Using Adams/PostProcessor - MD Adams 2010

Welcome to Adams/Post Processor 1
Welcome to Adams/Post Processor

2 Adams/PostProcessor
About Adams/PostProcessor
About Adams/PostProcessor
Adams/PostProcessor software is a powerful postprocessing tool that lets you view the results of
simulations you performed using other products in the MD Adams 2010® suite of software. The
Adams/PostProcessor Help explains the basics of using Adams/PostProcessor.
The Adams/PostProcessor Help assumes you know the basics of using Adams products. It also assumes
that you have a moderate level of knowledge about signal processing and that you have access to in-depth
references on it. For introductions to Adams products, see their getting started guides or Help.
For a tutorial of Adams/PostProcessor, see Getting Started Using Adams/PostProcessor.
Introducing Adams/PostProcessor
Adams/PostProcessor lets you rapidly view your Adams results, making it easier for you to understand
the behavior of your model. Adams/PostProcessor supports you through the entire model development
cycle, including:
• Debugging - Adams/PostProcessor helps you debug your model by letting you look at your
model in motion. You can also isolate a single flexible body to focus on its deformations.
• Validating - To validate your results, you can import test data and plot it against the numeric
results of simulations you performed in Adams. You can also perform mathematical operations
and statistical analyses on plot curves.
• Improving - You can graphically compare results from two or more simulations. In addition,
with a few mouse clicks you can automatically update the results in plots. By speeding up the
viewing of your simulation results, you can try more variations of your model. You can also
check for collisions and generate a report of the closest distance between bodies at each frame of
the animation to help you improve your design.
• Presenting Results - Adams/PostProcessor helps you present the results of your investigations
in Adams. To enhance the design reviews and reports, you can change the look of plots and add
titles and notes to them. You can also show the results as tables. To enhance the presentation of
animations, you can import CAD geometry into them. Or, you can create movies from the
animations and add the movies to your presentation. Finally, you can show synchronized
animations of your three-dimensional geometry along with plots and publish the results to the
Web.
Learning Adams/PostProcessor Basics 3
Learning Adams/PostProcessor Basics

Overview
Overview
Starting Adams/PostProcessor
You can run Adams/PostProcessor as a stand-alone product or from within other Adams products, such
as Adams/View or Adams/Car. The following instructions explain how to start Adams/PostProcessor in
stand-alone mode. It also explains how to start any add-ons or plugins to Adams/PostProcessor.
Currently, the only plugin is for Adams/Durability.
To start Adams/PostProcessor stand-alone in UNIX:

• At the command prompt, enter the command to start the Adams Toolbar, and then press Enter.
The standard command that MSC.Software provides is adams07x, where x is the version
number.
The Adams Toolbar appears.
• Click the Adams/PostProcessor tool .
For more information on the Adams Toolbar, see Running and Configuring Adams.
To start Adams/PostProcessor stand-alone in Windows:

• From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to MSC.Software, point to MD Adams 2010,
point to APostProcessor, and then select Adams - PostProcessor.
For more information on running Adams products from the Start menu, see Running and
Configuring Adams.
For information on running Adams/PostProcessor from Adams/View:

• See Using Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View.
For information on running Adams/PostProcessor from within other Adams products:

• See the online help for that product.
To start an Adams/PostProcessor plugin (currently Adams/Durability):

• From the Tools menu, select Plugin Manager.
• In the Load column next to the desired plugin, select Yes.
• Select OK.
For more information on the plugin, see the plugin online help. For more information on the
Plugin Manager, press F1 when the cursor is in the Plugin Manager dialog box.
Overview
Exiting Adams/PostProcessor
To exit Adams/PostProcessor:
• On the File menu, select Exit.
Using Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View

Learn how to use Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor together:
• Starting Adams/PostProcessor from Adams/View
• Returning to Adams/View from Adams/PostProcessor
• Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor Interdependencies
Starting Adams/PostProcessor from Adams/View
To display Adams/PostProcessor with no results currently displayed, do one of the

following:
• On the Adams/View Review menu, select Postprocessing.
• From the Adams/View Main toolbox, select the Postprocessing tool .
To display the Adams/PostProcessor with the results of a measure or parametric

analysis:
• In a Strip chart window, right-click the background (not on a curve) to display a menu containing
the name of the strip chart.
• Point to the name of the strip chart, and then select Transfer to Full Plot.
Adams/View transfers the measure to Adams/PostProcessor.
Returning to Adams/View from Adams/PostProcessor
To return to Adams/View, do one of the following:

• On the Adams/PostProcessor File menu, select Close Plot Window.
• From the Adams/PostProcessor Main toolbar, select the Modeling tool .
Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor Interdependencies

When running Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View, note that the settings you apply to
Adams/PostProcessor affect the Adams/View environment. For example, changing the units or a color of
a part in Adams/PostProcessor automatically updates the model in Adams/View to reflect these changes.
Overview
About the Adams/PostProcessor Window

The following figure shows the Adams/PostProcessor window. The elements shown are common to all
modes.
Adams/PostProcessor Window
Setting the Window Mode

Adams/PostProcessor has four modes: animation, plotting, reports, and three-dimensional plotting (only
available with Adams/Vibration data). Its mode changes depending on the contents of the current
viewport (see Viewports). For example, the tools in the Main toolbar change if you load an animation. You
can also manually set the mode.
To switch modes manually

• Do one of the following:
• Click in a viewport containing an animation, plot, or report.
• From the pull-down menu in the Main toolbar, select the desired mode.
• Right-click the viewport, and then select a Load command, such as Load Animation.
Managing Pages
Learn more about managing Pages.
• Creating Pages
Overview
• Renaming Pages
• Displaying Pages
• Displaying Headers and Footers on Pages
Note: For information on deleting pages, see Deleting Objects.
Creating Pages
To create a page:
• From the View menu, point to Page, and then select New.
Tip: From the Main toolbar, select .
When you create a page, Adams/PostProcessor automatically assigns a name to it.
Renaming Pages
To change the name of a page:

• In the treeview, click the page to be renamed.
• From the Edit menu, select Rename.
• Enter the new name for the page.
• Select OK.
Displaying Pages
Adams/PostProcessor provides you with several ways to move through the pages of plots.
To display a specific page, do one of the following:

• In the treeview, click the page you'd like to display.
• From the View menu, point to Page, and then select Display. From the list of pages, select the
page to display.
To navigate through the pages:

• To display the next page, from the View menu, point to Page, and then select Next Page.

Overview
• To display the previous page, from the View menu, point to Page, and then select Previous
Page.
• To display the first page, from the View menu, point to Page, and then select First Page.
Tip: From the Main toolbar, right-click and then select .
• To display the last page, from the View menu, point to Page, and then select Last Page.
Tip: From the Main toolbar, right-click and then select .
Displaying Headers and Footers on Pages

You can display headers and footers on all pages. Each header and footer can have three items of
information (left, center, and right). Each item on the header footer can be a bitmapped image (.jpg, .xpm,
or .bmp) or text.
You can also set up default headers and footers to appear on all pages as explained in PPT Preferences -
Page.
To set up headers and footers on a page:

1. Select the page on which you want to display the headers and footers.
2. In the Property Editor, select Header or Footer. Select None to turn off the display of headers and
footers.
3. Select the item of information (left, center, or right) that you are setting up.
4. Set Source to Text or Image and then:
• For text, enter the text to be displayed, and set the text font size and color.
• For an image, enter the location and name of the image file to be displayed, and the height at
which you want the image displayed.
Adams/PostProcessor automatically displays the image as 50 pixels high.
Undoing and Redoing Actions

You can undo the effects of most Adams/PostProcessor commands. Adams/PostProcessor remembers up
to 10 operations, by default. Note that you cannot undo the effects of some commands, such as the
commands in the File menu.
Overview
To undo an operation:
• On the Edit menu, select Undo.
Tip: From the Main toobar, select .
If you change your mind and do not want to undo an operation, you can redo it.
To redo an operation:
• On the Edit menu, select Redo.
Tip: From the Main toobar, right-click , and then select .
Canceling Operations
You can cancel any operation that you started in Adams/PostProcessor. For example, you can exit from
a dialog box or stop a Simulation or animation.
To cancel an operation, do either of the following:

• Select the Cancel button on a dialog box if available.
• Press the Esc key.
About Data
About Data
Creating Sessions and Adding Data

When you start Adams/PostProcessor, it starts a new session file for you, called a notebook. To get results
of simulations into your notebook, you import the results. Once you've reviewed the simulation results,
you can save your notebooks, if Adams/PostProcessor is in Stand-alone mode, and you can export that
data for use in other programs.
Learn more about how to create notebooks, save your work, and import data:
• Creating a New Session
• Saving a Notebook
• Adding Data
Creating a New Session

Each time you start Adams/PostProcessor in Stand-alone mode, it creates a new session in which to
work. You can also create a new session at anytime.
To create a new session:

• From the File menu, select New.
Saving a Notebook
In Stand-alone mode, Adams/PostProcessor saves your current session in Notebooks. You can also save
a copy of a notebook with a different name or in a different location. When you save a notebook,
Adams/PostProcessor saves all the pages you created and their content. It also saves the simulation
results in the binary file. The results are not associated with the files you imported.
To save an existing, named session:

• From the File menu, select Save.
To save a new, unnamed session or to save a session with a new name:

1. From the File menu, select Save As.
2. Type a name for the notebook.
3. To save the document in a different directory, right-click the File Name text box, select Browse,
and then select the desired directory.
4. Select OK.
Adding Data
You can import data from the types of files shown below into Adams/PostProcessor to animate, plot, or
view as a report. The data that you import appears at the top of the treeview.
About Data
• Adams/View command (.cmd). See Import - Adams/View Command Files.

• Adams/Solver dataset (.adm). See Import - Adams/Solver Dataset.
• Adams/Solver analysis (.req, .res, .gra). See Import - Adams/Solver Analysis Files.
• Adams/Vibration results. See Importing Vibration Results.
• Numeric data. See Import - Test Data.
• DAC and RPC III. See Import - DAC or RPC III.
• Wavefront objects. See Export - Wavefront.
• Stereolithography and render. See Import - Stereolithography and Render Files.
• Shell. See Import - Shell.
• Reports. See Viewing Reports.
Exporting Data
You can export animation and plotting data in the following formats.
• Spreadsheet format. See Export - Spreadsheet Data.
• Numeric data. See Export - Numeric Test Data.
• DAC and RPC III data. See Export - DAC or RPC III.
• Tables (HTML or spreadsheet format). See Exporting Plots as Tables.
• Reports (HTML). See Exporting Adams/PostProcessor Data as an HTML Report.
Note: You can also record animations as AVI movies, TIFF files, and more. For more
information, see Recording Animations.
Exporting Plots as Tables
To export plots as tables:

1. From the File menu, point to Export, and then select Table.
2. Type a name for the file.
3. Enter the name of the plot containing the data.
4. Select either html or spreadsheet.
5. Select OK.
Using Toolbars
Using Toolbars
The Adams/PostProcessor window contains several toolbars that let you perform special functions.
• Main toolbar - The Main toolbar appears by default. It contains tools for setting options and
performing operations. The contents of the toolbar change depending on the
Adams/PostProcessor mode.
• Curve Edit toolbar - Lets you manipulate curve data. See Displaying the Curve Edit Toolbar.
• Statistics toolbar - Lets you view statistics about curves, such as the minimum and maximum
values. See Displaying Plot Statistics About Curves.
• Status bar - Displays information messages and prompts while you work. The right side of the
status bar displays the number of the displayed page and the total number of pages.
Learn more about the Main toolbar and how to display the different toolbars:
• About the Main Toolbar
• Setting Up and Displaying Toolbars
• Using Tool Stacks
About the Main Toolbar

The Main toolbar appears at the top of the Adams/PostProcessor window. It displays commonly used
tools for working with animations, plotting results, and Reports. Some tools remain in all Modes, while
other tools change depending on the mode.
The following figures show groups of tools in the Main toolbar in different modes. You can display Tool
tips to see what a tool does.
Main Toolbar Session Tools
Main Toolbar Page and Viewport Tools
Main Toolbar Animation Tools

Using Toolbars
Main Toolbar 2D Plotting Tools
Main Toolbar Report Tools
Main Toolbar 3D Plotting Tools
Setting Up and Displaying Toolbars

You can turn the display of toolbars on and off. You can also set where the toolbars appear-either at the
top of the window under the menu bar or at the bottom of the window. You can also turn on and off the
dashboard and treeview. By default, the dashboard and treeview are displayed, the Main toolbar appears
at the top of the window, the Curve Edit and Statistics toolbars are turned off, and the status bar appears
at the bottom of the window.
To turn toolbars on or off:

• From the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select a toolbar.
To set the placement of toolbars:

1. From the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select Settings.
The Toolbar Settings dialog box appears.
2. Select the visibility and placement of the items.
Your changes take place immediately.
Using Tool Stacks

In the Main toolbar, some of the tools are actually stacks of tools called tool stacks. The default tool or
last selected tool appears on top of the stack. A small triangle in the lower right corner of the top tool
indicates that there are more tools.
To select a tool from a tool stack:

1. Right-click a tool stack (a tool with a small triangle in the lower right corner).
2. Select the desired tool in the stack.
The selected tool now appears on top of the tool stack.
Interface Objects
Interface Objects
Setting Display of Interface Objects

You can turn on and off the display of the following interface objects:
• Property Editor
• Dashboard
• Treeview
• Toolbars (Learn about displaying toolbars)
To turn off the display of the property editor:

• Click the down arrow at the top of the property editor. See Picture of Property Editor Down
Arrow.
To turn on the display of the property editor:

• Click the up arrow. See Picture Property Editor Up Arrow.
To toggle the display of the dashboard or treeview:

• From the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select Dashboard or Treeview.
Tip: To turn off the dashboard, on the Main toolbar, select .

To turn off the treeview, on the Main toolbar, select .
Resizing and Resetting Interface Objects

You can adjust the size of the different interface objects:
• Property Editor
• Dashboard
• Treeview
• Toolbars
For example, you can increase the height of the dashboard so you can see more results.
To change the size of an interface object:

1. Point to a border of the interface object that you want to resize.
2. When the cursor changes to a double-sided arrow, drag the cursor until the object is the desired
size.
Interface Objects
To set the objects back to their original dimensions:

• From the View menu, select Reset GUI Dimensions.
Managing Viewports
Managing Viewports
You can change the layout of a Page and place up to six Viewports on a page. Adams/PostProcessor
provides you with 12 viewport layouts from which you can choose.
Learn more about setting up viewports on pages:
• Setting the Viewport Layout
• Selecting a Viewport
• Expanding Viewports
• Swapping Viewport Contents
• Clearing Viewports
Note: You can also set the orientation of an animation in a viewport. See Controlling the
Animation Display
Setting the Viewport Layout

You select the Page layout you'd like from a palette of layouts or from the Page Layout tool stack on the
Main toolbar. The palette and tool stack contain the same set of viewport layouts. If you select to display
the palette, you can keep it open so that you can quickly select another layout.
Note: A page that contains an FFT or Bode plot has two viewports. For an FFT plot, the top
viewport contains the plot with the input data and the bottom viewport contains the plot
with the output from the FFT. For a Bode plot, the top viewport contains the gain plot and
the bottom viewport contains the phase plot.
To select a layout:
1. Do either of the following:
• On the View menu, point to Page, and then select Page Layouts.
• On the Main toolbar, right-click the Page Layout tool stack .
A selection of layouts appears.
2. Select a layout.
3. If you used the palette, select Close to close. You can, however, keep the palette open and
continue with your work so you can quickly change your window layout.
Selecting a Viewport
By default, Adams/View changes the display of the active viewport, leaving the other Viewports the
same. The active viewport is outlined in red.
Managing Viewports
To activate viewport so that any display changes occur in it:

• Click anywhere in the background of the viewport. Be sure the border changes to red.
Expanding Viewports
You can quickly zoom in on a viewport by expanding it to the full window.
To quickly zoom in on just one of the viewports:

1. Click the viewport you want to zoom in on.
2. On the View menu, select Expand View.
To return to viewing all the viewports on the page:

• On the View menu, select Expand View again.
Swapping Viewport Contents

You can swap the contents of one viewport (see Viewports) with the contents of another viewport. The
viewports do not have to be on the same Page.
To swap the contents of viewports:

1. Select the viewport to be used as the default.
2. On the View menu, select Swap View.
3. Select the window whose contents will be swapped with the first viewport you selected.
Clearing Viewports
You can remove all objects in a viewport.
To clear a viewport:
1. Select the viewport to be cleared.
2. On the View menu, select Clear View.
Managing Viewports
Using Shortcut Menus

The different types of Shortcut menus are explained in the table below.
When cursor is over: The shortcut menu lets you:

Modeling object in the Select and display information about the object.
viewport (for example, a
rigid body). See
Viewports.
Managing Viewports
When cursor is over: The shortcut menu lets you:

Viewport (over no Set the display of the viewport, such as zoom in or change the view
modeling or plotting orientation.
object)
Text box in a dialog box, Enter information required in the text box, such as lets you browse
Property Editor, or for a file or paste text in the file.
Dashboard
Using the Treeview
Using the Treeview

Learn about using the Treeview:
• Expanding and Collapsing the Contents of the Objects
• Setting Up Highlighting
• Filtering the Treeview
• Sorting the Treeview
Expanding and Collapsing the Contents of Objects in the

Treeview
To see the contents of an object in the Treeview:
• Click the plus sign (+) in front of the object.
To see the contents of all objects in the treeview:

• Right-click the treeview, and then select Expand All.
To collapse the contents of an object in the treeview:

• Click the minus sign (-) in front of the object.
To collapse the contents of all objects in the treeview:

• Right-click the treeview, and then select Collapse All.
Setting Up Highlighting of Treeview Objects

You can set up the treeview so that whenever you highlight an object in the treeview,
Adams/PostProcessor also selects it on the page and the reverse. Highlighting is on by default.
To toggle highlighting:
• Right-click the treeview, and select Toggle Highlighting.
Filtering the Treeview

You can filter the objects in the treeview so only objects of a specified name or object type appear. For
example, you can display only geometry, curves, or animations. By setting filters in the treeview, you can
quickly modify a group of common objects. By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays all types of
objects. (See the example.)
To filter objects based on their names:

• Below the treeview, in the Name Filter text box, enter the name of the object or objects that you
want to display. Enter any wildcards that you want included. See Tips on Entering Wildcards.
Using the Treeview
To filter objects based on their type:

• Right-click the treeview, point to Type Filter, and then select the type of object that you want to
display.
To reset the filter to show all plotting or modeling objects:

• Right-click the treeview, point to Type Filter, point to Plotting or Modeling, and then select
All.
To reset the filter to show all types of objects:

• Right-click the treeview, point to Type Filter, and then select All.
To select all objects of a particular type:

1. Filter the objects in the treeview so it displays only objects of a particular type.
2. Expand all objects in the treeview.
3. Right-click the treeview, and select Select All.
Example
Changing the properties of the horizontal axis limits of all plots in your session would be tedious if you
had to access each plot individually. The treeview filter makes this much easier.
To use the treeview filter to change axis limits:

1. Set the type filter so only plot axes are displayed.
2. Right-click the treeview, point to Type Filter, point to Plotting, and then select Axis.
3. Right-click the treeview, and select Expand All.
The treeview expands to display all axes.
4. At the bottom of the treeview, in the Name Filter text box, enter h* to display only horizontal
axes.
5. Right-click the treeview, and select Select All Axes.
6. In the Property Editor, change the values for the axes. For example, clear the selection of
Automatic and set upper and lower limits.
Sorting the Treeview

You can sort the objects in the Treeview by name and type. The default is to sort in the order they are
stored in the Modeling database.
To sort objects:
• Right-click the treeview, point to Sort By, and then select the type of sort.
About Objects
About Objects
Selecting and Deselecting Objects

You can select any object in the Treeview or in a viewport (see Viewports). When you select objects in
Adams/PostProcessor, they appear highlighted in both the viewport and the treeview. You can turn off
the highlighting as explained in Setting Up Highlighting. You can also deselect all objects at once.
To select objects in the treeview or screen:
• Click the object using the Select tool .
To select multiple objects:

• To select a single object, click the object using the left mouse button.
• To select a continuous set of objects, you can:
• Drag the mouse over the objects that you want to select or click on one object, hold down the
Shift key, and click the last object in the set. All objects between the two selected objects are
highlighted.
• Click on the first object, hold down the Shift key, and then use the up or down arrow to select
a block of objects.
• To append to the list of selected objects, hold down the Ctrl key, and click the objects. You can
do this in either the treeview or a viewport.
• To remove objects from the selected list, hold down the Ctrl key, and click the selected object.
In treeview, you can also select all objects of a particular type. For more information, see Filtering the
Treeview.
To deselect objects:
• From the Edit menu, select Deselect All.
Tip: Ctrl + D.
Renaming Objects
To rename an object displayed in the treeview:
1. In the Treeview, select the object you want to rename.
2. Either:
• On the Edit menu, select Rename. Type the new name, and then select OK.
• Click the object again. Type the new name, and then press Enter.
About Objects
To rename any object:

1. From the Edit menu, select Rename.
2. Click the More button to display a list of objects.
3. Select an object. Double-click an object with a + in front of it to see more objects.
4. Select OK.
5. Type the new name, and then press OK.
Deleting Objects
You can delete any objects selected in the treeview. In addition, you can use the Database Navigator to
find an object to delete.
Adams/PostProcessor deletes the contents of an object when it deletes the object. For example,
Adams/PostProcessor deletes the plots on a page when you delete the page.
To delete selected objects:

1. Select the objects that you'd like to delete. Use the Treeview to make the selection easy.
2. From the Edit menu, select Delete.
Tip: To delete a page, from the Main toolbar, select .
To delete an object through the Database Navigator:

1. Clear any selection of objects.
2. From the Edit menu, select Delete.
3. Use the Database Navigator to find the object you'd like to delete, and then select OK.
Printing Plots, Animations, and Reports

You can print Pages directly to a printer or store them in a file for printing at a later time.
Note: Adams/PostProcessor only prints the portion of a report or table that fits on the paper.
• To print a multi-page report, open the report in a browser and print from there.
• To print a multi-page table, export the table in HTML format, open the report in a
browser, and print from there. For information on exporting a table as HTML, see
Exporting Data.
Pages with only reports and tables on them print significantly faster than pages with mixed views (for
example, plot and report), depending on the type of printer being used.
About Objects
To print pages:
1. On the File menu, select Print.
Tip: On the Main toolbar, select .
The Print dialog box appears.

2. Set the printing options as shown in the table below and select OK.
To cancel printing:
• Select Cancel or press the Esc key.
To print: Do the following:

To a printer • On UNIX, in the Print to area, select Printer and enter an operating
system command to execute the print job (for example, lpr -Psp2 or lp
-c -Ppd1).
• On Windows, select also show Windows print dialog box to display
the default Windows printer dialog box from which you can select a
printer. The dialog box appears after you select OK.
Only to a file In the Print to area, select File and enter the location and name of the file to
which you want to print the page.
Note that if you print more than one page to a file, Adams/PostProcessor uses
the page number of each page as the name of the file.
In a different format If you selected to print to a file, select the type of file format. You can select
Postscript, HPGL, Encapsulated Postscript, tif, jpg, xpm, bmp, and Native
Windows (Windows only).
Note: If you select jpg format, you can set the level of quality.
In color or black and Select either Black and White or Color. If you select Black and White,
white Adams/PostProcessor prints all colors in black and the background in white
even if you are using a color printer.
Selecting black and white is generally considered more readable for

presentations, but you should use altering line style or line thickness to
distinguish between the curves on the plot.
If you print a plot in color but send it to a black-and-white printer, the printer
approximates the colors using grayscale.
At a different Select the type of orientation: Landscape or Portrait.
orientation
About Objects
To print: Do the following:

On a different size Select the size of paper or, to accept the current default paper for the printer,
paper select Default.
A particular page or Select to print the current page, all pages, or a range of pages.
range of pages
Using Wildcards
Using Wildcards
You can use wildcards to narrow any search, set the type of information displayed in a window, such as
the Database Navigator, or specify a name of an object in a dialog box.
Listing of Wildcards
This character: Matches:

* (asterisk) Zero or more characters
? Any single character
[ab] Any one of the characters in the brackets
[^ab] Any character other than the characters following the caret symbol (^) in the
brackets
[a-c] Any one character in a range enclosed in brackets
{ab, bc} Any of the character strings in the braces
Tips on Entering Wildcards

Here are some tips for entering wildcards:
• Case is insignificant so xYz is the same as XYz.
• You can match alternative sequences of characters by enclosing them in braces and separating
them with commas. For example, the pattern a{ab,bc,cd}x matches aabx, abcx, and acdx.
• You can form character sets that match a single character using brackets [ ]. For example, [abc]d
matches ad, bd, and cd.
• You can use a dash (-) to create ranges of characters. For example, [a-f1-4] is the same as
[abcdef1234].
• You can use a backslash (\) to include a special character as part of the character set. For
example, [ab\]cd] includes the five characters a, b, ], c, and d.
Here are some examples of more complex patterns and possible matches:
• x*y - Matches any object whose name starts with x and ends with y. This would include xy, x1y,
and xaby.
• x??y - Matches only those objects with four-character long names that start with x and end with
y. This would include xaay, xaby, and xrqy.
• x?y* - Matches all of those objects whose names start with x and have y as the third character.
This would include xayee, xyy, and xxya.
• *{aa,ee,ii,oo,uu}* - Matches all those objects whose name contains the same vowel twice in a
row. This would include loops and skiing.
• [aeiou]*[0-9] - Matches any object whose name starts with a vowel and ends with a digit. This
would include eagle10, arapahoe9, and ex29.
Using Wildcards
• [^aeiou]?[xyz]* - Matches any object whose name does not start with a vowel and has x, y, or z
as the third letter. This would include thx1138, rex, and fizzy
Using Wildcards
Animating Results 27
Animating Results
Animations replay the frames calculated during a Simulation in other Adams products. Animations are
helpful for understanding the behavior of the entire physical system, providing an important context to
xy plotting.
When you load an animation or set the Adams/PostProcessor mode to animation, Adams/PostProcessor
changes its interface to allow you to play and control animations. See Modes.
Animations Basics
Animations Basics
Types of Animations
You can load two types of animations in Adams/PostProcessor:
• Time-domain animations
• Frequency-domain animations (referred to as normal-mode animations in Adams/Vibration)
Note: If you are using Adams/Vibration with your Adams product, you can also use
Adams/PostProcessor to view forced-vibration animations. For more information, see the
Adams/Vibration online help.
About Time-Domain Animations

When you perform a time-based simulation in an Adams product, such as a dynamics simulation in
Adams/View, Adams/Solver creates one animation frame for every output step that you request in the
simulation. For example, if you performed a simulation from 0.0 to 10.0 seconds and asked for output
every 0.1 seconds, Adams/Solver records data at 101 steps or frames. It creates a frame every tenth of a
second for ten seconds plus one at time 0.0.
About Frequency-Domain Animations

Using Adams/PostProcessor, you view your model oscillating at one of its natural frequencies. It cycles
through the model deformation starting from the operating point of the requested natural frequency of the
eigensolution. You can also see the effect of the damping on the model and display a table of eigenvalues.
When you perform a linear simulation of your model, Adams/Solver linearizes the model at an operating
point you specify and calculates the eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Adams/PostProcessor then uses the
information to display the animated deformed shape as predicted from the eigensolution. Because the
linear solution eigenvectors are normalized, you can specify what the maximum amount the animated
deformed shape should translate or rotate to get a meaningful animation or recognizable shape.
The animation frames correspond to pictures of the model interpolated between the maximum
deformation in the positive and negative directions. The animation then cycles through the deformation
of the model mode shape, from undeformed, to maximum deformed, to negative maximum deformed,
and finally to the undeformed shape. This deformation is about the operating point of the requested
natural mode of the eigensolution.
You can only animate periodic and aperiodic eigenmodes (that is, modes with an imaginary component
of the eigenvalue = 0). However, when animating aperiodic modes, Adams/PostProcessor warns you that
the node has no oscillatory motion.
Animations Basics
Loading Animations
To play an animation with Adams/PostProcessor in Stand-alone mode, you must import the necessary
files or open an existing notebook file (.bin) (see Notebooks) and then load the animation. If you are using
Adams/PostProcessor with an Adams product, such as Adams/View, the necessary files are available in
Adams/PostProcessor after you run an Interactive Simulation or event. You only need to load the
animation.
• For Time-domain animations, you must import a Graphics file (.gra) containing the animation.
The graphics file is created by another Adams product, such as Adams/View or Adams/Solver.
• For Frequency-domain animations, you must import the Adams/Solver dataset files (.adm) and
Results file (.res) from a simulation.
To import animations:
• From the File menu, select Import, and then import the necessary files.
Learn more about Adding Data
To load an animation in a viewport:

• Right-click the background of a viewport (see Viewports), and select:
• Load Animation for a time-domain animation.
• Load Mode Shape Animation for a frequency-domain animation.
Playing Animations
When you play Time-domain animations, Adams/PostProcessor plays every frame by default, as rapidly
as possible. By default, it also continues to play through the animation, until you stop it. You can also set
the animation to play only once or play first forwards and then backwards.
To play an animation:
• From the Dashboard or Main toolbar, select .
To play an animation backwards:
• From the dashboard, select .
To play an animation one frame at a time:

• From the dashboard, next to the slider, click the right and left arrow buttons.
Animations Basics
To pause an animation:
To reset the animation to the beginning:
To set the animation play options, in the dashboard, set Loop to:
• Forever - Continuously loop through the animation.
• Once - Animate one time.
• Oscillate - First play the animation forwards and then play it backwards (for example, in a 100-
frame animation, animate from 1 to 100 then back from 100 to 1).
• Oscillate forever - Oscillate forward and backward repeatedly.
Recording Animations
You can record an animation as a series of files, each containing one frame of the animation.
Adams/PostProcessor saves the files to your current working directory. Once you've recorded the
animation, you can import the images into a third-party multimedia tool to create movies.
Before recording the animation, you can:
• Select the format: .avi, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, .mpg, .png, and .xpm (.avi format is only available on
Windows).
• Define the area of the viewport to record (see Viewports).
• Set the prefix used to name the set of files. Adams/PostProcessor appends a unique number to
the prefix to form the name of each file. For example, if you specify a prefix of suspension, then
each .tif file is named suspension_0001.tif, suspension_0002.tif, and so on. If you do not specify
a name, the prefix is frame (for example, frame_001.tif).
• For .avi format, set the frame rate, turn off compression to improve the quality of the images, and
set the interval between key frames. The default is compression with each key frame 5000
frames apart.
• For .mpg format, set options for ensuring the viewing in different playback programs.
Tips: • Configuring Browser to Play MPEG Video.

