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Topology Mapping in ADAMS

Damian Harty

O learned Denizens,

Does anyone have any good solutions for looking at the overall topology of an ADAMS model and browsing it?

There is a text topology map, but for me it's worthless unless the model is so simple you could assimilate it easily anyway. By the time you have a well-featured vehicle model with a suspended powertrain, non-linear bushes and so on, the text-based map is a mess.

There used to be a fledgling graphical tool some years ago but it would only ever show you "this" part and the parts connected to it.

I've been messing around with Neo4J and can produce something resembling workable topology maps without *too much* effort now. But is there an official tool something like the network diagram in Simpack?

  • 0

    Hi Damian! 

    Thank you for demonstrating what you want here. Yes - we have plans for an improved graphical topology view in the near future; I'll make sure that your requirements above are captured in there and hopefully it will materialize soon. We have the new 'Communicator Map' in Adams Car 2024.1 that has similarities to this, just FYI. 

    Thanks, 

    Kent

  • 0 in reply to Kent West

    This is great to hear. I set about doing this six or seven years ago but I didn't have the patience to learn the Cypher language at the time.

    It's not perfect, but directionally it lets me see the wood for the trees. I will keep noodling at it and if I have any big a-ha moments I will let you know.

    Some observations so far: 

    The auto arrangement isn't that great. Something that lets me pin down an individual piece and move the others around it would be helpful. I can't really decide whether I like the way it drags everything around, or would prefer it just to move one piece at a time. Tools like Gephi offer a glimpse of what a really functional UI would look like, I think.

    I also think some kind of colour coding is pretty mandatory. Cyan for joints, red for forces, that sort of thing. And linking the colours of the nodes (parts) to the graphics in the model would be an obvious cueing step?

  • 0 in reply to Damian Harty

    That Gephi tool looks interesting, thanks. 

    Auto-arrangement seems to be a common struggle with these tools; we are looking for smart ways to tackle that, yes. 

    Definitely having consistent colour-coding is required here. Another element we can likely use is the weight of lines and/or blocks to convey relative sizes and/or numbers of connections. So in your example above with the ground-upright connection I wonder if it would be interesting to have a single, thick, line showing the connections that is clickable to show the 'expanded' view that you have above? That's a minor detail overall, but I just wanted to say that I'm excited about the opportunities. I'll contact you offline, if you don't mind, in the next little while as we progress on this..

    Thanks, 

    Kent

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