Engineering Solutions

Options panel

Options panel

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Options panel

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Use the Options panel to modify default settings in the work environment.

 

Subpanels and Inputs


The Options panel contains the following subpanels:

hmtoggle_arrow1Geometry

Use the Geometry subpanel to change geometry and model tolerances and display settings.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

cleanup tol

Clean up the CAD geometry data by equivalencing edges, deleting fillets, and eliminating extraneous vertices. The cleanup tolerance value specifies how much to modify the geometry in the course of "cleaning" it.  Since you will approximate the geometry with a finite element mesh, you need to work with a cleanup tolerance that is less than the node tolerance used in the mesh generation.

geom feature angle

Determines when model geometry should have a new vertex added (creating two surfaces from one) or removed (merging two surfaces into one).

geometry stitching

For panels involving surface creation you can choose how newly created surfaces are stitched to the model:

by component: created surfaces will be stitched to neighbor surfaces that belong to the same component. This is the default behavior.
all: created surfaces will be stitched to all neighboring surfaces.
attached to selection: created surfaces will be stitched to surfaces attached to selected surfaces or edges.
selection only: created surfaces will be stitched only to other selected surfaces, or surfaces that have edges or vertices selected.

rotate angle

Specifies the amount your model rotates when you use the rotation buttons on the toolbar or press the arrow keys. Increasing or decreasing the angle makes the model appear to rotate faster or slower. For smaller models, setting the rotation angle to a lower value desensitizes the amount of rotation and allows a smooth transition from frame to frame.

pick tol

Specifies the maximum distance, in pixels, that the cursor can be from a graphical entity in order to select it. When the pick tolerance is increased, it is easier to pick an entity.

zoom factor

Specifies the multiplication factor used to increase or decrease the scale of the current view when you press the + and – keys or the zoom in/out button in the toolbar.

surf lines

Specifies the default number of u-v lines to draw on new surfaces when they are created. Displaying surface lines can help you to visualize a surface better, but it can slow down the redraw speed of a large model.  The number of surface lines on existing surfaces can be changed by using the Surf Lines panel.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Mesh

Use the Mesh subpanel to change default meshing behavior, such as when performing an automatic re-mesh of geometry that has been edited to change its topology.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

element size

A default edge length for elements, in the same units that the loaded model was created in (mm, inches, and so on).  This determines the default values whenever meshing, such as in the Automesh panel.

element order

Toggle between using first-order (corner nodes only) and second-order (corner and mid-edge nodes) elements when meshing.

node tol

The resolution to which the finite element data in the model is maintained.  When you specify a node tolerance, any two nodes are considered to be coincident if the distance between them is less than the value.

feature angle

Specifies the maximum distance that the selected entity must be within to be included in the selection.  When you select entities by face, attached adjacent surfaces or elements are progressively selected as long as the angle between them is less than or equal to the feature angle.  This value is used in element cleanup.

topology revision

This determines what to do when you change the model geometry's topology: keep its existing mesh, delete its existing mesh, automatically re-mesh it using the default values, or perform an "advanced remesh" which maintains node associations with surfaces (normal remesh may not always retain node/surface associativity, which may result in orphaned elements.)

advanced_remesh_example

pick tol

Specifies the maximum distance, in pixels, that the cursor can be from a graphical entity in order to select it.  When the pick tolerance is increased, it is easier to pick an entity.

zoom factor

Specifies the multiplication factor that is used to increase or decrease the scale of the current view when you press the + and – keys or the zoom in/out button in the toolbar.

Allow duplicate IDs

Permits properties in different groups to have the same ID.

Note:Properties must be unique within each group. Duplicate IDs can only exist if they are in separate groups.

Only available in Nastran, LS-DYNA, OptiStruct and RADIOSS user profiles.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Graphics

Use the Graphics subpanel to define display settings.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

lights

Set the light-based shading to smooth, none, or flat.

view simplification

To produce a smoother animation when rotating or panning a model, you can refrain the calculation and rendering of some model elements until the model stops moving.

simplify current comp

Applies the simplification to the current component as well as the rest.  Leave this unchecked to retain the full detail of the current component during view simplification.

Used in conjunction with view simplification modes.

optimize view ctrls

Removes graphical annotations and entities when you rotate, zoom (via the mouse wheel), or pan the model. Graphical annotations and entities are restored once you release the mouse button.

The following graphical annotations and entities are removed:

Markers (Loads, Systems, Vectors)
Entity Labels and IDs
Geometry Fixed and Topology Points
Geometry Lines and Topology Lines (Handles and Direction)
Manipulators
Element handles

 

Used in conjunction with view simplification modes.

bitmap animation

Render animation sequences as a series of 2D images instead of full 3D modeling. For large models this can produce faster animation, but for small ones it may actually produce slower results.

