Customizing the gridlines for an X–Y plot

You can customize the gridlines for an X–Y plot.

See Also
Selecting one or more X–Y curves to customize

Context:

Click the Grid Display tab to control the appearance of the major and minor gridlines of an X–Y plot. Examples of major and minor gridlines are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. X–Y plot with major and minor gridlines indicated.

If your X–Y plot uses multiple axes in the same direction, Abaqus/CAE draws gridlines only for the axes of the first curve in the plot.

The Grid Display options provide independent control over each of the four sets of gridlines; that is, independent control over the major and minor gridlines in either direction. You can display or hide any of the four sets, and you can modify the color, style, or thickness of the lines for any of the four sets of gridlines.

Note:

Major gridlines originate from major tick marks, and minor gridlines originate from minor tick marks. To control the interval between gridlines, you must adjust the spacing of the tick marks.

  1. Locate the axis Grid Display options.

    Select OptionsXY OptionsChart; or click , which is located with the X–Y plotting tools in the Visualization module toolbox. Click the Grid Display tab in the dialog box that appears.

  2. Select one or more X–Y plots to customize from the Charts field.
  3. From the X Gridlines options, toggle on the Major or Minor options to display major or minor vertical gridlines, respectively.

    When either Major or Minor is on, gridline style, color, and thickness options become available for that type of gridline.

  4. From the Y Gridlines options, toggle on Major or Minor to display major or minor horizontal gridlines, respectively.
  5. Repeat the following steps to customize the horizontal major and minor gridlines and the vertical major and minor gridlines:
    1. Choose the color for the gridlines:

      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 selected gridlines change to the specified color.

    2. Choose the line style:

      1. Expand the style list to reveal the line style options (solid, dashed, etc.). The style list is the upper of the two unlabeled list options.

      2. From the style list, click the desired line style.

        The selected gridlines change to the specified style.

    3. Choose the line thickness:

      1. Expand the thickness list to reveal the line style options (solid, dashed, etc.). The style list is the lower of the two unlabeled list options.

      2. From the thickness list, click the desired line thickness.

        The selected gridlines change to the specified thickness.

  6. Click Dismiss to close the Chart Options dialog box.