Solution
NI discontinued active development and long-term support for several legacy Motion Control software and hardware platforms a number of years ago.
LabVIEW SoftMotion Module
LabVIEW SoftMotion is no longer supported as of June, 2021. If you require the LabVIEW SoftMotion Module for your application, the latest version available is the LabVIEW SoftMotion Module 2020. NI did not release a 2019 version of the LabVIEW SoftMotion Module.
NI-Motion Driver
If you require the NI-Motion driver for your application, the latest version released by NI is NI-Motion 18.0.
The NI-Motion 18.0 Readme states that it supports LabVIEW 2015 or later. However, this should be interpreted as 2015 up until the publication date of NI-Motion 18.0. In other words, NI-Motion is compatible with LabVIEW 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. There will not be any new releases of the NI-Motion driver; NI-Motion 18.0 is the last version that will be released.
Motion Control Hardware
If you are designing a complex motion system, NI recommends considering an NI Partner or other third-party motion integrators to better assess application needs and solutions. Some possible alternatives are listed below.
Recommended Alternatives
- Use third-party controllers that can interface with NI products via serial or Ethernet:
- Serial control with a LabVIEW API
- Serial control without a LabVIEW API
- Use NI Digital I/O C Series modules and create all motion control code for use on an FPGA
- Use EtherCAT drives with the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT driver instead of the LabVIEW SoftMotion module. This method would use the controller's EtherCAT command set to program the controller rather than LabVIEW SoftMotion axis and commands.
Note: an NI Partner is a business entity independent of NI and has no agency or joint-venture relationship and does not form part of any business associations with NI.