PyMbs consists of three main components: input, processing / analysis and
output (see figure Basic structure of PyMbs), whereas the processing and
analysis layer can be considered to be the heart of PyMbs.
The input layer provides the user interface for the description of the
mechanical system. The model description is completely text based. The script
created by the user is translated into an abstract syntax suitable for the
generation of equations of motion by the processing module. This intermediate
step prepares PyMbs for other user interfaces, i.e. graphical modelling, as any
kind of model description can be used as long as an appropriate translator is
provided. The analysis module simplifies and reduces the set of equations
generated by the processing module and passes them to the code generator. The
code generator provides a set of writers for several target languages and
creates the output files. Optionally, the graphical output module evaluates a
function created by the python code generator to calculate the positions and
orientations of the elements of the mechanical system. The system can be
visualised in an interactive 3D-scene.
