Otherfunctionsrelatedtocontouring

Postprocessing of Continuum Analysis > Visualizing Scalar Data by Contours > Other functions related with contouring

Other functions related to contouring

Various functions related to contouring are described in the previous sections. There are other functions which are devised to supplement contouring. They are contour marking, sampling contour value and turning on/off the contour scale, and described below.

> Contour marking over a contour image

A contour image is rendered by a limited number of contour bands as specified in "Contour Display" dialog, and accordingly does not give information on minute variation of data within a contour band. This weak point of contour image is supplemented by the function of marking a contour line over the image. Contour marking makes up for the wide gap of data values that can be re p resented by contour bands, and thus gives more detailed information on the data distribution. This function can proceed interactively by the following steps:

	1) Start the contour marking tool by pressing the tool button , if it is not yet activated.
	The contour marking tool is automatically activated whenever a new contour image is drawn. Activation of the tool is not necessary in this case. But, other tool may have been activated after creating a contour image, and thus the contour marking tool is deactivated. In such case, the tool button should be pressed in order to activate the tool again.
	2) Place the screen cursor either over the contour image or over the contour scale bar.
	As the cursor moves into the VisualFEA window, its shape turns into . A data value may be sampled either at the point of the cursor on the contour image or on the contour scale bar. Place the cursor over the point from which the data value is to be sampled.
	3) Sample the data value by clicking the point.
	The data value is sampled at the point of mouse click, and a contour line representing the sampled value is marked over the contour image. The level of the marking contour is displayed over the contour scale bar, and in the editable text box at the lower part of the tool palette.
	4) Move the mouse with button pressed.
	The contour marking is updated in real time as the screen cursor moves along with the mouse movement. At the same time, the scale value is also continuously updated.
	< Contour marking >

The above step 2), 3) and 4) may be repeated as long as the contour marking tool is active. The editable text box at the lower part of the tool palette shows the level of the marked contour. The contour marking may also be renewed by inserting a value in the box and pressing key (Windows : key).

The precision of the marking contour line is determined by the viewing scale of the model and the screen resolution. There f o re, you can obtained more precise contour line by zooming in the screen view. However, the analysis results themselves have limited accuracy, and zooming beyond a certain limit may not have any significance.

> Sampling contour value by specifying the coordinates

Contour marking is a method to sample the contour value pointed by screen cursor. Another method of contour value sampling is specifying the coordinates of the sampling point. The advantage of this method is that any point within a 3-dimensional volume can be sampled, while contour marking is only possible for a point on outer surfaces of volume. The coordinates of the sampling point can be entered by the following steps:

	1) Start the contour marking tool by pressing the tool button , if it is not yet activated.
	Refer to the previous section.
	2) Place the screen cursor over the contour image.
	Place the cursor around the point of sampling. It is not necessary to place the cursor precisely at the point of sampling, because the location of the point is to be specified more precisely by its coordinates afterward.
	3) Double click the point.
	Double clicking will bring up "Data Info" dialog. The dialog has editable text items for the coordinates of the sampling point.
	< "Data Info" dialog >
	4) Edit the text string of the coordinates.
	Enter the coordinates of the desired sampling point by editing the strings in the editable text boxes.
	5) Press button.
	The button is dimmed initially when the dialog is open, and becomes enabled when any of the text strings of the coordinates is edited. Press the button. Then the data value at the sampling point is displayed below the button. However, the specified sampling point may not be within the volume. If so, the data value cannot be sampled. Instead, a message indicating that the coordinates are not within the model, will appear on the dialog.
	< "Off the object" message >

> Turning on and off the contour scale bar

The contour scale bar is automatically displayed at the left edge of VisualFEA window, when the contour image is rendered. If desired, this scale bar can be made hidden by selecting "Hide Scale" item from menu. The menu item is enabled only when a contour image is rendered. Selecting the item will remove the scale bar from the screen, and alter the menu string into "Show Scale." The scale bar can be shown again by simply selecting the "Show Scale" item.