Plotting Workflow

Decide on the quantities to plot, and based on that choice, select the plot type. Set up the plot with the appropriate field functions and parts. Decide how to customize the appearance of the plot, and whether to export images for presentation purposes.

Decide on the quantities to plot, and select a plot type accordingly:
- To plot cell- or vertex-based values of a part, create an XY plot. See XY Plot Workflow.
- To use data distribution, create a histogram plot. See Creating a Histogram Plot.
- To work with data that is summarized in a report, create a monitor plot. See Working with Monitor Plots.
Note You can create a plot before you run a simulation, during the run, or after the run. If you create the plot while the simulation is iterating, the plot gets created between iterations.

XY and Histogram Plots

Select the parts for which to plot the quantities.
Select the scalar values to plot:
- For an XY plot, see Setting the Independent Quantity and Defining the Dependent Variables.
- For a histogram plot, see Setting up a Histogram.
To work with high concentrations of data in an XY plot, you can use the heatmap style to view the data more clearly. See Setting and Viewing Heatmaps.
To add third and fourth layers of information to an XY plot, use the bubble style which allows you to scale the size according to a scalar field, and to map the color to another scalar field. See Setting and Viewing Bubble Plots.
If applicable, add tabular or reference data to the plot. See Managing Data in a Plot.

Monitor Plots

Create the monitor plot using one of the following techniques:
- After preparing the relevant report, right-click the report node and select Create Monitor and Plot from Report.
- Right-click the monitor node and select Create Plot from Monitor.
- Right-click on the Plots node and select New Plot > Monitor.
If you choose to create an empty monitor plot from the Plots node, set it up with the same techniques as for adding tabular or reference data. See Managing Data in a Plot.
Decide whether to normalize the values. See Normalizing the Monitor Data.
If you chose a report that addresses multiple parts, you can set the Value Type property in the monitor node to Part Values. This option lets you monitor report values for some or all of the parts as well as the overall value. See Monitoring Report Results on a Per-Part Basis.

When running cycle-based simulations (such as in-cylinder or other rotating machinery), Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to view outputs from simulation monitors in a cycle-by-cycle manner. When periodicity is applied, results from consecutive cycles overlap on the same plot which means you can look for cyclic convergence, or the tendency to approach a repetitive result.

To activate cyclic mode, select the monitor plot node and activate the Cyclic Mode property.
This action makes two sub-nodes available:
- Cyclic Settings
- Data Series > [data set] > Cyclic Style
The monitor plot initially appears as a single cycle. See Cyclic Mode Properties Reference.
For better post-processing performance, decide whether to limit sampling. See Setting Maximum Plot Samples.

Finishing the Plot

Customize the plot as you see fit. See Customizing Plots. To control the arrangement of the data in the plot display, see instructions for sorting the plot data.
Decide how frequently to update the plot. See Triggers and Update Events.
Decide whether to export plot images during the simulation run. See Update and Hardcopy Properties.

You are ready to run the simulation.