Contributed by the Computer Aided Product Development Committee for publication in the JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING. Manuscript received May 2001; revised June 2001. Associate Editor: S. Szykman.
MSC.Software Corporation (MSC) 1 offers three motion simulation products: Interactive Physics® (referred to as IP in this paper), Working Model® 2D (referred to as WM2D), and MSC.visualNastran 4D (referred to as vN4D). IP and WM2D simulate 2D motion on Mac and Windows® platforms. vN4D simulates 3D motion with dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) on Windows. IP is intended for teaching physical sciences in grades 7–12 and college. WM2D and vN4D are intended for engineering education and professionals.
It is necessary to go through the evolution of these three simulation products as their names have changed several times. Knowledge Revolution (acquired by MSC in 1999) first released Interactive Physics as Fun Physics in 1988. Renamed Interactive...