• Running MPEG Movie Using Windows Media Player .
Animations Basics
Note: When a digital movie stream is encoded with compression, the pixels of each frame are
evaluated against previous frames (those designated as key) and only pixels that changed
are stored. For example, a movie of a car traveling along a road can have many pixels in
the image background that do not change during the entire movie. Therefore, storing only
the pixels that change allows for significant compression. In many cases, however, it can
degrade movie quality, especially with movies where a large percentage of pixels are
changing from frame-to-frame, such as with wireframe graphics. Because
Adams/PostProcessor lets you set the key frames rates, you control both the compression
factor and the movie quality.
Movies with many key frames will have high quality, while movies with few key frames,
such as the default every 5000 frames, will have lower quality. For a typical 20-second .avi
movie of a shaded Adams model, a key frame rate would be 12.
To record an animation:
• From the dashboard, select , and then select .
To set recording options:

1. From the dashboard, select Record.
2. Select the type of file format in which to save the frames.
3. In the Filename text box, enter the name you want Adams/PostProcessor to use as the prefix of
each file it creates.
4. To define an area of the viewport to record, select Frame Size, and then enter the size in the Width
and Height text boxes. If the frame size exceeds the area currently on the screen, a warning
message appears. You can fit the frame on the screen by resizing the dashboard, hiding toolbars,
or increasing the size of the Adams/PostProcessor window. See Resizing and Resetting Interface
Objects.
5. If you selected:
• AVI format, set the number of frames per second, the compression, if any, and the interval
between key frames.
Note: When you set use compression when recording in AVI format, the playback
program may restrict the size of image frames, usually to a multiple of 2 or 4.
Therefore, your recording may appear cut off on one or more sides. The
workaround is to change the animation window size before recording.
• MPG format, set either of the following:

Animations Basics
Compress the file using P frames - Turning off the compression using P frames ensures your
movie plays in many playback programs, including as xanim. It results, however, in a much
larger file (up to 4 times as large).
Round size to multiples of 16 - Some playback programs require the pixel height and width
to be multiplies of 16. Turning this option on ensures that you movie plays in many playback
programs.
Configuring Browser to Play MPEG Video

In Netscape 4.0, to configure your browser to play MPEG video with a helper
application, do the following:
1. In Netscape 4.0, from the Edit menu, select Preferences.
2. In the tree on the left, in the Navigator entry, select Applications.
3. Find the entry in the list for MPEG video (it may say video/mpeg, MPEG animation, or something
similar)
4. Select the Edit button to edit the entry.
5. In the Handled by section, select Application.
6. Enter the command to launch your MPEG player. For example on an SGI, you would launch
'movieplayer' by entering the command:
/usr/sbin/movieplayer -nofork %s
Running MPEG Movie Using Windows Media Player

When running a MPEG movie using Windows Media Player in Internet Explorer, you may receive the
following error message:
Internal MPEG Error, Code 3
You must be logged in as administrator when opening the .mpg file and running the Windows Media
Player to install mpeg codedc, which is required to run .mpg files.
For more information, see the Microsoft Support Web pages.
Overlaying Animations
You can play one animation on top of another animation. To help you see the two animations, you can
change their color and offset one from the other. You'll find this helpful when you want to visually
compare the results of two or more modeling changes.
To overlay animations:
1. From the Dashboard, select Overlay.
Animations Basics
2. From the list, select the animations to be overlayed.

3. In the Offset text box, enter the amount by which to offset the animations. Enter the x, y, and z
values. Adams/PostProcessor applies the offset to each animation if you selected more than two
animations to overlay.
4. In the Colors text box, enter the colors in which to display the overlaid animation.
Tips on Entering Object Names in Text Boxes.
Note: Each animation you overlay must have the same beginning, increment and end times.
Displaying Part Information

To display part information:
1. Press and hold down the Ctrl key.
2. Move the cursor over the animation.
Adams/PostProcessor displays part information.
Controlling Time-Domain Animations

Learn how to control Time-domain animations:
• Playing Portions of a Time-Domain Animation
• Setting Animation Speeds in Time-Domain Animations
• Displaying Specific Frames in Time-Domain Animations
• Tracing the Paths of Points in Time-Domain Animations
• Superimposing Frames in Time-Domain Animations
• Setting Trailing of Frames
Playing Portions of a Time-Domain Animation

By default, Adams/PostProcessor uses every frame of a time-domain animation. You can select to skip
any number of frames and play only a portion of the animation based on time or frame number. For
example, to view an animation between 3.0 and 5.5 seconds, you would set the start time to 3.0 and the
end time to 5.5.
To skip frames:
1. From the Dashboard, select Animation.
2. In the Frame Increment text box, enter the number of frames to skip.
3. Play the animation.
To play only a portion of the animation:

1. From the dashboard, select Animation.
2. Set Display Units to Frame or Time.
3. In the Start text box, enter the starting frame or time and in the End text box enter the ending
frame or time.
Setting Animation Speeds of Time-Domain Animations

You can change the speed at which time-domain animation play by introducing a time delay between
each frame of an animation. Use the slider on the Animation Dashboard to introduce the delay. The
default, when the slider is all the way to the right, is to play each animation as fast a possible. Moving
the slider to the left introduces a time delay of up to 1 second.
To change the speed:

2. Click and drag the Speed Control slider at until you reach the desired time delay.
Displaying Specific Frames of Time-Domain Animations

Adams/PostProcessor provides you with several options for playing specific frames of Time-domain
animations. You can play one frame, display each frame one at a time, or display a frame associated with
a particular time. You can also display a frame or frames representing:
• Model input - Model input represents the state that the model is in before the simulation. It does
not account for assembly initial conditions or static solutions.
• Static equilibrium
• Contact between parts - By default, Adams/PostProcessor does not display intermittent contact
frames that two- and three-dimensional contacts produce to avoid the illusion of deceleration
during animations.
To display a frame from an animation:

2. Do one of the following:
• Click and drag the topmost slider until you reach the number of the frame or time you want to
display.
• In the text box to the right of the slider, enter the number of the frame or time you want
displayed.
To display the frame representing the model input:

2. Select Model Input.
To display the frames representing static equilibrium:

2. Select Include Static.
3. Continue selecting Next Static to view all static equilibrium positions.
To display the frames representing contacts:

2. Select Include Contacts.
3. Continue selecting Next Contact to view all contacts between parts.
Tracing the Paths of Points in Time-Domain Animations

During Time-domain animations, you can draw curves on the screen that represent the path that one or
more points in your model travelled. This can be useful when you are trying to design a mechanical
system to produce a certain motion, and want to see whether or not the parts move as intended.
Tracing the paths of points can also be useful when performing envelope studies to see if any parts move
outside a particular working envelope as the mechanical system completes a typical work cycle. By
default, Adams/PostProcessor does not trace the paths of any points in your model during animation.
To draw paths on the screen, you specify one or more Markers for which you want paths generated.
Adams/PostProcessor draws curves representing the path of the marker during each animation frame.
To trace the paths of points during an animation:

2. In the Trace Marker text box, enter the names of one or more markers for which you want
Adams/PostProcessor to generate paths.
Superimposing Frames
You can superimpose successive frames of Time-domain animations. When you toggle the Superimpose
button, Adams/PostProcessor accumulates each frame, as shown below.
To superimpose frames:
2. Select Superimpose.
Setting Trailing Frames in Time-Domain Animations

You can overlap successive frames of Time-domain animations. Setting up trailing of frames helps you
to better visualize the motion of a model or to add a sense of motion to still images of the animation.
You can control the decay rate using the Trail Decay Rate slider. It sets the rate at which the frames
disappear. By default, the slider is all the way to the left, specifying no decay.
To trail frames:
2. In the Trail Frames text box, enter the number of frames to trail.
3. Move the Trail Decay Rate to set the rate at which the frames diminish or decay.
Controlling Frequency-Domain Animations

Learn how to control Frequency-domain animations:
• Displaying Specific Modes or Frequencies for Frequency-Domain Animations
• Controlling the Number of Frames Per Cycle
• Setting Linear Mode-Shape Display for Frequency-Domain Animations
• Viewing Eigenvalues for Frequency-Domain Animations
Displaying Specific Modes or Frequencies of Frequency-

Domain Animations
You can select to view a specific mode or frequency in your frequency-domain animation.
To select to view a mode or frequency:

1. From the Dashboard, select Mode Shape Animation.
2. Set the pull-down menu to either:
• Mode and enter the number of the mode to be viewed. You can also use the +/- buttons to
move through the modes.
• Frequency and enter the frequency of the mode to be viewed.
If you specify the frequency, Adams/PostProcessor uses the mode closest to the specified
frequency. If you specify neither the mode nor the frequency, Adams/View deforms the model
using the first mode.
Note: To view the modes in the eigensolution to see which you should use, see Viewing
Eigenvalues.
Controlling the Number of Frames Per Cycle

For a linear mode-shape animation, you can control the number of frames per cycle.
Adams/PostProcessor performs the interpolation between the frames using trigonometric functions;
therefore, the frames tend to be segregated at the maximum deformation in the positive and negative
directions.
Note: A full cycle goes from undeformed, to maximum positive displacement, back to
undeformed, then to maximum displacement in the negative direction, and finally back to
undeformed.
To set the number of frames per cycle:

1. From the dashboard, select Mode Shape Animation.
2. In the Frames Per Cycles text box, enter the number of frames to be displayed for each cycle.
Setting Linear Mode-Shape Display for Frequency-Domain

Animations
When you run Frequency-domain animations, you can:
• Set scale factor - You can specify the amount parts translate or rotate from their undeformed
position. If you do not specify a scale factor, Adams/PostProcessor translates parts no more than
20 percent of model size and 20 degrees.
• Show time decay - You can specify whether the amplitudes of the deformations are to remain
constant or decay due to the damping factor calculated in the eigensolution.
• Superimpose the modes - You can select to show each mode superimposed on the other modes.
• Show undeformed model - You can set whether Adams/PostProcessor displays the undeformed
model with the deformed shape superimposed on top of it. If you select to show the undeformed,
you can select a color for the undeformed model. If you do not specify a color,
Adams/PostProcessor displays the undeformed model using the same color as the deformed
mode.
To set the frequency-domain control display:

1. From the dashboard, select Mode Shape Animation.
2. If desired, select any of the options shown in the table below.
Frequency-Domain Animation Display Options
To: Do the following:

Set the amount parts Enter the scale in the Scale Factor text box.
translate or rotate from their
undeformed position
Show time decay Select Show time decay.
Superimpose modes Select Superimpose.
Show undeformed mode Select Show undeformed and then, in the Color text box, enter a color.

Viewing Eigenvalues for Frequency-Domain Animations

You can display information about all an eigensolution's predicted eigenvalues in the Information Window
for Frequency-domain animations. Once you display the information in the Information window, you can
save it to a file.
The information includes:
• Mode number - Sequential number of the mode that the eigensolution predicted.
• Frequency - Natural frequency corresponding to the mode.
• Damping - Damping ratio for the mode (the log decrement is another way to represent this
quantity).
• Eigenvalues - List the real and imaginary part of the eigenvalue.
To view eigenvalues:
1. From the Dashboard, select Mode Shape Animation, and then select Table of Eigenvalues.
The Information window appears.
2. After viewing the information, select Close.
Controlling the Animation Display

You can set many options for how animations appear on the screen:
• Setting the View of Your Animation
• Setting Display of Screen Icons
• Setting Display of Triad
• Changing Part Display
• Zooming the Display
• Fitting the Display
• Setting the Center of a Viewport
• Setting the View Perspective
• Setting Rendering Mode of Animations
• Specifying the Camera Perspective
• Setting Lighting
Setting the View

Adams/PostProcessor provides seven standard views of your animation or three-dimensional plot that
you can display. The table below lists the views, their coordinate system orientations, and the tools on
the Main toolbar that activate them. You can also redefine the orientations as explained in PPT
Preferences - Orientation.
Standard Views
You can display the: The default orientation is: Its tool is:
Front
Back
Top
Left
You can display the: The default orientation is: Its tool is:
Right
Bottom
Isometric
To set a view in a viewport:

1. Click the viewport you want to change.
2. Do one of the following: |
• On the View menu, point to Pre-Set, and then select a view.
• On the Main toolbar, right-click , and then select one of the View Orientation tools.
Setting Display of Screen Icons

By default, Adams/PostProcessor turns off all Screen icons during animations to speed up the animation.
Displaying icons can be very helpful when debugging your model. For example, displaying screen icons
during animations allows you to see if joints or forces applied to parts are behaving as expected because
you can see their icons move as the animation progresses. Displaying screen icons can also help you see
how coordinate system markers move during animations because they control the locations and
directions for constraints and forces.
Note that if you import your animation through a Graphics file (.gra) only, you do not have joint or force
icons.
You can also control the visibility of the part coordinate triad and the center of gravity marker as
explained in PPT Preferences - Animation.
To display screen icons during an animation:

1. From the dashboard, select View.
2. Select Display Icons.

Setting Display of Triad and Title

Triad
You can turn on the display of a triad that displays the orientation of the global coordinate system axes:
It appears in the lower left corner of a viewport containing an animation. As you move the view of a
viewport, the triad displays the changes to the coordinate system orientation.
Title
You can also display a title for the animation in the upper left corner of the viewport. It displays the name
of the model and the current frame number. During the animation, it displays the time. In addition, you
can set it so it displays the number of frames per second.
To display triad during an animation:

2. Select Display Triad.
To display title during an animation:

2. Select Title.
3. To also display the number of frames per second, select FPS Title.
Changing Part Display

You can change the display of individual parts in your animation, including their visibility, color, icon
size, and transparency.
To change the display of parts:

1. Select the part or parts to be changed.
2. In the Property Editor, set how you want the object displayed. (See Property Editor - Modeling
Object.)
Zooming the Display

You can define the area of an animation or plot that you want enlarged and displayed in the current
viewport. You draw a box to define the zoom area.
To define a zoom box:

1. On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Zoom Box.
2. Place the cursor where you want the upper right corner of the box and click and hold down the
left mouse button.
3. Drag the mouse diagonally to define the size of the box.
4. Release the mouse button.
Fitting the Display

You can automatically fit an animation or plot into the current viewport using the Fit and Fit - No Ground
commands. Fit fits the entire model into the window, including the ground part and any geometry
attached to it. Fit - No Ground excludes the ground part and its geometry.
For example, if you have a model of a car that also has a very large piece of geometry on ground
representing a road, and you use Fit to view the entire model, the viewport contains all of the geometry,
as shown in the image on the left in the following figure. It is difficult to observe the car after the fit
operation with the ground included. If you use Fit - No Ground, the viewport is only of the car, as shown
in the image on the right.
Car and Road with Fit and Fit - No Ground

To fit the entire animation into the viewport, including ground:

• On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Fit.
To fit the animation, excluding ground, into the viewport:

• On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Fit - No Ground.
Setting the Center of a Viewport

You can move a particular point in your animation or three-dimensional plot to the center of the current
viewport. You can also reposition the model or plot so that the origin (0,0) of the window is again at the
center of the viewport.
To set a particular point as the center of a viewport:

1. On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Center.
2. Click the left mouse button on the point in the model that you want at the center of the window.
To return the origin (0,0) of the viewport to the center of the viewport:
• On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Origin.
Setting the View Perspective

By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays your animation or three-dimensional plot as though it were
drawn on a flat piece of paper. This is called orthographic projection. You can change the depth of the
screen to perspective projection. Perspective projection causes a vanishing point effect by showing the
size of parts relative to their distance from the viewer. It does not show the true proportions of all parts.
To set the current viewport to perspective, do one of the following:

• On the View menu, point to Projection, and then select Perspective.
• From the dashboard, select View, and then select Perspective.
Tip: From the Main toolbar, right-click , and then select .
To set the perspective in the viewport:

1. On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select the Translate Z.
2. Place the cursor in the viewport and move the cursor upwards to increase perspective and
downwards to decrease the perspective.
3. To stop setting the perspective, right-click the viewport.
Setting Rendering Mode of Animations

Adams/PostProcessor provides four rendering modes in which you can display an animation in a
viewport, as listed in the table below.
Rendering Modes
The mode: Does the following:

Wireframe Shows only the edges of objects so that you can see through the objects.
Shaded (flat) Shaded, but polygon edges are visible.
Smooth shaded Shaded, with polygon edges not visible.
Hidden-line removal Shows only the edges of object. It does not show edges, or portions of edges,
that are obscured by other geometry.
To select a rendering mode:

1. Click the viewport whose rendering mode you want to change.
2. On the View menu, point to Render Mode, and then select a rendering mode.
Tip: To toggle between shaded and wireframe, on the Main toolbar, select .
Note: If you are using the Native Open GL graphics driver, which is the default, only two
modes have an effect: wireframe and smooth shaded. For more information on
selecting graphics drivers, see Running and Configuring Adams.
Specifying the Camera Perspective

You can change your viewing or camera perspective. For example, you can change the perspective to
always look at a particular part as it moves or to always look from a particular vantage point, such as one
that moves with a part. Setting different camera perspectives is particularly helpful when parts undergo
large motions and move off your screen during an animation, such as with vehicle simulations.
A good example of setting the camera perspective is when you simulate a vehicle driving through a
slalom course on a test track. By default, you view the simulation as a bystander alongside of the road
whose gaze is fixed in one direction. As the vehicle moves forward, it quickly moves out of your field of
view. You can, however, set the camera perspective to mimic the movement of your head as it moves to
follow the vehicle. Furthermore, rather than observe the vehicle as a bystander alongside a road, you can
also set the camera perspective to mimic what the driver sees as he or she looks out the front windshield
of the vehicle.
To set the camera perspective:

1. From the Dashboard, select Camera.
2. Set the options as explained in the table below.
3. Select Lock Rotations to follow the rotations of the followed object.
Camera Perspective Options
To set the camera In the Follow Object text

perspective to: box: Mount Camera At text box:
Follow a moving point Enter the marker that you want Do not enter a marker. Leave it
to follow during the animation. empty.
Look from a movable point Enter a marker on a non-moving Enter a marker on a moving part.
towards a stationary point part or ground.
Look from one movable point Enter the marker that you want Enter the marker that you want to
to another to follow during the animation. remain in the center of the screen
during the animation.
Setting Lighting
Adams/PostProcessor has many lighting options to help you enhance the quality and realism of your
animations. The options allow you to set:
• Overall intensity of the light (much like setting a dimmer switch in your home).
• Background, ambient light to control the diffusion of light sources to affect the amount of
lighting on edges.
• Reflections off of parts. (Note that this is computationally expensive and can slow down your
animations.)
• Focused lighting that comes from different directions, and define the angle of that lighting (how
far it is from the center line). You can think of this as swinging a light boom across your model.
• Illumination of only one side of the geometry to speed up your animations.
To access the lighting options:

• From the dashboard, select View.
To set up overall light intensity, ambient lighting, and reflections:

1. Use the Light Intensity slider to set how bright the overall light is.
2. Use the Ambient Light slider to set the ambient light.
3. Toggle Light Reflections to set up reflections off of parts.
To set up focused lighting:

1. Use the light buttons on the right side of the dashboard to turn on different focused light sources.
Note: The number of light sources you can select depends on the graphics driver and
system you are using. If you selected OpenGL, the number of light sources depends
on your graphics card. For more information on selecting graphics drivers, see
Running and Configuring Adams.
2. Use the Light Angle slider to set how far from the center line the light source is.
To set up one-side lighting:

• Clear the selection of Two-Sided Lighting.
Note: To achieve the fastest animations, set the lighting options to either: No reflections;
One-sided; or One light source.
Animating Flexible Bodies and Adams/Durability Results
Animating Flexible Bodies and Adams/Durability

Results
Learn more about animating flexible bodies and Adams/Durability results:
• Caching of Flexible Bodies
• Animating Only the Flexible Body
• Setting Animation Display Options for Flexible Bodies
• Animating Deformations, Modal Forces, and Stress/Strain
Caching of Flexible Bodies

When you select to animate a model containing flexible bodies, Adams/PostProcessor creates a flexible
body cache file (.fcf) that contains the animation data for the flexible bodies. By creating a cache file,
Adams/PostProcessor reduces the memory usage required when animating models with flexible bodies,
while maintaining peak animation performance.
You can change the type of caching and set other preferences as explained in PPT Preferences -
Animation.
Animating Only the Flexible or Stress Body

When animating flexible or rigid stress bodies, you can also select to only display the flexible or stress
body and no other parts. The selected body appears without any of the translational or rotational
information from the analysis. This allows you to focus in on contour plot information, as well as the hot
spot information for both flexible and stress bodies. Also, with flexible bodies, this allows you to focus
on a particular body and watch its deformations within the animation or analyze any color information.
To display only a flexible body:

2. Right-click the Component text box, and point to Flexible Body or Rigid Stress Body, and then
use the menus to select a body to display.
Setting Animation Display Options for Flexible Bodies

You can set various animation options for flexible bodies, including scaling the deformation of a flexible
body while it is being animated, setting the rendering of the flexible body, and setting the type of plot to
display. Learn more about flexible body plots.
Also learn about:
• Setting the defaults for animations of flexible body deformations and display of vector plots with
PPT Preferences - Animation
• Tuning the performance of flexible bodies

• Setting general display options for objects
To set the animation options:

1. In the treeview, select the flexible body on which you want to set animation options.
2. In the Property Editor, select the tab Flex Props.
3. Set the properties for the animation. (Learn more about the property editor for changing animation
display with Property Editor - Flexible Body dialog box help.)
Animating Deformations, Modal Forces, and Stress/Strain

You can select to animate the deformations, modal forces (MFORCEs), or the stresses and strain acting
on the flexible body as Contour plots or Vector plots. You can also animate both types of plots on the same
flexible body.
Learn more about color contour and vector plots:
• About the Data the Different Types of Plots Display
• Displaying Plots
• Specifying a Deformation Datum Node
• Modifying Contour Legends
About the Data the Different Types of Plots Display

Depending on the Adams product you use to create and simulate your model, you display different types
of data as contour or vector plots: deformations, stress/strain, or modal forces:
Data and Type of Plot
You can
view: As: Using data from:
Deformations Contour plots Adams/Flex - When you analyze flexible bodies using
Adams/Flex, you can contour deformations using Adams/View
or Adams/PostProcessor.
Stress/Strain Contour plots Adams/Durability - When you obtain stress and strain results
using Adams/Durability, you can use Adams/PostProcessor to
show the stress and strain on a body as contour plots. The stress
or strain can be contoured on rigid or flexible bodies. For more on
obtaining stress and strains, see the Adams/Durability online help.
You can
view: As: Using data from:
Modal forces Contour and Adams/View and Adams/Flex - You can contour MFORCEs in
vector plots Adams/PostProcessor as both contour and vector plots. You can
only view force or torque vectors as vector plots.
For more information on MFORCES, see Modeling Distributed

Loads and Predeformed Flexible Bodies.
Kinetic/Strain Contour plots Adams/Vibration – When you compute kinetic or strain energy
distribution results using Adams/Vibration, you can use
Adams/PostProcessor to display these as contours on flexible
bodies in the model. These contours can be displayed during
mode shape or vibration animation
Strain SS Contour plots Adams/Vibration – When you compute frequency response for
models with flexible bodies, you use Adams/PostProcessor to
display the strain energy contours during a mode shape or
vibration animation. This only applies if the .mnf files for the
flexible bodies contain stress-strain modes.
Displaying Plots
To display color contour or vector plots, you must first specify the flexible body on which you want to
display the plots and which types of plots to display, and then turn on the plots.
Note: You can also set the flexible body contour and vector plotting in Flexible Body Modify
dialog box. See the Adams/Flex online help.
To turn on contour and vector plots for individual flexible bodies:

1. In the Treeview, select the flexible body on which you want to display plots.
2. In the Property Editor, set Plot Type to the appropriate type of plot (Contour, Vector, or Both).
To turn off the display of contour and vector plot for individual flexible bodies:
1. In the treeview, select the flexible body which is set to display plots.
2. In the property editor, set Plot Type to None.
To display a contour plot in a particular view:

1. From the dashboard, select Contour Plots.
2. From Plot Type, select a type of contour plot.
To display a vector plot:

1. From the dashboard, select Vector.
2. From Plot Type, select a plot.
Specifying a Deformation Datum Node

You can set the datum node for which you want deformations to be relative to. Adams/PostProcessor
considers the deformation to be relative to the origin of the flexible body (its local body reference frame
(LBRF) or coordinate system) by default. For example, if you were modeling a cantilever beam in
Adams/Flex, you could specify that deformations should be relative to the clamped end.
To specify a datum node:

