Select FileExportVRML from the main menu bar to export the model in the current viewport to a VRML-format file. VRML-format files can be used to display three-dimensional images in a web browser or a stand-alone VRML client. A special plug-in viewer, such as Cortona or Cosmo, is required to view VRML files.

You can export your model at any time during an ABAQUS/CAE session to a standard VRML file or to a compressed VRML file. A compressed VRML file will generally be on the order of 15% of the size of the corresponding standard VRML file.

VRML files are stored in an ASCII format that can be viewed in a standard text editor. Compressed VRML files must be uncompressed to convert them to ASCII format.

Animations and two-dimensional images such as sketches or layers will not be exported. In addition, view orientation or coordinate system triads and viewport arrow annotations will not be exported. Text fonts in the viewport image may appear smaller in the VRML file; you can increase the font size in the viewport to ensure that the text will be legible in the VRML file (see “Customizing fonts,” Section 3.2.8, for more information).

When you export an image of a shell or membrane with face labels displayed, the face labels will appear in the VRML file only with respect to the view in which the image was displayed in ABAQUS/CAE. If you rotate the image or otherwise change the view in a VRML viewer, the face labels shown may not be appropriate for the displayed faces. For example, if you export an image of a shell model with the positive (SPOS) face showing, the SPOS label will appear in a VRML viewer even if you rotate the model to show the negative face.