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Contour settings

The Contour Settings dialog box allows the parameters that govern the display of contours to be specified.

Open this dialog box by giving the Graphics > Display > Settings > Contour settings menu command or from the Graphic Display toolbar when the current view is a Graphic View. This dialog box may also be opened from the Graphic Settings dialog box.

Definition​

Data (tree control)​

The selected data will be contoured for the first case only in the Cases list on the Lists toolbar.

RC slab reinforcement​

This contour setting will be offered in the tree control if RC Slab design is enabled and if the RC Slab design code has been set to a valid code, or to undefined.

Reset​

Resets all settings except the data type to the default view settings.

Clear​

Clears the current contour settings to produce no contouring.

Envelope method​

When the case being contoured is an enveloping combination case, this setting determines what values of the envelope are output. Select whether to contour the Minimum, Maximum, Absolute (i.e. the greater of the absolute Min and absolute Max) or Signed Absolute (i.e. as Absolute but keeping the original sign) values.

Output of 2D/3D element results, stress layer​

Select whether top, middle, bottom or bending stresses are to be contoured.

This is enabled only when a 2D element result is selected.

Output of 2D/3D element results, centre values only​

When checked, the centre value is applied to the nodal positions per element to result in constant contouring values for each element.

This is enabled only when a 2D element result is selected.

Output of 2D/3D element results, average stresses and forces at nodes​

When checked, results are averaged across elements at common nodes. (See stress averaging in 2D elements for details.)

This is enabled only when a 2D element result is selected and when ‘Centre values only’ is not selected.

Number of contours​

Specifies the number of contours.

The number of contour intervals is one less than this number.

This field is disabled when the contour values are specified in terms of a constant interval.

Automatic contour values​

  • Contours based on rounded range – contours are dispersed at rounded intervals between the minimum and maximum extents of data values being contoured, rounded down and up, respectively.
    • Set middle contour to zero – the middle contour is set at zero and contours are assigned at different rounded intervals above and below zero to cover the rounded range. Where all data being contoured is +ve the lowest contour is set at zero (and vice versa for all -ve data).
    • Equal +ve and -ve contour intervals – the middle contour is set at zero and contours are assigned at the same rounded intervals above and below zero to cover the rounded range.

For example, if the range being contoured is -25.2 to 14.1:

  • 'Contours based on rounded range' produces contours from -30 to +15 in intervals of 5.
  • '... - Set middle contour to zero' produces contours at -30 -20 -10 zero +5 +10 +15.
  • '... - Equal +ve and -ve contour intervals' produces contours from -30 to +30 in intervals of 5.

When contours are based on a rounded range the specified number of contours is used only as a guide.

  • Contours based on actual values – the specified number of contours is evenly dispersed between the minimum and maximum extents of data values being contoured.
  • Specify constant interval – contours are spaced at the specified interval, based at zero or a multiple of ten if zero is not within the range being contoured.

Note that these options use the automatically calculated data extents. These may or may not be recalculated upon a change of case, depending on the current preferences but will be recalculated upon a Rescale data. (See scaling of diagrams, contours and deformations for details.)

See the section on Graded by value for the behaviour of Automatic contour values in that circumstance.

Specify contour values and colours​

When Specify contour values and colours is selected clicking the adjacent Specify button opens the Contour values dialog. In this, contour values (or percentages) and colours may be specified for some or all contours. The values of contours for which no value is specified are interpolated between known contour values, where the lowest contour defaults to the minimum extent and the highest to the maximum extent. The colours of contours for which no colour is specified are also interpolated. For filled contours the colour relates to the contour interval between this contour and the next. The lowest contour is numbered zero.

Labels may also be specified in the Contour values dialog. These are displayed in the legend against the respective contour interval.

Constant size on nodes and 1D entities​

When set, the size of contour blobs at nodes and the thickness of the displayed contour barrels is determined by the Node and 1D entity contour size setting in the Graphic fonts and styles dialog and not scaled according to the value being contoured. The scaling factor is applied.

Don’t paint white contours​

When set, contour intervals that would have been painted white are left unpainted. This includes out-of-range values and intervals for which the colour has been manually set to white.

Contours: Line / Filled / Graded by value​

Contours may be displayed as lines along the contours or as filled intervals.

The Graded by value option contours only data at the specified contour values; data at other values are treated as out of range. When contour values are calculated automatically for this option a contour value is set for every discrete data value encountered in the part of the structure being contoured, and colours are assigned automatically. Graded by value is only available for some data types, e.g. properties, grid loading, ...

Apply​

Applies the current settings to the image without exiting the dialog box.

Value / Percent​

When Percent is selected the contour values specified are interpreted as a percentage of the extents of the data being contoured. Otherwise the values are interpreted as being data values in the current contour setting units.

This field is disabled when Contours based on rounded range or Contours based on actual values is set.

Magnitude / Signed​

When Magnitude is selected the sign (+ or −) of the data values being contoured is ignored and the contour range is positive. Otherwise the sign is taken into account.

1D elem results​

Opens the 1D element results dialog box for the specification of the positions along 1D elements at which displacements and forces are to be calculated.

Units​

Opens the Units dialog box for the specification of the units in which the contour values are to be expressed.

Numeric Format​

Opens the Numeric Format dialog box for the specification of the numeric format in which the contour values are to be expressed.

Axes​

Opens the Axis dialog box for the specification of the axes in which the contour values are to be transformed.

Further options​

Opens the Further options dialog box.

For more information see Contours, Scaling of diagrams, contours and deformations and Displaying data and results.