1. In the treeview, select the flexible body on which you want to display plots.
2. In the Property editor, in the Datum Node text box, enter the number of the desired node.
Note: To select a node from the screen, right-click the Datum Node text box, and then select Pick
Flexbody Node. Select the node from the screen. The node number appears in the Datum
Node text box.
3. Select OK.
Modifying Contour Legends

For each viewport, you can change the way contour plots display colors and values. Please note that this
allows you to display different viewports at the same time but with different color values, which can be
confusing because a color value in one viewport may not be the same as in another.
To turn off the legend:

• Clear the selection of Display Legend.
To modify the legend:

1. From Legend Placement, select where you'd like the legend to appear.
2. In the Legend Title text box, change the text of the legend title.
3. In the Colors text box, enter the number of colors to be displayed in the plot. There can be no
more than 255.
4. In the Minimum and Maximum text boxes, enter the minimum and maximum values for the plot.
5. In the Decimal Places text box, enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the
axes should be displayed.
6. In the Scientific Range text boxes, enter the exponential form for scientific notation.
To reset the legend values based on the flexible bodies in the active view:
• Select Reset Limits.
Tuning the Performance of Flexible Body Animations

You can use the Animation Performance Tuning guide to help you improve the performance of the
animation of flexible bodies. It steps you through all the options available in Adams/PostProcessor. These
same options are located throughout the Adams/PostProcessor interface. It also provides tips on
optimizing modal neutral files (MNFs) for best animation performance.
To run the Animation Performance Tuning guide:

1. From the Tools menu, select Animation Performance Tuning.
2. Follow the prompts and enter the values to improve the animation performance of flexible bodies.
Building Plots 55
Building Plots
You can plot the results of any Simulation to interpret the performance of your design. You can plot the
results for any Measures or Requests that you defined, as well as results that Adams automatically
generates, including clearance studies. You can even plot test data that you imported into
Adams/PostProcessor and perform post-processing on the plot curves.
You use the Dashboard in plotting mode to select simulation results to plot. After you select simulation
results to plot, you can format the resulting plots, including adding the necessary axes, labels identifying
the units of measurement, title for the plot, legends describing the data in the plots, and more. You can
also build three-dimensional plots using Adams/Vibration. The three-dimensional plots display a
collection of curves. Learn more about generating data for three-dimensional plots in the Adams/Vibration
online help.
Plots Basics
Plots Basics
About Curves on Plots

Curves on plots are made up of data points. Each data point represents data that the Adams product
created at an output step during a simulation, test data that you've imported, or data from Adams/Solver
files (Request file or Results file). For results from a simulation, you specify the number of output steps
when you perform a simulation, and, thus, you set the number of data points in a curve. For information
on setting output steps, refer to the Adams product documentation you used to create the simulation
results.
After you created curves, you can perform post-processing operations on curves, such as filter the data
through signal processing or mathematical calculations. You can also manually change the values and
write expressions that define the values in curves. For more information on post-processing on curves,
see Performing Calculations on Curves and Manipulating Curve Data.
Types of Simulation Results You Can Plot

Adams provides you with several different types of results that you can plot. Some of the results you must
request and some Adams products generate automatically.
• Objects - Characteristics of objects in your model, such as the position of the center of mass of a
part for the x component. They correspond directly to object measures. To view objects, you
must run Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View or import a Adams/View command file (.cmd).
• Measures - Characteristics of quantifiable objects in your model, such as the force applied on a
spring-damper or the relationship between objects. You can create measures directly in an
Adams product or import test data as measures. To view measures, you must run
Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View or import a model and a Results file (.res).
Learn:
• About Viewing test data
• About Measures
• Results - A basic set of state variable data that Adams calculates during a simulation. Adams
outputs the data at each simulation output step. A component of a result set is usually a time
series of a particular quantity (for example, the x displacement of a part or the y torque on a
joint).
• Requests - Data that you have requested that Adams/Solver output. You can ask for any type of
displacement, velocity, acceleration, or force information that you want to investigate.
• System modes - You can view scatter plots of the eigenvalues from linear simulations.
Clearance studies - You can view the minimum distances between objects in your animation.
Learn about Performing Clearance Studies.
For Adams/Vibration, you can also plot the following:
Building Plots 57
Plots Basics
• Frequency Response - The magnitude and phase response produced by a given input channel, at
a given omega, for a given output channel.
• Transfer Function - Transfer function is a basic property of a model, and is computed as the
magnitude and phase response at a given output channel for a given input channel with a unit
swept sine vibration actuator.
• PSD - Power spectral density of output channels for given input PSDs.
• Modal Coordinates - Modal coordinates are states in the frequency domain solution associated
with a specific mode. Modes most active in a frequency response can be identified from the
modal coordinates.
• Modal Participation - The absolute contribution of model modes to the transfer function for the
model.
Learn about Plotting Adams/Vibration Output in Adams/PostProcessor.
See the Adams/View Object Characteristics You Can Plot for more information.
About the Dashboard in Plotting Mode

When you are in plotting mode, the Dashboard lets you select the data that you want to plot. The
dashboard in plotting mode is shown below.
Learn more about the Plotting Dashboard.
The list on the left side of the Plot Builder contains the simulation results that are available for plotting.
These include objects, measures, requests, result sets, and system modes. The list contains the models or
results you have loaded and is set to view object characteristics. If you have three different models
loaded, the list of models would look like the following:
Plots Basics
.model_1
.model_2
.model_3
If you are viewing requests, measures, or results, the list contains the names of all the simulations you've
imported into Adams/PostProcessor. For example, if you have three different models and two simulations
on model_3, then the list looks like the following:
.model_1.Last_Run
.model_2.Last_Run
.model_3.Last_Run
.model_3.Run_001
Because you see all the simulation results at once, it is easy for you to plot results between simulation
runs and even between simulations from separate models (for example, plot body acceleration from one
model against another model).
Plotting Objects
You can plot characteristics of objects in your model. You do not need to create object measures to plot
object characteristics. You can select to display more than one object characteristic at a time.
To plot objects, you must run Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View or import model and results.
To create a plot of object data:

1. From the Dashboard, set Source to Objects.
The dashboard changes to show the results available for plotting.
2. Select a model whose object characteristics you want to plot.
3. From the Object list, select the object whose characteristics you want to plot. The Object list
contains a list of all the objects in your model that are of the type specified in the Filter list. Learn
about Filtering Lists of Data to be Plotted.
4. From the Characteristic list, select the characteristic of the selected object that you want to plot.
5. From the Component list, select one or more components of the characteristic that you want to
plot.
6. Select Add Curves to add the data curve to the current plot.
Plotting Measures
To create a plot of measure data:
1. From the Dashboard, set Source to Measures.
The dashboard changes to show the measures available for plotting.
2. From the Simulation list, select a simulation. The list contains all the potential sources of data for
creation of plots. As you add additional simulation results, these appear in the Simulation list.
Building Plots 59
Plots Basics
3. Select the measure or measures that you want to plot. Learn about Selecting and Deselecting
Objects in Adams/Postprocessor.
4. Select Add Curves to add the data curve to the current page.
Plotting Requests and Result Sets

Adams/PostProcessor supports both plotting of Request file (.req) and Result set component (.res).
To create a plot of a result or request component:

1. From the Dashboard, set Source to:
• Requests - Plot request components.
• Result Sets - Plot any result components from a simulation.
The dashboard changes to show the results available for plotting.
2. From the Simulation list, select a simulation. The list contains all the potential sources of data for
creation of plots. Any new simulations that you add, appear in the Simulation list.
3. From the Result Set or Request list, select a result or request.
4. From the Component list, select components to plot. Learn about Selecting and Deselecting
Objects in Adams/Postprocessor.
Plotting System Modes

You can create a scatter plot of eigenvalues from a Linear simulation. You plot the real eigenvalues against
the imaginary eigenvalues. In addition, you can plot the eigenvalues with a table of eigenvalues. See
Picture of Plotting System Modes.
Learn about setting the color and symbols of the scatter plot with Property Editor - Scatter dialog box
help.
To plot a scatter plot of eigenvalues:

1. From the Dashboard, set Source to System Modes.
2. From the Eigen list, select a set of eigenvalues.
3. Select Add Curves to add the scatters to the current plot.
To plot a scatter plot with an eigen table:

1. From the dashboard, set Source to System Modes.
2. From the Plot menu, select Create Scatter Plot with Eigen Table.
3. If you have more than one one eigen in the database, select the eigen of interest.
Plots Basics
The scatter plot appears.
Note: If you're plotting Adams/Vibration data, you can also create the plot by selecting Vibration
-> Review -> Create Scatter Plot with Eigen Table.
Viewing Test Data

You can easily import test data by reading in an ACSII file using the Import command on the File menu.
Learn about importing test data.
Adams/PostProcessor imports test data from a column-based file and stores the data as Measures. Once
Adams/PostProcessor has imported the test data as a measure, you can plot, display, or modify it as you
would with any other measure. Learn about plotting measures.
Quickly Reviewing the Results of Simulations

You can quickly scan the results of your simulation without having to create a large number of plot pages.
This is called surfing.
To surf results:
1. From the right side of the Dashboard, select Surf.
2. Select the simulation results you want to plot.
Adams/PostProcessor automatically clears the current plot and displays the simulation results
after you make each selection.
3. Continue selecting simulation results to plot.
Adding Curves to Plots

You can add as many curves as you'd like to a plot. You can also choose to create a new plot each time
you add a curve or create a different plot for each object, request, or result you select to plot. For example,
Adams/PostProcessor lets you automatically plot the velocity, acceleration, and placement of a single
object on a plot. When you plot data about a different object, you can set Adams/PostProcessor to
automatically create a new plot for the data.
If you choose to add curves to the currently selected plot, Adams/PostProcessor assigns each new curve
a different color and line style so you can differentiate the curves from one another. For example, the first
curve you create is red, the next blue, and the third magenta. You can change the automatic assignment
of properties to a single color, style, and symbol that you define. Learn about setting curve properties.
Adams/PostProcessor creates a dependent (vertical) axis for each unit type. For example, if you plot
displacement and velocity on the same plot, then Adams/PostProcessor automatically displays two
dependent axes (one for displacement and one for velocity).
Building Plots 61
Plots Basics
To add curves:
1. Select the results to plot.
2. From the pull-down menu located below the Add Curves button on the Dashboard, select how
you'd like Adams/PostProcessor to add the curves. You can select:
• Add Curves to Current Plot - Adds the curve to the currently selected plot.
• One Curve Per Plot - Creates a new plot on a new page for the curve.
• One Plot Per Object, Request, or Result - Creates a new plot for the curves containing data
about a particular object, request, or result. (Not available for measures.)
3. Select Add Curves.
Using an Independent Axis Other Than Time

The default data used for the independent axis of a plot is simulation time. You can use other data than
simulation time.
Note: The independent axis, by default, is along the x-axis. To change its position, see Setting
Up Plot Parameters.
To select data other than time:

1. From the right side of the dashboard in the Independent Axis area, select Data.
The Independent Axis Browser appears.
2. Select the desired data, and then select OK.
Filtering Lists of Data to be Plotted

The Filter list in the dashboard lets you select a subset of all the possible data to be displayed. This is
convenient for large models where the object list could be very long and difficult to read. In addition, you
can filter lists of data based on their name. For example, you can specify that Adams/PostProcessor only
display objects that start with PART_.
To filter the data to be displayed:

• From the Filter list, select the type of data that you want to display. The objects available to
display depend on the type of results you selected.
For information on selecting more than one object in the Plot Builder, see Selecting Objects in
Adams/PostProcessor.
To filter on the name of data:

• Below Source, in the Filter text box, enter the name of the data that you want to display. Type
any wildcards that you want included. For more on wildcards, see Using Wildcards.
Plots Basics
Updating Plot Data

If you are iteratively changing your model and reviewing results, you will find that the Replace
Simulations command saves you lots of time. You can update the data in the plots with that stored in
simulation result files, without recreating the plots. You can also add data from other simulations to your
existing plots.
When you update your plots, Adams/PostProcessor looks for simulation results in the original simulation
Results file (for example, a Request file) from which you imported the current data. If the time and date
stamp on the original file is more recent than the time and date stamp on the plot, Adams/PostProcessor
reloads the plot with the updated data.
If you use the Add Simulation option, a new legend, called the simulation legend, appears on the left side
of the plot. The simulation legend identifies the source of the data grouped by color or line style. The
original legend, called the curve legend, continues to show information about the original curves.
To update your plot data:

1. On the File menu, select Replace Simulations.
The Add/Replace Simulations dialog box appears.

2. In the upper left corner of the dialog box, select either of the following option buttons:
• Add Simulation to add new curves.
• Replace Simulation to update the curves already on the plot.
3. In the Runs text boxes, enter the name of the simulation containing the simulation results to be
replaced. By default, the results of the last simulation (Last_run) replaces any simulation results
that the curves use.
4. Set the color, line style, and weight for the new or existing (old) curves. If you select No Change,
Adams/PostProcessor uses the current color of the curve representing the data to be added or
replaced. Select Auto to allow Adams/PostProcessor to automatically assign colors to the curves.
5. In the Update Pages area, select the pages containing the plots that you want to update.
6. Select OK.
Clearing Plot Data

You can quickly remove all curves on the current plot.
To clear plot data:

• On the right side of the dashboard, select Clear Plot.
Building Plots 63
Plots Basics
Displaying Plot Statistics About Curves

You can display statistics about curves, including:
• Coordinates of individual data points.
• Minimum, maximum, and average values of visible data points.
• Average slope of the curve at individual data points.
• Root mean square (RMS) calculation of dependent values over the entire curve.
• Number of points of the curve used in statistics computations.
You can also find the distance between two data points and the magnitude of the cursor excursion.
Adams/PostProcessor displays plot statistics either using the numeric format of the curve's axis or the
numeric format of the table column (if the plot is displayed as a table). The curve format takes precedence
if it is set.
Note: Adams/PostProcessor uses only the portion of the curve between the horizontal axis limits
when it performs the minimum, maximum, average, and RMS calculations, as well as
when it determines the number of points used in a calculation. To inspect statistics on a
subset of the curve, zoom in on a subset of the curve.
When you choose to display statistics, Adams/PostProcessor displays a Statistics toolbar as shown below.
Statistics Toolbar
To toggle on and off the display of the Statistics toolbar:

• On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select the Statistics Toolbar.
Tip: On the Main toobar , select .
The Statistics toolbar appears at the top of the window below any toolbars that you've already
displayed. A vertical line appears at the currently selected data point.
To display statistics about different data points on a curve:

• Select a different data point. To select a data point, you can either:
• Use the left and right arrow keys to move from data point to data point along a curve.
• Use the mouse to move the cursor to another data point.
• Use the up and down arrow keys to move between curves.
Plots Basics
To display the local maximum data points:

• Hold down the Shift key and use the left and right arrow keys to move from one local maximum
data point to another.
To display the local minimum data points:

• Hold down the Ctrl key and use the left and right arrow keys to move from one local minimum
data point to another.
To determine the distance between two data points:

1. Select the first data point and press and hold down the left mouse button.
2. Drag the cursor to the next data point.
Adams/PostProcessor displays the distance between the two data points in the Statistics tool bar.
It places a D in front of the coordinate values. Adams/PostProcessor also displays a MAG text
box, which displays the magnitude of the cursor displacement. The magnitude is the square root
of the sum of the squares of the two coordinate values.
3. Drag the cursor to another data point or release the mouse button.
Note: If you have turned on plot statistics, you can quickly create a spec line at the current
location of the plot tracking cursor using the keyboard shortcuts:
• s or S create vertical speclines.

• h or H create horizontal spec lines.
Learn about adding spec lines.
Listing of Plot Parameters

The parameters you can set for an entire plot are listed below:
• Title and subtitle - Lines of text that describe the plot.
Note: For information on setting Adams/PostProcessor so it automatically displays titles,

see PPT Preferences - Plot. For information on modifying the appearance of the text
in the titles, see Adding Notes and Modifying Text.
• Analysis name and date - Automatically display the name of the analysis from which the plot
data was generated, and the date on which the analysis was run.
• Legend text - There are two types of legends on a plot:
• Curve legend - Text that describes the data that each curve on the plot represents.
Adams/PostProcessor displays the legend with a short line segment illustrating the color and
line style of the curve.
Building Plots 65
Plots Basics
• Simulation legend - If you add simulation data as explained in Updating Plot Data,
Adams/PostProcessor creates a second legend, called the simulation legend.
Note: For information on modifying the appearance of the text in the legends, see
Modifying Legend Properties.
• Dependent axis - Set the orientation (vertical or horizontal) of the dependent axis. Note that you
can only change the orientation if there are no curves on the plot.
• Grid - A collection of horizontal and vertical lines that serve as visual guides for inspecting
curves. You can have primary and secondary grid lines. Primary grid lines appear at all major
unit sections. Secondary grid lines appear at specified intervals between the primary grid lines. If
you turn off the primary grid lines, Adams/PostProcessor also turns off the secondary grid lines.
• Borders and plot placement - The ruling lines around the plot and the margins (white space)
that appear on the left and bottom of the screen surrounding the plot.
Note: Adams/PostProcessor automatically sizes a plot to fit in the viewport. The axis limits,
notes, and axis values do not change but the aspect ratio of the plot border changes based
on the aspect ratio of the viewport.
Controlling the Display of Two-Dimensional Plots

For two-dimensional plots, you can control the following:
• Zooming in on a Plot
• Fitting a Curve to a Plot
• Setting Up 2D Plot Parameters
• Modifying Titles and Axis Placement
• Modifying Plot Borders
• Modifying Primary and Secondary Grid
Zooming In on a Plot
You can define the area of a plot that you want enlarged and displayed in the current window. You draw
a box to define the zoom area.
Note: You can also zoom in on an area of a plot by setting the minimum and maximum values to
be displayed on the plot axes. Learn about modifying axis attributes.

1. On the View menu, select Zoom Plot.
left mouse button.
Tip: Either:
• Click and hold down the middle mouse button when the cursor is in the window
and drag the mouse to define a zoom box.
• On the Main toolbar, select .
Fitting a Curve to a Two-Dimensional Plot

You can scale all the curves on a plot so that they fit entirely within a viewport.
Building Plots 67
To fit curves to a plot:

• From the View menu, select Fit Plot.
Tip: Either:
Setting Up Two-Dimensional Plot Parameters

The following figure shows some of the plot parameters that you can set for a 2D plot. See Listing of Plot
Parameters.
Learn more about them and how to set them up:

• Modifying Titles and Axis Placement
• Modifying Plot Borders
• Modifying Primary and Secondary Grid
Plot Parameters
Note: You can also set up pages so that they have headers and footers. For more information, see
Displaying Headers and Footers on Pages.
Modifying Titles and Axis Placement

To set plot parameters for title, subtitle, and axis placement:
1. Select a plot.
2. In the Property Editor, select General.
3. Set the title and subtitle:
• To have Adams/PostProcessor automatically generate titles and subtitles, select Auto Title or
Auto Subtitle.
• To create your own titles and subtitles, clear the selection of Auto Title or Auto Subtitle, and
in the Title and Subtitle boxes, enter the text for the title and subtitle. The title and subtitle
can only be a single line of text. Learn how to modify the text and have multi-line titles.
4. To have the analysis name and the date on which the analysis was generated appear on the plot,
select Analysis and Date Stamp.
5. To add legend text, select Legend. Learn about modifying legend properties.
6. To create a line at the position 0,0, select Zero Line.
7. Set where you want the dependent axis of data to appear by selecting either Horizontal (along the
x-axis) or Vertical (along the y-axis). Note that you can only change the orientation if there are
no curves on the plot.
Modifying Plot Borders

To modify a plot border:
1. Select a plot.
2. In the Property Editor, select Border.
3. Set Color to the color for the border.
4. Select the type of line style and weight for the border. The weight values range from 1 to 5 screen
pixels.
5. Set up the placement of the plot:
• To center the plot in the viewport and keep it centered even when you make modifications to
its layout, select Auto Fit Border.
Building Plots 69
• To set your own margins for the plot, clear the selection of Auto Fit Border and enter the
minimum and maximum values for the margin in the x and y directions in pixels. See the
figure below for assistance.
Min X - Sets the space from the left edge of the window to the left edge of the plot.
Max X - Sets the width of the plot. It includes the left margin that Min X defines.
Min Y - Sets the size of the space from the bottom edge of the window to the bottom edge of
the plot.
Max Y - Sets the height of the plot including the bottom margin that Min Y defines.
Minimum and Maximum Values for Borders
Modifying Primary and Secondary Grids

Adams/PostProcessor displays grids on a plot to provide visual guides for inspecting curves. You can
have primary and secondary grid lines. Primary grid lines appear at all major unit sections. Secondary
grid lines appear at specified intervals between the primary grid lines. If you turn off the primary grid
lines, Adams/PostProcessor also turns off the secondary grid lines.
To modify the properties for the primary or secondary grid:

1. Select a plot.
2. In the Property Editor, select Grid or 2nd Grid.
3. To turn off the display of the grid, clear the selection of Visible.
4. From the pull-down menu, set the number of lines by either selecting:
• Line Count and entering the number of lines in the grid.
• Increment and entering the amount of space between each grid line in the x and y directions.
Enter the values in length units.
5. Select a line style, weight, and color for the primary grid. The weight values range from 1 to 5
screen pixels.
Controlling the Display of Three-Dimensional Plots

(Available for Adams/Vibration data only)
For three-dimensional plots, you can control the following:
• Zooming in on a Three-Dimensional Plot
• Fitting a Curve to a Three-Dimensional Plot
• Setting the Center of a Three-Dimensional Plot in a Viewport
• Setting the View
• Rotating and Translating the View
• Specifying Rendering Mode
• Setting Up Three-Dimensional Plot Parameters
Zooming In on a Three-Dimensional Plot

You can define the area of a plot that you want enlarged and displayed in the current window. You draw
a box to define the zoom area.
Note: You can also zoom in on an area of a plot by setting the minimum and maximum values to
be displayed on the plot axes. Learn about modifying axis attributes.

1. On the View menu, select Zoom Plot.
left mouse button.
Tip: Either:
Fitting a Curve to a Three-Dimensional Plot

You can scale all the curves on a three-dimensional plot so that they fit entirely within a viewport.
Building Plots 71
To fit curves to a plot:

• From the View menu, select Fit Plot.
Tip: Either:
• Double-click the middle mouse button in the window.
Setting the Center of a Three-Dimensional Plot in a Viewport

You can move a particular point in a three-dimensional plot to the center of the current viewport. You can
also reposition the model or plot so that the origin (0,0) of the window is again at the center of the
viewport.
To set a particular point as the center of a viewport:

1. On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Center.
2. Click the left mouse button on the point in the model that you want at the center of the window.
To return the origin (0,0) of the viewport to the center of the viewport:
• On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select Origin.
Setting the View of Three-Dimensional Plot

Adams/PostProcessor provides seven standard views of your three-dimensional plot that you can display.
The table below lists the views, their coordinate system orientations, and the tools on the Main toolbar
that activate them. You can also redefine the orientations as explained in PPT Preferences - Orientation.
Standard Views
You can
display The default Its tool
the: orientation is: is:
Plot3D No tool
You can
display The default Its tool
the: orientation is: is:
Front
Back
Top
Left
Right
Bottom
Isometric
To set a view in a viewport:

1. Click the viewport you want to change.
• On the View menu, point to Pre-Set, and then select a view.
• On the Main toolbar, right-click , and then select one of the View Orientation tools.
Displaying Coordinates of Vertex in Three-Dimensional Plots

To display the coordinates of a vertex in a three-dimensional plot:
• Switch to Probe Mode.
To display the coordinates of a vertex on a three-dimensional plot:

• Type a lowercase p.
Building Plots 73
• Place the cursor over the vertex of interest.

Adams/PostProcessor displays the coordinates (x, y, z values).
Rotating and Translating the Viewport of Three-Dimensional

Plot
You can:
• Dynamically translate a viewport - You can move the display of a three-dimensional plot in the
viewport so that you can see objects that are outside its boundaries. Translating the view moves
the view in the x, y, and z directions as you move the cursor.
• Dynamically rotate a viewport - You can rotate the display of the viewport about any of the
view's three axes (x, y, or z). All the rotation operations work using screen axes. Screen axes are
fixed with x to the right, y up, and z out of the screen as shown below.
Screen Axes
To dynamically translate or rotate the view:

1. On the View menu, point to Position/Orientation, and then select one of translation or rotation
commands.
Tip: On the Main toolbar, right-click either Translate XY or Rotate XY ,

and then select a tool.
2. Place the cursor in the viewport and click and hold down the left mouse button.
3. Drag the cursor in the window in the direction you want to translate or rotate the view. The view
of the window follows the movement of the mouse.
4. When the window contains the desired view, right-click.
Setting Rendering Mode of Three-Dimensional Plots

Adams/PostProcessor provides four rendering modes in which you can display a three-dimensional plot
in a viewport, as listed in the table below.
Rendering Modes
The mode: Does the following:

Wireframe Shows only the edges of objects so that you can see through the objects.
Shaded (flat) Shaded, but polygon edges are visible.
Smooth shaded Shaded, with polygon edges not visible.
Hidden-line removal Shows only the edges of object. It does not show edges, or portions of edges,
that are obscured by other geometry.
To select a rendering mode:

1. Click the viewport whose rendering mode you want to change.
2. On the View menu, point to Render Mode, and then select a rendering mode.
Tip: To toggle between shaded and wireframe, on the Main toolbar, select .
Note: If you are using the Native Open GL graphics driver, which is the default, only two modes
have an effect: wireframe and smooth shaded. For more information on selecting graphics
drivers, see Running and Configuring Adams.
Building Plots 75
Setting Up Three-Dimensional Plot Parameters

The figure below shows the plot parameters that you can set for the general aspects of the three-
dimensional plot, the plot surface colors, and the legend that appears when you select to display a plot as
a range of colors as shown below.
To set general parameters for a three-dimensional plot:

1. Select a three-dimensional plot.
2. In the Property Editor, clear the selection of:
• Bounding Box to turn off the display of the box surrounding the plot.
• Grid to turn off its grid.
3. In the Graph Volume text box, enter the x,y, and z aspect ratio of the plot. For example, a volume
of 1,1,1 makes the plot look like a cube, while a volume of 2,1,1 makes the plot twice as long in
the x dimension as it is in the y and z. See Example of Same Data with Different Graph Volumes.
To set parameters for the surface of the plot:

1. Select the surface of a three-dimensional plot.
2. In the Skip X or Skip Y text boxes, set the x and y increment of values you want
Adams/PostProcessor to skip. Setting it to 1 for creates a smooth surface.
3. Set how you want the colors displayed:
• To display the surface of the plot as a range of colors, select Interpolated Colors. Then, in
the Number of Colors text box, enter the number of interpolated colors to be displayed in the
plot. There can be no more than 255.
A legend explaining the colors and the values they represent appears. See Property Editor - 3D
Legend for more information.
• To display the plot as a single color, clear the selection of Interpolated Colors, if necessary,
and set Color to the desired color.
To set parameters for the interpolated color legend of the plot:

1. Set the plot surface to be displayed in interpolated colors as explained above.
2. Select the legend.
3. To turn off the legend, clear the selection of On.
4. Set Legend Placement to where you'd like the legend to appear.
5. In the Number of Colors text box, enter the number of interpolated colors to be displayed in the
plot. There can be no more than 255.
6. In the Gradients text box, enter the number of color gradients shown in the legend
7. Set the properties for the numbers as explained in the table below.
Legend Number Options
To set: Do the following:

Trailing zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the
legend. The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal places you
selected as explained next.
Decimal places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the legend should
be displayed.
Scientific range Enter the exponential form for scientific notation.
Building Plots 77
Modifying Axis Attributes

You can change the following about the horizontal and vertical axes of two-dimensional plots and the x,
y, and z axes of three-dimensional plots:
• Modifying Axes Format
• Modifying Tic Marks
• Modifying Axis Labels
• Modifying Axis Numbers
Modifying Axes Format

By default, Adams/PostProcessor automatically scales the axes in a plot based on the curves. You can
change the default values.
To modify the format of the horizontal or vertical axis:

1. Select a horizontal or vertical axis.
2. In the Property Editor, select Format.
3. Set the scaling for the axis as explained in the table below.
Scaling Options

Automatically calculate Select Auto Scale. You can specify that Adams/PostProcessor
the scaling automatically set the minimum and maximum values or your can set them
manually. By manually setting minimum and maximum values for the axis,
you can zoom in on different areas of your plot. For example, to view the
values between 0 and 10, you can set the minimum value to 0 and the
maximum value to 10. Adams/PostProcessor then only displays the values
between these numbers in your plot.
Use the current time Select Auto Time Limits.
range as the axis limits
Set the time limits Clear Auto Time Limits and enter the time limits for the axis in the two
Time Limits text boxes that appear. Enter the minimum value in the first
box and the maximum value in the second box.
Note: Setting time limits is only useful when working with the
independent (horizontal) axis.
Tip: For linear- and dB-scaled axes, enter lower and upper limits.
For logar-scaled axes, enter log base 10 for lower and upper
limits. (See scaling options below.)
4. Set Scale to the type of scaling. By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays the axis values
linearly, starting at 0. You can also change the scaling to:
• Logarithmic - Scales the axis values so that each power of 10 is separated by the same
distance. For example, the values 1, 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000 are equally spaced.
• Decibel (dB) - Displays 20 * log10(value) for each value.
5. Set Placement to where you want to place the axis. The options available depend on whether you
are modifying the horizontal or vertical axis. You can place an axis on the right or left or at the
top or bottom.
6. In the Offset text box, set how far from the border of the plot you want to display the axis.
7. Set Color to the color for the axis.
Modifying Tic Marks

By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays short lines, called tic marks, at regular intervals across the
axis. The tic marks help to define the scale of the axis. Adams/PostProcessor displays the major tic marks
at every unit value and the minor tic marks halfway between the major tic marks.
For major tic marks, you can set the spacing by setting:
• Increments - Specifies intervals across the axis, such as at every unit value, every second unit
value, and so on, at which tic marks should appear.
• Divisions - Divides the axis evenly into a number of segments and places a tic mark at every
division.
For minor tic marks, you can set how many minor tic marks appear between each major tic mark.
To modify tic marks:

2. In the Property Editor, select Tics.
3. To turn off automatic divisions, clear the selection of Auto Divisions and select how you want
the major tic marks spaced from the pull-down menu. Enter the number of increments or divisions
in the text box.
4. In the Minor Divisions text box, enter the number of divisions between each major tic mark. The
number of divisions sets the number of minor tic marks. For example, if you set the number of
divisions to two, Adams/PostProcessor places one tic mark between each major tic mark.
5. Set Color to the color for the tic marks.
Building Plots 79
Modifying Axis Labels

By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays a label next to an axis to help identify the values in the axis.
The label identifies the unit of measurement in the axis. You can change the text of the label, its
placement, font size, and color.
Note: You can also modify the label text using the instructions in Adding Notes and Modifying
Text, which allows you to create multi-line labels.
To modify axis labels:

2. In the Property Editor, select Labels.
3. In the Label text box, enter the text for the label.
4. Set the properties for the axis label as explained in the table below.
Axis Label Options

Size of the text In the Font Size text box, enter a font size. The font size you can enter depends on
the type of font you selected.
Orientation of Select either:
the text
• Horizontal - text
• Vertical -

Alignment Select how you want the label to be aligned relative to its anchor position, which
is the center of the text. See the figure below. You can select:
• Left - Left-justifies the text from the anchor position.

