Displayer Properties Reference

Displayer Properties Lookup

This table shows which properties are used by which displayers.

Geometry Scalar Vector Streamline DFBI
Account for Idealization
When activated, replicates the geometry of parts that are associated with periodic repeat idealizations. Activates the Periodic Repeat Control sub-node. See Presenting the Whole Domain.
Bodies
When activated, displays bodies in the scene.
Color Mode
Controls the arrangement of colors. Only some of these settings are available for the DFBI displayer, and others are unique to the streamline or vector displayer, noted accordingly.
  • Type (Default)—colors the part surfaces according to their boundary type. Fot the DFBI displayer, the default colors are as follows:
    • Body hull: slate gray
    • Body center of mass: dark orange
    • Force vector: red
    • Moment vector: blue
    • Linear spring coupling: steel blue
    • Catenary coupling: beige
  • Distinguish Regions—colors the surfaces by region, so that different regions can be identified.
  • Region Type—colors the surfaces by region type, that is, fluid, porous or solid.
  • Distinguish Inputs—colors regions by boundaries, or parts by part surfaces - depending if regions or parts are displayed in the scene.
  • Distinguish Forces and Moments—(DFBI displayer only) colors by forces and moments according to their specific type (External Fluid Force and Moment, External Gravity Force, Force CM, Moment CM, Generalized Force, Propulsion Force, Damping Force, Damping Moment, Linear Spring Force, Catenary Force). All other parts are colored as in the setting Type (Default).
  • Constant—adds the Color subnode to the displayer node to display using a custom color.
  • Preset Material—activates the Preset Material subnode, which gives access to predefined materials. For details, see Preset Material.
  • Geometry Part—uses the color specified on the geometry part. Adds the Part Colors subnode to the displayer node so that you can specify which color mode to use to display the geometry. The available color modes are:
    • Geometry Part: Uses the color specified on the geometry part.
    • Part Surfaces : Uses the color specified on the part surfaces.
    • Composite Part: Uses the color specified on the highest level composite part in the part or part surface hierarchy.
    • Top → Down in Hierarchy: Searches for a user-defined color starting from the highest level composite in the part or part surfaces hierarchy.
    • Bottom → Up in Hierarchy: Searches for a user-defined color starting from the lowest part surface to the highest level composite in the part or part surfaces hierarchy.
  • Region—colors the surfaces by region (streamline and vector displayers only).
  • Scalar (Default)—colors the streamlines according to the selected scalar field function (streamline displayer only).
  • Scalar Field—adds the Color Field subnode to the displayer node to color glyphs based on values of a selected scalar field.
  • Vector Magnitude—colors the glyphs based on values of a selected vector field (vector displayer only).
Couplings
When activated, displays body couplings in the scene.
Constraints
When activated, displays body constraints in the scene.
Contour Style
Controls how the values, represented by colors, are separated from each other.
  • Automatic—automatically selects the most appropriate contour style, depending on the specified scalar function and parts (default).
  • Filled—assigns values based on cell values. The values that are shown are the values stored at the cell centroids on the server. Scenes have a stepped appearance.
  • Smooth Filled—assigns values by node. The smooth filled contour is generated using vertex values rather than cell centroid-based values and appears smoother than the default filled contour style. However, for most scalar fields values are interpolated from the cell centers to the vertices (or nodes) of each cell. Thus, data extraction with the smooth-filled option is more expensive in terms of computing power.
  • Smooth Filled + Lines—adds lines to separate the colored values in the Smooth Filled style. Smoothing is applied to get the node values.
  • Line—draws lines between the different values. This contour style displays isolines of the vertex-based scalar quantity that is colored with the value of the scalar.
  • Smooth Blended—displays a smooth transition from one value to another. Smoothing is applied to get the node values.

    The smooth blended option is based on vertex values, similar to the smooth filled option. However, it is less computationally expensive than the smooth filled option due to the technique used to blend colors across the cell surfaces.

Data Focus
Selects a data focus object to apply to this displayer. The choice of data focus objects depends on the total number of these objects in the simulation. When a data focus object is selected, a data focus sub-node is added to this node. See Exploring Solutions with Data Focus.
Display Mesh
Controls the appearance of the mesh grid.
When activated, shows the complete grid and adds the Mesh Color subnode to the displayer node to control the color of the mesh lines. This lets you examine the density and cell structure of various parts of the model, and thereby make judgments about accuracy.
Display Mode
Controls how the vector field is displayed:
  • Glyph—Uses glyphs to display vectors. Activates the Glyph manager node.
  • Line Integral Convolution—Uses a texture-based technique to display vectors. Activates the Line Integral Convolution node.
Element Shrink
Contracts the vertices of each polygon toward the polygon centroid when set below 1.0. This lets you see the surface cells of the model more clearly.

If you enter 0, the shading disappears; only the edges are visible if they are activated. The Surface property must be activated in order for the effects of this function to be visible. This property can be set with a slider.
Face Culling
Controls whether and how to cull polygons.
  • None—does not cull any polygons.
  • Front—culls (omits from the display) all polygons that are oriented toward the front of the view.
  • Back—culls (omits from the display) all polygons that are oriented toward the back of the view.
Each face in a polygonal surface has two sides: outward-facing, and inward-facing, determined by the vertex ordering of the polygon. This property tells the display to not draw (to cull) faces which have the orientation selected in the property’s drop-down list. This results in faster display because only half the faces are actually drawn.


