Harmonic animation is valid only for field output containing complex numbers. In a harmonic animation ABAQUS/CAE creates all of the deformed shape, contour, or symbol plot images in the sequence from a single step and frame of the output database. ABAQUS/CAE generates angles ranging from 0 to 180° or from 0 to 360°, according to your specification, and displays the value of the complex field output at each of these angles. This gives the appearance of the field output evolving over time, although all images are produced from a single step and frame of your results. (To view the actual evolution of results over time, you must produce a time history animation.) Harmonic animation is useful for simulating the vibration modes computed by an eigenvalue analysis.

If you are animating a contour plot, the display of the field output values depends on options you select. The default behavior is for the values within the legend to be fixed based on the range of the real component. To learn how to set contour limits, see “Setting contour limits,” Section 26.4.7. To learn how to customize the legend, see “Customizing the legend,” Section 37.1. To learn more about complex results, see “Understanding complex results,” Section 24.5.3.