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SECTION 9. FEPLOT FINITE ELEMENT PLOT PROGRAM

9.1 Introduction

The FEPLOT program is an interactive, three-dimensional graphical environment for use with the output files created by the FEGEN, PDIST and PTEMP analysis programs. The FEPLOT program is capable of generating plots of the finite element model which is generated by the FEGEN computer program. In addition, the FEPLOT program is capable of generating color contour plots and deformed shape plots from the output files that are generated by the PDIST and PTEMP Analysis programs. In addition, hard copy output is obtainable from an HP-Paintjet or an HP-Laserjet printer.

9.2 Command Line Description

This section describes the allowable command lines and the arguments associated with them. The command lines are entered in free-field format (i.e., entries are separated by one or more blank spaces). Required arguments which are not entered on a command line are individually requested by the program. In addition to entering commands from the text-window, a mouse driven pop-up menu is available for use with all of the commands that are available in the FEPLOT program.

9.3 Command Line Index

A list of the twenty-five allowable command lines is given in Table 9-1 on page 9-2 of this manual. This table contains a brief description and page number for each command line.

COMMAND LINE DESCRIPTION
AXIS Toggles the coordinate axes ON/OFF.
CLS Clears the screen.
ELABEL Toggles the element ID labels ON/OFF.
END Ends the program.
EPLOT Plots the structural model.
FLXPLOT Plots the results of a skirt flexibility analysis.
HIDDEN Toggles the plotting of hidden element faces.
IDSPLOT Plots the results of an inertial displacement analysis.
LASERJET Prints the current screen image to an HP-Laserjet.
LEGEND Changes low and high values for legend.
LOAD Loads plot data for the specified model.
NLABEL Toggles the node ID labels ON/OFF.
NPLOT Plots the nodes of a structural model.
PAINTJET Prints the current image to an HP-Paintjet.
PDSPLOT Plots the results of a displacement analysis
REPAINT Repaints the current screen image.
ROTATE Rotates the model about the coordinate axes.
SCALE Scales the current screen image.
SETLJ Sets the port for an HP-Laserjet.
SETPJ Sets the port for an HP-Printjet.
TRANS Translates the current screen image.
TDSPLOT Plots the results of a thermal distortion analysis.
TEMPLOT Plots the results of a heat transfer analysis.
VIEW Selects a view point for the structural model.
ZOOMIN Zooms into the plotted image through zoom-in window.
ZOOMOUT Rescales the plotted image to the initial setting.
Table 9-1. Index of FEPLOT Program Command Lines.

Command Line: AXIS

Description: Toggles the coordinate axes ON/OFF for plots.

Format: AXIS FLAG

Example: AXIS OFF

Notes:

1) The initial default value for the axis plot is ON.


Command Line: CLS

Description: Clears the screen.

Format: CLS

Example: CLS

Notes:

1) The CLS command clears the screen and resets all plot buffer data.


Command Line: ELABEL

Description: Toggles the element ID labels ON/OFF for plots of the structural model.

Format: ELABEL FLAG

Example: ELABEL ON

Variable Description

FLAG Plot Code:

OFF - toggle element ID labels off.

ON - toggle element ID labels on.

Notes:

1) The initial default value for the element ID labels flag is OFF.


Command Line: END

Description: Ends the FEPLOT program.

Format: END

Example: END

Notes:

1) The END command closes all files, and returns the user to the DOS prompt.}


Command Line: EPLOT

Description: Plots selected elements of the structural model.

Format: EPLOT START END INC

Example: EPLOT 1 50 1

Variable Description
START Beginning element ID in the series.
END End element ID in the series.
INC Increment

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model.

2) The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model.

3) The default value for INC is 1.


Command Line: FLXPLOT

Description: Plots the results of a skirt flexibility analysis.

Format: FLXPLOT START END INC LCASE MAG Example: FLXPLOT 1 50 1 1 150.0

Variable Description
START Beginning element ID in the series.
END End element ID in the series.
INC Increment between element ID numbers.
LCASE Flexibility
MAG Magnification factor for a deformed shape plot of the structural model.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model. The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model. The default value for INC is 1. The default value for MAG is determined by the FEPLOT program.


Command Line: HIDDEN

Description: Toggles the plotting of hidden element faces.

Format: HIDDEN FLAG

Example: HIDDEN ON

Variable Description

FLAG Plot Code:

OFF - toggle wire mesh plot.