• Center - Centered the text on its anchor position.
• Right - Right-justifies the text from the anchor position.
Color Set Color to the color for the text.

Location Clear the selection of Auto Position and, in the Offset text box, enter an offset
value to define the distance the label is offset from the border of the plot.
Modifying Axis Numbers

By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays numeric values for an axis at each major increment. You can
change the way in which Adams/PostProcessor displays the values, such as the number of decimal places
displayed and whether or not Adams/PostProcessor uses scientific notation.
To modify axis numbers:

2. From the Property Editor, select Numbers.
3. Set the properties for the axis numbers as explained in the table below.
Building Plots 81
Axis Number Options

Trailing zeros Select Trailing Zeros to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the
numbers in the axis. The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal
places you selected as explained next.
Decimal places In the Decimal Places text box, enter the number of decimal places to which the
numbers in the axes should be displayed.
Scientific range In the Scientific Range text boxes, enter the exponential form for scientific
notation.
Font size In the Font Size text box, enter a font size. The font size you can enter depends
on the type of font you selected.
Color Set Color to the color for the numbers.
Additional Topics
Additional Topics
Setting Curve Properties

You can specify properties for curves as explained below. You can also set defaults for how
Adams/PostProcessor creates curves, as explained in PPT Preferences - Curves.
Note: In addition to setting a curve's properties, you can edit the data in the curves. Learn about
performing calculations on curves.
To modify the properties of a curve:

1. Select a curve.
2. In the Property Editor, set the properties for the curve as explained in the table below.
Curve Property Options

Text for legend In the Legend text box, enter the text to appear in the legend associated with this
curve. Adams/PostProcessor displays the legend with a short line segment
illustrating the color and line style of the curve. If you updated your plots,
Adams/PostProcessor creates a second legend, called the simulation legend. You
modify the simulation legend text separately. For more information on
modifying legends, see Modifying Legend Properties. For more information on
the types of legends, see Updating Plot Data.
Tip: You may want to expand the width of the Property Editor so you
have more space for entering the legend text. To expand the
property editor, point to its right border. When the cursor changes
to a double-sided arrow, drag the cursor to increase the property
editor's size.
Color Set Color to the color for the curve.
Line style and Select the type of line style and weight for the curve. The weight values range
weight from 1 to 5 screen pixels. You can also set the line style to None so that
Adams/PostProcessor does not display the curve line. If you selected to display
symbols along the curves, the symbols still appear when you turn off the curve
line. The effect is a scattered plot.
Symbol and Select the type of symbol that you want at data points along the curve and select
symbol increment how often you would like the symbol to be displayed along the curve.
Building Plots 83
Additional Topics

Hotpoints You can turn on hotpoints that let you manually edit the data points in the curve.
You can also control how you edit the hotpoints, only vertically or only
horizontally, so you have greater control. For more on hotpoints and manually
editing curves, see Manually Changing Data Point Values.
Select one of the following:
• Off - To have no hotpoints displayed.

• On - Turn on hotpoints, to allow the editing of the data points in any
direction.
• Horizontal - Turn on hotpoints, but only allows the editing of the data
points in the horizontal direction.
• Vertical - Turn on hotpoints, but only allows the editing of the data
points in the vertical direction.
Note: You can use the Hotpoints tool on the Curve Edit toolbar to
override this setting.
Modifying Legend Properties

You can change the placement and border of legends on your plots. There are two types of legends in
Adams/PostProcessor:
• Curve legend text that describes the data that each curve on the plot represents.
• If you update your plot data, as explained in Updating Plot Data, Adams/PostProcessor creates a
second legend, called the simulation legend. The simulation legend contains groups of text that
describe the data in a specific simulation.
This procedure does not let you change the text of legends. Learn about changing curve legends.
You also cannot change the legend when a plot is displayed as a table. Learn about displaying plots as
tables.
To modify legend properties:

1. Select a legend.
2. In the Property Editor, turn on the legend.
3. Set the properties for the legend as explained in the table below.
Additional Topics
Plot Legend Property Options

Transparency of the If you want the legend to be transparent, clear the selection of Fill. Any plot
legend information behind the legend shows through. When you select Fill, the
legend is opaque and covers any information behind it.
Placement of the Set Placement to any of the following:
legend
• Top Right
• Top Left
• Bottom Left
• Bottom Right
• Axis - Places the legend text for each legend on the appropriate
dependent axis.
• User-placed - Sets the legend so you can move it to any position, as
explained in Moving Text.
Whether or not the If you do not want a border around the legend, clear the selection of Border.
legend has a border If you do want a border, keep Border selected and then select a color, line
and the border's style weight, and line style for the border.
Adding Notes and Modifying Text

You can add text, called a note, to any area of your plot and set the appearance of the note. For example,
you might want to add a note that points out a trend in a plot or that labels a data point. Once you've
created the note, you can modify it and change its placement by dragging it. You can also modify the text
of titles and subtitles.
Learn about adding notes and modifying text:
• Creating Notes
• Modifying Text
• Moving Text
Creating Notes
You can create notes with one or more lines of text.
Building Plots 85
Additional Topics
To create notes on your plots:

1. From the Plot menu, select Create Note.
2. Click where you want the note to appear, and enter the text, pressing Enter to create another line
of text.
Modifying Text
You can modify any existing notes, titles, and subtitles.
To modify existing text:

1. Select the text.
2. In the Property Editor, enter or change the text in the text area. You can enter multiple lines of text.
3. Set the options for the text as explained in the table below.
Label Options

Size of the text In the Font Size text box, enter a font size. The font size you can enter depends
on the type of font you selected.
Orientation of the Select either:
text
• Vertical -
Additional Topics

Alignment Select how you want the label to be aligned relative to its anchor position, which

Color Set Color to the color for the text.

Location Clear the selection of Auto Position and enter a location for the text.
Moving Text
The following shows how to move the text of notes, titles, subtitles, and legends by dragging it. You can
also position the text precisely using the Property Editor as explained in Modifying Text.
To move text by dragging it:

1. Select the text.
2. Drag the text in the direction you want to move it.
Adding Spec Lines

You can add spec lines to your plots to help you compare curves to a constant baseline value. A spec line
can be a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line that indicates a value of significance. You can start the spec
line at any X or Y position.
Building Plots 87
Additional Topics
For example, if you are plotting acceleration and you want to keep the acceleration below a certain value,
you can add a spec line marking that value on the plot. You can then compare any curves that you add to
that plot to see if the curves fall beneath the spec line.
The following figure shows spec lines that have been added to a plot.
Example of a Spec Line

There are no limits to the number of spec lines you can add to a plot.
Note: If you have turned on plot statistics, you can quickly create a spec line at the current
location of the plot tracking cursor using the keyboard shortcuts:
• s or S create vertical speclines.

• h or H create horizontal spec lines.
Learn about displaying plot statistics.
To add a spec line to a plot:

1. Select the plot to which you want to add a spec line.
2. From the Plot menu, select Create Spec Line.
3. In the Spec Line Name text box, enter the name you want to assign to the spec line. The box
shows the complete name of the spec line, including its parents in the database.
4. In the Y Value and X Value text boxes, enter:
• For a horizontal spec line, enter only a y value.
• For a vertical spec line, enter only an x value.
• For a diagonal spec line, enter both an x and y values.
Additional Topics
For example, entering both x and y values, provides the following diagonal spec line:
5. Select a color, type of line, and thickness for the line. The thickness values range from 1 to 5
screen pixels.
6. Select OK.
To modify a spec line:

1. Select the line.
2. In the property editor, set values for the line as explained above for creating a spec line.
Building Plots 89
Displaying Plots as Tables

To help you better see a two-dimensional plot's numerical information, you can view a plot as an HTML
table. In addition, you can always have your plots display as tables by setting a preference as explained
in PPT Preferences - Plot dialog box help. The figure below shows a plot displayed as a table.
Learn more:
• Changing a Plot to a Table
• Changing Table Properties
• Changing Dependent Column Properties
Note: You can still edit the data in the table in math mode as explained in Using Expressions to
Modify Curve Data Points, although the independent data fields are not available.
You print a table as you do a plot as explained in Printing Plots, Animations, and Reports.
Changing a Plot to a Table

To change a plot to a table:
1. In the Treeview, select a two-dimensional plot.
2. In the Property Editor, select Table.
Note: Even though you toggled a plot to display as a table, the treeview still lists it as a plot and
all of its columns as curves.
Changing Table Properties

For tables, you can change the properties listed in the table below. You can also change the dependent
column (curve data) properties as explained in Changing Dependent Column Properties.
Column headings By default, Adams/PostProcessor uses the curve legends as column headers
for the table. You can also set Adams/PostProcessor to display brief headers
for the columns (for example, Column 1 instead of LEFT FRONT
CONTACT MATCH MOTION_Z) and display a legend under the header
that maps column names to data names. This is particularly helpful if you
have long column headers and need to conserve space.
Examples of Complete and Brief Headers for Tables

General appearance of You can set general properties for the table such as headers and font size.
the table After you set up the headers, you can change their justification and text as
explained in Adding Notes and Modifying Text.
Display of the You can turn off the display of the independent column and change the
independent column display of its contents (trailing zeros, scientific notation, and so on).
To change table properties:

1. Select a table.
Note: Even though you toggled a plot to display as a table, the treeview still lists it as a
plot and all of its columns as curves.
2. In the Property Editor, select General.

3. Set the header:
• To have Adams/PostProcessor automatically generate a header, select Auto Header.
Building Plots 91
• To create your own titles and subtitles, clear the selection of Auto Header, and in the Header
box, enter the text for the header.
Note: You may want to expand the width of the Property Editor so you have more space
for entering the text. To expand the Property Editor, point to the sash on its right
border. When the cursor changes to a double-sided arrow, drag the cursor to increase
the Property Editor's size.
4. Set the general properties for the table as explained in the table below.
Curve Property Options

Limits Controls which rows are displayed in the table. Specify the start and end for values
in the table (start and end are specified as values in the independent data column).
Note that these limits are the axis limits on the independent axis. When you toggle
back to a plot, they will be in effect on that axis.
Row increment Set the increment for the data to be included. For example, select 1 to include ever
data point; select 5 to include every 5th data point.
Alignment of Set Alignment of Values to where you want to position the values in the columns.
values in columns
Size of the text In the Font Size text box, enter a font size. The font type is always Helvetica.
5. To add legend text and set the columns so they are brief, select Legend.
Adams/PostProcessor adds a new row under the title containing the legend text.
6. To set the independent column properties, in the property editor, select Independent Column.
7. To remove the display of the independent column, clear the selection of On.
8. To change the legend for the independent column, enter the text in the Legend text box.
9. Set the numbering properties for the column as explained in the table below.
Independent Column Options

numbers in the table. The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal

Decimal places In the Decimal Places text box, enter the number of decimal places to which
the numbers in the table should be displayed.
notation.
Changing Dependent Column Properties

You can change the way Adams/PostProcessor displays the data in columns when you view a plot as a
table. You can change it for each column individually.
To change column properties:

1. Select a column (curve).
Note: Even though you toggled a plot to display as a table, the treeview still lists it as a
plot and all of its columns as curves.
2. Set the properties for the columns as explained in the table below.
Column Options

numbers in the table. The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal
Decimal places In the Decimal Places text box, enter the number of decimal places to which the
numbers in the table should be displayed.
notation.
Examples of Complete and Brief Headers for Tables

Complete Headers
Caster Angle vs. Wheel Travel

LEFT FRONT CONTACT MATCH TOE CASTER CAMBER (FRONT) Y
MOTION_Z
-0.0916152000 4.95319
Building Plots 93
11.2347000000 5.06349
21.9194000000 5.17015
31.6997000000 5.27002
40.3335000000 5.36
47.6073000000 5.43716
Brief Headers
Caster Angle vs. Wheel Travel

Column 1: LEFT FRONT CONTACT
Column 2: TOE CASTER CAMBER
Column 1 Column 2
-0.0916152000 4.95319
11.2347000000 5.06349
21.9194000000 5.17015
31.6997000000 5.27002
40.3335000000 5.36
47.6073000000 5.43716
Manipulating Curve Data 95
Manipulating Curve Data

Performing Calculations on Curves

Adams/PostProcessor provides you with several tools to help you perform post-processing operations on
data in plots. You can perform mathematical calculations on the data in any curve, including:
• Add, subtract, or multiply values in a curve by values in another curve.
• Find the absolute value of curve values or negate the values.
• Interpolate the values in a curve to create an evenly spaced sampling of the curve values.
• Scale a curve by a specified value.
• Offset a curve by a specified value. Offsetting a curve shifts the data along the corresponding
axis.
• Align one curve to the starting point of another curve or align a curve so it starts at zero.
Aligning one curve to another can help you compare the data in the curves.
• Differentiate the data in one curve over the closed interval represented by a second curve or
define an integral.
• Create a spline from the curve values.
• Manually change the values in the curve.
• Filter the curve data.
You can create a new curve based on the calculations or modify the first curve that you select for an
operation.
Learn more about performing calculations on curves:
• Displaying the Curve Edit Toolbar
• Performing Simple Mathematical Calculations on Curve Data
• Calculating Integral or Differential of Curve Data
• Creating Splines from Curves
• Manually Changing Data Point Values
• Using Expressions to Modify Curve Data Points
Displaying the Curve Edit Toolbar

When you choose to perform mathematical calculations, Adams/PostProcessor displays a Curve Edit
toolbar, as shown below.
To toggle on and off the display of the Curve Edit toolbar:

• On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select Curve Edit Tool Bar.
The Curve Edit toolbar appears at the top of the window below the Main toolbar.
Note: The Curve Edit toolbar automatically detects when curves are incompatible, and either
clips or fits an Akima spline to the curves to assist in performing curve math.
Performing Simple Mathematical Calculations on Curve Data

You can modify the values in a curve by performing simple mathematical calculations on the values. You
can use the values contained in another curve or specify a value. The curves on which you perform the
operations must belong to the same plot.
To perform mathematical calculations on curves:

1. If you want to modify a curve based on the values and not create a new curve, at the far right of
the Curve Edit toolbar, clear the selection of Create New Curve. Adams/PostProcessor modifies
the first curve for those operations requiring two curves (for example, subtraction).
2. Select a tool from the Curve Edit toolbar and enter any requested values as explained in the table
below.
Simple Mathematical Calculations

Add, subtract, or 1. Select one of the following tools from the Curve Edit toolbar depending
multiply values in a on the operation that you want to perform:
curve by values in • Add Curve Data tool .
another curve
• Subtract Curve Data tool .
• Multiply Curve Data tool .
2. Select the curve that you want values to be added to, subtracted from, or
multiplied by.
3. Select the second curve.

Find the absolute 1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select one of the following tools depending
values of data on the operation you want to perform:
points or negate • Absolute Value tool .
data points
• Negate tool .
2. Select a curve.
Create evenly 1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select the Curve Sampling tool .
spaced sampling of 2. From the pull-down menu on the right of the toolbar, select the spline
curve values type to be used for the interpolation.
(interpolate values)
• akima - Uses the Akima method as documented in Journal of the
Association Computing Machinery, Volume 17, No 4, October 1970.
• linear - Uses the first order LaGrangian interpolation.
• cubic - Uses the second order LaGrangian interpolation.
• cspline - Performs a global fit.
• notaknot - Interpolates using the Not-a-knot cubic spline.
• hermite - Interpolates using the Hermite cubic spline.
3. Enter the number of interpolation points to be used to fit the data. The
default is 1024. You must enter a positive integer. If you are preparing
the curve for an FFT operation, we recommend that the number of points
be an even power of two (for example, 256, 512, 1024, and so on).
4. Select a curve.
Scale or offset a 1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select one of the following tools depending
curve by a specified on the operation you want to perform:
value • Scale tool .
• Offset tool .
2. In the text box that appears at the far right of the Curve Edit toolbar, enter
the scale or offset value.
3. Select a curve.
Tip: Select and drag the curve to a new location.
Align one curve to 1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select Align Curve to Curve tool .
the starting point of 2. Select a curve whose values you want to align.
a second curve
3. Select a second curve.
Align a curve so it 1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select Align Curve to Zero tool .
starts at zero 2. Select a curve.
Calculating Integral or Differential of Curve Data

You can calculate the definite integral or differential function of existing data points. The definite integral
operation evaluates the area under the data curve over the closed interval represented by the curve data.
• Integral - Adams/PostProcessor calculates the integral by fitting a cubic spline to the curve data
and analytically evaluating the definite integral. In other words, the cubic spline fit gives a
polynomial representation of the segments that represent the data. Adams/PostProcessor then
analytically integrates the polynomial over the closed interval of the data.
• Differential - Adams/PostProcessor numerically differentiates the curve data over the closed
interval represented by the finite set of data points in the curve.
Adams/PostProcessor evaluates the derivative by fitting a cubic spline to the curve data and
analytically forming the derivative. The cubic spline fit gives a polynomial representation of the
segments that represent the data. Adams/PostProcessor then analytically differentiates the
polynomial over the closed interval of the data.
To calculate the integral or differential:

1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select either of the following depending on the operation that you
want to perform:
• Integrate tool .
• Differential tool .
2. Select a curve on which the calculations will be performed.
3. Select a second curve.
Creating Splines from Curves

You can take the data points in a curve and create a spline from them. You can use the splines to define
motions or forces. You can also export the spline to be used as a loadcase in a finite-element program.
To use the spline that you create in your model definition, you must write a function expression that
includes Adams spline functions (such as Akima Fitting Method (AKISPL) or Cubic Fitting Method
(CUBSPL)) or create a User-written subroutine that calls one of the spline utility subroutines (AKISPL or
CUBSPL subroutine).
For more information on using splines in:

• Adams/View, see Splines, in the Adams/View online help.
• Expressions, see the Adams/View Function Builder online help.
• User-written subroutines, see Welcome to Adams/Solver Subroutines.
Once you have created a spline, you can modify it through Adams/View. You use the Build -> Data
Elements -> Spline -> Modify command.
To create a spline from data points:

1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select Spline tool .
2. In the Spline Name text box that appears on the left of the Curve Edit toolbar, enter the name that
you want assigned to the spline.
3. Select the curve from which you want to create the spline.
Manually Changing Data Point Values

You can change the data point values manually for any curve you've created. When you change values
manually, Adams/PostProcessor displays hotpoints at each vertex as shown below. You can control your
changes by restricting the hotpoints to only move vertically or horizontally.
To manually change data points values:

1. Select the curve on which you want to display hotpoints.
2. In the Property Editor, set Hotpoints to:
• Yes - To move the hotpoints in any direction.
• Vertical - To move the hotpoints only vertically.
Tip: From the Curve Edit toolbar, select Hotpoints tool .
• Horizontal - To move the hotpoints only horizontally.

3. Position the cursor on a hotpoint and drag the hotpoint to the desired location.
Note: To make more precise changes, zoom in on the curve.

Using Expressions to Modify Curve Data Points

You can use the Adams/View Function Builder from Adams/PostProcessor to create mathematical
expressions that generate curve data as output. As with any expression in Adams, an expression creating
curve data can contain basic math, trigonometric, and signal-processing functions. For more information
on writing expressions, see the Adams/View Function Builder online help.
To modify a curve based on expressions:

1. Select a curve.
2. From the Dashboard, select Math.
3. Enter the expressions for x and y data in the appropriate text boxes and define the unit values. To
display the Function Builder to help you create expressions, clear the text boxes and double-click.
You can also use the shortcut menu that appears when you right-click the text box.
4. In the Legend text box, enter the text that you want used in the legend for the curve.
5. Select OK.
Note: Be careful with the division operation. It has problems if you divide by zero. You get errors
similar to the following:
ERROR: Division by zero

ERROR: Expression entered for vertical axis is invalid.
Filtering Curve Data

You can filter curve data to eliminate noise on time signals or to emphasize a specific frequency content
of a time signal. Adams/PostProcessor supports two different types of filters:
• Butterworth filter - butter() in MATLAB developed by The MathWorks, Inc.
• Transfer function - A filter you define by directly specifying the coefficients of a transfer
function.
Once you create a filter, you can apply it to any curve.
Learn more about the filters and how to create and apply them:
• About Filtering Methods
• Creating and Modifying a Filter Function
• Applying a Filter Function
• Example of Creating a Filter
About Filtering Methods

Adams/PostProcessor provides two filtering methods for Fast fourier transform (FFT):
• Analog filtering - The numerical procedure for analog filtering is equivalent to:
• Transfer the time signal into frequency domain through FFT.
• Multiply the resulting function by the filter function.
• Perform an inverse FFT.
• Digital filtering - Digital filtering operates directly on the time signal. The filtered signal at a
certain time step is a linear combination of previous input and output signals, with the discrete
transfer function defining the coefficients.
Creating and Modifying a Filter Function

You use Filter command on the Plot menu to create or modify a filter function. You can create a
Butterworth filter or a transfer function. For the transfer function, you can define the coefficients
manually or by defining a Butterworth filter.
To create or modify a Butterworth function:

1. From the Plot menu, point to Filter, and select either Create or Modify. If you selected Modify,
select the name of the filter to modify from the Database Navigator.
Tip: Shortcut for creating a filter:

From the Curve Edit toolbar, select the Filter Curve tool . Right-click the
Filter Name text box, point to filter_function, and then select Create.
The Create/Modify Filter Function dialog box appears.

2. If you are creating a filter, in the Filter Name text box, enter the name you want to assign to the
filter function.
3. Select Butterworth Filter.
4. Set the filter type, order, and frequency of cutoff.
5. Select OK.
To create a filter based on a transfer function:

1. From the Plot menu, point to Filter, and select either Create or Modify. If you selected Modify,
select the name of the filter to modify from the Database Navigator.
Tip: Shortcut for creating a filter:

From the Curve Edit toolbar, select the Filter Curve tool . Right-click the
Filter Name text box, point to filter_function, and then select Create.

2. If you are creating a filter function, in the Filter Name text box, enter the name you want assigned
to the filter function.
3. Select Transfer function.
4. Select a filtering method.
5. Enter the numerator and denominator coefficients as explained in the table below. You can enter
the coefficients manually or use a Butterworth filter to define them.
6. To check the format and plot the filter's gain and phase, select Check Format and Display Plot.
If you have not defined the filter correctly, an error message appears. If you've defined the filter
correctly, a plot appears in which you can switch between the filter's gain and phase plots and
change scales.
7. To associate comments with the filter function, select the Comments tool , and then enter the
comments.
8. Select OK.
Options for Entering Coefficients
To enter the
coefficients: Do the following:
Manually Enter the numerator and denominator coefficients. See Create/Modify Filter
Function dialog box help for more information.
To enter the
coefficients: Do the following:
Using a Butterworth 1. Select Create from Butterworth Filter. See Create Butterworth
filter Filter dialog box help for more information.
• To specify the order and scaled cutoff frequency values directly,
enter them at the top of the dialog box.
• To generate them based on Passband and Stopband options, select
the checkbox Generate Filter Order _ Frequency. Set the values
that appear in the dialog box, and then select the Generate Order _
Frequency button.
3. Select OK.
The transfer function coefficients appear in the Create Filter Function
dialog box.
Applying a Filter Function

To apply the filter you created:
1. Select a curve to filter.
2. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select the Filter Curve tool .
3. In the Filter Name text box, enter the name of the filter function.
4. To check if compensation for filter lag should be used, select Zero Phase. (Not available for
analog filters.)
Zero-phase digital filtering filters the input data in both forward and reverse directions. The
resulting sequence has precisely zero-phase distortion and double the filter order.
5. Select OK.
Example of Defining a Transfer Function from a Butterworth

Filter
The following example shows how you can define a transfer function by defining a Butterworth filter.
The Butterworth filter that you will create is a Basspand filter, based on specifying two values each for
passband and stopband corner frequency.
To define a transfer function from a Butterworth filter:

1. From the Curve Edit toolbar, select the Filter Curve tool .
2. Right-click the Filter Name text box, point to filter_function, and then select Create.
3. In the Filter Name text box, enter bandpass_filter1.

