A display body is a part instance that will be used for display only. You do not have to mesh the part, and the part is not included in the analysis; however, when you view the results of the analysis, the Visualization module displays the part along with the rest of your model. If ABAQUS/CAE reports that an imported part is invalid, you can still include the part in your model as a display body. For more information, see “What is a valid and precise part?,” Section 10.2.1.

You create a display body by applying a display body constraint in the Interaction module. You can apply a display body constraint to both deformable and rigid parts, and you can apply a display body constraint to both ABAQUS native parts and to orphan mesh parts. You can constrain the part instance to be fixed in space or you can constrain it to follow selected points. For more information, see “Understanding constraints,” Section 15.5. For an example of a model that uses display body constraints, see “Modeling display bodies,” Section 21.5.