Toolboxes are collections of icons that provide quick access to commonly used ABAQUS/CAE functions. For example, the Visualization module toolbox contains icons representing the tools used to generate different kinds of plots, while the Views toolbox contains icons for view orientations you use to manipulate the appearance of ABAQUS/CAE models. The Visualization module and Views toolboxes are shown in Figure 3–11.

All module toolboxes are available immediately to the left of the drawing area as soon as you enter the module. The view manipulation toolbox behaves differently; it appears in a separate dialog box, and you must select the appropriate menu item to display it (ViewViews Toolbox).

Toolboxes are convenient when you are performing many related operations in sequence, whereas menus are more convenient when you are performing only isolated operations. For example, the Views toolbox is useful if you want to compare several different views of a model; conversely, selecting ViewCycle Views from the main menu may be more convenient than using the toolbox icons if you are reverting to a single previous view.

To obtain a short description of a tool, place the cursor over that tool for a moment; a small box containing a description, or “tooltip,” will appear. Tooltips are not available for icons that appear dimmed; to get information on those icons, use context-sensitive help instead.