Use Mechanism Design to make a mechanism move and to analyze its motion. The Mechanism Dynamics option broadens Mechanism Design to include a wide range of motion evaluation functions. A Mechanism Design model can be imported into Design Animation to create an animation sequence.

In Mechanism Dynamics, you can apply motors to generate the type of motion you want to study, and you can extend your design with cams and gears. When you are ready to analyze the movement, you can observe and record the analysis, or you can measure quantities such as positions, velocities, accelerations, or forces, and graph the measurement. You can also create trace curves and motion envelopes that represent the motion physically.

If you want to study the motion of a mechanism in response to applied forces, use Mechanism Dynamics. If you want to study the motion of a mechanism without regard to applied forces, called a kinematics study, you do not need Mechanism Dynamics.

Design Animation supports all connections, gear pairs, connection limits, servo motors, motion axis zeros, belt & pulley systems, and 3D contacts created in Mechanism Design. However, Mechanism Dynamics modeling entities (springs, dampers, force and torque loads, and gravity) do not transfer to Design Animation.