No culling Front faces culled
The best uses for this are mainly with baffles, where turning on this feature speeds up display in some cases. Culling can also be used to check the surface for defects; that is, turn on backface culling and you can see holes, which are possible signs of an improperly oriented surface.
Feature Lines
When activated, shows feature lines.
Option Activated Child Nodes
Activated Feature Angle

Provides the following settings:

Feature Angle
Sets the minimum angle between polygonal facets when displaying feature lines.
Forces
When activated, displays forces in the scene.
Glyph Scale
Defines how to scale the glyphs.
  • Absolute—scales the glyphs based on the specified sizes in the Absolute Size node.
  • Model Size—scales the glyphs relative to the maximum body length based on the specified sizes in the Relative Size node. The maximum body length is the length of the largest body in the simulation. The length of a body is its largest extent measured in the three directions given by the axes of the body coordinate system.
  • Screen Size—scales the glyphs relative to the display height based on the specified sizes in the Relative Size node.
  • Direct—scales the glyphs based on the proportions specified in the Direct Size node.
Ignore Clip
When activated, shows all parts in the displayer with no effect of any activated clip plane.
Lighting
Controls the lighting of the part. Accessing the property customizer opens the Lighting dialog.
Line Width
Adjusts the width in pixels of lines that are used in the display, depending on the type of displayer. For example, in a scalar displayer, this setting would be effective only if the Contour Style property were set to Line.
Mesh
When activated, shows the complete grid and adds the Mesh Color subnode to the displayer node to control the color of the mesh lines. This option lets you examine the density and cell structure of various parts of the model, and make judgments about accuracy.
Mode
Defines the style of streamline.
  • Lines—shows streamlines in a linear format.
  • Ribbons—shows streamlines as flat bands. This format depicts the local vorticity of particles moving through flow. Unlike lines, ribbons provide surfaces that can be viewed clearly with the Surface Lighting feature.
  • Tubes—shows streamlines as tubes. This is the default setting. Tubes are more suitable for presentation purposes, since, unlike ribbons, they do not indicate particle orientation.
Moments
When activated, displays moments in the scene.
Opacity
Adjusts the transparency of the part. The settings range from 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (opaque), and can be controlled with a slider. This property allows you to show an overlay of different parts of the model.
Orientation
Defines how ribbon streamlines are twisted. Only valid if the Mode property is set to Ribbons.
  • Normals—normal twisting.
  • Angular Velocity—uses the angular velocity of the vector to twist then ribbon.
  • Vorticity—uses the local vorticity to twist the ribbon.
  • Rotation—uses rotation to twist the ribbon.
Outline
When activated, shows the outlines of the parts.
When you deactivate this property and activate the Surface property, you generate a more realistic image of the model.
Part Visibility
Overrides the visibility settings of individual parts in the scene:
  • Show All Parts
  • Hide All Parts
  • Use Part Visibility Property—leaves settings of individual parts.
Point Scale Mode
Selects a mode for scaling points. The screen display size of parts that are represented by points (such as Lagrangian parcels or points on a presentation grid) can be set to a constant pixel size, scaled according to a scalar function, or scaled according to values from a particle model.
  • Pixels—activates the Point Size node to let you set the display size of points on the screen in pixels.
  • Scalar—activates the Point Size Scale Field node to let you scale points based on a scalar function.
  • Particle Model—scales points based on data in the particle phase. Activate when you are visualizing Lagrangian or DEM particles.

    To ensure accurate particle modeling, the corresponding data source checks whether the models are activated in the simulation. If there is no particle model present the particles are rendered as spheres.

Point Size
Sets the point size in pixels. This property can be set with a slider.
Projection Mode
Controls the projection of vectors relative to the surface.
  • None (Default)—Leaves the vectors with both normal and tangential components.
  • Normal—Removes the tangential component of the vectors, projecting them with the normal component.
  • Tangential—Removes the normal component of the vectors, projecting them with the tangential component.
Representation
Selects a representation. Additional selections would appear as representations are added to the simulation.
Smooth Shade
When activated, smooths mesh edges in a display using the Shading Angle which appears in the Shading Angle child node. This option is especially useful when displaying isosurfaces with advanced rendering.
Edges with a dihedral angle above the value set by this property are not smoothed.



0 degrees (same as Smooth Shade deactivated) 45 degrees 120 degrees
Specular Highlight Mode
Specular highlighting is the reflection of a light source on a shiny surface (such as polished metal).
  • Material—uses the color of the material (default). For example, on a black surface, no specular highlighting is visible.
  • Light—uses the color of the light. To specify this color, see Light Properties.
Surface
When activated, shows the parts of the model with solid colors, generating a more realistic image of the model.
When this option is deactivated, the surfaces are completely transparent except for outlines, if outlines are activated.
Tags
Selects a tag from a drop-down list of the existing tags in the simulation.
Transform
Selects a transform to apply to all parts in the displayer. None is the default selection. Additional selections would appear when you create transforms.
This feature allows for the creation of symmetric and periodic repeats, as well as arbitrary transforms to be used.
Vector Length
Mode that determines vector length.
  • Vector Magnitude—uses relative vector magnitude, that is, the scales of all vectors are fractions of the largest one.
  • Constant Length—lets you scale vectors on the order of the model rather than on the data.
Vector Tip Scale
Sets the scale of the vector heads.
Width
Controls the size of the streamlines' ribbons or tubes. The units are of the mesh that is imported into the simulation.