The ABAQUS FAQ

14. ABAQUS/Viewer - Contours

Q14.1 : How do I get a labelled contour plot?

Click on the Contour Options.... and this will bring up Contour Options form. This form has the following TABs : Basic, Labels, Shape, Limits and Other. Click on the Basic tab if it is not already selected. Set the Toggle switch to Line out of the following 3 options : Line / Banded / Quilt. It is also possible to set the Colour Intervals (maximum of 24). Use the slider to change the value.

Q14.2 : Is it possible increase the size of the contour legend ?

Yes. By increasing the size of the text front used for the legend on can increase the size of the legend. Use the command


From the top line of menus select Viewport --> Viewport Toolbox   Then from the list of 
icons the last one is the  Viewport Annotations Option . Click on this and this will 
bring a new form. 
In this form select the Legend TAB. Here Click on the Set Font button and this will
bring up the Select Font form. Here set the size. The new size can be applied to the various
categories which has a tick in the box.



 Triad
 Legend
 Title Block
 State Block

Tick the Legend box which will then change the text size and the size of the legend box.
Click on OK in this form. Again click on the next form.

Q14.3 : How do I change the position of the contour legend ?

The position of the Upper left Corner of the Legend region can be changed as
a ratio of the viewport X and Y sizes (which have been normalised to 1).

The number of digits displayed in the legend can be changed from the default of 4.

Whether the Legend is to be displayed or not is set with a tick mark.
Similarly for the box around the Legend is controlled by a tick in a box.

which defines the position of the top left hand corner of the contour legend as fraction of the page size.

Q14.4 : How do I remove the axes and title from the display ?

From the top line of menus select Viewport --> Viewport Annotations Options... In this form the following TABs are available : Triad, Legend, Title Block, State Block . Click on the Triad tab. Whether the Triad is to be displayed or not is set with a tick mark. Untick the relevant box.

The position at which it  is displayed can be changed by setting the Screen fraction size.

Q14.5 : Is it possible to add my own title to the display?


From the top line of menus select Viewport --> Viewport Toolbox   Then from the list of icons
 the last but one is the  Annotations Manager . Click on this and this will bring a new form. 
Using this form one can create additional texts to be displayed.


Click on Create... button. The Create Annotation  form which appears has the following
choices :

Make the appropriate selection. Then click on the Continue.... This will give a choice of
placing the text (a) On anchor (b) Change anchor. Move the cursor to the required position (the label
text-1 will be displayed. Click the LAB to position the text. This will bring the 
 Edit text form. 
The label " text-1 " can be replaced with the appropriate text. The size of the text can be 
changed using the set font. The position of the text can be changed using the Location
TAB. Here it works with an anchor and offset. To move the anchor point click on the Pick Anchor
button and then move it. The offset from the anchor can also be changed by editing the numbers currently being  displayed in a window. Click on  Preview to see the effects of the changes. As many texts can be added
 as required.



Use the Edit... button in the  Annotations Manager  form to make changes to previously
created annotations.

Q14.6 : How do I change the size of the text used in the title of the contour plot ?

Use the command


From the top line of menus select View port --> View port Tool box   Then from the list of 
icons the last one is the  View port Annotations Option . Click on this and this will 
bring a new form. 
In this form select the Legend TAB. Here Click on the Set Font button and this will
bring up the Select Font form. Here set the size. The new size can be applied to the various
categories which has a tick in the box.



 Triad
 Legend
 Title Block
 State Block

Only tick the boxes for which you want to apply the text size/colour changes that
are being made.
Click on OK in this form. Again click on the next form.

Q14.7 : How do I change the position of the title?

From the top line of menus select View port --> View port Annotations Options... In this form the following Cabs are available : Triad, Legend, Title Block, State Block . Click on the Title Block tab.
The title block consists of a single line and is the first line in a series of lines. The rest of the lines form the State Block.

The position of the Upper left Corner of the Legend region can be changed as
a ratio of the view port X and Y sizes (which have been normalised to 1).

Whether the Title is to be displayed or not is set with a tick mark in the box
marked Show Title Block.

Q14.8 : How do I get a contour plot of the un-smoothed stress es?

Q14.9 : How do I get the contours plotted on a deformed mesh plot ?

Click on the Contour Options.... and this will bring up Contour Options form. This form has the following TABs : Basic, Color & Style, Labels, Shape, Limits and Other. Click on the Shape tab if it is not already selected.

Set the Toggle switch to Deformed Shape.

There are 2 choices for specifying the scale factor for the displacement magnification. Under the heading Deformation Scale Factor if the toggle switch Auto-Compute is set the program calculates it by default.
The user can click on Uniform and enter a value in the box, to be used. Alternatively by clicking on Non uniform different scale factors for the different directions (X, Y and Z independently).

Q14.10: In plotting the contours on the deformed mesh how do I change the scale used for the displacements?

Set the Toggle switch to Undeformed Shape.

Then click on Apply

Q14.11 : Is it possible to draw a contour plot of the displacement magnitude (not a contour plot of the individual displacement component)?

