Curve Tool: Showing Velocity and Acceleration

For all selected curves, the curve is drawn as position with respect to time (or master units). You can also have the Curve Tool plot the velocity and/or acceleration with respect to time (or master position). These plots are shown on top of the position plot.

A zero line is drawn at the midline of the Graph view. This line is not affected by scrolling the Graph view.

The velocity and acceleration plots always apply to the active curve. Therefore, switching to another active axis will cause these plots to be redrawn for the new axis.

Velocity and acceleration plots can be turned on and off. You can also select the colors used for these plots and the color of the zero line. These steps are described below.

There are two ways of changing the velocity and acceleration scales. You can manually enter a scale value, as described in Adjusting the Scales, and you can drag the scale bars, as described in Using the Scale Bars.

In addition to the velocity plot and scale bar, dotted lines are drawn at the positive and negative speed limits in the same color as the velocity plot. Similar lines are drawn at the acceleration limits. See Curve Limits for details.

To show or hide a velocity or acceleration plot:

On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the Graph tab.
Under Additional Plot Values, use the Show Velocity on Graph and Show Acceleration on Graph check boxes to turn these plots on or off.
Click OK.

You can also turn these plots on or off by right-clicking in the Graph view, and then clicking Show Velocity or Show Acceleration on the shortcut menu.

To change the colors used by the velocity or acceleration plot:

On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the Graph tab.
Under Additional Plot Values, click the Change Color button to the right of the color swatch you want to change. The following list describes what is affected by each color:

Velocity Color: Velocity scale bar, plot, and limit lines.
Acceleration Color: Acceleration scale bar, plot, and limit lines.
Zero Line Color: Zero line for velocity and acceleration.

Select the color you want to use.
Click OK in the Color dialog box.
Click OK in the Options dialog box.