Curve Tool

To access the Curve Tool:
In the Project Pane, double-click Curves.

Use the Curve Tool for creating, editing, and monitoring curves. Curves, also called cams or splines, allow the user to create custom motion and camming profiles.

How to Create and Edit a Curve

The Curves in Projectwindowdisplays the curves in the project. TheCurves In Controllerwindowdisplays the curves in the controller. Curves are created and edited in the project. Curves in the controller can only be viewed.

Creating a New Curve

In the toolbar, click the Create New Curve button. The new curve will appear in the Curves in Project window. Later, after setting the curve properties and adding points as described below, you will download the curve to the controller, and it will appear in the Curves in Controller window.
In the Properties pane, on the Curve tab, in the Name cell, enter a name for the new curve. You may also enter a Description.

Adding Curve Points

In the spreadsheet located below the curve graph view, in the right-most column, enter the X value and Y value for the new point, then press Enter. Curve data can be copied and pasted from spreadsheets programs as described in Copying and Pasting Points below.
Continue adding points by entering the X values and Y values in the right-most column. Even if the point is not going to be the last point in the curve, you must enter it in the right-most column. After entering the X and y values, the new point column will automatically be placed in the correct location in the spreadsheet.

Editing Curve Points or Properties

To edit existing points, simply edit the desired X values and Y values. Clicking a point in the graph view will highlight the point in the spreadsheet view, making it easy to find.
Set the properties of the curve on the Curves tab in the properties pane. See the Curve Properties for details.

Deleting Points

In the spreadsheet, click the column header and press Delete.
In the graph view, click a point and press Delete.

Copying and Pasting Points

Points can be copied and pasted, including to and from spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel®. The pasted data will be automatically transposed if necessary. The pasted values must not duplicate any X values.

For best results, paste values into a new curve or delete all the existing points before pasting new points. All cells can be copied and pasted, but typically, for curves with standard point types, you only need to copy and paste the X and Y values.

How to View a Curve

Viewing a Curve

Click a curve in the project or controller to view it. Curves in the controller are visible only when RMCTools is online with the controller. Curves in the controller cannot be changed. However, as described in How to Manage Curves below, they can be uploaded or copied to the project to be edited.

Viewing Multiple Curves

Click the pin next to the curve in the list to view that curve. All pinned curves will be displayed, together with the currently selected curve. Any curve that is pinned will be displayed in black in the graph view. The currently selected curve is always displayed in red.

Using the Hairline Cursor

In the graph, click and drag the hairline cursor. Or, right-click in the graph and choose Move Cursor Here. The X, Y, velocity, and acceleration values at the cursor location will be displayed on the Cursor tab in the Properties pane.

Viewing Curve Velocity and Acceleration with Limits

On the toolbar, click the Show/Hide Velocity and Show/Hide Acceleration buttons. This will display the curve's velocity and acceleration in the graph view.
In the Properties pane, on the Curve tab, in the Velocity Limits and Accel Limits cells, enter the values for the limits. Dashed lines will appear on the graph view to indicate the limits.
If the velocity or acceleration exceeds the limit, the toolbar will display the error.

Zooming and Scrolling

To zoom, use the following methods:

The buttons on the Curve Tool toolbar:
Ctrl+Mouse Wheel. The zooming will be centered on the mouse.
Ctrl+Plus Sign and Ctrl+Minus Sign

To scroll, use the following methods:

Use the horizontal scroll bar.
Shift+Mouse Wheel
Mouse Wheel Tilt
Horizontal Mouse Wheel

Show/Hide Points

To hide the points of a curve, on the toolbar, click the Show/Hide Points button. The points of a curve will also automatically be hidden if the number of visible points exceeds 5000.

How to Manage Curves

Understanding the Sync Column

The Sync column in the Curves In Project and Curves in Controller windows is used by permanent curves to indicate the differences between the curves in the project and in the controller as follows:

	The curve exists both in the project and the controller, but the two curves are different.
	The curve exists only in the project. Download to copy the curve into the controller. Upload to delete the curve from the project.
	The curve exists only in the controller. Upload to copy the curve into the project. Download to delete the curve from the controller.

Temporary curves do not use the Sync column. For details on temporary curves, see the Managing Curves in the Curve Tool topic.

Downloading Curves to the Controller

Click the Download Curves to Controller button to download the entire set of curves in the project into the controller, replacing all permanent type curves in the controller. It will leave temporary curves unaffected, except that temporary curves whose curve IDs matched a downloaded curve will be overwritten.

Uploading Curves from the Controller

Click the Upload Curves from Controller button to upload the entire set of permanent type curves from the controller into the project, replacing all curves in the project. Temporary curves are not uploaded into the project.

Saving Curves to Flash

In the Project Pane, right-click the controller and choose Update Flash. Curves downloaded from the Curve Tool or created using the Curve Add (82) command with the Permanent option will be saved to Flash memory.

Copying and Pasting Curves

Entire curves in the project can be copied and pasted. This is typically used to copy and paste between controllers or projects. Curves can also be exported and imported as described below.

Exporting and Importing Curves

Curves are saved within the project file, but can also be exported to a separate RMCCurves file that can be imported into another RMCTools project:

In the Curves in Project window, right-click and choose Export Curves.
Check the curves you wish to export, then click OK.
Browse to a folder, enter the file name, and click Save. The curves will be saved in that file with extension .rmccrvs.

To import the curve file:

In the Curves in Project window, right-click and choose Import Curves.
Browse to the file and click Open.
Check the curves you wish to import, then click OK.

Note: If you wish to export curves to a different format, such as CSV, simply copy the curve data from the spreadsheet in the Curve Tool and paste into a program such as Microsoft Excel. Excel has options to save in various formats.

Deleting a Curve in the Project

In the Curves in Project window, select a curve and press Delete.

Deleting a Curve in the Controller

In the Curves in Controller window, select a curve and press Delete.

Note: Curves in the controller can also be deleted programmatically via commands. See Curve Delete (83) for details.

Copying a Temporary Curve into the project

A temporary curve can be copied into the project, making the copy a permanent type curve.

To copy a temporary curve into the project, select a temporary curve and click the Copy Curve to Project button on the toolbar.