Contours — User Guide
Version 2.0.9
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Contents
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Welcome to Contours — what Contours does, what you need, and the conventions used in this guide.
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Key Concepts — projects, axes, shows, profiles, takes, splines, and axis groups.
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The Main Window — title bar, menus, tabs, the chart area, the Connections panel, and the status bar.
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Working with Projects — creating, opening, saving, and backing up project files.
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Connecting to Motors — finding motors, linking them to axes in the Connections panel, lost connections, and using a game controller.
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Managing Axes — creating axes and setting them up in the Axis Setup window: connection, units and gearing, controller and homing.
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Building Shows — creating shows, working with profiles, the time chart and the zoom bar.
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Viewing a Show as a Path — axis groups, the 2-D and 3-D path, and arranging the time chart and the path.
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Show Media (Video and Audio) — attaching video or audio to a show, the video panel and pop-out window, and keeping media with the project.
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Recording Motion — capturing live position, speed, and torque data.
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Editing a Recording — the point editor: correcting individual points, moving a group of points, and the six adjustments that change a whole run at once.
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Importing Motion Data — CSV, TSV and text files or pasted cells: the import window, timing, matching columns to axes, and the checks.
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Testing and Running Shows — the Test tab, Go to start, Start and Stop, run settings, Run to cursor, and the show video.
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Options — the controller, defaults for new axes, and chart defaults.
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Keyboard Shortcuts — quick reference for all global shortcuts.
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Troubleshooting — common problems and their fixes.
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Support and Resources — documentation, service desk, and company contact.
Where to start
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First time? Read Welcome to Contours and then Key Concepts. A few minutes spent on vocabulary saves hours later.
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Setting up a new project? Follow Working with Projects → Connecting to Motors → Managing Axes.
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Building a performance? Jump to Building Shows, then Recording Motion or Importing Motion Data.
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Moving axes together? See Viewing a Show as a Path to see an X-Y or X-Y-Z group as the path it makes.
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Working to video or music? See Show Media (Video and Audio) to attach it to a show and keep it in step while you record and test.
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Something not working? Check Troubleshooting and, if needed, Support and Resources.
Contours User Guide · Version 2.0.9 · © Myostat