4. Select Transfer function.
5. Select Analog.
6. Set Filter Type to Band Pass.
7. Select Create from Butterworth Filter.
8. Select the Generate Filter Order _ Frequency checkbox.
9. In the Passband Corner Frequency (WP) (Hz) text box, enter 5,8.
10. In the Stopband Corner Frequency (WS) (Hz) text box, enter 2, 10.
11. Leave the default values for Passband Ripple (3) and Stopband Attenuation (15).
12. Select Generate Order _ Frequency.
Adams/PostProcessor loads the appropriate values in the Order and Cutoff Frequency text boxes
at the top of the dialog box. See the dialog box below for how the values appear.
To view the response:

1. In the Create Butterworth dialog box, select OK.
The following values appear in the Create Filter Function dialog box for numerator and
denominator coefficients.
2. Select Check Format and Display Plot.

3. When the plot appears, set the Min to 0.1 and then select Redraw.
The plot appears as follows:
Notice that:
• Between 5 and 8 Hz, the maximum damping is 3dB (specified by the Passband Ripple option).
• At 10 Hz, the damping is 15 dB (specified by the Stopband Attenuation option).
• At 2 Hz, the damping is more than 15 dB; therefore, in this case, it is not a defining factor.
Performing FFT Functions

Learn about Fast fourier transform (FFT) options, how to perform an FFT on a curve, and how to construct
a three-dimensional plot.
• FFT Representations
• Window Types
• Constructing a Two-Dimensional FFT Plot
• Constructing a Three-Dimensional FFT Plot
FFT Representations
Adams/PostProcessor contains three methods of representing frequency-domain data:
• FFTMAG
• FFTPHASE
• PSD (Power Spectral Density)
FFTMAG
FFTMAG (FFT magnitude) determines the magnitude (abs) of the complex value returned from the FFT
algorithm. Adams/PostProcessor only plots the left spectrum of the frequency data with the frequency on
the independent, x-axis, and the magnitude on the dependent, y-axis. The right half of the spectrum is a
mirror image of the left half.
Adams/PostProcessor scales FFTMAG data by 1/(N/2) where N is the number of time-domain samples.
This provides the effect of representing the FFTMAG peak in the magnitude of the time-domain data.
The following is an example:
F  t  = 2 sin  2t  + 8 sin  212t 

The FFTMAG plot has a peak of 2 at 1 Hz and a peak of 8 at 12 Hz.
Note: Tip: FFTMAG is extremely useful for determining the natural frequencies of
structures.
On the FFT dialog box, there is an option, Detrend Input Data. It removes DC
shifts in the data over time. Adams/PostProcessor fits a linear regression to the
data and subtracts it from the data before performing an FFT.
FFTPHASE
FFTPHASE determines the phase angle of the complex value returned from the standard FFT algorithm.
FFTPHASE, at a given frequency, indicates the phase shift of the equivalent sine function represented in
the time-domain data. The phase shift of a sinusoidal is phi in the following expression:
f  t  = sin  Ct +  
PSD (Power Spectral Density)

The signal of any time-dependent model has the same total power in the time domain as in the frequency
domain. What is of interest in spectral analysis is the amount of power contained over a frequency
interval. A PSD plot represents the distribution of power of a signal among its frequency components. In
general, a PSD plot looks like a FFTMAG plot, but on a different scale.
Adams/PostProcessor creates a one-sided power spectral density. Therefore, the scaling it uses is:
PH  f  = fft  f  2 + fft  – f  2
The PSD option on the FFT dialog box uses the pwelch function in Matlab. The sum of PSD, as computed
by pwelch, is equal to the time-integral squared amplitude of the original signal. The pwelch function
calculates the PSD using Welch's method:
• The input signal vector x is divided into k overlapping segments according to window and
noverlap (or their default values).
• The specified (or default) window is applied to each segment of x.
• An nfft-point FFT is applied to the windowed data.
• The (modified) periodogram of each windowed segment is computed.
• The set of modified periodograms is averaged to form the spectrum estimate S(ej ).
• The resulting spectrum estimate is scaled to compute the power spectral density as S(ej )/F,
where F is:
• 2 pi when you do not supply the sampling frequency.
• fs when you supply the sampling frequency (we use this option in Adams).
The number of segments k that x is divided into is calculated as:

• Eight if you do not specify the window, or if you specify it as the empty vector [].
• k= (m-o)/(l-o) if you specify window as a nonempty vector or a scalar.
In this equation, m is the length of the signal vector x, o is the number of overlapping samples
(noverlap), and l is the length of each segment (the window length).
Window Types
The FFT algorithm assumes that the time-domain data is a periodic sample from a continuous, infinite
series of data. The beginning and end conditions are, therefore, assumed to match. Window functions are
filters that reduce discontinuities from mismatching start and end conditions and ensure periodicity of the
FFT.
The window functions are listed below with the equation used to define the window. In the equation, Wj
is the window function and N is the number of input samples.
Window functions that closely resemble the unit step input retain the magnitude of the FFT output, but
accept minimal discontinuities before the FFT integrity is lost. Likewise, window functions that tend to
decrease the accuracy of the peak frequency magnitudes, significantly reduce the negative impact of end
condition discontinuities. The application of different window functions depends on the situation and
your preference.
Note: In general, the rectangular window function represents the ideal magnitudes most
accurately, but are the most sensitive to discontinuity. The Hanning window function filters
the largest discontinuities but represents the ideal magnitudes with the least accuracy.
Window
Functions Equation Used to Define the Window
Rectangular
Hanning
1 2j
W j = --- 1 – cos  -------------
2 N–1
Hamming:
2j
W j = 0.54 – 46 cos  --------
 N
Welch
 j – 1---  N – 1 
 2 
W j = 1 –  -----------------------------
 1---  N + 1  
 2 
Parzen 1
j – ---  N – 1 
2
W j = 1 – ----------------------------
-
1---
N + 1
2
Window
Functions Equation Used to Define the Window
Bartlett For n odd:
2j – 1 n+1
------------------  1  j  ------------
wj = n – 1 2
2j – 1 n-----------
+ 1-
2 – ------------------ jn
n–1 2
For n even:
2j – 1 n
------------------  1  j  ---
wj = n – 1 2
2j – 1 n---
2 – ------------------ +1jn
n–1 2
Blackman ·
 j-----------
– 1- j–1
w  j  = 0.42 – 0.5 cos  2 + 0.08 cos  4 ------------  j = 1 ...,n
n – 1 n–1
Triangular For n odd:
2j - n+1
-----------  1  j  ------------
wj = n+1 2
2n – j + 1 n-----------
+ 1-
2 – ---------------------------- jn
n–1 2
For n even:
2j - n
-----------  1  j  ---
wj = n + 1 2
2n – j + 1 n---
2 – ---------------------------- +1jn
n–1 2
Constructing a Two-Dimensional FFT Plot

To create an FFT plot:
1. Select the curve on which you want to perform the signal processing.
2. From the Plot menu, select FFT.

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) dialog box appears.
3. Set y-axis to Mag, Phase, or PSD.
4. Enter the start and end time on the curve between which you want the signal processing
performed.
5. Select the type of window function you want to use. Learn about window types.
6. Specify the number of interpolation points used in fitting the data. The number of points must be
a positive integer.
Note: When you specify the number of points, you are specifying the number of
interpolation points used to fit the data in a result set component. Earlier FFT
methods required the number of points to be an even power of two (for example,
256, 512, 1024, and so on). With new methods, however, this is no longer necessary.
You can select any number of points and the FFT method uses approximation
methods to calculate the results. We continue to recommend, however, that the
number of points be an even power of two because the results are more precise and
the FFT creation is faster.
7. Select Apply.
Note: To overlay two FFT curves on the same plot:
1. Use the FFT dialog box to create one FFT curve.

2. Use the Offset tool on the Curve Edit toolbar to create a second curve. See
Performing Simple Mathematical Calculations on Curve Data.
3. Select the second curve and edit the expression for the curve using the Math option
in the dashboard as explained in Using Expressions to Modify Curve Data Points.
Constructing a Three-Dimensional FFT Plot

You can construct a three-dimensional (3D) Fast fourier transform (FFT) plot by performing signal
processing on individual slices of a curve. You define a slice size, and Adams/PostProcessor slides this
over a range of the curve, overlapping the slices as specified. Each slice of the curve becomes a row in
the 3D plot surface.
To create a 3D FFT plot:

1. Select the curve on which you want to perform the signal processing.
2. From the Plot menu, select FFT 3D.
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) 3D dialog box appears.
3. Select the type of data to plot in the y-axis: Mag, Phase, or PSD.
4. Enter the start and end time to define the entire range of the curve on which you want signal
processing performed.
5. In Time Slice Size, enter the width of the slice on which to perform signal processing, and in
Percentage Overlap, enter the percentange amount the slices can overlap.
6. Select the type of window function you want to use.
7. Specify the number of interpolation points used in fitting the data. The number of points must be
a positive integer.
8. Select Apply.
Tips on Selecting Points

When you specify the number of points, you are specifying the number of interpolation points used to fit
the data in a Result set component. Earlier Fast fourier transform (FFT) methods required the number of
points to be an even power of two (for example, 256, 512, 1024, and so on). With new methods, however,
this is no longer necessary. You can select any number of points and the FFT method uses approximation
methods to calculate the results. We continue to recommend, however, that the number of points be an
even power of two because the results are more precise and the FFT creation is faster.
Constructing Bode Plots

Bode plots provide a way to study frequency response functions (FRFs) for linear systems and linearized
representations of nonlinear systems. The frequency response function measures the response at the
outputs due to unit harmonic excitation at the inputs at various frequencies. A Bode plot in
Adams/PostProcessor shows the amplitude gain and the phase shift between input to output for all
output/input combinations of the linear system.
• Ways to Construct Bode Plots
• Creating a Bode Plot
• Bode Plot Tutorial
Note: When you simulate a model to create results you are going to view as a Bode plot, specify
the number of output steps as a power of two minus one. By specifying an even power
minus one, the number of data points in the results is a power of two (the output steps you
requested plus one for the model's initial condition). While this is not required, we
recommend you do so to obtain peak performance on Bode calculations. Learn more about
Simulation Basics in Adams/View.
Ways to Construct Bode Plots

Adams/PostProcessor offers seven variations of what are, essentially, three separate ways to construct
Bode plots, depending on how the linear system is represented. These are:
• Transfer Functions
• Linear State Space Matrices and ABCD Matrices
• Input/Output Signal Pairs
Transfer Functions
A transfer function is a ratio of two polynomials in the Laplace domain when used with associated array
data elements as shown below:
b 0 + b 1 s 1 + ...+b n – 1 s n – 1 + b n s n
T  s  = -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
a 0 + a 1 s 1 + ...+a n – 1 s n – 1 + a n s n
Adams/PostProcessor has methods that you can use to generate a Bode plot from a transfer function:
• TFSISO (Adams transfer function, single-input, single-output) - TFSISO is an Adams
transfer function element.
• Transfer Function Coefficients - A transfer function is a ratio of the input to the output of a
system. Adams/PostProcessor converts the numerator and denominator of a transfer function
from a time domain to a Laplace domain. A Laplace domain takes integrals and derivatives and
replaces them with polynomials. Therefore, a system’s input and output can be modeled by the
coefficients of the numerator and denominator polynomials.
Linear State Space Matrices and ABCD Matrices

Another common way of representing a linear system is through a state-space representation or ABCD
matrices:
x· = Ax + Bu
y = Cx + Du
where u, y, and x denote input, output, and internal states, respectively.
The Adams/PostProcessor Bode plot functionality has three ABCD matrix modes:
• Adams matrices - Direct user input of Adams/PostProcessor matrix elements.
• Adams linear state matrix - Linear state matrices generated through a linearization of an
Adams model using Adams/Linear, an optional module to Adams.
Note: You must precede a linear simulation with a linear static or dynamic simulation
because you need to establish an operating point for the linearization. Before
computing the Adams linear state matrix, you must define plant inputs and outputs,
otherwise, Adams/PostProcessor sets the B, C, and D matrices to zero.
• Linear State Equation - ABCD matrices encapsulated in an Adams linear state equation system
element.
Input/Output Signal Pairs

You can generate a Bode plot using two sample time signals for the input and output channels.
Adams/PostProcessor estimates the frequency response function by performing a Fast Fourier Transform
of the two signals and computing a complex ratio of the two frequency domain series. The gain and the
phase shift in the Bode plot are the real and imaginary parts of this ratio. Adams/PostProcessor allows
the Bode plot to be generated by representing the input signal using result set component or
Adams/PostProcessor measures.
• Time domain results set components (RSC) - The RSC method uses output from a simulation
to define the system.
• Time domain measures - The time domain measure method uses predefined or user-defined
measures of model input and output to define the system.
Creating a Bode Plot

To create a bode plot:
1. From the Plot menu, select Bode Plots.
The Bode Plots dialog box appears.
2. Select the type of input format. For more information, see Ways to Construct Bode Plots.
The elements in the dialog box change depending on the input format that you selected.
3. Enter the values in the dialog box as explained in the Bode Plots dialog box help, depending on
the input format, and then select OK.
Viewing Reports 117
Viewing Reports
In this section you will Learn more about importing and viewing Reports.
Exporting Adams/PostProcessor Data as an HTML Report

You can export the following Adams/PostProcessor data in the current session of Adams/PostProcessor
as an HTML report for viewing by others in your organization:
• Information on the parts, constraints, forces, and more in the selected models. This is the same
information that appears when you select Info.
• Plots and animations as .png or .jpg images.
• Movies of animations.
The result is a series of HTML pages, images, and style sheets, including a main homepage. See Export
- HTML Report for more information.
To export data as an HTML report:

1. From the File menu, point to Export, and then select HTML Report.
The Export Dialog Box appears.
2. Under the Files tab, enter the name you want applied to each of the resulting HTML files and style
sheets, and enter where you want the resulting HTML files and folders to be stored.
3. Under the Title Page tab, enter the title, author, date, and any comments you want displayed on
the title page. The title page appears when you first display the homepage. You can also enter an
image to appear in the upper right corner of the title page. The image can be of any format that
you can display in a Web browser (such as .gif, .jpg, .png).
4. Under the Pages tab, enter the following:
Options for Pages Tab

Pages Select the pages of plots and animations you want exported. If you select
Range, enter the pages you want included.
Image Format Enter the image format in which to store the pages of plots. You can select png
or jpg.

Image Width and Enter the pixel size of the exported pages. By default, Adams/PostProcessor
Height maintains the aspect ratio of the images so if you enter a value for width,
Adams/PostProcessor automatically calculates the height based on the current
aspect ratio, and the reverse. See Maintain Aspect Ratio below.
If you leave both text boxes blank, Adams/PostProcessor uses their default
size in Adams/PostProcessor.
Maintain Aspect Clear to change the proportions of the page sizes, and then enter new values
Ratio for Image Width and Height (see above).
Export Animations Select to export the animations as a movie. Clear to just save an image of the
first frame of the animation in the same format selected in Image Format.
Movie Format Select the type of movie to export the animation as. You can select:
Compressed .avi, Uncompressed .avi, .jpg, .mpg, and .png (AVI format is
only available on Windows).
• If you select .jpg or .png, Adams/Processor, exports each frame as an

png or jpg file, and then plays them as a movie.
• If you select compressed AVI format, set the frame rate, interval
between key frames, and quality (percentage of compression). The
default is 75% compression with each key frame 500 frames apart,
and a frame rate of 10 seconds per frame.
• If you select .mpg, set options to be able to play the movie in many
playback programs. For more on these options, see Recording
Animations.
5. Under the Models tab, select the models for which you want to export information about their
objects.
6. Select OK.
Adams/PostProcessor begins creating the exported data. If you selected to export an animation,
you see the animation being recorded.
To display the results of the export:

1. In a Web browser, change to the folder containing the results of the export.
2. Select the file with the same name as that you entered in the Files tab. For example, if you entered
suspension_1, select suspension_1.htm.
Loading Reports
You can load simple HTML and ASCII reports into Adams/PostProcessor.
Viewing Reports 119
To import a report:
1. From the File menu, point to Import, and then select Report.
2. Enter the name of the file to import.
3. Select OK.
To load a report in a viewport:

• Right-click the background of a viewport, and then select Load Report.
Modifying Report Properties

After you import a reports, you can change the source file associated with the report and the font point
size associated with the HTML logical font point size 3 (HTML logical font point sizes are from 1 to 7;
they define font point sizes relative to one another; not in absolute values). All other font point sizes are
scaled accordingly. For example, if you set the report font point size to 10 points, then logical font size 3
is 10; font size 2 is 8 points; and so on.
To modify report properties:

1. Select a report.
2. In the Property Editor, in the File Name text box, change the source file for report.
3. In the Font Size text box, enter the size for logical font size 3.
Updating Reports
You can update reports just as you update the results of simulations using the Recycle button and
Replace Simulations command. They check the dates of the report files on disk and reload them if the
file date has changed. Learn about Updating Plot Data.
HTML Tags Supported in Reports

Adams/PostProcessor supports only a subset of all HTML tags and does not support links. The following
tables show the HTML tags that Adams/PostProcessor supports:
• Structuring Tags Supported
• Character Tags Supported
• Special Tags Supported
• Table Tags Supported
Structuring Tags Supported
The tag: Represents:

<h1>...</h1> Top-level heading.
<h2>...</h2> Sub-level heading.
<h3>...</h3> Sub-sub-level heading.
<p>...</p> Left-aligned paragraph. Adjust the alignment with the align
attribute. Possible values are left, right and center.
<center>...</center> Centered paragraph.
<blockquote>...</blockquote> Indented paragraph.
<ul>...</ul> Unordered list.
<ol>...</ol> Ordered list. You can also define the enumeration label using
the type attribute. The default is type="1"; other types are "a"
and "A".
<li>...</li> List item.
<pre>...</pre> Leaves the information as is with no formatting. Preserves
white spaces in the content.
Character Tags Supported

<em>...</em> Emphasized.
<strong>...</strong> Strong.
<i>...</i> Italic font style.
<b>...</b> Bold font style.
<u>...</u> Underlined font style.
<big>...</big> Larger font size.
<small>...</small> Smaller font size.
<code>...</code> Indicates code.
Viewing Reports 121

<tt>...</tt> Typewriter font style.
<font>...</font> Information on fonts, including color, size, and type (face). The tag
understands the following attributes:
• color - The text color, for example: color="#FF0000"

• size - The logical size of the font. Logical sizes 1 to 7 are
supported. The value can either be absolute (for example,
size=3) or relative (size=-2).
• face - The family of the font, for example: face=times
Special Tags Supported

<img> An image. The image name is given in the source attribute,
for example: <img src="qt.xpm" /> The image tag also
understands the attributes width and height, which determine
the size of the image.
<hr> Horizontal line.
<br> Line break.
<nobr>...</nobr> No break.
Table Tags Supported

<table>...</table> A table definition. Other attributes are:
• bgcolor - Background color.

• width - Table width. Can be a percentage or actual number of
pixels.
• border - Width of the table border.
• cellspacing - Additional space around the table cells.
• cellpadding - Additional space around the contents of table cells.
<tr>...</tr> A table row that can only be used within table. It has the attribute:


<td>...</td> A table data cell with the following attributes:

• width - Cell width. Can be a percentage or actual number of
pixels.
• colspan - How many columns this cell spans.
• rowspan - How many rows this cell spans.
• align - Alignment.
<th>...</th> Table header cell.
Performing Clearance Studies 123
Performing Clearance Studies

Clearance Studies
Clearance Studies
You can perform a clearance study that reports the minimum distance between objects in your model at
each frame of an animation. For example, you might want to perform a clearance study to ensure
packaging requirements are satisfied.
When you view an animation of the clearance study, Adams/PostProcessor displays a line between the
two objects in the study to track the minimum distance. You can also plot the data and generate reports.
For an example of a clearance study, refer to the tutorial in Getting Started Using Adams/PostProcessor.
Defining a Clearance Study

To define a Clearance study:
• Select the pair of objects on which you want Adams/PostProcessor to report distance
information - You select objects, either parts or geometry, to be used in the study. The bodies
can be rigid or flexible. You can define many clearance objects at once by selecting multiple
objects in the lists.
• Set maximum distance reported - To reduce the calculations in the clearance study, you can
also define a maximum distance above which Adams/PostProcessor does not calculate any
distance information. When you play an animation, if the distance between the pair of objects is
greater than the maximum distance, Adams/PostProcessor does not display a line between the
objects. In addition, in clearance study reports, if the distance is exceeded at a given frame,
Adams/PostProcessor records the distance as the maximum distance and not the actual distance.
• Set method used for calculations - Adams/PostProcessor uses two different calculations for
clearance studies: Polygon and Vertex.
To create a clearance study:

1. From the Tools menu, point to Clearance, and then select Create.
The Create Clearance Study dialog box appears.
2. Set up the pairs to be investigated in the study.
• In the Model list, select the model to be used for the study.
• In the I Body list, select the first object in the pair. You can also select Pick to select the object
from the screen. (You can select more than one object at a time.)
• In the J Body list, select the second object in the pair. You can also select Pick to select the
object from the screen. (You can select more than one object at a time.)
3. Enter a name for the study. If you are creating several studies (by selecting more than one pair of
I and J Bodies), you can enter a base name for the studies, and Adams/PostProcessor will add a
suffix to the name (base_1, base_2, and so on).
4. Set the maximum distance for the clearance beyond which clearances will not be computed at any
given frame. For more information, see the overview on the previous page. Leave the text box
empty if you always want to calculate the minimum distance.
Clearance Studies
5. Select the method for calculating the minimum distances, either: Polygon or Vertex
6. Select OK.
7. Run clearance study as explained in Running a Clearance Study.
Running a Clearance Study

When you request to run a Clearance study, Adams/PostProcessor calculates the minimum and
maximum distances between a pair of objects using data from a selected Simulation. It adds the
information to the animation associated with the simulation, which you can subsequently run. You can
also generate a report of the data and plot it.
Tip: The number of frames in your animation can have a significant effect on the accuracy of
the distances reported. Therefore, for best results, we recommend that you perform at least
one clearance study with a large number of frames in the animation (time steps in the
simulation).
To run a clearance study:

1. Set up the clearance study as explained in Defining a Clearance Study.
2. From the Tools menu, point to Clearance, and then select Compute.
The Clearance Compute dialog box appears.
3. Select the simulation data against which you want to run the clearance study.
4. From the pull-down menu, select if you want to calculate the clearance study as if flexible bodies
were rigid. This reduces computations and allows the clearance study to run faster but does not
give you information about the effects of flexibility.
5. Select OK.
Playing an Animation of the Clearance Study

You can review an animation of the Clearance study. When you run the animation, Adams/PostProcessor
displays a line representing the minimum distance at each frame between the objects in the clearance
study. No line appears between objects if the distance between the objects is greater than the maximum
value you set, above which Adams/PostProcessor performs no calculations. For more information, see
Defining a Clearance Study.
You can change the color of the minimum distance line, its visibility, and width. Learn how to change the
clearance study.
To review a clearance study as an animation:

1. In the Treeview, under the model and Simulation on which you selected to perform the clearance
study, select the name of the clearance study.
Clearance Studies
Viewing Clearance Data as Reports

You can export summaries of all clearance studies run for a particular Simulation in different formats:
The format: Does the following:

Complete report in Displays the objects in the studies, frame at which minimum and maximum
HTML or text format distances occurred, and position of objects at minimum distances. The text
file has a .clt extension.
Example:
The format: Does the following:

Report of minimum Displays minimum distances at each frame. Has a .clr extension.
distances at each
frame in text format
Example:
Clearance study : CLEARANCE_1
Analysis name : ppt_gs
Min 377.083 at frame 11
Clearance Studies
Max 476.712 at frame 31
Frame Distance
---------------------------
1 420.791
2 420.791
3 412.919
4 405.346
...
Clearance study : CLEARANCE_2
Analysis name : ppt_gs
Min 881.402 at frame 11
Max 940.895 at frame 31
Frame Distance
---------------------------
1 912.850
2 912.850
3 907.660
4 902.446
...
To export reports:
1. From the Tools menu, point to Clearance, and then select Write.
The Clearance Export Results dialog box appears.
2. Enter the name of the file and the simulation result against which you created the clearance
studies.
3. Select OK.
For more on working with reports in Adams/PostProcessor, see Viewing Reports.
Plotting Clearance Data

After you run a Clearance study, you can plot the following information:
• X, Y, and Z location of objects (I Body and J Body) in study
• Minimum distance
You plot clearance study data much like you plot any data in Adams/PostProcessor. For more information
on plotting, see Plotting Results.
To plot clearance study results:

1. From the Dashboard, select the simulation on which you performed the clearance study.
2. Set Source to Clearances.
The dashboard changes to show the clearance data available for plotting.
3. From the Request list, select the clearance study whose data you want to plot.
Clearance Studies
4. From the Component list, select one or more components of the characteristic that you want to
plot.
Changing the Clearance Study

You can use the Property Editor to change many of the aspects of the Clearance study and run it again.
To change the clearance study properties:

1. In the Treeview, under the model and Simulation on which you selected to perform the clearance
study, select the name of the clearance study.
2. In the property editor, change the following:
• Visibility - To set the display of the minimum distance line, set Visibility to:
On - Turns on the display of the line during animations.
Off - Turns off the display of the line during animations.
• Inherit - Lets the line simply inherit the display settings from its parent.
• Line weight - Select a line weight for the minimum distance line. The weight values range
from 1 to 5 screen pixels.
• Color - Set Color to the color for the minimum distance line.
• Method - Change the method used to calculate the distances: either Polygon or Vertex.
• Maximum - Set the maximum value beyond which Adams/PostProcessor does not calculate.
For more information, see Defining a Clearance Study.
3. If you changed the method or the maximum value, run the study again as explained in Running a
Clearance Study.
Setting Preferences 129
Setting Preferences
Saving Your Preferences
Saving Your Preferences

You can use the Preferences dialog box to easily change the ways in which Adams/PostProcessor works.
In addition, you can specify the directory to which Adams/PostProcessor saves files.
You can store preferences you set for use in later sessions. If you are using Adams/PostProcessor stand-
alone, it stores the preferences in the file pptBS.cmd in your working directory. If you are using
Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View, it stores the preferences in the file aviewBS.cmd. The BS
stands for Before Startup, meaning that Adams/PostProcessor will read it before it reads any other setup
files.
If Adams/PostProcessor finds either pptBS.cmd or aviewBS.cmd in the current working directory or the
home directory, it automatically loads it when it starts up. Since Adams/PostProcessor overwrites the file
when you save it during a session, you should not edit it manually.
To save a preferences file:

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
2. Make changes as explained in the other Help topics on preferences.
3. Select Save.
You can also restore the default settings after making changes:
1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
2. Select Restore.
PPT Preferences
PPT Preferences
Edit -> Preferences
Changes the ways in which Adams/PostProcessor works. In addition, you can specify the directory to
which Adams/PostProcessor saves files.
PPT Preferences - Animation

Edit -> Preferences-> Animation Tab
You can set preferences for animations, including preferences for force graphics, caching of animations,
part graphics, and flexible body display.
Learn more:
• About Force Graphics
• About Part Graphics
Note: For flexible bodies, you can also use the Performance Tuning Guide, which steps you
through all the perferences you can set for improving the performance of animations of
flexible bodies, including some that are on this tab. See Tuning the Performance of Flexible
Body Animations
PPT Preferences
For the option: Do the following:

Force graphic options:
Force Scale/Torque Enter the amount by which you want to scale force (straight arrows) and torque
Scale (semi-circular arrows) graphics. The default scale is 1.0 for both forces and
torques.
Display Numeric Clear if you do not want to see the values of the force and torque magnitudes
Values during animation.
If you leave it selected, Adams/PostProcessor continuously displays the

magnitudes for all force and torque graphics during the animation.
Decimal Places Enter the number of decimal places to be written for force graphics numeric
values. The default value is four.
Always Wireframe Clear if you want to see the force and torque graphic arrows represented as three-
Vectors dimensional objects instead of as simple lines and arcs when animating in shaded
model.
If you leave it selected, Adams/PostProcessor shows the force graphics in

wireframe render mode even when you are rendering the view in shaded mode.
Always in Select if you want to see the graphic arrows in front of the shaded model.
Foreground
Caching Set to the type of caching you want. See Caching of Animations.
Flex Caching By default, cache information necessary for animations containing flexible
bodies is maintained on disk in files with a .fcf extension. Adams/PostProcessor
can also maintain this information in physical memory, which can result in
significantly less disk input/output, higher CPU utilization, and, consequently,
faster performance. If you work in an environment with remote disk servers
(accessed across a network), you should see a dramatic improvement in
performance if you select to maintain the cache in memory. Users using local disk
will see improvements on a smaller scale.
The disadvantage of memory caching is the increased process size and the risk
that it will exceed your computer's physical memory. If your computer has
enough physical memory, then this approach is more efficient. If your computer
doesn't have enough physical memory, then its operating system will begin
swapping and the animation performance may be worse than when using the .fcf
file. We recommend that you test each model with this setting and monitor the
process size using the Task Manager on Windows or the equivalent tool on UNIX
(for example, gmemusage -s on SGI).
PPT Preferences

Compression Three different levels of data compression are available for controlling the size
of flexible body animation caches. The levels, from the lowest to highest
compression, are None (default), Mild, and Aggressive. Each level implements
a higher level of data compression at a risk of greater data loss. Note that the
compression is applied to nodal deformations only and, therefore, may only lead
to slightly incorrect geometric representations. Contour plot information
accuracy is maintained.
The disadvantage of applying data compression is that the precaching times for
certain flexible bodies may increase. Data compression should only be used when
the size of flexible body cache information needs to be minimized.
Part graphic options:
Part Coordinate Select if you want to display part coordinate triads.
Triad
Part Center of Select if you want to display part center of gravity markers.
Gravity
Vector plot graphic options: (For more on vector plots, see Animating Flexible Bodies and
Adams/Durability Results).
Scale Enter a value by which to scale the deformations. Set a large scale to exaggerate
the deformations.
Display as Torque Display vectors as linear lines or as torque vectors.
PPT Preferences - Colors

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Colors Tab
You can change the definition of existing colors and create new colors. You can also set the color of the
Adams/PostProcessor background.

