Global Graphics Controls

The following controls can be used in the SELECT section to modify the behavior of the graphics subsystem.

Logical selectors can be turned on by selector = ON, or merely mentioning the selector.

Logical selectors can be turned off by selector = OFF.

In the usual case, these selectors can be over-ridden by specific controls in individual plot commands (see Graphic Display Modifiers).

ALIAS ( coord )         = "name"        default: Coordinate name

Defines an alternate label for the plot axes.

AUTOHIST                        default: On        

Causes history plots to be updated when any other plot is drawn.

BLACK                        default: Off        

Draw all graphic output in black only.

CDFGRID                        default: 51        

Specifies the default size of CDF output grid (ie, 51x51).        

CONTOURGRID                default: 51

Resolution specification for contour plots.  Actual computation cell sizes will be used unless they exceed the size implied by this resolution.                

CONTOURS                        default: 15        

Target number of contour levels.  Contours are selected to give "nice" numbers, and the number of contours may not be exactly as specified here.        

ELEVATIONGRID                default: 401

Elevation plot grid size used by From..To elevation plots. Elevations on boundaries ignore this number and use the actual mesh points.                        

FEATUREPLOT                        default: Off

If this selector is ON, FEATURE boundaries will be plotted in gray. This was the default behavior in versions prior to 3.10b.

FINDERBINS                        default: 20

FlexPDE uses a banded subdivision of the box containing the domain to speed the search for plot points in the computation mesh and lookup points in TRANSFER files.  In problems with meshes which are dense in localized areas, the default of 20 bands may be insufficient to speed the lookup, and a larger number of bands may be required. Use FINDERBINS to select a new number.  [3.10a]

FONT                        default: 2

Font=1 selects sans-serif font.  Font=2 selects serif font.        

GRAY                        default: Off

Draws all plots with a gray scale instead of the default color palette.

HARDMONITOR                default: Off

Causes MONITORS to be written to the hardcopy (.pg5) file.        

LOGLIMIT                        default: 15

The range of data in logarithmic plots is limited to LOGLIMIT decades below the maximum data value.  This is a global control which may be overridden by the local LOG(number) qualifier on the plot command.

MERGE                        default: On

Allows merging of low-error mesh cells.  Only cells which have previously been split can be merged.        

NOMINMAX                        default: Off

Deletes "o" and "x" marks at min and max values on all contour plots.                                

NOTAGS                        default: Off        

Suppresses level identifying tags on all contour and elevation plots.        

NOTIPS                        default: Off        

Plot arrows in vector plots without arrowheads. Useful for bi-directional stress plots.        

PAINTED                        default: Off

Draw color-filled contour plots.  Plots can be painted individually by selecting PAINT in the plot modifiers.                

PAINTGRID                        default: On

Draw color-filled grid plots.  Colors represent distinct materials, as defined by parameters.        

PAINTMATERIALS                default: On        

Synonymous with PAINTGRID, included for symmetry with individual PLOT modifiers.        

PAINTREGIONS                default: Off                

Sets PAINTGRID, but selects a different coloring scheme.  Colors represent logical regions in 2D, or logical (region,layer) compartments in 3D, instead of distinct material parameters. 

PLOTINTEGRATE                default: On                

Integrate all spatial plots. Default is volume and surface integrals, using 2*pi*r weighting in cylindrical geometry. Histories are not automatically integrated, and must be explicitly integrated.

PRINTMERGE                        default: Off

Send all stages or plot times of each EXPORT statement to a single file. By default, EXPORTS create a separate file for each time or stage. Individual EXPORTS can be controlled by plot modifiers.

SURFACEGRID                        default: 51

Selects the minimum resolution for Surface plots.                

TEXTSIZE                        default: 35

Controls size of text on plot output.  Value is number of lines per page, so larger numbers mean smaller text. 

THERMAL_COLORS                default: On

Sets the order of colors used in labeling plots. ON puts red is at the top (hot). OFF puts red at the bottom (lowest spectral color).

VECTORGRID                        default: 41

Sets minimum resolution of Vector plots.                        

VIEWPOINT ( x, y, angle )        default: negative X&Y, 30

Defines default viewpoint for SURFACE plots.  Angle is in degrees. (In 3D, this specifies a position in the cut plane)