© National Instruments Corporation 9-1 NI-Motion User Manual
9
Blending Moves
Use blending moves to create continuous motion between two or more
move segments.

Blending

Blending, also called velocity blending, superimposes the velocity profiles
of two moves to maintain continuous motion. Blending is useful when
continuous motion between concatenated move segments is important.
Examples of some applications that can use blending are scanning,
welding, inspection, and fluid dispensing.
Blending must occur on velocity profiles of two move segments, so the end
positions of each move segment may or may not be reached. For example,
if you are blending two straight-line moves that form a 90º angle, the
blended move must round the corner to make the move continuous. In this
case, the move never reaches the exact position where the two straight lines
meet, but instead follows the rounded corner, as shown in Figure9-1.
Figure 9-1. Two Blended Straight-Line Moves
Motion controllers can perform blending between two straight-line moves,
between two arc moves, or between straight-line and arc moves. Blending
does not work for reference and contoured moves.
1 Starting Position 2 End Point 3 Corner Rounded by Blending
3
1
2