Animation Secondary Panel

Use the Animation Secondary panel to control the display of your model during animation sequences.

Location: Opens after performing operations in the Deformed and Transient panels.

Tasks that can be accomplished in the Animation Secondary panel include:
  • Selecting automatic or manual controls of the animation speed.
  • Creating and moving cutting planes through your model.
  • Displaying isosurfaces.
  • Creating an AVI file.

Params Subpanel

Option Action
simulation= Select a simulation type.
data type= Select a data type.
scale factor= A multiplier on the magnitude of animation changes.
model units= Select a unity type.
auto Automatically loop animations.

Move the slider to the right to increase the speed of the animation, or to the left to decrease the speed.
manual Manually advance or set back an animation frame using the arrows.

Cutting Subpanel

Once a plane has been activated, you can move it through the model by picking the plane in the modeling window and dragging the mouse along the normal to the plane.

You can also trim and color planes.
Option Action
simulation= Select a simulation type.
data type= Select a data type.
xy plane, yz plane, xz plane Select the orientation of the cutting plane.
trim planes Mask the model so that only the parts beyond the cutting plane display.

Clear the checkbox to display only the plane.
contour Create a colored contour map of the model.
color Select a color for the cutting plane.
single Display a single plane.
double Display a double plane.
t= Specify the thickness of the plane or the offset from the base cutting plane.
reverse Reverse the direction of the desired cutting plane.
clip boundary elements Cut the model flat along the planar surface.

Clear the checkbox to draw complete elements, which often result in a bumpy surface.

Isosurface Subpanel

Table 1.
Option Action
simulation= Select a simulation type.
data type= Select a data type.
show Show the isosurfaces.
value based/legend based
value based
Specify a contour value for elements/nodes.
legend based
Select the desired value from the legend in the modeling window.
color Select a color to display the isosurface.
iso surface= Displayed isosurfaces based on the values contained within the legend or based on a single value.
Designate the isosurface in the following ways:
  • Move the mouse into the legend and select the pointer that appears after the color boxes.
  • Click and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse to the desired location.
increment= Specify the value to add/subtract from the selected values (which determine the displayed elements/nodes) when clicking add/sub.
include faces above Display elements/nodes with values equal to or above the selected value.
include faces below Display elements/nodes with values equal to or below the selected value.

Command Buttons

Table 2.
Button Action
animate Run the animation.
make AVI Generate and save the file in your specified user directory with a file extension of .avi.

Files are automatically incremented when you create multiple AVI files.
add When a contour legend value is selected, this increases the value that it represents by the increment.
sub When a contour legend value is selected, this decreases the value that it represents by the increment.
return Exit the panel.