36.10 Controlling the display of model entities

The Entity Display options in the ODB Display Options dialog box allow you to control the display of symbols representing the following entities in your model:

Model entity display is plot state–independent. ABAQUS/CAE displays model entity symbols for the current step and frame of your output database. You can customize the appearance of the model entity symbols in the Visualization module only by changing their size.

For information on the symbols representing boundary conditions, see Understanding symbols that represent prescribed conditions, Section 16.5; for information on the symbols representing coupling constraints and connectors, see Understanding symbols that represent interactions, constraints, and connectors, Section 15.9. For information on controlling the display of these entities in assembly-related modules, see Controlling the display of attributes, Section 50.11.

Tip:  You can also control the display of connectors using display groups; each connector is listed as an element set. See Creating or editing a display group, Section 52.2.1 for more information on display groups.

Only session coordinate systems and reference points are displayed by default. The display of model entities can affect performance significantly. To maximize the performance of ABAQUS/CAE, be selective about the entities you choose to display.

To control the display of model entities:

  1. From the main menu bar, select ViewODB Display Options. Click the Entity Display tab in the dialog box that appears.

    The entity display options become available.

  2. Toggle the entities that you want to display. Only the entities that you select (if they have been defined for the current model) will appear in the viewport.

  3. If desired, drag the Symbol size slider left or right to modify the size of the symbols in the viewport.

  4. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The plot in the current viewport changes to reflect your specification.

    Your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent plots in the current viewport and in any new viewports created from the current viewport.


For information on related topics, click any of the following items: