Contours
Contours
Breadcrumbs

5. Connecting to Motors

Supported connection types

Contours can reach CoolMuscle motors over:

  • Ethernet — motors identified by IP address and MAC address on your local network.

  • Serial — motors connected to a COM port (including USB-to-serial adapters).

Each motor reports its own serial number, which is what binds a physical motor to a project axis even if its IP address or COM port changes between sessions.

Discovering available motors

  1. Make sure every motor is powered and physically connected (network cable, serial cable, or USB adapter plugged in).

  2. Choose Connections › Manage Connections, press Ctrl+M, or click the “Manage” button on the bottom right of the status bar.

  3. If discovered motors do not appear, choose Refresh. The status bar updates to show the current search state.

The Connections view has two panels. The left lists every axis in your project and the motor (if any) it is linked to; the right lists every motor Contours has found.

ConnectionsWindow.drawio.png

Figure 2. The Connections view. Drag a row from the right motor list (2) onto an axis in the left list (1) to link them. Manage, connect and get connection in the status bar (3).

Linking a motor to an axis

  1. Drag a motor from the right panel onto the axis row on the left that should control it.

  2. The axis now shows the motor's connection type, address, and serial number.

  3. Repeat for every axis you want to drive from a live motor.

If you link the wrong motor to an axis, right-click the axis and choose Remove Connection, then drag a different motor onto it.

You can also link a motor from the axis itself: choose it in the Motor list on the axis's General tab (see chapter 6).

Connecting and disconnecting

Linking is just a reference. To actually open communication, connect the axis:

  • Right-click a single axis and choose Connect or Disconnect.

  • Use Connect All / Disconnect All in the Connections view toolbar to handle every axis at once.

  • Or use the Connect All Axes checkbox on the status bar. Its three states (checked, indeterminate, unchecked) reflect whether all, some, or none of your linked axes are connected.

Note. Enabled, Find home, Go home, Read from motor and Write to motor in the Axis Setup window need the axis connected, and are greyed out until it is.

Using a game controller

A game controller (joystick or gamepad) is optional but highly recommended for recording. To attach one:

  1. Plug the controller in at any time. Contours detects controllers being plugged in and removed.

  2. Choose it on the Controller tab of Project › User Settings, or on the Controller card of any axis's Controller tab (see chapter 6).

  3. The status bar then reads Controller Acquired: <name>.

Each axis's Controller tab sets which stick axis moves it, its direction, its ranges and its Responsiveness Gain.