You can distinguish between components in your model or output database by color coding the viewable geometry and mesh elements in the current viewport. ABAQUS/CAE applies color coding according to Color Mappings that specify the colors assigned to each item for a particular type of object, such as parts, section assignments, boundary conditions, or display groups. In the example shown in Figure 51–1 the color mapping is by parts, and each row describes the color assigned to one of the three part definitions in this model. The Color Code dialog box thus provides a legend that describes all of the color coding currently displayed in the current viewport.

Color coding is applied in two layers. All geometry and mesh elements are first colored with the Initial color, a customizable setting that is grey by default. (See “Changing the initial color,” Section 51.2, for more information.) ABAQUS/CAE then applies color coding on top of the initial color according to the colors and objects in the color mapping that you select. Areas will remain visible in the initial color if you apply a color mapping such as Boundary conditions, Loads, or Sets, for which ABAQUS/CAE usually color codes only distinct points or surfaces in the model.

ABAQUS/CAE automatically creates color mappings for all items in your model by creating associations between the name of each item and a color in the Auto-Color List. Because each association is a link between the object name and a color definition, color mappings persist between modules in ABAQUS/CAE and between a model database and its output databases. However, because ABAQUS/CAE relies on object names for color coding, you cannot retain the color coding associated with an object when you rename that object. By contrast, ABAQUS/CAE usually deletes an object's color definition when you delete the object definition from your model; the two exceptions are material and section definitions, whose color coding persists in the viewport even after you delete the definition. To refresh the color coding in the current viewport after you delete a material or section definition, you must either apply a color mapping or switch to a different module.

ABAQUS/CAE also provides a default color mapping for each module. For example, when you display the Mesh defaults color mapping in the Mesh module, ABAQUS/CAE color codes items in the viewport according to their meshability. Each module's default color mapping is available only in that module; you cannot color code objects in the Property module using the assignments in the Mesh defaults color mapping. Module default mappings cannot be edited, and the module default mappings correspond to the default colors that ABAQUS/CAE uses if no color coding is applied.

Color mappings are viewport-specific and, in some cases, they persist between modules. Persistence of color coding between modules depends on whether you have the default color mapping displayed for your current module:

When you change the color mapping, ABAQUS/CAE refreshes color coding only in the current viewport while retaining any color coding in other inactive, visible viewports. When you add a new viewport to your session, the new viewport inherits the color mappings of the previously current viewport.

Once color mappings are created, you can customize any color mapping (except the module defaults) by changing the colors assigned to any of its individual objects. You can also toggle the active status of individual objects in the color mapping, which controls whether an individual object is color coded in the current viewport. Objects whose color coding is inactive are rendered with the initial color. The Color Code dialog box also provides sorting and filtering tools that you can use to display a subset of the objects in a color mapping. These tools can help you focus your display when a color mapping has many objects.