The displacement scale factor used in plotting the deformed mesh can be changed in the form opened by clicking on the Plot --> Deformed Mesh... option. Click on the toggle switch and enter the required value of scale factor.

Q14.12 : What are the commands to specify the minimum and maximum values of a contour plot?

Click on the Contour Options.... and this will bring up Contour Options form. This form has the following TABs : Basic, Labels, Shape, Limits and Other. Click on the Limits tab if it is not already selected. By default, Minimum and Maximum values are used by default. These are set by default. Notice the toggle is set to Auto Compute from both minimum and maximum value. Click on the Specify toggle option and then enter the Minimum and/or Maximum values in the respective boxes.

Q14.13 : What is the command to specify the number of contour intervals?

Click on the Contour Options.... and this will bring up Contour Options form. This form has the following TABs : Basic, Colour & Style, Labels, Shape, Limits and Other. Click on the Limits tab if it is not already selected.
It is possible to set the Colour Intervals to a maximum of 24. Use the slider to change the value.

Q14.14 : In re-setting (increasing) the minimum value of the contour is it possible to change the colour from Black which is used for the region which has lower than the minimum value set?

Click on the Contour Options button. In the new form select the Colour & Style Tab and then Spectrum Tab. Click on the Black box next to the label Less the min and choose a replacement colour and then click on OK. APPLY will replace this.

Q14.15 : Is there an alternative to the contour plot of the bending moment in line (beam) elements?

Yes. Contour plots of bending moment in line (beam) elements can be difficult to interpret.

Bending Moment Contour Plot
First option is to plot the bending moment plot with tick marks.
Click on the Contour Plot options icon which is to the right of the Contour Plot icon.
In the new dialog box tick the box marked Show tick marks for line elements. Then click on OK

Bending Moment Plot with Tick Marks
A second option is to produce a PATH plot as follows :
Click on Tools from the top line and choose Path and Create.... Click on Create button. In the dialog box click on Node Labels. Since the nodes are labelled starting with 5 reducing to 1 enter 5:1:-1.

Node Numbers

Node set
Click on OK create the path with these nodes. Alternatively a previously created node set can be used.

Path Create
Click on Tools from the top line and choose XY Data and then Manager....

XY Data Manager Dialog Box
In the new window which appears click on Create button.

Create XY Data Dialog Box
(o) Path
toggle this
Click on Continue ...
In the XY Data from Path Dialog box, choose

Path Variable
Click on Field Output button

Bending Moment Variable
Scroll and click on SM and component SM1. Click on OK.
In the previous dialog box click on Plot button.

Bending Moment XY Plot

Q14.16 : How to customize the contour intervals?

In VISUALIZATION module click on the Contour Options icon which is to the right of to the Plot Contour on Deformed plot icon.
In the dialogue box which appears click on the Basic tab. Then for the box marked Interval Type scroll down and select User-Defined.

Then click on the box marked Edit Intervals... alter the values.

One can use the Insert before Insert After Delete buttons add values and remove values. You can click on the existing value to type over new contour interval. Once this is done click on APPLY to effect the changes.

Q14.17 : In contour plots there are regions displayed in Black even though no contour values are assigned to these regions?

These Black regions may possibly be the element boundaries which are drawn in Black and where the mesh is fine. These may appear to be zones of Black.
You can remove this by selecting Contour options icon then choosing the option No edges and then clicking on the Apply button.

Q14.18 : How do I display the incremental stresses between two stages (steps) of an analysis?

Choose Tools Create Field Output --> From Field.
In the Create Field Output dialog box Select the STEP and the FRAME. Then from the area immediately below that click on sNf1_S (S Tensor Stress Compoments) and this will appear in the box labelled Expression. Now type in a minus (-) sign and this should also appear in the box.
Now change the STEP and FRAME the results which are to be subtracted from the the currently selected results. For Example : Again click on the Stress components Then click on Apply
This will calculate the incremental stresses between the two steps and corresponding increments which have been specified. If no errors were encountered then scroll down Step box and select Session Step. There you will find Field-1 which would represent the incremental stresses that were calculated.
These results should also be available under Results ---> Field output-- --... . Step/Frame again as Session Step. The results will be available for normal post processing (vector plots, contour plots etc).

Q14.19 : How can I customize the CAE session for example display the Contour legend with a larger size font?

Choose Viewport> ---> Viewport Annotation Options .... Then select-- --the TAB Legend. Click on Set Font and from-- --the Select Font dialog box scroll down the Size and select (say) 14 and then if you want the same Fonts to be used in the Title block and/or the State block tick the relevant boxes and click on OK. Alco click on OK in the original dialog box.
If you now look at the abaqus.rpy file using a text editor and cut and paste the relevant lines into the file abaqus_v6.env file as shown.
abaqus_v6.env file.
If working on a Windows computer add these lines to the end of abaqus_v6.env file in the ABAQUS installation directory.

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Last updated: 18 December 2011

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