You can color code selected Nodes and Elements to customize the display of your results in a viewport. For step-by-step instructions on using the Color Code dialog box, see “Coloring part instances, elements, nodes, materials, sections, and display groups,” Section 37.4.2. To color code by selected item attributes instead of nodes or elements, see “Color coding by attributes,” Section 37.4.3.
For the Element and Node item types, your item choices vary with the Method that you select. Some selection methods require you to complete the information in the Color Mapping table. Regardless of whether the Color Mapping table is completed by ABAQUS/CAE or by you, once it is complete, you can select multiple cells to change node and element colors, node symbol shapes, and node symbol sizes (see “Selecting multiple items from lists and tables,” Section 3.2.11, for more information).
Choose from the following selection methods to color elements and nodes in your model:
Pick from viewport
Select Pick from viewport to specify elements or nodes by picking them directly from the viewport. Click Edit Selection or Add Selection, respectively, to edit an existing row or to add a new row to the Color Mapping table. ABAQUS/CAE automatically enters pick mode, and Select items for color coding appears in the prompt area. See Chapter 6, “Selecting objects within the viewport,” for more information on picking items in the viewport. Click Delete Selection to delete a highlighted row from the table.
Element labels (Node labels)
Select Element labels or Node labels to specify elements or nodes by number. For each row in the Color Mapping table, select the name of the part instance to which the nodes or elements belong from the list in the Part instance column and type a list of element or node numbers separated by commas or a range of numbers such as 1:4 into the Labels field. If desired, you can specify a range using a number other than 1 as the operator; for example, 1:21:5 selects items labeled 1, 6, 11, 16, and 21.
Result value
Select Result value to specify elements or nodes containing results within a given range of values.
The output variable to be considered is displayed at the bottom of the Color Mapping table, to the right of the Field Output button. To select a new result variable, click Field Output; see “Selecting the field output to display,” Section 24.3, for more information on the Field Output dialog box. Choose from the filtering methods in the Type cell; the symbols represent results below 
, inside 
, outside 
, or above 
the selected value or range. Enter the required value or values in the Min value and Max value cells to specify the range for the filter type that you selected. You can add rows to the table and select different filtering methods and result ranges, but all rows refer to the same field output variable. Every element (or node) in the model is used in the filtering process, regardless of the current active display group in the model.
Note: The bounds for filtering based on element or nodal output variables are always based on the values of a variable at the nodes. Therefore, element-based output quantities are extrapolated and averaged at the nodes before comparing them against the user-defined bounds. The averaging settings in the Result Options dialog box determine how element-based variables are calculated at the nodes. For example, consider a case where elements are filtered based on Mises stress using the default averaging threshold of 75%. After extrapolation to the nodes, the values are averaged according to this threshold. This conditional averaging may result in several distinct values of Mises stress at the node based on contributions from the various elements to which the node belongs. Any element whose Mises stress contribution falls within the user-defined bounds is included in the color coding selection.
All elements (All nodes)
Select All elements or All nodes to select all items of the specified type in your model. No further item specification is necessary.
Node sets
Select Node sets to specify a new color for node sets saved in your model. The Color Mapping table lists all the available set names. You can select element sets by using the Attribute item type.
Internal sets
Select Internal sets to specify internal (created by ABAQUS/CAE) node or element sets. The Color Mapping table lists all the available set names.
Display groups
Select Display groups to specify a saved display group. The Color Mapping table lists all the available display group names.
Part instances
Select Part instances to specify a new color for all nodes in the selected part instance. The Color Mapping table lists all part instances in the model.
To select all the elements in a part instance, use the Part instances method for the Attribute item type.