Color Select the color you want to modify or a color close to the color that you want
to create. If you want to change the background color, select Background.
The color appears in the color box.

New Color Select if you want to create a New Color.
Color Picker Select to create or modify a color. See Using the Color Picker to Select Colors.
PPT Preferences
PPT Preferences - Curves

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Curves Tab
Each time Adams/PostProcessor adds a curve to an existing plot, it assigns the curve a different color and
line style so that you can differentiate between one curve and another. For example, the first curve you
create is red, the next is blue, and the third is magenta. You can change the automatic assignment of
properties so that Adams/PostProcessor assigns to each curve a single color, style, and symbol that you
define.

Auto Color Select if you want Adams/PostProcessor to automatically set the color.
If you do not select it, choose a color from the option menu.
Auto Style Select if you want Adams/PostProcessor to automatically set the style of the
curve.
If you do not select it, choose a style from the option menu.
Auto Symbol Select if you want Adams/PostProcessor to automatically set the symbol.
If you do not select it, choose a symbol from the option menu.
Symbol Increment Select the symbol increment.
The default value of 1 specifies that a symbol is displayed on every data point on
the curve. If you have a large number of points, the symbols can obscure the
curve. Therefore, you can set higher increments to more widely distribute the
symbols along the curve. For example, if a curve has 10,000 data points, the
default setting of 1 creates symbols that are too close together and obscures the
curve. Setting the symbol increment to 100 distributes only 100 symbols along
the curve, making the curve visible.
Line Weight Select the weight of the line. The weight values range from 1 to 5 screen pixels.
PPT Preferences - Files

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Files Tab
Allows you to specify how Adams/PostProcessor imports Adams/View command files.
PPT Preferences
Turning off the display of the commands and the results should increase the speed at which
Adams/PostProcessor imports the command file.

Echo Commands Select if you want Adams/PostProcessor to display the commands as it reads
them in the command window.
Update Screen Select if you want Adams/PostProcessor to display the effect of each command
on the screen as it reads them or only display the final results on the screen
when the command import is complete.
On Error Select one:
• Continue - Adams/PostProcessor continues processing the line as if it

were typed interactively. This can be dangerous if there is no correction
later on in the line, because Adams/PostProcessor keeps issuing error
messages until the error is corrected. The errors can continue beyond
the end of the line, even to the end of the file, if carriage returns are
invalid. Use this value only if the command file is a literal recording of
your key strokes, complete with back spaces or other corrections of
mistakes.
• Ignore - Adams/PostProcessor ignores the line on which it finds the
error and starts processing the next line as a new command.
Adams/PostProcessor can usually recover and execute subsequent
commands in the file. If subsequent commands depend on the results of
the invalid command, however, they can fail or give unexpected
results.
• Abort - Adams/PostProcessor immediately stops reading the command
file and returns control to interactive input. This is the most
conservative setting because it guarantees subsequent commands will
cause no further errors or unexpected results.
PPT Preferences - Fonts

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Fonts Tab
Allows you to specify which system fonts to use when displaying text in Viewports or when printing to
PostScript files.
Note: Changing fonts does not affect the text used to display the interface (for example, text in
dialog box or the Property Editor), reports, or tables.
PPT Preferences

Screen Font Enter a font type to be used for displaying text in viewports.
Postscript Font Select a font from the pull-down menu. The options available depend on the fonts
available on your computer platform.
Default Font Size Enter a size for the font.
PPT Preferences - Geometry

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Geometry Tab
Allows you to specify how to display and import geometry.

Graphics Endcaps Select if you want to display endcaps. Endcaps are the ends of geometric
objects, such as cylinders and frustra. Because of the large number of edges on
endcaps, they can reduce animation performance. You can, therefore, turn off
the display of endcaps to increase the animation speed.
Trimesh geometry Select if you want to import the triangular geometry as trimesh strips. Trimesh
during file import strips display significantly faster than individual polygons, resulting in faster
animations. Adams/PostProcessor automatically imports shell files (.shl, .slp,
and .stl) as trimesh strips. Note that when you select to import CAD files at
trimesh strips, importing of the files may be slow.
Fast transparencies Select if you want to display the transparency faster, but the quality of images
containing transparencies will suffer. By keeping this check box clear (which is
the default) better images will be displayed, especially when transparent images
overlay on each other, but at a cost of performance.
PPT Preferences - Orientation

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Orientation Tab
Allows you to change the view orientation in Viewports. By default, the view orientation of animations
is set to positive y-axis pointing up and the positive z-axis pointing out of the screen. Changing the view
orientation is particularly helpful when your models use a coordinate system that is different than the
standard coordinate system. For example, in some automotive applications, the orientation of the vehicle
is such that the z-axis is pointing up and the x-axis is pointing from the front to the rear of the vehicle.
Specifying these new directions allows the viewport orientations such as Top or Left to behave as
PPT Preferences
expected with respect to the model. You can specify any orientations as long as you do not use the same
axis to define both up and forward.
Tip: You can turn on the display of the viewport triad by selecting View in the dashboard, and
then selecting Display Triad.

Up Axis Select the axis to be pointing up.
Forward Axis Select the axis to be pointing out of the screen.
PPT Preferences - Page

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Page Tab
Allows you to set the header and footer that automatically appear on subsequently created pages. Each
header and footer can have three items of information (left, center, and right). Each item on the header
footer can be a bitmapped image (.jpg, .xpm, or .bmp) or text.
Set the headers and footers you want to appear on each page or select None to remove the headers and
footers.
Use the Left, Center, and Right tabs to add text or images to the page header or footer.
Learn about Managing Pages

Source Choose either Text or Image.
If you set Source to Text, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following options:
• Text Enter the text you want to appear in the header or footer.
• Font Size Enter the font size.
• Color Select a color from the pull-down menu.
If you set Source to Image, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following options:
• Image Enter the image you want to appear in the header or footer. The image can be
a .jpg, .xpm, or .bmp.
• Height Enter the height at which you want the image displayed.
PPT Preferences
PPT Preferences - Plot

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences -> Plot Tab
Allows you to:
• Specify the information that appears automatically on each plot that you create, including:
• Titles
• Subtitles
• Analysis name and date analysis run
The information comes from the Measures, result set, or Objects file. You can change the default
as explained in Modifying Titles and Axis Placement.
• Always display the plots as tables. (for more information, see Displaying Plots as Tables).
• Set how Adams/PostProcessor handles duplicate time values on curves during operations.

Auto Titles Select if you want titles to automatically appear on each plot.
Auto Subtitles Select if you want subtitles to automatically appear on each plot.
Auto Date Stamp Select if you want the date on which the simulation was performed to appear
on each plot.
Auto Analysis Name Select if you want the name of the analysis from which the plot data was
generated to appear on each plot.
Table Select if you want to always display plots as tables.
Duplicate Points Select how you want Adams/PostProcessor to handle duplicate time values
on a curve. You can select:
• Use last duplicate - Keeps the last value, which is the default
because the earlier time values are likely to be static steps and the
last one the dynamic step.
• Use first duplicate - Keeps the first value.
• Keep all duplicates - If you select to keep all duplicates, you will
receive errors messages about not being able to perform an
operation because of duplicate points. This will occur during Curve
Edit toolbar integrate and filter operations, as well as during FFT
operations.
PPT Preferences
PPT Preferences - Units

Review -> Postprocessing -> Edit -> Preferences-> Units Tab
Allows you to set the units to be used for curve data. Adams/PostProcessor scales data to the proper units
conversion factor where appropriate.
Note: Changing the unit preferences also changes the units preferences for the complete model
in both Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor.

Length, Mass, Force, Select the units you want or use a preset value below.
Time, Angle,
Frequency
The buttons below are preset values. For all preset values, time is in seconds.
Sets length to millimeter, mass to kilogram, and force to Newton.
Sets length to meter, mass to kilogram, and force to Newton.
Sets length to centimeter, mass to gram, and force to Dyne.
Sets length to inch, mass to pound-mass, and force to PoundForce.
PPT Preferences - Stereo

Edit -> Preferences-> Stereo Tab
Sets options for using Adams/PostProcessor with stereo viewing. Stereo viewing is available on all
UNIX platforms but not Windows. When running Adams/PostProcessor, stereo viewing mode cannot be
set until you've displayed an animation. The easiest way to do this is to either load an animation or set
the mode to Animation (in the upper left corner of the window).
In addition, before running Adams, you need to set the MDI_STEREO environment variable
MDI_STEREO (setenv MDI_STEREO 1). Learn more about setting environment variables.
Stereo viewing is only available when running Native OpenGL graphics with the
OpenGL_Software_Assisted registry setting set to disabled. You use the Registry Editor.
PPT Preferences
To set this registry setting:

1. From the Adams Toolbar, right-click the Toolbar tool , and then select Registry Editor.
The Registry Editor appears.
2. Select AView -> Preferences -> Graphics -> OpenGL_Software_Assisted.
Using Stereo Viewing on SGI Machines

There are two types of stereo views available on SGI machines:
• Above-and-below viewing - The first, and least useful, is above-and-below viewing. This type
of viewing is used with non-stereo- ready hardware and splits the screen into two halfs, a top half
and bottom half. The result is that the screen size in pixels is effectively cut in half in the vertical
direction. For example, on a monitor set for a screen size 1024 x 768 pixels, the screen size
changes to 1024 x 384. This changes the aspect ratio of the screen and of the resulting images
displayed within Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor. They appear to be one half as tall as
they should be.
• Interlaced stereo viewing - The second type of viewing is Interlaced stereo viewing, which is
available on stereo-capable graphics cards. This approach has the advantage that the screen
aspect ratio is not changed and, therefore, the resulting images maintain the same proportions
has their non-stereo counterparts. To enable this mode in the current Adams code, the video
format for the monitor must be set to a format that supports interlaced stereo viewing. To do this,
use the SGI setmon(1) shell command. For example, on a SGI tezro machine with a V12
graphics card, you could use the following command:
/usr/gfx/setmon -n 1280x1024_100s

Stereo viewing Select to enable stereo viewing.
Depth of Field Slide to control the depth of the perspective matrix.
Eye Separation Slide to control of offset between the left and right modeling views.
PPT Preferences

Parallax Control the type of parallax view used to display the model:
• Positive - Positive parallax viewing produces images that appear to be

within the space of the monitor. For engineering purposes where objects
are often cut off by the window borders or partially obscured by dialog
boxes, positive parallax viewing produces images that are less confusing
to the viewer and are, therefore, easier to view.
• Negative - Negative parallax viewing produces images that appear to
float in space in front of the display. Viewing floating images that are
partially obscured by interface items produces confusing cues to the
viewer. While the image appears in front of the screen, the interface
items appear to be on the screen but these interface items can obscure
part of the image. These conflicting inputs can be confusing and lead to
extra strain.
Eye Position Use with Negative parallax viewing and use it to control how far the image floats
in front of the screen.
Save
Select to save the changes permanently for the next sessions.
• If you are using Adams/PostProcessor stand-alone, it stores the preferences in the file
pptBS.cmd in your working directory.
• If you are using Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View, it stores the preferences in the file
aviewBS.cmd. The BS stands for Before Startup, meaning that Adams/PostProcessor will read it
before it reads any other setup files.
If Adams/PostProcessor finds either pptBS.cmd or aviewBS.cmd in the current working directory or the
home directory, it automatically loads it when it starts up. Since Adams/PostProcessor overwrites the file
when you save it during a session, you should not edit it manually.
Restore
Select to restore the settings to their defaults.
Specifying the Working Directory
Specifying the Working Directory

By default, Adams/PostProcessor saves all files in the directory from which you ran
Adams/PostProcessor. You can change the working directory.
To change the working directory:

1. From the File menu, select Select Directory.
2. Select the directory in which Adams/PostProcessor should save files.
3. Select OK.
Part Graphics
Part Graphics
You can set the following for parts:
• Part Coordinate Triad - Display a triad that represents the reference frame used to locate and
orient all markers associated with the part.
Center of gravity - Display the center-of-mass marker for each part.
About Force Graphics
About Force Graphics

Force graphics are arrows whose magnitudes and directions are proportional to the magnitudes and
directions of the forces acting on your model during a Simulation. Force graphics help you gauge how
large your forces become and in what directions they are applied during a simulation.
Force Graphics on an Animation
To see force graphics during Animations, you must specify those force elements in your model for which
you would like to see the associated force graphics. To turn force graphics on or off for particular forces,
refer to the Adams/View documentation that describe how to modify a force or a motion.
You can specify the following for the display of force graphics during an animation:
• Scale factor used to control the graphic’s relative size compared to the objects in the model.
• Whether or not the force magnitudes are displayed numerically. The numerical values appear
near the arrowheads.
• Whether or not the force graphics are drawn in Wireframe render mode or Shaded rendering
mode when the model is animated in shaded mode.
• Whether the force graphic is always drawn in front of other geometry. This is particularly useful
when viewing forces inside geometry, such as three-dimensional contacts.
There are two different scale factors: one for forces and one for torques. Adams applies the force scale
factor to all force graphics in your model to maintain their proper relative sizing, while it applies the
torque scale factor to all torque graphics in your model.
Finding force and torque scale factors that are good for the entire animation might require some trial and
error. It is often useful to set your scale factors while viewing the frame for which the largest force reaches
its peak value.
Learn more:
• Setting Up Force Graphics
• Force Graphics Settings Dialog Box
• PPT Preferences - Animation
Caching of Animations
When performing Animations that contain Flexible bodies or dynamic geometry, such as spring-dampers,
Adams/PostProcessor produces a cache of data as it calculates what the geometry will look like in each
frame of the animation. You can set when Adams/PostProcessor produces this cache depending on the
amount of memory in your system and the performance you’d like to see. You can set it to:
• Cache the animation before playing it (pre-cache) - Adams/PostProcessor caches the data
before it plays the animation. You will see a delay from when you select to play the animation
and the actual start of the animation. This is the default.
• Create the cache as it plays the animation the first time - Adams/PostProcessor calculates the
geometry as it runs the animation the first time. Therefore, the first time you play the animation
it is slow but subsequent animation loops will be faster.
Keyboard Shortcuts 147
Keyboard Shortcuts
The entries on the left show the keyboard shortcuts for Adams/View organized by operation. Keyboard
shortcuts allow you to quickly access commonly used commands. The shortcuts available depend on the
current mode (animation or plotting) as well as the location of the cursor.
The shortcuts are organized into the following operations:
• Menu Shortcuts
• Interface Object Shortcuts
• Function Keys
• Animation Mode Shortcuts
• Plotting Mode Shortcuts
Menu Shortcuts
To: Enter:
Print Ctrl + P
Exit Ctrl + Q
Undo Ctrl + Z
Redo Ctrl + Shift + Z
Delete Ctrl + X
Interface Object Shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts work with interface objects, such as the Property Editor, Dashboard, or dialog
boxes.
To: Enter:
Copy selected text in text boxes Ctrl + C
Cut selected text in text boxes Ctrl + X
Paste cut or copied text in text boxes Ctrl + V
Move focus to next object Tab
Move focus to previous object Shift + Tab
Function Keys
To: Enter:
Import command file F2
Toggle command window visibility F3
Toggle treeview visibility F5
Toggle dashboard visibility F6
Return to Adams/View (Only available in integrated mode) F8
Animation Mode Shortcuts
To: Enter:
Set dynamic rotation mode r
Set dynamic translation mode t
Change depth perspective d
Set dynamic zoom mode z
Draw window to zoom w
Pick point to move to center of viewport c
Select element to which to orient viewport e
Set dynamic spin mode (rotate) s
Fit to viewport f
Orient to front Shift + F
Orient to right Shift + R
Orient to top Shift + T
Orient to isometric Shift + I
Toggle shading Shift + S
Toggle icon visibility v
Select mode Esc
Interactive highlighting Ctrl (during mouse motion)
Snap to 30-degree increments Shift (during view)
Interactive selecting Ctrl + left mouse button
Keyboard Shortcuts 149
Plotting Mode Shortcuts

Selection or Statistics Mode
To: Enter:
Zoom Click middle mouse button
Fit plot Double-click middle mouse button
Statistics Mode
To: Enter:
Previous curve Up arrow
Next curve Down arrow
Previous point Left arrow
Next point Right arrow
Previous local maxima Shift + left arrow
Next local maxima Shift + right arrow
Previous local minima Ctrl + left arrow
Next local minima Ctrl + right arrow
Examples of Using Adams/PostProcessor 151
Examples of Using Adams/PostProcessor

(Some examples may require internet access)
Tutorials of overall product use:

• Getting Started Using Adams/PostProcessor
Examples of Adams/PostProcessor features:

• Bode Plot Tutorial
• Defining Filter Function
• Adams Verification Guide
Bode Plot Tutorial
Bode Plot Tutorial

This tutorial steps you through an example of how to construct bode plots when using Adams/View and
Adams/PostProcessor together. It contains the sections:
• About the Tutorial
• About Example Model’s Input and Output
• Investigating the Frequency Response
Note: To run this tutorial, you must use Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View. You cannot use
standalone Adams/PostProcessr.
About the Tutorial

We’ve provided an example command file called bode_tutorial.cmd in the
install_dir\aview\examples\user_guide directory of your Adams installation directory.
It contains an idealized model of a rocket and a payload.
A force with an unspecified thrust function propels the rocket, and the payload interacts with the rocket
though a spring. Both the rocket body and the payload body are constrained to have a single degree of
freedom (DOF) each along the x-axis. A drag force is acting on both bodies. Figure 1 shows the model.
Figure 1 Idealized Model of Rocket and Payload

Bode Plot Tutorial
About Example Model’s Input and Output

The model has a single input and a single output. The system input is a measure of the thrust, and the
system output is velocity of the payload relative to ground.
The force balance equation for the rocket is:
m 1 p·· 1 + c 1 p· 1 + k  p 1 – p 2  = u
where:
• p 1 and p 2 are the positions of the rocket and payload.

• m 1 and c 1 are the are mass and drag coefficient for the rocket
• k is the connecting stiffness.
• u is the thrust.
• Dots denote time derivatives.
The force balance equation for the payload is shown below where m 2 and c 2 are mass and drag
coefficients:
m 2 p·· 2 + c 2 p· 2 + k  p 2 – p 1  = 0
Solving the second equation for p 1 and substituting the solution in the first equation, you will find, after
some algebra, where the parameterized values denote time derivatives:
4 m1 c2 1  + c1 m2  3  k  m1 + m2  + c1 c2  2  k  c1 + c2   1 
p2 + ------------------------------------- p 2 + -------------------------------------------- p 2 + ------------------------ p 2 = ku
m1 m2 m1 m2 m1 m2
Substituting the following parameter values from the example model:
• m1 = 100kg
• m2 = 10kg
• c1 = 20Ns/m
• c2 = 2Ns/m
• k = 10N/m
You get the following:
4 3 2 1

d p 2 + 0.4p 2 + 1.14p 2 + 0.22p 2 = 0.01u 
Bode Plot Tutorial
which yields the transfer function:
0.01
T  s  = -----------------------------------------------------------
3 2
-
s + 0.4s + 1.14s + 0.22
You can also introduce a change of variables:
3
x3 = p2
2
x2 = p2
1
x1 = p2
and noting that x 1 is the output variable y, you can achieve first-order form of the differential equation:
x· 1 0 1 0 x1 0
·x = 0 0 1 x2 + 0 u
2
x· 3 – 0.22 – 1.14 – 0.4 x 3 0.01
and an output equation:
x1
y = 1 0 0 x 2 +  0 u
x3
The ABCD matrices are evident in the two equations.

In the example, you will investigate the frequency response in the 0.01 Hz to 10 Hz range. You will do
so using four of the seven modes of Bode plots. The remaining three modes are simple extensions of these
four.
Investigating the Frequency Response

The command file bode_tutorial.cmd creates the idealized model of a rocket and payload shown
in Figure 1. It defines the following elements for you:
• Rocket and payload parts.
• Connecting spring, drag, and thrust forces.
• Translational joints connecting the two parts to ground.
Bode Plot Tutorial
• Plant input element containing the Thrust_value measure that defines the thrust function
used in the thrust force.
• Plant output element containing the Payload_velocity measure that defines the velocity of
the payload relative to ground.
In the next sections, you’ll do the following:
• Create A, B, C, D matrices, as derived earlier, that analytically describe the system.
• Modify the measure Thrust_value so it defines a SWEEP function that applies harmonic
excitation of unit amplitude and a linearly varying frequency.
• Run a simulation and generate linear state matrices, using Adams/Linear.
• Generate Bode plots for each type of construction method.
You must have Adams/Linear to run the portion of this tutorial that generates linear state matrices. To
purchase Adams/Linear, see your MSC sales representative.
Setting Up the Model

In this section, you’ll import the model, create ABCD matrices for it, and modify the Thrust_value
function measure.
To set up the model:

1. Copy the file
/install_dir/aview/examples/user_guide/bode_tutorial.cmd to your
working directory. install_dir is the directory where the Adams software is installed. If you cannot
locate the directory, see your system administrator.
Note: By default on Windows, files in the installation directory are read-only. During
installation, your system adminstration can choose to change the permissions so
you can write to the installation directory. If this has not been done, you will need
to change the permission of the above file when you copy it to your working
directory.
2. Start Adams/View, and import the command file bode_tutorial.cmd.

3. Create A, B, and C data element matrices as listed below. Because D is a 1 x 1 zero matrix, you
do not need to define it. As you create the matrices, name them A, B, and C, use full format, and
order the matrices by row. For complete instructions on creating matrices, the Adams/View online
help.
• A is a 3 x 3 matrix input with the values:
0.0, 1.0, 0.0,
0.0, 0.0, 1.0,
-0.22, -1.14, -0.4
Bode Plot Tutorial
• B is a 3 x 1 matrix with the values:

0.0
0.0
0.01
• C is a 1 x 3 matrix with the values:
1.0, 0.0, 0.0
4. Create a thrust function by modifying the Thrust_value function measure to the following:
sweep(time,1.0,1.0,.001,100.0,1.0,0.01)
The thrust function defines a frequency sweep function that applies harmonic excitation of unit
amplitude and a linearly varying frequency starting at 0.001 Hz at 1 second and increasing to 1
Hz at 100 seconds with a 0.01 second lead to smooth the transition. Note the parallels to a shaker
table.
For complete instructions on modifying a measure, see Defining Output Using Measures in the
Adams/View online help.
Simulating the Model

Now you’ll simulate the model and construct linear state matrices. You can only construct linear state
matrices if you have Adams/Linear. If you do not have Adams/Linear, you can still proceed with the rest
of the tutorial.
To simulate the model and construct matrices:

1. Simulate the model for 100 seconds with 1023 output steps, for a total of 1024 (a power of two)
output points.
Note: In this example, the number of output steps is a power of two minus one. By
specifying an even power minus one, the number of data points in the results is a
power of two (the output steps you requested plus one for the model’s initial
condition). While this is not required, we recommend you do so to obtain peak
performance for Bode calculations. For more information on simulating models in
Adams/View, see the Adams/View online help.
2. Construct linear state matrices by linearizing the system at its state at 100 seconds if you have
Adams/Linear. If you do not have Adams/Linear, continue to the next section.
To linearize the system:
a. From the Simulation Controls dialog box, select the Linear State Matrix tool .
b. In the dialog box that appears, enter the plant input and output. Double-click the text boxes to
display the Database Navigator.
c. Select OK.
Bode Plot Tutorial

You are now ready to construct Bode plots of the system for linear state matrices, ABCD matrices,
transfer function coefficients, and measures.
To construct Bode plots:

1. Display the plotting window.
2. On the Plot menu, select Bode Plots.
The Bode Plot dialog box appears.
3. From the Input Format option menu, select Adams/Linear State Matrices if you computed
state matrices in the previous section. If you did not, continue with Step 5.
4. Enter the Linear State Matrix results object, and request a frequency range of 0.01 to 1 with 100
logarithmically spaced output points. Select Apply.
The Bode plots appear in the plotting window as shown in Figure 2. The plot shows the
accumulated curves.
5. Now, from the Input Format option menu, select Adams Matrices. Browse for the A, B, and C
matrices defined earlier. Leave the D text box blank and choose the same frequency sampling as
in Step 4. Select Apply.
accumulated curves.
6. From the Input Format option menu, select Transfer Function Coefficients, and select the
numerator coefficient of 0.01 and denominator coefficients of 1.0, 0.4, 1.14, and 0.22. Choose the
same frequency sampling as in Steps 4 and 5. Select Apply.
accumulated curves.
7. Finally, from the Input Format option menu, select Time Domain Measures. Then, browse for
the Thrust_value measure as input and the Payload_velocity measure as output. Because the
frequency range is controlled by the time resolution of the input signals, no frequency control is
available. Select OK.
accumulated curves.
Notice how all the four sets of curves agree in their results except for the one generated by
measure data, which is slightly less accurate. You could improve the accuracy of this curve by
requesting additional outputs in Step 4.
Bode Plot Tutorial
Figure 2 Bode Plot for Example Model

Dialog Box - F1 help
Animation Dashboard
Animation Dashboard
The dashboard in animation mode (see Modes) lets you play and control time- and frequency-domain
animations, record them, and view Contour plots and Vector plots.
See Types of Animations.
Time-based Animations
Frequency-based Animations
Adams/Vibration Animations
See Animation Dashboard - Vibration Animation .
Dialog Box - F1 help 3
Animation Dashboard - Animation

Load Animation -> Animation dashboard -> Animation tab
Lets you play and control Time-domain animations.

