© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 1

Customizing the legend in Mechanical

José Ramón Rodríguez

ANSYS Iberia

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 2

• In structural analysis there are several situations that can cause singularities.

• These “artificial” hot spots can adversely affect both error plots and convergence.

• Also the results plot can be confusing because of high non real values.

Introduction

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 3

How can we avoid the singularities?

1. Remove the singularity (e.g. more realistic loads and/or geometry).

2. Scope the results to those zones far away from the singularities.

3. Customize the legend.

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 4

How can we avoid the singularities?

1. Remove the singularity (e.g. more realistic loads and/or geometry).

2. Scope the results to those zones far away from the singularities.

3. Customize the legend.

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 5

Right Clicking on the legend in the graphics area allows the user to modify the legend display.

Continued . . .

Customizing the legend

Edit Value

Export/Import/Switch to a saved legend setting

Horizontal/Vertical legend

Display Date/Time

Display Max/Min label on the legend Switch to Logarithmic Scale

Switch to Scientific Notation Number of Significant Digits

Increase/Decrease Contour Bands

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 6

Click and drag contour dividers (or type in values) to specify contour

ranges.

The legend bounds can be manipulated to show result distributions more clearly for contour plots.

Max/Min values are unchanged

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Independent Bands allow neutral colors to represent regions of the model above or below the specified legend limits.

Legend Contour Range

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013 8

What if I want to change the max and min legend values?

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It is possible to customize more deeply the legend by changing its .xml associated file.

The procedure to be followed is:

2. Give a name to your customized legend. Click Ok

1. Right click on the legend. Select Named Legends and then New

3. Right click again on the legend. Select Named Legends and then Manage

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5. Open the .xml saved file. This file contains the whole information about the legend settings.

For changing the maximum bound go to the last <band> command and modify the next keys:

• value: set here the max value to be plotted

• valueAuto: change it to 0

For example:

4. Select the desired Legend and click on Export. Save the .xml file in a known location

Be careful with the units!!

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6. Right click again on the legend. Select Named Legends and then Manage

7. Click on Import. Select the previous .xml file and click Ok.

8. Right click again on the legend. Select Named Legends and then Manage. Select the desired legend.

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Comparison

With top independent bands in the legend (see slide 7)

With a customized legend