This document contains installation and programming considerations, system requirements, licensing information, a list of changes in this version of NI Motion Assistant, and a list of NI Motion Assistant known issues.
Installation and Upgrade Information
NI Motion Assistant 2016 Changes and Enhancements
NI Motion Assistant 2016 General Considerations
NI Motion Assistant 2016 Known Issues
Previous NI Motion Assistant Changes and Enhancements
Automating the Installation of NI Products
How to Use NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8
NI Software Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
National Instruments Motion Assistant is a stand-alone prototyping tool for quickly developing motion applications. NI Motion Assistant allows you to graphically construct and preview motion applications without writing any code. When you have completed a prototype in NI Motion Assistant, you can generate LabVIEW or C code for further application development using NI-Motion. You also can generate code recipes for coding the application in a text-based language, such as Microsoft Visual Basic.
NI Motion Assistant includes the following features:
Note If you already have a registered version of NI Motion Assistant 1.3 or earlier, you can purchase an upgrade to NI Motion Assistant 2016 using National Instruments part number 850553C-01. Registered NI Motion Assistant 2.x users can upgrade to NI Motion Assistant 2016 for free.
You can run the NI Motion Assistant installer on the following operating systems:
NI Motion Assistant runs as a 32-bit application on all operating systems.
Note NI-Motion is compatible with 32-bit LabVIEW only. Therefore, you must have 32-bit LabVIEW installed even if you use a 64-bit OS.
NI Motion Assistant does not support Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/Me/98/95, or the Windows Server non-R2 editions. If you are using any of these operating systems, do not install NI Motion Assistant 2016.
Note You must install the NI-Motion driver software before installing NI Motion Assistant. Visit ni.com/downloads for the latest NI-Motion software.
Installing from the LabVIEW 2016 Platform DVDs
You can install all of your LabVIEW products—including NI Motion Assistant—using the LabVIEW 2016 Platform DVDs. Refer to the LabVIEW Installation Guide on the LabVIEW Platform DVD 1 for installation instructions and system requirements.
To request additional LabVIEW 2016 Platform DVDs, refer to the National Instruments Web site at ni.com.
Note If you purchased this product with an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle, use the installation media that shipped with your purchase to install this product.
Note You can also purchase and install NI Motion Assistant separately. To install NI Motion Assistant, insert the NI Motion Assistant CD into the CD-ROM drive. The NI Motion Assistant installation screen launches automatically. Select the appropriate option depending on whether you want to install NI Motion Assistant, review the release notes, or exit the installation program.
Visit ni.com/downloads for NI Motion Assistant updates.
At the end of the NI Motion Assistant installation process, a licensing wizard appears. Follow the onscreen instructions to activate the license for NI Motion Assistant.
Refer to the Activating Your Software topic in the NI Motion Assistant Help for detailed information about activation.
Note You are required to activate the license for NI Motion Assistant even if you previously had a licensed version.
National Instruments posts information about critical updates and security notifications on ni.com. Visit ni.com/info and enter Info Code updates to access this information.
NI Motion Assistant 2016 is compatible with NI-Motion 8.4 and later. To create LabVIEW code from an NI Motion Assistant prototype, you must have LabVIEW 2013 or later installed. NI Motion Assistant requires that either the actual controller or the virtual representation of one of the following motion controllers be installed in the computer:
If you do not have one of the listed motion controllers, you can use a virtual motion controller in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) to preview the functionality of NI Motion Assistant. Follow the instructions in the NI Motion Assistant Help to install a virtual motion controller.
NI Motion Assistant 2016 is fully supported on LabVIEW 2016.
You cannot generate LabVIEW code from an NI Motion Assistant script for a real-time target. Refer to the LabVIEW Real-Time Module Considerations section of How do I create code from a motion script? in the NI Motion Assistant Help for detailed instructions about creating code for RT targets.
CAD moves are processor and memory intensive operations. For this reason, National Instruments recommends a system with at least a 2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor or equivalent and 1 GB of RAM for optimal performance.
NI Motion Assistant uses a technique called smart contouring to smoothly move through the positions you specify. Refer to the Contoured Move glossary topic of the NI Motion Assistant Help for smart contouring guidelines you must follow to avoid unexpected behavior.
The controller starts from the current position of the axes and travels to the end of the first move. To ensure that the actual system and the position profile you specify match, you must always begin an NI Motion Assistant script with a Reference Move. Refer to Reference Move in the Motion Step Help book of the NI Motion Assistant Help for detailed instructions about adding and configuring a Reference Move Step.
If you make changes to a file referenced in an NI Motion Assistant script, such as buffered breakpoint positions, contour points, or CAD files, you must reload the file for these changes to take effect.
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the National Instruments Web site for an up-to-date list of known issues in NI Motion Assistant 2016.
An issue that may arise when running 32-bit applications in 64-bit versions of Windows could adversely affect NI Motion Assistant. Refer to KnowledgeBase article 6EMFLQUB, Why Does National Instruments Software List Microsoft Hotfix 2588507 as a System Requirement?, at ni.com/kb for more information.
Refer to KnowledgeBase article 47EKNFFL, NI Motion Assistant Release Notes, at ni.com/kb for access to previous NI Motion Assistant release notes, starting with NI Motion Assistant 1.3.
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during a silent installation of NI software.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
When you install National Instruments software on Microsoft Windows 8, you will notice a few additional tiles on the Start screen, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), and the new NI Launcher.
NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile on the Start screen. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Click any NI product to launch it.
| Note Unlike previous versions of Microsoft Windows, MAX does not appear as a desktop shortcut. You can launch MAX either from the Start screen or from within NI Launcher. |
For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications, such as MAX, to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary:
| Current Application | Icon Location | Pin to Action |
| Windows 8 Desktop | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to Taskbar |
| Windows 8 Desktop | Start screen | Right-click application and select Pin to Start |
| Windows 8 Start screen | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen |
If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files by right-clicking anywhere on the Start screen and selecting All apps. A list of all installed software and related files appears, in alphabetical order by creator or type.
For more information about NI support for Windows 8, visit ni.com/windows8.
NI Motion Assistant will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of NI Motion Assistant that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes:
| Product | Info Code |
| NI LabVIEW | lifecycle |
| NI LabWindows/CVI | cvi_lifecycle |
| NI Measurement Studio | mstudiolifecycle |
| NI TestStand | tslcp |
| NI DIAdem | ddlcp |
| NI SignalExpress | selcp |
| NI VeriStand | nivslifecycle |
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