Display Units Set whether to control animations based on their frame numbers or time. For
example, to view an animation between 3.0 and 5.5 seconds, you would set
Display Units to time, and then set the start time to 3.0 and the end time to 5.5.
Frame Increment Select the number of frames to skip when playing an animation.
Start/End In the Start text box, enter the starting frame or time, depending on the value of
Display Units (see above), and in the End text box enter the ending frame or time.
Loop Set how Adams/PostProcessor plays the animation:
• Forever - Continuously loop through the animation.

• Once - Animate one time.
• Oscillate - First play the animation forwards and then play it backwards
(for example, in a 100-frame animation, animate from 1 to 100 then back
from 100 to 1).
• Oscillate forever - Oscillate forward and backward repeatedly.
Speed Control Change the speed at which time-domain animations play. Speed Control
introduces a time delay between each frame of an animation. The default, when the
slider is all the way to the right, is to play each animation as fast as possible.
Moving the slider to the left introduces a time delay of up to 1 second.
Trace Marker Enter the names of one or more Markers for which you want Adams/PostProcessor
to generate paths during a time-domain animation.
Learn more about Tracing the Paths of Points in Time-Domain Animations.

Component Enter the name of the flexible body or rigid stress object you want to animate. No
other parts will be displayed. This allows you to display only one body at a time.
The bodies appear without any of the translational or rotational information from
the analysis. This allows you to focus in on contour plot information, as well as the
hot spot information for both flexible and rigid stress objects. Also, with flexible
bodies, the component view allows you to watch its deformations within the
animation.

Trail Frames Enter the number of successive frames of a time-domain animation to overlap.
This helps you to better visualize the motion of a model or to add a sense of motion
to still images of the animation. Picture of Trailing Frames
You can control the decay rate using the Trail Decay Rate slider (see next).
Trail Decay Rate Slide to set the rate at which Adams/PostProcessor no longer displays trailing
frames. By default, the slider is all the way to the left, specifying no decay.
Superimpose Select to superimpose successive frames of a time-domain animation. When you
toggle the Superimpose button, Adams/PostProcessor accumulates each frame.
Picture of superimpose
Include Static Select to display the frames representing static equilibrium of time-domain
animation.
Continue selecting Next Static to view all static equilibrium positions.

Include Contacts Select to display the frames representing contacts. By default,
Adams/PostProcessor does not display intermittent contact frames that two- and
three-dimensional contacts produce to avoid the illusion of deceleration during
animations.
Continue selecting Next Contact to view all contacts between parts.

Model Input Select to display the frame representing the model input. Model input represents
the state that the model is in before the simulation. It does not account for assembly
initial conditions or static solutions.
Next Static (Available if you selected Include Static.) Select to display the next frame
representing static equilibrium.
Next Contact (Available if you selected Include Contacts.) Select to view all contacts between
parts.
Animation Dashboard - Camera
Animation Dashboard - Camera

Animation dashboard -> Camera tab
Lets you change your viewing or camera perspective. For example, you can change the perspective to
always look at a particular part as it moves or to always look from a particular vantage point, such as one
that moves with a part. Setting different camera perspectives is particularly helpful when parts undergo
large motions and move off your screen during an animation, such as with vehicle simulations.
A good example of setting the camera perspective is when you simulate a vehicle driving through a
slalom course on a test track. By default, you view the simulation as a bystander alongside of the road
whose gaze is fixed in one direction. As the vehicle moves forward, it quickly moves out of your field of
view. You can, however, set the camera perspective to mimic the movement of your head as it moves to
follow the vehicle. Furthermore, rather than observe the vehicle as a bystander alongside a road, you can
also set the camera perspective to mimic what the driver sees as he or she looks out the front windshield
of the vehicle.
Tips for Specifying the Camera Perspective.

Follow Object Enter the marker that you want to follow. See Markers.
Mount Camera At Enter a marker from where you want the camera vantage point.
Lock Rotations Select to follow the rotations of the followed object.
Animation Dashboard - Contour Plots
Animation Dashboard - Contour Plots

Animation dashboard -> Contour Plots tab
Lets you set up the options for displaying Contour plots. For each viewport (see Viewports), you can
change the way contour plots display colors and values. Note that this allows you to display different
viewports at the same time but with different color values, which can be confusing because a color value
in one viewport may not be the same as in another.
Learn more about contour plots with Animating Deformations, Modal Forces, and Stress/Strain.

Display Legend Select to turn on the display of legend.
Contour Plot Type Select the type of contour plot to display. The type of plot depends on the analysis
data. You can display deformation data from Adams/Flex, stress and strain data
from Adams/Durability, and modal force (MFORCE) data from Adams/Flex and
Adams/View, and kinetic energy from Adams/Vibration.
Legend Placement Select where you'd like the legend to appear.
Legend Title Change the text of the legend title.
Colors Enter the number of colors to be displayed in the plot. There can be no more than
255.
Legend gradients Enter the number of color gradients shown in the legend.
Minimum Value Enter the minimum value for the plot.
Maximum Value Enter the maximum value for the plot.
Reset Limits Select to reset the legend values based on the flexible bodies in the active view.
Decimal Places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the legend should be
displayed.
Scientific Range Enter the exponential form for scientific notation.
Trailing Zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the legend.
The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal points you selected for
Decimal Places.
Animation Dashboard - Hot Spots
Animation Dashboard - Hot Spots

Animation dashboard -> Hot Spots tab
Lets you display hot spots in your Adams/Durability animation. Learn more about Visualizing Hot Spots.
For the option Do the following

Display Hotspots Select to display the hot spots in your animation.
Sort Order Specify one of the following sorting options:
• Absolute - The sign of the value is ignored when sorting hot spots.
You would use this option when only the magnitude is important
and not the sign or direction (in the case of stress or strain).
• Maximum - Hot spots are ranked from maximum to minimum.
• Minimum - Hot spots are ranked from minimum to maximum.
Filter/Value Select the type and number of hot spots to display:
• Node Count - Enter the number of top hot spots to display.

• Threshold - Display only those hot spots that meet or exceed this
value.
• Percentage - Specify the number of hot spots to display as a
percentage.
Radius Enter the distance between hot spots. All nodes that fall within this radius
are candidates for the same hot spot. A value of 0.0 considers all nodes to
be potential hot spots.
Graphics Label Contents Select the display of hot spot labels:
• Rank - Displays the sorting order of each hot spot.

• Value - Displays the value of each hot spot.
• Frame - Displays the frame when the value occurred.
• Node ID - Displays the node ID for that hot spot.
Notes:
• If you do not select any of these options, Adams/PostProcessor
only displays a cross hair at each hot-spot location.
• The color of the hot-spot graphics is the same as the flexible body
color.
• Hot-spot graphics can be hidden by other graphics. For better
viewing of hot spot graphics try rotating the display, making the
flexible body transparent, or displaying only one body at a time
using the Component display feature in the Animation tab.
Animation Dashboard - Mode Shape Animation

Load Mode Shape Animation -> Animation dashboard -> Mode Shape Animation tab
Lets you play and control animations for Frequency-domain animations.

Mode Number/Frequency Select one of the following:
• Mode Number - Enter the mode number you want to view. You
can also use the +/- buttons to move through all the modes.
• Frequency - Enter the frequency of the mode you want to view.
If you specify the frequency, Adams/PostProcessor uses the mode
closest to the specified frequency. If you specify neither the mode nor
the frequency, Adams/View deforms the model using the first mode.
Scale Factor Specify the amount parts translate or rotate from their undeformed
position. If you do not specify a scale factor, Adams/PostProcessor
translates parts no more than 20 percent of model size and 20 degrees.
You can adjust the value using the +/- buttons, which increases or
decreases by 10% each click.
Frames Per Cycle Enter the number of frames to be displayed for each cycle.
Adams/PostProcessor performs the interpolation between the frames
using trigonometric functions; therefore, the frames tend to be
segregated at the maximum deformation in the positive and negative
directions.
Note: A full cycle goes from undeformed, to maximum positive

displacement, back to undeformed, then to maximum
displacement in the negative direction, and finally back to
undeformed.
Show Time Decay Specify whether the amplitudes of the deformations are to remain
constant or decay due to the damping factor calculated in the
eigensolution.
Small Angle Approximation Select to toggle between the current animation mode and the other
animation mode. If your parts are expanding/contracting excessively
due to rotational modes, you may want to uncheck this box and view the
other animation mode.
Superimposed Select to show each mode superimposed on the other modes.

Show undeformed/ Select to display the undeformed part of your model with the deformed
Undeformed Color shape superimposed on top of it. If you select to show the undeformed,
specify the undeformed color. If you do not specify a color,
Adams/PostProcessor displays the undeformed model using the same
color as the deformed mode.
Table of Eigenvalues Select to display an Information Window with the eigen values for each
mode.The information includes:
• Mode number - Sequential number of the mode that the

eigensolution predicted.
• Frequency - Natural frequency corresponding to the mode.
• Damping - Damping ratio for the mode (the log decrement is
another way to represent this quantity).
• Eigenvalues - List the real and imaginary part of the
eigenvalue.
Animation Dashboard - Overlay
Animation Dashboard - Overlay

Animation dashboard -> Overlay tab
Lets you play one animation on top of another animation. To help you see the two animations, you can
change their color and offset one from the other. You'll find this helpful when you want to visually
compare the results of two or more modeling changes.
Note: Each animation you overlay must have the same beginning, increment, and end times.

Analysis From the list, select the animations to be overlayed.
Offset Enter the amount by which to offset the animations. Enter x, y, and z values.
Adams/PostProcessor applies the offset to each animation if you selected more
than two animations to overlay.
Colors Enter the colors in which to display the overlaid animation.

Animation Dashboard - Record

Animation dashboard -> Record tab
Lets you set up the options for recording an animation as a series of files, each containing one frame of
the animation. Adams/PostProcessor saves the files to your current working directory. Once you've
recorded the animation, you can import the images into a third-party multimedia tool to create movies.
To record the animation:
• From the dashboard, select , and then select .

File Name Set the prefix used to name the set of files. Adams/PostProcessor appends a
unique number to the prefix to form the name of each file. For example, if you
specify a prefix of suspension, then each .tif file is named suspension_0001.tif,
suspension_0002.tif, and so on. If you do not specify a name, the prefix is
frame (for example, frame_001.tif).
Format Select the format: .avi, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, .mpg, .png, and .xpm (AVI format is only
available on Windows).
Frame Size Select to define an area of the viewport (see Viewports) to record according to
the values in Width and Height (see below). If the frame size exceeds the area
currently on the screen, a warning message appears. You can fit the frame on
the screen by resizing the dashboard, hiding toolbars, or increasing the size of
the Adams/PostProcessor window. Tip on Resizing and Resetting Interface
Objects.
Width/Height Define the frame of the animation (see above).
Next options are for AVI format only:
Movie replay rate Set the frame rate.
use compression Turn off compression to improve the quality of the images. The default is
compression.
Note: When you set use compression when recording in AVI format, the
playback program may restrict the size of image frames, usually to a
multiple of 2 or 4. Therefore, your recording may appear cut off on
one or more sides. The workaround is to change the animation
window size before recording.

Key frame every Set the interval between key frames. The default is a key frame every 5000
frames.
Note: When a digital movie stream is encoded with compression, the pixels
of each frame are evaluated against previous frames (those
designated as key) and only pixels that changed are stored. For
example, a movie of a car traveling along a road can have many
pixels in the image background that do not change during the entire
movie. Therefore, storing only the pixels that change allows for
significant compression. In many cases, however, it can degrade
movie quality, especially with movies where a large percentage of
pixels are changing from frame-to-frame, such as with wireframe
graphics. Because Adams/PostProcessor lets you set the key frame
rates, you control both the compression factor and the movie quality.
Movies with many key frames will have high quality, while movies
with few key frames, such as the default every 5000 frames, will
have lower quality. For a typical 20-second AVI movie of a shaded
Adams model, a key frame rate would be 12.
Quality Enter a value or use the slider to set the image quality.
Next options are for MPG format only:
Tip:
• Configuring Browser to Play MPEG Video
• Running MPEG Movie Using Windows Media Player
Compress Using P Turn off the compression using P frames to ensure your movie plays in many
Frames playback programs, including xanim. It results, however, in a much larger file
(up to 4 times as large).
Round Size to Some playback programs require the pixel height and width to be multiplies of
Multiplies of 16 16. Turning this option on ensures that your movie plays in many playback
programs.
Animation Dashboard - Vector Plots
Animation Dashboard - Vector Plots

Animation dashboard -> Vector Plots tab
Lets you set up the options for Vector plots.

Learn more about vector plots with Animating Deformations, Modal Forces, and Stress/Strain.

Vector Plot Type Select the type of vector plot to display. The type of plot depends on the modal
force (MFORCE) data from Adams/Flex and Adams/View.
Animation Dashboard - Vibration Animation

Animation dashboard -> Vibration Animation tab
Lets you play and control animations for your Adams/Vibration model.

Normal Mode/Forced Vibration Select the type of animation you want to view:
Animation
• Normal Mode Animation
• Forced Vibration Animation
If you select Normal Mode Animation, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following text boxes:
Mode Number/Frequency Select one of the following:
• Mode Number: Specify the mode number you want to

view.
• Frequency: Specify the frequency value you want to view.
Damping Ratio Enter the damping ratio for the mode (the log decrement is another
way to represent this quantity).
Frames Per Cycle Enter the number of frames to be displayed for each cycle.
Show Time Decay Specify whether the amplitudes of the deformations are to remain
constant or decay due to the damping factor calculated in the
eigensolution.
If you select Forced Vibration Animation, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following text boxes:
Frequency Enter the frequency value in the text box or use the slider to select a
value. To specify a value based on a spec line, right-click this text
box, point to Spec_ Line, and then select the spec line you want to
use. Once selected, Adams/PostProcessor will put its X value in the
Frequency text box. Learn more about Adding Spec Lines.
End Time Enter the end time for the animation.
Time Increment Enter the time increment for the animation.
Automatically set time fields Select to have Adams/PostProcessor set the end time and steps for
for one cycle the forced vibration animation so that one cycle is always displayed.
If you select this option, the End Time and Time Increment text
boxes are no longer available.
Auto Scale Select to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically set the minimum
and maximum values.
Adams/PostProcessor displays the following text boxes for both animation types:

Scale Factor Specify the scale factor. The default is model dependent. You can
adjust the value using the +/- buttons, which increases or decreases
by 10% each click.
Small Angle Approximation Select to toggle between the current animation mode and the other
animation mode. If your parts are expanding/contracting excessively
due to rotational modes, you may want to uncheck this box and view
the other animation mode.
Superimposed Select to show each mode superimposed on the other modes.
Show undeformed Select to display the undeformed part of your model. If selected,
specify the undeformed color.
Table of Eigenvalues Select to display the Eigen Information dialog box.
Modal Info Select to display the Modal Information dialog box.
Animation Dashboard - View

Animation dashboard -> View tab
Lets you set the display of animations in the Viewports.

Display Icons Select to display Screen icons during animations. Displaying icons can be very
helpful when debugging your model. For example, displaying screen icons
during animations allows you to see if joints or forces applied to parts are
behaving as expected because you can see their icons move as the animation
progresses. Displaying screen icons can also help you see how markers move
during animations because they control the locations and directions for
constraints and forces.
Note that if you import your animation through a Graphics file (.gra) only, you
do not have joint or force icons.
Perspective Select to change the depth of the screen to perspective projection. Perspective
projection causes a vanishing point effect by showing the size of parts relative
to their distance from the viewer. It does not show the true proportions of all
parts. (By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays your animation or three-
dimensional plot as though it were drawn on a flat piece of paper. This is called
orthographic projection.) Learn more about Setting the View Perspective.
Title Select to display a title for the animation in the upper left corner of the viewport.
It displays the name of the model and the current frame number. During the
animation, it displays the time.
FPS Title Select to add the number of frames per second to the end of the title.

Display Triad Select to display a triad that displays the orientation of the global coordinate
system axes:
It appears in the lower left corner of a viewport. As you move the view of a
viewport, the triad displays the changes to the coordinate system orientation.
Light Intensity Set to the amount of overall intensity of the light (much like setting a dimmer
switch in your home).
Ambient Light Set to the amount of background, ambient light to control the diffusion of light
sources to affect the amount of lighting on edges.
Light Angle Use the Light Angle slider to set how far from the center line the light source is.
Light Reflections Select to have reflections off of parts. (Note that this is computationally
expensive and can slow down your animations.)
Two-Sided Lighting Clear to set up one-side lighting. The default is two-sided lighting.
Use the light buttons on the right side of the dashboard to turn on different
focused light sources. Click a light button on the left to see examples of different
lighting.
Note: The number of light sources you can select depends on the graphics
driver and system you are using. If you selected OpenGL, the number
of light sources depends on your graphics card. For more information
on selecting graphics drivers, see Running and Configuring Adams.
Independent Axis Browser
Independent Axis Browser

Plotting dashboard -> Independent axis -> data
Lets you select data other than time for the independent data. The options in the dialog box change
depending on data to which Source is set in the Dashboard. For example, if the source of the data is
Objects, then the Independent Axis Browser options are those for selecting object data.
Note: The independent axis, by default, is along the x-axis. To change its position, see Setting Up
Two-Dimensional Plot Parameters.

If you set Source to Object in the dashboard, the following lists appear:
Object Select the object results whose characteristics you want to plot.
Characteristic Select the characteristic of the selected object that you want to plot.
Component Select one or more components of the characteristic that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Result Set in the dashboard, the following lists appear:
Result Set Select the result set whose components you want to plot. See Result set
component.
Component Select one or more components of the result set that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Requests in the dashboard, the following lists appear:
Request Select the Requests whose components you want to plot.
Component Select one or more components of the request that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Clearances in the dashboard, the following lists appear:
Request Select the clearance study whose characteristics you want to plot.
Component Select a component of the clearance study that you want to plot.
If you set Source to System Modes in the dashboard, the following lists appear:
Eigen Select the eigenvalues from a Linear simulation for which you want to create
a scatter plot. You plot the real eigenvalues against the imaginary eigenvalues.
Picture of bounding box
Picture of bounding box

Picture of Plot with Legend
Picture of Plot with Legend

Picture of Trailing Frames
Picture of Trailing Frames

Plotting Dashboard
Plotting Dashboard
The dashboard in plotting mode lets you select simulation results to plot. You can build two-dimensional
or three-dimensional plots (Adams/Vibration only).
Plotting Dashboard - Data

Plotting dashboard -> Data tab
Lets you create plots of simulation data.

Model/Simulation Select a simulation result to plot. These include Objects, Measures, Requests,
result sets (see Result set component), system modes, clearance studies, and
vibration data (for Adams/Vibration only) and depend on the setting for
Source (see below). The list contains the models or results you have loaded
and is set to view object characteristics by default. If you have three different
models loaded, the list of models would look like the following:
.model_1
.model_2
.model_3
If you are viewing requests, measures, or results sets, the list contains the
names of all the simulations you've imported into Adams/PostProcessor. For
example, if you have three different models and two simulations on model_3,
then the list looks like the following:
.model_1.Last_Run
.model_2.Last_Run
.model_3.Last_Run
.model_3.Run_001
Because you see all the simulation results at once, it is easy for you to plot
results between simulation runs and even between simulations from separate
models (for example, plot body acceleration from one model against another
model).
Source Set the source of the simulation results. These include objects, measures,
requests, result sets, system modes, and clearance studies. The
Model/Simulation list (see above) changes depending on the selection. Learn
more about the Types of Simulation Results You Can Plot.
Filter Select the name of the data you want displayed. For example, you can specify
that Adams/PostProcessor only display objects that start with PART_. Type
any wildcards to define the data. For more on wildcards, see Using Wildcards.
Filter Select the type of data that you want displayed. The objects available to
display depend on the type of results you selected from Source (see above).
This is convenient for large models where the object list could be very long
and difficult to read.

If you set Source to Object, the following lists appear:
Object Select the object results whose characteristics you want to plot.
Characteristic Select the characteristic of the selected object that you want to plot.
Component Select one or more components of the characteristic that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Result Set, the following lists appear:
Result Set Select the result set whose components you want to plot.
Component Select one or more components of the result set that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Requests, the following lists appear:
Request Select the requests whose components you want to plot.
Component Select one or more components of the request that you want to plot.
If you set Source to Clearances, the following lists appear:
Request Select the clearance study whose characteristics you want to plot.
Component Select a component of the clearance study that you want to plot.
If you set Source to System Modes, the following lists appear:
If you set Source to Frequency Response or Transfer Function (Adams/Vibration only), the following
lists appear:
Input Channels Select the input channels you want to reference.
Use Individually Select one of the following:
• Use Individually - Computes and displays a curve for each selected

input channel/output channel pair.
• Sum All Input Channels - Computes and displays a curve for each
output channel selected. The curve is the sum of the response for all
the input channels.
• Sum Selected Input Channels - Works like Sum All Input Channels,
but only uses the selected inputs.
Output Channels Select the output channels you want to reference.
Phase/Magnitude Select one of the following:
• Phase - Plots the phase angle of the response.

• Magnitude - Plots the magnitude of the reponse.
If you set Source to PSD (Adams/Vibration only), the following list appears:
If you set Source to Modal Coordinates (Adams/Vibration only), the following lists appear:

Modal Coordinates By First, select one of the following:
• Mode - How the modal coordinate value changes with frequency.

• Frequency - What modal coordinates are active at a frequency.
Then, specify the corresponding value below:
• Mode - Select the mode whose coordinate value you want to plot.
• Frequency - Select the frequencies at which coordinates are to be
plotted.
If you set Source to Modal Participation (Adams/Vibration only), the following lists appear:
Modes Select the mode whose participation value you want to plot.
Phase/Magnitude Select one of the following:
• Phase - Plots the phase angle of the response.

• Magnitude - Plots the magnitude of the reponse.
The following options are for all types of simulation results:
Surf After selecting the simulation results above, select Surf to quickly scan the
results of your simulation without having to create a large number of plot
pages. After selecting Surf, Adams/PostProcessor automatically clears the
current plot and displays the simulation results after you make each selection.
Continue selecting simulation results to plot.


Add Curves After selecting the simulation results above, select Add Curves to add curves
to the current plot. You can add as many curves as you'd like. Before selecting
the curves, you can set how you'd like Adams/PostProcessor to add them to
the plot using the pull-down menu located below the Add Curves button. You
can select:
• Add Curves to Current Plot - Adds the curve to the currently

selected plot.
• One Curve Per Plot - Creates a new plot on a new page for the curve.
• One Plot Per Object, Request, or Result - Creates a new plot for the
curves containing data about a particular object, request, or result.
(Not available for measures.)
Learn more about Adding Curves to Plots.
Clear Plot Select to clear the current plot of all curves.
Independent Axis Select either:
• Time - Use simulation time as the independent axis.

• Data - Use other data as the independent axis.
When you select Data, the Independent Axis Browser appears. Select the
desired data.
Note: The independent axis, by default, is along the x-axis. To change its
position, see Setting Up Two-Dimensional Plot Parameters.
Plotting Dashboard - Math
Plotting Dashboard - Math

Plotting dashboard -> Math tab
Lets you use the Adams/View Function Builder to create mathematical expressions that generate curve
data as output. As with any expression in Adams, an expression creating curve data can contain basic
math, trigonometric, and signal-processing functions. For more information on writing expressions, see
Adams/View Function Builder online help.
Shortcut: To fill the dashboard with current information about a curve, select the curve in the plot
window.

Curve Name Enter the name of the curve.

Y Expression Change the expression defining the y values for the curve. To access the Function
Builder, right-click the text box, point to Parameterize, and then select
Expression Builder.
Y Units Set the units for the Y expression.
X Expression Change the expression defining the x values for the curve. To access the Function
Builder, right-click the text box, point to Parameterize, and then select
Expression Builder.
X Units Set the units for the X expression.
Property Editor - 3D Legend
Property Editor - 3D Legend

In treeview -> page -> plot3d -> legend
Lets you edit the legend that appears when you select to have interpolated colors on the surface of your
three-dimensional plot. Learn how to set up interpolated colors.
Picture of Plot with Legend.

On Clear to turn off the display of the legend.
Placement Set Placement of the legend to one of the following:
• Left
• Right
• Top
• Bottom
Colors Select the number of colors used to display the surface. There can be no more than
255.
Gradients Enter the number of color gradients shown in the legend.
Numeric format options:
Trailing Zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the legend.
The number of zeros depends on the number of decimal places you selected as
explained next.
Decimal Places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the legend should be
displayed.
Property Editor - 3D Plot
Property Editor - 3D Plot

In treeview -> page -> 3D plot
Lets you change the properties of a three-dimensional plot. Learn about changing the surface of the plot.

Bounding Box Clear to turn off the display of the three-dimensional box surrounding the plot.
Picture of bounding box.
Grid Clear to turn off the display of the grid.
Graph Volume Enter the x, y, and z aspect ratio of the plot. For example, a volume of 1,1,1 makes
the plot look like a cube, while a volume of 2,1,1 makes the plot twice as long in
the x dimension as it is in the y and z. Example of Same Data with Different Graph
Volumes.
Property Editor - 3D Surface
Property Editor - 3D Surface

In treeview -> page -> 3D plot -> surface_3d
Lets you change the colors and values of the surface of a three-dimensional plot. Learn about changing
the properties of the plot.

Skip X/Skip Y Set the x and y increment values you want Adams/PostProcessor to skip. Setting
it to 1 for each creates a smooth surface.
Interpolated Colors Select to display the surface of the plot as a range of colors. A legend explaining
the colors and the values they represent appears. Learn about setting up the
legend.
Color Set the single color with which to display the surface.
Number of Colors Enter the number of interpolated colors to be displayed in the plot. There can be
no more than 255.
Property Editor - Axes

In treeview -> plot -> vaxis/haxis or xaxis/yaxis/zaxis
Lets you edit parameters for horizontal (haxis) and vertical (vaxis) axes of two-dimensional plots and the
x-, y-, and z-axes of three-dimensional plots.
Select a tab:
• Format
• Labels
• Number
• Tics
Format Tab
Sets scaling of the axes. By default, Adams/PostProcessor automatically scales the axes in a plot based
on the curves.

Auto Scale Select to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically set the minimum and maximum
values, or clear the selection to set the limits manually in the Limits text boxes. By
manually setting minimum and maximum values for the axis, you can zoom in on
different areas of your plot. For example, to view the values between 0 and 10, you
can set the minimum value to 0 and the maximum value to 10.
Adams/PostProcessor then only displays the values between these numbers in your
plot.
Auto Time Limit Select to have Adams/PostProcessor use the current time range as the axis limits,
or clear the selection to set the time limits manually in the Time Limits text boxes.
Note: Setting time limits is only useful when working with the independent
(horizontal) axis.
Tip: For linear- and dB-scaled axes, enter lower and upper limits. For
logar-scaled axes, enter log base 10 for lower and upper limits. (See
Scale below.)
Scale Set to the type of scaling. By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays the axis values
linearly, starting at 0. You can also change the scaling to:
• Logarithmic - Scales the axis values so that each power of 10 is separated

by the same distance. For example, the values 1, 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000
are equally spaced.
• Decibel (dB) - Displays 20 * log10(value) for each value.

