A model articulation defines a range of positions and orientations for a component or primitive, such as the allowable gimbal angles for an antenna. Articulations do not change the way an STK object is defined. They do not affect access or other calculations between objects being modeled. However, they provide visual realism in the models for animation purposes.
To add color articulations to a model that does not currently allow for them, you need to edit the model file itself. Below is an example of how to do this with the
MDL format model file. Suppose you added the following five lines to the model file of a component:
Articulation ChangeColor
redColorTranslate red 0 250 255
greenColorTranslate green 0 240 255
blueColorTranslate blue 0 230 255
EndArticulation
This would change the colors of the component. You would be adding three articulations, one for each primary color. Each color can range between 0 and 255. In this example, "250 240 230 linen" is the default color. You would also need to comment out the default FaceColor attribute by placing a comment sign in front, so that it reads "#FaceColor linen".
Two versions of a simple Box model are attached. The Box.mdl file is a plain cube, while the BoxWithArticulations.mdl adds these three color articulations, enabling you to change the color of all the sides of the Box at once.
To learn more about using articulations in STK models, please see the STK Help topic
Articulations.
