Using an articulatory model we show that locus equations make special use of the phonetic space of possible locus patterns. There is nothing articulatorily inevitable about their linearity or slope-intercept characteristics. Nonetheless, articulatory factors do play an important role in the origin of simulated locus equations, but they cannot, by themselves, provide complete explanations for the observed facts. As in other domains, there is interaction between perceptual and motor factors.