AVI Options

Select the frame size of exported Audio-Video Interleave animation files, as a fraction of your screen size.

Use the toggle just below the switch to choose the color depth to output AVI files in: 8 bit (256 colors) or 24 bit (16.8M colors).

result color type

Toggle between blended contours and discrete contours.

geometry refinement

Controls how extensively the graphics engine smooths faceted feature lines and contours within geometric entities such as lines and surfaces.

Use the switch to select one of the six geometry refinement levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, and Auto.

The degree of faceting is arbitrarily numbered from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most refined and 1 being the coarsest. Higher values may affect rendering performance.

If you do not want to continuously keep adjusting the degree of faceting, select Auto to automatically increase the geometry resolution when you zoom in on a model.

Note:You can set Auto as the default level of refinement by entering the environment variable HM_AUTO_REFINEMENT=1.

geometry_refinement_1

Lower refinement

geometry_refinement_5

Higher refinement

element handle

Elements are normally drawn as simple triangles or quads, but when this option is active each element also includes a small handle in its center, which can sometimes aid in selection of individual elements.  However, handles are one more item for the graphics engine to render — so disabling them may improve rendering speed when working with large models.

Next to the checkbox is a numeric box that accepts values from 0 to 10.  This value filters out the text labels on element elements depending on how closely zoomed in the view is.

A value of 0 never filters labels, and can result in the text obscuring important parts of the model when zoomed out:

options_panel_graphics_element_text_filter_0

The light orange "noise" is the text labels from many RBE3 connectors.

For values 1-10, higher values more aggressively filter out/hide the labels.  (1 barely filters at all, while 10 filters unless zoomed in very close).

options_panel_graphics_element_text_filter_10

Even when zoomed in quite close, the labels still do
not display when the value is set to 10.

The default value is 3, at which level labels are filtered out unless zoomed in fairly closely:

options_panel_graphics_element_text_filter_3

Even fairly close, text labels are still hidden.

options_panel_graphics_element_text_filter_3_closer

Zoomed in a bit closer, text labels display.

load handle

Loads, such as Forces, Pressures, Moments, or Temperatures, normally display with a text label indicating the type (for example, "m" for moments) and the numeric magnitude.  Clearing this checkbox will cease the drawing of any load labels.

Note:Each load panel also has a label loads checkbox, used to toggle the display of load magnitudes.  The load handle checkbox supersedes these, so in order for them to have any effect this checkbox must be active.

geom handle

Displays handles for free lines.

fixed points

Specify whether or not to display fixed points. This does not affect the display of free points.  Fixed points can also be turned on and off from vis opts in the Geometry Cleanup panel.

coincident picking

Select a desired entity from a stack of coincident entities when there are multiple entities at the same location.  For example, if multiple loads are detected at the same location, a circular insert pops up containing various loads displayed separately with their IDs turned on.  You can then pick the appropriate load.  This function is activated by turning on coincident picking in the options panel.  The entities supported for coincident picking are nodes, elements, loads and systems.

shrink

Controls the shrink factor to be used when drawing elements. With zero shrink, each element is drawn so that its corners directly connect to its nodes.  If you specify a shrink value greater than zero, the element is scaled by the specified value about its centroid so that its corners do not appear to touch its nodes.  The shrink value must be between 0 and 1.  Shrinking elements is a useful for detecting holes in a mesh and improving wireframe element picking.

Thick Mesh Lines

Models with many different components may end up with some components being drawn in colors that do not contrast very well with the Engineering Solutions background.  Activate this checkbox to draw mesh lines in double the normal width for better visibility of low-contrast colors.

Thick 1D Elements

Draws 1D elements in double the normal width for better visibility.

Note:Using thick mesh lines at the same time as thick 1D elements may effectively negate this feature, since both types of lines will be drawn in identical thickness.

template labels (type)

Displays element labels as template names (based on current user profile) or Engineering Solutions names.

rotate about mode

Change the rotation behavior in the graphics area, if any specific rotation center is defined. When this option is active the model rotates around the center of all current visible entities, whereas the model rotates around the center of the screen when the option is inactive.

Note:The different behaviors can only be seen, when the model is not positioned in the center of the screen.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Menu Config

Use the Menu Config subpanel to change the size of the menu or graphics fonts.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

macro file

If you choose to use a Utility menu (activated via the View menu) you can specify the desired macro file this field.

exponential

Specifies whether to display numeric fields in the panels and card editor using an exponential format or a fixed decimal format.

menu font

Font used on the panels.

graphic font

Font used when entity IDs, one-dimensional element handles, and legends are displayed. The current font size is displayed.

cursor size

Change the cursor size.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Colors

Use the Colors subpanel to select colors for the global axis, axis labels, free edges, suppressed edges, and T-joint edges, and many more entities.  You can also change the screen background color, the global axes indicators, and more.

