value.
    • fixed: exported angle of rotation elements showed faulty units.
    • fixed: the hodograph of a pure vertical movement was not displayed.
    • fixed: graphic lines that exactly coincide with mechanism elements were not displayed in the initial position when the display option “hiding mechanism” was active.

Build 7.0.85

• • • fixed: Start-angle of a beam was changed after addition of a Rotation Sensor, or any Rotation Element.
    • fixed: Userdefined Expressions: data of Rotation Sensor were zero.
    • fixed: Rotation.Sensor display of angle graph  showed unexpected start values.
    • fixed: Results > Export of Motion format file resulted in unexpected error message.

Build 7.0.84

• • • fixed: Userdefined expressions did not handle information of the Rotational Sensor properly.
    • fixed: Rotation angle of all rotational element types had a wrong sign under some conditions.
    • fixed: The start-angle of all rotational element types is wrapped now between -180 … +180 degrees

Build 7.0.83

• • • fixed: Input Motion dialog: clicking the most-rigth column resulted in a table scroll to the left that could not be undone.
    • fixed: Input Motion dialog: while in the “Cubic spline” Tab, the same problem occurred.
    • fixed: Gears: when 2 gear-pairs overlap (use the same nodes for their axes), it was unable to fixate relative angles of one of the gears.

 Build 7.0.82

• • • fixed: Tab-pages of many dialogs showed a grey background, which is not conform Windows 7 default settings.
    • fixed: Starting SAM with invallid license data disabled the use of SAM in demo-mode.

Build 7.0.81

• • • new: Reference to SAMxx.INI setupfile may be added to a commandline launch,.

Build 7.0.80

• • • fixed: Deleting Elements could result in unreferenced “ghost” nodes.
    • new: Hotkey added for Project Documentation: Ctrl + f
    • new: License activation. Paste the complete activation key at once.
    • fixed: Project Documentation: Hinge info was incomplete.

Build 7.0.78

• • • fixed: Range-check error while creating project documentation.

Build 7.0.76

• • • fixed: Format error in reference file for Optimization resulted in repeated error message. Process is stopped now and show a clear message.
    • fixed: Using exact values as argument in an Optimization resulted in a range-check error
    • fixed: The “Save” command acted as a “Save as” command
    • fixed: Hidden feature added to hide the filename and path in the SAM titlebar. See SAM INI >  [Global] > ShowPathInTitle

Build 7.0.71

• • • First release of Sam 7.0