Placement Set to where you want to place the axis. The options available depend on whether
you are modifying the horizontal or vertical axis. You can place an axis on the right
or left or at the top or bottom.
Offset Set how far from the border of the plot you want to display the axis.
Color Select the color for the axis.
Labels Tab
Sets label parameters. By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays a label next to an axis to help identify
the values in the axis. The label identifies the unit of measurement in the axis. You can change the text
of the label, its placement, font size, and color.
Note: You can also modify the label text using the instructions in Adding Notes and Modifying
Text, which enables you to create multi-line labels.

Label Enter the text for the label.
Font Size Enter a font size. The font size you can enter depends on the type of font you
selected.
Horizontal/Vertical Set the orientation of the label, either:
• Vertical -

Left/Center/Right Select how you want the label to be aligned relative to its anchor position, which

Color Select the color for the axis.

Auto Place/Offset/ Select to have Adams/PostProcessor place the text, or clear the selection of Auto
No Choice Place and, in the Offset text box, enter an offset value to define the distance the
label is offset from the border of the plot.
Numbers Tab
Sets the display of numeric values for an axis. By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays numeric values
for an axis at each major increment. You can change the way in which Adams/PostProcessor displays the
values, such as the number of decimal places displayed and whether or not Adams/PostProcessor uses
scientific notation.

Trailing Zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the axis.
explained next.
Decimal Places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the axes should be
displayed.

selected.
Color Select the color for the numbers.
Tics Tab
By default, Adams/PostProcessor displays short lines, called tic marks, at regular intervals across the
axis. The tic marks help to define the scale of the axis. Adams/PostProcessor displays the major tic marks
at every unit value and the minor tic marks halfway between the major tic marks.
For major tic marks, you can set the spacing by setting:
• Increments - Specifies intervals across the axis, such as at every unit value, every second unit
value, and so on, at which tic marks should appear.
• Divisions - Divides the axis evenly into a number of segments and places a tic mark at every
division.
For minor tic marks, you can set how many minor tic marks appear between each major tic mark.

Auto Divisions To turn off automatic divisions, clear the selection of Auto Divisions and select
how you want the major tic marks spaced from the pull-down menu. Enter the
number of increments or divisions in the text box.
Minor Divisions Enter the number of divisions between each major tic mark. The number of
divisions sets the number of minor tic marks. For example, if you set the number
of divisions to two, Adams/PostProcessor places one minor tic mark between each
major tic mark.
Color Select the color for the numbers.
Property Editor - Column
Property Editor - Column

In treeview -> page -> plot set as table -> curve
Lets you change the properties of the independent data column of a plot set to be viewed as a table.
Learn about setting the general properties of the table.
Note: Even though you toggled a plot to display as a table, the treeview still lists it as a plot and

Legend Change the legend text that appears above the column. If you set the columns so
they are brief (for example, Column 1 instead of LEFT FRONT CONTACT
MATCH MOTION_Z), Adams/PostProcessor changes the text that appears in the
row containing the legend text. Learn about Changing Table Properties. Examples
of Complete and Brief Headers for Tables.
Trailing zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the axis.
explained next.
Decimal places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the axes should be
displayed.
Scientific range Enter the exponential form for scientific notation.
Property Editor - Curve

In treeview -> plot -> curve
Lets you edit the attributes of a curve on a plot. You can also set defaults for how Adams/PostProcessor
creates curves, as explained in PPT Preferences - Curves.
Note: In addition to setting a curve's properties, you can edit the data in the curves. Learn about
Performing Calculations on Curves.

Legend Enter the text to appear in the legend associated with this curve.
Adams/PostProcessor displays the legend with a short line segment
illustrating the color and line style of the curve. If you updated your plots,
Adams/PostProcessor creates a second legend, called the simulation
legend. You modify the simulation legend text separately. For more
information on modifying legends, see Modifying Legend Properties. For
more information on the types of legends, see Updating Plot Data.
Tip: You may want to expand the width of the Property Editor
so you have more space for entering the legend text. To
expand the property editor, point to its right border. When
the cursor changes to a double-sided arrow, drag the cursor
to increase the property editor's size.
Color Select the color for the text and curve.
Line Style/Line Weight Select the type of line style and weight for the curve. The weight values
range from 1 to 5 screen pixels. Set the line style to None so that
Adams/PostProcessor does not display the curve line. If you selected to
display symbols along the curves, the symbols still appear when you turn
off the curve line.

Symbol/Symbol increment Select the type of symbol that you want at data points along the curve and
select how often you would like the symbol to be displayed along the
curve.
Hotpoints Select to turn on Hotpoints that let you manually edit the data points in
the curve. You can also control how you edit the hotpoints, only
vertically or only horizontally, so you have greater control. For more on
hotpoints and manually editing curves, see Manually Changing Data
Point Values.
Select one of the following:
• No - To have no hotpoints displayed.

• Yes - Turn on hotpoints, to allow the editing of the data points in
any direction.
• Horizontal - Turn on hotpoints, but only allows the editing of
the data points in the horizontal direction.
• Vertical - Turn on hotpoints, but only allows the editing of the
data points in the vertical direction.
Note: You can use the Hotpoints tool on the Curve Edit
toolbar to override this setting. See Displaying the Curve Edit
Toolbar.
Property Editor - Flexible Body

In treeview -> page -> model-> flexible body
Lets you change the display and animation properties for a flexible body.
Display Attrs tab

For more on the options in the Display Atts tab, see the help for the Property Editor - Modeling Object.
Flex Props tab

Plot Type Set to the type of plot (Contour, Vector, or Both). Learn more about flexible body
plots with Animating Deformations, Modal Forces, and Stress/Strain.
Scale Enter a value by which to scale the deformations. Set a large scale to exaggerate
the deformations.
Note: By default, animations containing flexible bodies display the nodal

deformations for the bodies at each frame of the animation. To display
these nodal deformations, Adams/PostProcessor computes a cache of
information before displaying the animation. The generation of this
cache can cause a delay in the initial display of the animation. You can
avoid the caching delay by turning off the nodal deformations and
displaying the flexible bodies in their undeformed shapes only. To turn
off the nodal deformations, set the scale to 0, which treats the flexible
body like a rigid body, showing no physical deformations. You can still
display the Contour plots and Vector plots. Note that these settings only
apply to animations and will not affect the simulation of the specified
bodies.

Render Set the flexible body rendering to:
• Flat - Renders flexible bodies more simply, with flat edges. Uses face
normals to produce a faceted rendition of the body. Also, the normals are
calculated for the undeformed body and are reused when showing its
deformed shaped. This is the fastest of the rendering options but can
produce some incorrect light intensities for bodies with large nodal
deformations.
• Smooth - Renders the flexible body with smooth, rounded edges,
appropriate for presentations, but slows down the animation. It uses vertex
normals to produce the smooth rendition of the body and also uses normals
calculated for the undeformed body.
• Precision - Renders the highest quality image for the flexible body at a
cost of decreased drawing speed for the body. It uses vertex normals to
produce a smooth rendition of the body. When the body is displayed in a
deformed context, such as when contained in an animation, the normals are
calculated for each deformed shape. This option produces the most
accurate shading for each body but is slower than the other options. We
recommend that this option only be used when producing movie files or
hardcopy images for presentation purposes.

Datum Node Set the datum node to which you want deformation color changes to be relative.
Adams/PostProcessor considers the deformation to be relative to the origin of the
flexible body (its local body reference frame (LBRF) or coordinate system) by
default. For example, if you were modeling a cantilever beam, you could specify
that deformations should be relative to the clamped end.
Tip: To select a node from the screen, right-click the Datum Node text
box, and then select Pick Flexbody Node. Select the node from the
screen. The node number appears in the Datum Node text box.
Mode Filter Select a filter type, as explained below. By default, all enabled modes are used to
generate nodal displacements for each flexible body during animations. To
increase animation performance, Adams/PostProcessor has three filters that let you
remove graphically insignificant modes for animations. A mode that is filtered out
is excluded from the modal superposition and any contribution to the deformation
of the body is ignored. Note that these modes are not filtered out for numeric
operations, such as signal processing or xy plotting.
• None - Includes all modes for computing the graphics display.

• Frequency - Excludes any mode that is activated above the specified
frequency.
• Min Displacement - Excludes any mode that does not contribute the
minimum displacement specified for at least one vertex of the flexible
body. For example, if you are viewing the animation of a vehicle driving
down the road, it is unlikely that you would be able to see deformations of
0.5 mm or less. Therefore, if you set a mode filter value of 0.5, any mode
that contributes less then 0.5 is considered insignificant and is ignored for
animations. This calculation is performed at each frame of the animation,
allowing the set of significant modes to change throughout the simulation
event.
• Percentage - Determines the maximum displacement contributed by all
modes, and excludes any mode that doesn't contribute displacement of one
vertex at least as significant as a percentage of the maximum. For example,
setting the percentage filter at 15% excludes any mode not contributing at
least 15% of the most dominant mode. This calculation is performed for
each frame of the animation, therefore, allowing the set of significant
modes to change throughout the simulation event.
Property Editor - Legend
Property Editor - Legend

In treeview -> plot -> legend_object
Lets you change the placement and border of legends on your plots. There are two types of legends in
Adams/PostProcessor:
• Curve legend text that describes the data that each curve on the plot represents.
• If you update your plot data, as explained in Updating Plot Data, Adams/PostProcessor creates a
second legend, called the simulation legend. The simulation legend contains groups of text that
describe the data in a specific simulation.
This does not let you change the text of legends. Learn about Setting Curve Properties.
You also cannot change the legend when a plot is displayed as a table. Learn about Displaying Plots as
Tables.

On Select to turn on the display of legend.
Fill Clear its selection if you want the legend to be transparent. Any plot information
behind the legend shows through. When you select Fill, the legend is opaque and
covers any information behind it.
Placement Set to one of the following:
• Top Right
• Top Left
• Bottom Left
• Bottom Right
• Axis - Places the legend text for each legend on the appropriate dependent
axis.
• User-placed - Sets the legend so you can move it to any position, as
explained in Moving Text.
Border Clear the selection if you do not want a border around the legend. If you do want
a border, keep Border selected and then select a color, line weight, and line style
for the border.
Property Editor - Modeling Object

In treeview -> page -> model -> object
Lets you edit the display properties for a modeling objects, such as a parts, geometry, or Markers. By
default, all objects inherit the display options that you specify for their parents. For example, geometry
and markers inherit the options set for the part to which they belong. Therefore, if you turn off the display
of a part, you no longer see its geometry or markers. You can override the inheritance, however, by
selecting a particular geometry and turning on its display, as shown below.
Here display is set to on for parent part, and But here, display is set to off for the parent
all its children inherit the display setting. part but on for one geometry in part, so its
setting overrides the parent setting.
Learn about:
• Changing display options for spring dampers
• Setting Animation Display Options for Flexible Bodies

Visibility Set Visibility to whether or not you want to turn on the display of the selected
object. You can select:
• On - Turns on the display of the object.

• Off - Turns off the display of the object.
• Inherit - Lets the object simply inherit the display settings from its parent.
• No Choice - Does not change the current settings. Lets you make changes
to other display options without affecting the visibility of the objects.
Name Visibility Select if you want the names of objects displayed. Refer to Visibility above for an
explanation of the choices.
Color Select the color for the object.

Icon Size Enter the size you want for the Screen icons of the object or select the amount by
which you want to scale the icons. The scale factor is relative to the current size
set. A scale factor of 1.0 keeps the icons the same size. A scale factor less than 1.0
reduces the size of the icons, and a scale factor greater than 1.0 increases the size
of the icons. Note that these changes take precedence over the size you specify
globally for the modeling database.
Trans Set how transparent the object is. The higher the value, the more transparent the
object is, allowing other objects to show through. The lower the value, the more
opaque the object is, covering other objects. (Not available for spring-dampers.)
Tip: Setting the transparency of objects can have a negative impact on

rendering performance if you are using a graphics card without
hardware acceleration for OpenGL. Instead of setting an object's
transparency, consider setting the object's render mode to wireframe.
Property Editor - Note, Title, or Subtitle
Property Editor - Note, Title, or Subtitle

In treeview -> plot -> title/note/subtitle
Lets you edit the text of notes, titles, and subtitles.

Text area Enter or change the text in the text area. You can enter multiple lines of text.
selected.
Horizontal/Vertical Set the orientation of the text, either:
• Vertical -
Left/Center/Right Select how you want the text to be aligned relative to its anchor position, which

Color Select the color for the text.

Auto Position Select Auto Position to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically set the location
of the text or clear the selection of Auto Position and enter a location for the text
in the text boxes that appear.
Property Editor - Page
Property Editor - Page

In treeview -> page
Lets you display headers and footers on all pages. Each header and footer can have three items of
information (left, center, and right). Each item on the header footer can be a bitmapped image (.jpg, .xpm,
or .bmp) or text.
You can also set up default headers and footers to appear on all pages as explained in PPT Preferences -
Page.

Header/Footer/None Select to set up a header, footer, or neither.
Left/Center/Right Select the item of information (left, center, or right) that you are setting
up.
Source Choose either Text or Image.
If you set Source to Text, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following options:
Text Enter the text you want to appear in the header or footer.
Font Size Enter the font size.
Color Select a color from the pull-down menu.
If you set Source to Image, Adams/PostProcessor displays the following options:
Image Enter the image you want to appear in the header or footer. The image can
be a .jpg, .xpm, or .bmp.
Height Enter the height at which you want the image displayed.
Property Editor - Plot

In treeview -> plot
Lets you set plot parameters. See Listing of Plot Parameters.

Select a tab:
• General
• Border
• Grid/2nd Grid
General Tab
Sets plot parameters for title, subtitle, and axis placement.

Auto Title/Title Select to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically generate titles or clear the
selection, and in the Title box, enter the text for the title. The title can only be
a single line of text.
Auto Subtitle/Subtitle Select to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically generate subtitles or clear
the selection of Auto Title or Auto Subtitle, and in the Subtitle box, enter the
text for the subtitle. The subtitle can only be a single line of text.
Analysis Select to have the analysis name appear on the plot.
Date Stamp Select to have the date on which the analysis was generated appear on the plot.
Legend Select to add legend text. Learn about Modifying Legend Properties.
Zero Line Select to create a line at the position 0,0.
Dep. Axis Set where you want the dependent axis of data to appear by selecting either
Horizontal (along the x-axis) or Vertical (along the y-axis). Note that you can
only change the orientation if there are no curves on the plot.
Table Select to display plot in tabular form. Learn about Displaying Plots as Tables.
Border Tab
Sets border parameters.

Color Select a color for the border.
Line Style Select the type of line style for the border.
Line Weight Select the weight for the border. The weight values range from 1 to 5
screen pixels.

Auto Fit Border Select to center the plot in the viewport (see Viewports) and keep it
centered even when you make modifications to its layout, or clear to
set your own margins for the plot.
Min X, Max X, Min Y, Max Y To set your own margins for the plot, after clearing the selection of
Auto Fit Border, and then enter the minimum and maximum values
for the margin in the x and y directions in pixels. See the figure below
for assistance.
• Min X - Sets the space from the left edge of the window to
the left edge of the plot.
• Max X - Sets the width of the plot. It includes the left margin
that Min X defines.
• Min Y - Sets the size of the space from the bottom edge of the
window to the bottom edge of the plot.
• Max Y - Sets the height of the plot including the bottom
margin that Min Y defines.
Minimum and Maximum Values for Borders
Grid/2nd Grid Tabs

Sets grid parameters. Adams/PostProcessor displays grids on a plot to provide visual guides for
inspecting curves. You can have primary and secondary grid lines. Primary grid lines appear at all major
unit sections. Secondary grid lines appear at specified intervals between the primary grid lines. If you
turn off the primary grid lines, Adams/PostProcessor also turns off the secondary grid lines.

Visible Clear to turn off the display of the grid.
Line (Primary grid only)
Count/Increment/
No Choice Set the number of lines by selecting either:
• Line Count and entering the number of lines in the grid.

• Increment and entering the amount of space between each grid line in the
x and y directions. Enter the values in length units.
Color Select a color for the grid.
Line Style Select a line style for the grid.
Line Width Select a weight for the grid. The weight values range from 1 to 5 screen pixels.
Property Editor - Reports
Property Editor - Reports

In treeview -> page -> report
Lets you change the properties of Reports. After you import a report, you can change the source file
associated with the report and the size of the font used to display the report.

File Name Change the source file for report.
Font Size Enter the size for logical font size 3 (HTML logical font point sizes are from 1 to
7; they define font point sizes relative to one another; not in absolute values). All
other font point sizes are scaled according to the value you enter for font size 3. For
example, if you set the report font point size to 10 points, then logical font size 3 is
10; font size 2 is 8 points; and so on.
Property Editor - Scatter
Property Editor - Scatter

In treeview -> page -> plot -> scatter
Lets you change the properties of scatter plot of eigenvalues from a Linear simulation.

Color Select the color for the symbols.
Symbol Select the symbol used to display the scatter plot.
Property Editor - Spec Line
Property Editor - Spec Line

In treeview -> plot -> spec_line
Lets you edit the properties of spec lines.

Learn more about Adding Spec Lines.

X Value/Y Value • For a horizontal spec line, enter only a y value.
• For a vertical spec line, enter only an x value.
• For a diagonal spec line, enter both an x and y values.
For example, entering both x and y values, provides the following diagonal spec line:
Color Select the color for the text.

Line Style/Line Weight Select the type of line style and weight for the spec line. The weight values
range from 1 to 5 screen pixels.
Property Editor - Spring Damper
Property Editor - Spring Damper

In treeview -> page -> model -> spring_damper
Lets you edit the display of a spring damper. The tab Disp Attrs is explained below. For information on
the Object Props tab, see Property Editor - Modeling Object.
A spring damper is a graphic representation of a spring and damper drawn between two Markers. The
spring damper stretches along the axis created by its I and J markers. The figure below illustrates the
display options you can set.

Coil Count Enter the number of coils drawn in the spring.
Spring Diameter Enter the diameter of the spring.
Damper Diameter: I and J Enter the diameters of the dampers at the I and J markers.
Tip Length: I and J Enter the distances between the ends of the dampers and the I and J
markers.
Cup Length: I and J Specify the length of the damper cups in a spring-damper graphic. The first
value defines the length of the cup at I marker. Adams/PostProcessor
measures the length from the bottom of the cup to its top along the line that
I and J define. The second value defines the length of the cup at J.
Adams/View measures the length from the bottom of the cup to the top
along the line that I and J define.
Property Editor - Table

In treeview -> page -> plot set as table
Lets you change the properties of a plot in tabular format.

Select a tab:
• General
• Independent Column
Note: Even though you toggled a plot to display as a table, the Treeview still lists it as a plot and
General Tab

Auto Header Select to have Adams/PostProcessor automatically generate a header for the
report. Clear to create your own header.
Header If you selected to create your own header,enter the text for the title and subtitle.
The title and subtitle can only be a single line of text.
Tip: You may want to expand the width of the property editor so you
have more space for entering the text. To expand the property
editor, point to the sash on its right border. When the cursor
changes to a double-sided arrow, drag the cursor to increase the
property editor's size.
Limits Specify the start and end for values in the table (start and end are specified as
values in the independent data column). Note that these limits are the axis limits
on the independent axis. When you toggle back to a plot, they will be in effect
on that axis.
Row inc Set the increment for the data to be included. For example, select 1 to include
every data point; select 5 to include every 5th data point.
Font Size Enter a font size. The font type is always Helvetica.
Alignment of Values Set to where you want to position the values in the columns.
Legend Select to add legend text and set the column legends so they are brief (for
example, Column 1 instead of LEFT FRONT CONTACT MATCH
MOTION_Z). Adams/PostProcessor adds a new row under the title containing
the legend text. The legend text maps column names to data names. Examples
of Complete and Brief Headers for Tables. Learn about changing the legend
text.
Independent Column

On Clear its selection to remove the display of the independent column.
Legend Enter the text in the text box to change the legend for the independent column.
Trailing Zeros Select to have Adams/PostProcessor display zeros after the numbers in the table.
explained next.
Decimal Places Enter the number of decimal places to which the numbers in the table should be
displayed.
Appendix
Contour plots
Contour plots
Contour plots display scalar data a component at a time, such as a stress. You can select to animate the
deformations, modal forces (MFORCEs), or the stresses and strain acting on the flexible body as contour
plots to better visualize a result that is defined by its position on a body.
See also Vector plots.
Appendix 3
Dashboard
Dashboard
Provides functions for controlling animations or plotting results. It appears at the bottom of
Adams/PostProcessor.
Entering Object Names in Text Boxes
Entering Object Names in Text Boxes

To enter object names in text boxes, you can do either of the following:
• Enter the object name directly in the text box.
• Clear the text box and then double-click to open the Database Navigator.
• Right-click to either:
• Pick an object shown on the screen.
• Browse a complete list of available objects.
• Choose from a product-generated list of guesses.
Appendix 5
Example of Same Data with Different Graph Volumes
Example of Same Data with Different Graph Volumes

Graph Volume 1,1,1
Graph Volume 2,3,1

Frequency-domain animations
Frequency-domain animations
Frequency-domain animations let you view your model oscillating at one of its natural frequencies. It
cycles through the model deformation starting from the operating point of the requested natural
frequency of the eigensolution. You can also see the effect of the damping on the model and display a
table of eigenvalues.
Learn more About Frequency-Domain Animations.
Appendix 7
Hotpoints
Hotpoints
Small squares that appear on plot curves when selected. They enable you to change the data of the curve
manually.
Level of Detail Example
Level of Detail Example

The following figure shows the impact of reducing a geometry’s level of detail to 10%.
Appendix 9
Modes
Modes
Adams/PostProcessor has four modes: animation, plotting, reports, and 3D plotting (only available with
Adams/Vibration data). It switches its modes automatically depending on the contents of the active
viewport. For example, the tools in the Main toolbar change if you load an animation or a plot into a
viewport. See Viewports.
Notebooks
Notebooks
Notebooks are binary files that store all the simulation results, Animations, and plots that you are working
on in Adams/PostProcessor in Stand-alone mode. To get results of simulations into your notebook, you
import the results.
Appendix 11
Objects
Objects
Characteristics of objects in your model, such as the position of the center of mass of a part for the x
component. They correspond directly to object measures. To view objects, you must run
Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View or import a Adams/View command file.
Page
Page
Pages display animations and plots. A page can have up to six Viewports.
Appendix 13
Picture of Plotting System Modes
Picture of Plotting System Modes

Picture of Treeview
Picture of Treeview
Appendix 15
Picture of property editor
Picture of property editor

Picture of Property Editor Down Arrow
Picture of Property Editor Down Arrow

Appendix 17
Picture Property Editor Up Arrow
Picture Property Editor Up Arrow

Polygon
Polygon
In the Polygon method, Adams/PostProcessor calculates the minimum distance between the surfaces of
the triangles that make up the geometry. This is the most accurate method but requires the most time and
calculations. See also Vertex.
Appendix 19
Property Editor
Property Editor
The Property Editor lets you change the properties of selected objects. It appears in the lower left corner
of the Adams/PostProcessor window. The options in the Property Editor change depending on the
element selected in the Treeview.
Reports
Reports
Reports are data in simple HTML or ASCII format. For example, you can view the reports
Adams/PostProcessor creates during a clearance study or create reports that help explain the plots and
animations in a presentation in Adams/PostProcessor, much like the report displayed in the tutorial in
Getting Started Using Adams/PostProcessor.
Appendix 21
Stand-alone mode
Stand-alone mode
Stand-alone mode is when you start Adams/PostProcessor separately from other Adams products. You
can also run it from within other Adams products, such as Adams/View or Adams/Car.
Status Bar
Status Bar
Displays information messages and prompts while you work. It appears at the bottom of the
Adams/PostProcessor window.
Appendix 23
Time-domain animations
Time-domain animations
A time-domain animation consists of one animation frame for every output step that you request in a
time-based Simulation in an Adams product, such as a Dynamic simulation in Adams/View. For example,
if you performed a simulation from 0.0 to 10.0 seconds and asked for output every 0.1 seconds,
Adams/Solver records data at 101 steps or frames. It creates a frame every tenth of a second for ten
seconds plus one at time 0.0.
Treeview
Treeview
The treeview is a hierarchical listing of objects in your current session. It appears along the left side of
the Adams/PostProcessor window. A folder appears in front of each page in the tree to indicate that there
are objects stored on the page.
See About the Adams/PostProcessor Window.
Learn more about Using the Treeview.
Appendix 25
Vector plots
Vector plots
Vector plots display all three components of the vector at the same time. They consist of a force vector
attached to each node of a flexible body. You can select to animate modal forces (MFORCEs) acting on
the flexible body as vector plots to better visualize a result that is defined by its position on a body. Note
that the MNF must include nodal masses to use this feature.
See also Contour plots.
Vertex
Vertex
In Vertex method, Adams/PostProcessor calculates only the minimum distances between the vertices of
the triangles that make up the geometry. This method is less accurate than Polygon, but calculates faster.
Appendix 27
Viewports
Viewports
Rectangular areas of the window that display different views of plots, animations, or reports. You can
place up to six viewports on a page. Adams/PostProcessor provides you with 12 viewport layouts from
which you can choose.
Viewports

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Welcome to Adams/Post Processor 1

Welcome to Adams/Post Processor

Learning Adams/PostProcessor Basics

To start Adams/PostProcessor stand-alone in UNIX:

• Click the Adams/PostProcessor tool .

To start Adams/PostProcessor stand-alone in Windows:

For information on running Adams/PostProcessor from Adams/View:

For information on running Adams/PostProcessor from within other Adams products:

To start an Adams/PostProcessor plugin (currently Adams/Durability):

Using Adams/PostProcessor with Adams/View

Starting Adams/PostProcessor from Adams/View

To display Adams/PostProcessor with no results currently displayed, do one of the

• From the Adams/View Main toolbox, select the Postprocessing tool .

To display the Adams/PostProcessor with the results of a measure or parametric

Returning to Adams/View from Adams/PostProcessor

To return to Adams/View, do one of the following:

• From the Adams/PostProcessor Main toolbar, select the Modeling tool .

Adams/View and Adams/PostProcessor Interdependencies

About the Adams/PostProcessor Window

Setting the Window Mode

To switch modes manually

Note: For information on deleting pages, see Deleting Objects.

Tip: From the Main toolbar, select .

When you create a page, Adams/PostProcessor automatically assigns a name to it.

To change the name of a page:

To display a specific page, do one of the following:

To navigate through the pages:

Tip: From the Main toolbar, select .

Tip: From the Main toolbar, select .

Tip: From the Main toolbar, right-click and then select .

Tip: From the Main toolbar, right-click and then select .

Displaying Headers and Footers on Pages

To set up headers and footers on a page:

Undoing and Redoing Actions

Tip: From the Main toobar, select .

Tip: From the Main toobar, right-click , and then select .

To cancel an operation, do either of the following:

Creating Sessions and Adding Data

Creating a New Session

To create a new session:

To save an existing, named session:

To save a new, unnamed session or to save a session with a new name:

• Adams/View command (.cmd). See Import - Adams/View Command Files.

Exporting Plots as Tables

To export plots as tables:

About the Main Toolbar

Main Toolbar Session Tools

Main Toolbar Page and Viewport Tools

Main Toolbar Animation Tools

Main Toolbar 2D Plotting Tools

Main Toolbar Report Tools

Main Toolbar 3D Plotting Tools

Setting Up and Displaying Toolbars

To turn toolbars on or off:

To set the placement of toolbars:

Using Tool Stacks

To select a tool from a tool stack:

Setting Display of Interface Objects

To turn off the display of the property editor:

To turn on the display of the property editor:

To toggle the display of the dashboard or treeview:

Tip: To turn off the dashboard, on the Main toolbar, select .

Resizing and Resetting Interface Objects