Customizing banded- and isosurface-type contours

Abaqus/CAE displays banded-type contours as colored bands on the surface of your model and displays isosurface contours by extending line-type contours through the model to create surfaces. You can display or suppress lines at the edges of each contour band or isosurface; these lines are called contour edges. Contour edges visually separate the colors used to represent contour values in a banded-type contour plot; for isosurfaces, where the separation is often more distinct, the display of contour edges is more decorative. You can further customize the color, style, and thickness of contour edges. For example, in Figure 1 the contour plot on the left has contour edges suppressed, while the plot on the right has contour edges displayed.

Note:

Contour edges are not applicable to continuous interval contour plots.

See Also
Choosing line-, banded-, quilt-, or isosurface-type contours
Customizing contour intervals
Understanding contour plotting

Context:

Figure 1. Banded-type contour plots with contour edges suppressed and displayed.

  1. Locate the Banded / Isosurface options.

    Select OptionsContour from the main menu bar or click in the toolbox. Click the Color & Style tab in the dialog box that appears; then click the Banded / Isosurface tab. The Banded / Isosurface options appear.

  2. Toggle Show contour edges to display or suppress contour edges.

    When Show contour edges is on, the contour edge options become available.

  3. Choose the color of the contour edges:
    1. Click the color sample .

      Abaqus/CAE displays the Select Color dialog box.

    2. Use one of the methods in the Select Color dialog box to select a new color. For more information, see Customizing colors.
    3. Click OK to close the Select Color dialog box.

      The color sample changes to the selected color. The new color does not appear in the viewport until you click OK or Apply in the Contour Plot Options dialog box.

  4. Choose the style of the contour edges:
    1. Click the Style button to reveal the contour edge style options.
    2. Click the edge style you want.

      The specified edge style appears on the Style button.

  5. Choose the thickness of the contour edges:
    1. Click the Thickness button to reveal the contour edge thickness options.
    2. Click the edge thickness you want.

      The specified edge thickness appears on the Thickness button.

  6. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The contour edges of the banded contour plot in the current viewport change to reflect your specifications.

    By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent contour plots. If you want to retain your changes for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions.