Review Shell Thickness

The Thickness view is a permanent visualization mode that HyperMesh displays in the upper left-hand corner of the graphics area when you select By Thickness on the Visualization toolbar. Both element thickness as well as node thickness is supported. The thickness colors can be shown along two different legend styles, discrete and ranged.

Discrete Thickness Legend

When you select Thickness View, the Discrete Thickness legend displays by default.

In the Discrete Thickness legend each individual thickness value has its own exclusive color and hence the thickness values are not editable. This legend allows the evaluation of the element thicknesses in the graphics area.

The Discrete Thickness legend always lists the thickness values from lowest to highest. If further elements are displayed and these elements have a thickness assigned, which is not yet shown in the legend, the legend will be updated appropriately and the new thickness value will be properly sorted among the other thickness values.

Note: When the number of different thicknesses to be displayed exceeds 25, HyperMesh automatically switches to the Ranged Thickness legend.

The slider, in the upper-left corner of the Discrete Thickness legend, can be used to change the display of elements beyond the threshold value. Elements can be hidden, or can be shown as transparent or wireframe. Clicking on the Operator Sign below the color bar changes it from ‘smaller than’ to ‘larger than’ and vice versa.

Reposition the slider by clicking-and-dragging it to the desired value on the legend. Same can be reached by clicking onto the thickness threshold value next to the operator sign and entering a new value. The value will be rounded to the next available thickness value.

Modify colors by clicking a color in the legend and selecting a new one from the color palette.

Ranged Thickness Legend

The Ranged Thickness legend consists of a color coded sliding scale. The colors exhibited reflect the thicknesses of each 2D element in the graphics area.

The Ranged Thickness legend always lists the thickness values from lowest to highest. Edit these values by clicking on them and entering a new value. The remaining thickness values are interpolated between other edited values and the lowest and highest value in the legend.

Note: Reset a value by clicking it and leaving the field empty. The value will be re-interpolated.

You can also edit the lowest and highest values, but the values cannot exceed the minimum and maximum thicknesses in the range.

The slider, in the upper-left corner of the Ranged Thickness legend, can be used to change the display of elements beyond the threshold value. Elements can be hidden, or can be shown as transparent or wireframe. Clicking on the Operator Sign below the color bar changes it from ‘equal or smaller than’ to ‘equal or larger than’ and vice versa.

Reposition the slider by clicking-and-dragging it to the desired value on the legend. Same can be reached by clicking onto the thickness threshold value next to the operator sign and entering a new value. The value will be rounded to the next available thickness value.

Modify colors by clicking a color in the legend and selecting a new one from the color palette.

Thickness View and Plies

The Discrete Thickness legend and the Ranged Thickness legend are both capable of showing ply thicknesses. Any combination of 2D Detailed Element Representation and Composite Layer Visualization is supported.

Thickness View Context Menu

Use the right-click context menu to dictate the Thickness View. To access the Thickness View context menu, right-click on the ranged or discrete legend.

Beyond Threshold As: Change how the elements that have no results or have higher/lower values are displayed in the graphics area. The following display options are available: Transparent, Feature Lines, and Off (default).
Ranged Legend: Set/unset the check for the Ranged Legend.; When this option is set or the number of thicknesses to be shown exceeds 25, the Ranged Legend is used. When Ranged Legend is unset, the Discrete Legend is used.; This option is only available when the number of visible thicknesses is equal or less than 25.
Reset: Restores the legends to their initial default settings, that is colors, values, and number of levels.
Number of Levels: The number of levels describe how many colors the colorbars are displayed. It can be set to any value between 2 and 15 (Ranged legend only).