ON - toggle solid fill plot.

Notes:

1) The initial default value for the hidden flag is OFF.


Command Line: IDSPLOT

Description: Plots the results of an inertial displacement analysis.

Format: IDSPLOT START END INC MAG

Example: IDSPLOT 1 50 1 150.0

Variable Description
START Beginning element ID in the series.
END End element ID in the series.
INC Increment between element ID numbers.
MAG Magnification factor for a deformed shape plot of the structural model.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model. The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model. The default value for INC is 1. The default value for MAG is determined by the FEPLOT program.


Command Line: LASERJET

Description: Prints the current screen image to an HP-Laserjet printer.

Format: LASERJET

Example: LASERJET

Notes:

1) The LASERJET command creates a binary image map of the current screen image and transmits this image to an HP-Laserjet printer at 300 dots per inch. A minimum of one Mbyte of RAM must be present in the printer in order to produce images using this command.

2) An HP-Laserjet printer must be present on LPT1 or LPT2 in order for this command to be invoked. If an HP-Laserjet printer is not present, unexpected results may occur.

3) The default port for use with the HP-Laserjet printer is LPT1. This setting may be changed with the SETLJ command. Changes made using the SETLJ command are retained even after the user has issued an END command by storing the port data in the program's settings file (FEPLOT.SET).


Command Line: LEGEND

Description: Changes the low and high values for legend.

Format: LEGEND LO HI

Example: LEGEND AUTO AUTO

Variable Description
LO Low value for legend.
HI High value for legend.


Command Line: LOAD

Description: Loads finite element data for the specified model.

Format: LOAD MODEL

Example: LOAD PISTON

Variable Description

MODEL Model name for files consisting of finite element data.


Command Line: NLABEL

Description: Toggles node ID labels ON/OFF for plots of the structural model.

Format: NLABEL FLAG

Example: NLABEL ON

Variable Description
FLAG Plot Code:
none OFF - toggle node ID labels off.
none ON - toggle node ID labels on.

Notes:

1) The initial default value for the node ID labels flag is OFF.


Command Line: NPLOT

Description: Plots selected nodes of the structural model.

Format: NPLOT START END INC

Example: NPLOT 1 50 1

Variable Description
START Beginning node ID in the series.
END End node ID in the series.
INC Increment between node ID numbers.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest node ID of the structural model.

2) The default value for END is the highest node ID of the structural model.

3) The default value for INC is 1.


Command Line: PAINTJET

Description: Prints the current screen image to an HP-Paintjet printer.

Format: PAINTJET

Example: PAINTJET

Notes:

1) The PAINTJET command creates a binary image map of the current screen image and transmits this image to an HP-Paintjet printer at 90 dots per inch.

2) An HP-Paintjet printer must be present on LPT1 or LPT2 in order for this command to be invoked. If an HP-Paintjet printer is not present, unexpected results may occur.

3) The default port for use with the HP-Paintjet printer is LPT1. This setting may be changed with the SETPJ command. Changes made using the SETPJ command are retained even after the user has issued an END command by storing the port data in the program's settings file (FEPLOT.SET).


Command Line: PDSPLOT

Description: Plots the results of a displacement analysis.

Format: PDSPLOT START END INC MAG

Example: PDSPLOT 1 50 1 150.0

Variable Description
START Beginning element ID in the series.
END End element ID in the series.
INC Increment between element ID numbers.
MAG Magnification factor for a deformed shape plot of the structural model.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model. The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model. The default value for INC is 1. The default value for MAG is determined by the FEPLOT program.


Command Line: REPAINT

Description: Repaints the current screen image.

Format: REPAINT

Example: REPAINT

Notes:

1) The REPAINT command clears the screen and replots all plot buffer data.


Command Line: ROTATE

Description: Rotates the model about the coordinate axes.

Format: ROTATE RX RY RZ RESCALE

Example: ROTATE -45 0 120 1

RX Angle of rotation in the global X-direction.
RY Angle of rotation in the global Y-direction.
RZ Angle of rotation in the global Z-direction.
RESCALE Flag to rescale the model after rotation about the coordinate axes.

Notes:

1) The default value for RX, RY and RZ is 0.

2) If RESCALE is set to 0, the plot scale is not changed after the ROTATE command is issued. If RESCALE is not set to 0, the plot scale is adjusted after the ROTATE command is issued. The default value for RESCALE is 1.


Command Line: SCALE

Description: Scales the current screen image.

Format: SCALE MAG

Example: SCALE 2

Variable Description

MAG Magnification factor for the plot scale.

Notes:

1) The default value for MAG is AUTOMATIC.

2) If MAG is set to 0, AUTOMATIC or AUTO the plot scale is changed to the default scale. If MAG is not set to 0, AUTOMATIC or AUTO, the current plot scale is multiplied by the given value for MAG.


Command Line: SETLJ

Description: Sets the port for use with an HP-Laserjet printer.

Format: SETLJ PORT

Example: SETLJ LPT1

PORT Parallel port for use with an HP-Laserjet printer.

Notes:

1) The default value for PORT is LPT1.

2) Acceptable values for PORT are LPT1 or 1 to select parallel port 1 and LPT2 or 2 to select parallel port 2 for the HP-Laserjet printer.


Command Line: SETPJ

Description: Sets the port for use with an HP-Paintjet printer.

Format: SETPJ PORT

Example: SETPJ LPT1

Variable Description

PORT Parallel port for use with an HP-Paintjet printer.

Notes:

1) The default value for PORT is LPT1.

2) Acceptable values for PORT are LPT1 or 1 to select parallel port 1 and LPT2 or 2 to select parallel port 2 for the HP-Paintjet printer.


Command Line: TDSPLOT

Description: Plots the results of a thermal displacement analysis.

Format: TDSPLOT START END INC MAG

Example: TDSPLOT 1 50 1 150.0

Variable Description

START Beginning element ID in the series.

END End element ID in the series.

INC Increment between element ID numbers.

MAG Magnification factor for a deformed shape plot of the structural model.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model. The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model. The default value for INC is 1. The default value for MAG is determined by the FEPLOT program.


Command Line: TEMPLOT

Description: Plots the results of an inertial displacement analysis.

Format: TEMPLOT START END INC

Example: TEMPLOT 1 50 1

Variable Description
START Beginning element ID in the series.
END End element ID in the series.
INC Increment between element ID numbers.

Notes:

1) The default value for START is the lowest element ID of the structural model. The default value for END is the highest element ID of the structural model. The default value for INC is 1.


Command Line: TRANS

Description: Translates the the current screen image from an existing location on the screen to another location.

Format: TRANS

Example: TRANS

Notes:

1) After invoking the TRANS command, the user is prompted to select an initial reference point on the screen using a mouse. This initial reference point is selected by pressing the left mouse button.

2) After an initial reference point is selected, the user is prompted to select a final point for translation on the screen using a mouse. This final point for translation is selected by pressing the left mouse button.

3) After selecting an initial and final point for translation, the program repaints the image according to the new view point.


Command Line: VIEW

Description: Selects a view point for plots of the structural model.

Format: VIEW X Y Z RESCALE

Example: VIEW 1 0 1 1

Notes:

1) The default value for X is zero (0). The default value for Y is zero (0). If X is zero (0) and Y is zero (0), the default value for Z is one (1). If neither X nor Y is set to zero (0), then the default value for Z is zero (0).

2) If RESCALE is set to 0, the plot scale is not changed after the VIEW command is issued. If RESCALE is not set to 0, the plot scale is adjusted after the VIEW command is issued. The default value for RESCALE is 1.


Command Line: ZOOMIN

Description: Zooms into the plotted image through the zoom-in window.

Format: ZOOMIN

Example: ZOOMIN

Notes:

1) After invoking the ZOOMIN command, the user is prompted to select an initial corner point for a window on the screen using a mouse. This initial corner point is selected by pressing the left mouse button.

2) After an initial corner point is selected, the user is prompted to select a second corner point for a window on the screen using a mouse. This second corner point for a window is selected by pressing the left mouse button.

3) When initial and final corner points for a window are entered, the program replots the image from the selected window.


Command Line: ZOOMOUT

Description: Rescales the plotted image to the initial setting.

Format: ZOOMOUT

Example: ZOOMOUT

Notes:

1) ZOOMOUT command rescales the current screen image to its original size.

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Variable Description
X X-component of the view point in the global X-direction.
Y Y-component of the view point in the global Y-direction.
Z Z-component of the view point in the global Z-direction.
RESCALE Flag to rescale the model after selecting view point.