To change the colors of any part of the interface, click the Color button next to its name.  This opens a standard color palette, from which you can pick your desired color.  Simply clicking the color selects it and closes the palette.

You can also click the reset button to return to the default colors, undoing any and all color changes.

Items for which you can change colors include:

 

Environment

Input

Action

background

The background color of the graphics area.

global X axis

The X axis indicator in the global coordinate system which displays in the corner of the graphics area.

Note:If you change this to "background", all three axes change to the background color on the assumption that the only reason to make one axis invisible is to make them all invisible for screenshots or display purposes.

global Y axis

The Y axis indicator in the global coordinate system which displays in the corner of the graphics area.

Note:If you change this to "background", all three axes change to the background color on the assumption that the only reason to make one axis invisible is to make them all invisible for screenshots or display purposes.

global Z axis

The Z axis indicator in the global coordinate system which displays in the corner of the graphics area.

Note:If you change this to "background", all three axes change to the background color on the assumption that the only reason to make one axis invisible is to make them all invisible for screenshots or display purposes.

axis label

The X, Y, and Z letters on the global coordinate system which displays in the corner of the graphics area.

mesh line

Specify the color of the lines on a mesh that indicate the edges of mesh elements.

By default, mesh line is set to auto, which assigns the component color as the mesh line color. To select a custom mesh line color for the entire mesh, click the toggle.

This option only works when the element color mode is set to By Comp. Other element color modes render mesh lines black or use the defaults selected in the Options panel, Color subpanel or in the Colors dialog, Mesh tab (accessed from the Preferences menu).

These settings are not applicable to 2nd order elements and clipped elements of section cuts, or when you are in Automesh panel mode.

Used in conjunction with the Mesh Appearance settings.

 

Surface data

Input

Action

free edges

Edges of surfaces that do not connect to any other surfaces.

shared edges

Edges of surfaces that connect to one other surface.

suppressed edges

Shared edges that have been manually suppressed so that the automesher will treat the shared surfaces as if they were one surface, allowing elements to cross the edge as if it were not there at all.

t-junctions

Edges shared by 3 or more surfaces.

 

3D solids

Input

Action

fin faces

Fin faces are surfaces that split a 3D solid entity, but only partway through--they do not actually extend through the entire entity.

bounding faces

The outer faces of solid entity.

full partition faces

The faces of adjoined solids

2d faces (topo)

When using the by 2D topo visualization mode, this is the color of 2D faces that are not part of a solid.

ignored (topo)

The color of 2D faces when using the by 2D topo visualization mode.

edges (comp)

Mesh edges when coloring mesh with the by comp visualization mode.

 

by Mappable Display Control (solids)

Input

Action

ignored map

Default visualization for solids that require partitioning to become mappable.

not mappable

Visualization for solids that have been edited, but still require further partitioning to create mappable solids.

1 dir. map

Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3D meshing) in one direction.

3 dir. map

Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3D meshing) in three directions.

 

Elements

Input

Action

elems, no prop/mat

Elements that do not have any properties or materials assigned to them.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Page Names

Use the Page Names subpanel to edit the page names that appear on the menu. To change a main menu page's header or abbreviation:

1.Select the page name or abbreviation you want to change.
2.Type the new name or abbreviation.
3.Click return.

 

Comments

The main menu page names and abbreviations are updated when the panel is exited.

 

hmtoggle_arrow1Graphics File

Use the Graphics Files subpanel to specify options for output graphical captures (JPEG images or AVI videos) of the graphics area.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

blank background

Since the graphics area normally uses a colored background, you can use this option to omit the background color gradient (replacing it with flat white).

jpeg quality

Use this slider to set the desired blend between small file size (left) and high image quality (right).

save JPEG

This button creates JPEG capture of the graphics area so that you can test and see the results of your current settings.

print when done

Automatically sends the image to your default printer whenever a screen capture is performed.

AVI options

These options apply only to Audio-Visual Interleave videos.

You can choose the video resolution relative to your current desktop resolution (full screen, 1/4 screen, or 1/9 screen).

You can also choose between creating videos using 8 bit color (256 total colors, resulting in smaller file size but possibly lower image quality) or 24 bit color (16.8 million colors for maximum image quality, but larger file size).

 

 

See Also:

Alphabetical List of Panels

Mesh Appearance Settings