Skip to content

Contacts Dialog Box

The Contacts dialog allows the user to select the allowable interaction between human ellipsoids and vehicle contact surfaces. For example, there is little chance of a human pedestrian's pelvis interacting with the vehicle's interior contact surfaces (e.g., the seat) during the simulation. Therefore, it makes little sense to perform force calculations for this ellipsoid/contact surface pair. By selecting only those contact surfaces having a chance of interaction, far fewer calculations need to be performed. As a result, the calculation time can be reduced significantly.

The contents of the Contacts dialog box are as follows.

Object

A read-only field displaying the name of the source object (the currently selected human or vehicle), and a combo box listing all humans and vehicles in the current event. Select the target object from this combo box; the Target(s) list is refreshed for the chosen object.

Source(s)

A multiple-selection list box containing all the contacts (human ellipsoids or vehicle contact surfaces) defined for the source object. Select All and Deselect All buttons below the list select or clear all source contacts.

Target(s)

A multiple-selection list box containing all the contacts (human ellipsoids or vehicle contact surfaces) defined for the target object. Select All and Deselect All buttons below the list select or clear all target contacts.

Combined Material Properties

Some simulation models define the human ellipsoid and vehicle contact surface material properties according to the sole properties of the ellipsoid or contact surface; other simulations define the material properties as a combined property shared by the two interacting objects. This group is enabled only for calculation methods that use combined material properties. It contains the following items:

  • For / And — read-only fields identifying the source contact and target object for which the combined material is being assigned.
  • Segment(s) — A multiple-selection list box containing the contacts defined for the target object; only those contacts selected in the Target(s) list are selectable in this list box. Select All and Deselect All buttons select or clear all segments.
  • Current Material — A read-only field displaying the name of the combined material currently assigned to the selected source/target pair.
  • Edit ... — Displays the Combined Material Properties dialog, used to view and edit the force-deflection and friction properties of the combined material for the selected pair.

OK / Cancel

OK saves the contact selections to the current event; Cancel discards all changes.

Source topic: ContactsDlg.htm — updated from source code (HVEINV-64, Physics) 2026-07-05.

← Previous: Events & Driver Controls | Index | Next: Driver Controls →