Changing Symbol Display for a Plot

The selections in the Symbols group box enable you to customize the display of arrows in a symbol plot.

Before you begin: You must have a symbol plot activated before you can modify the symbol display.
See Also
Displaying Contour, Isocontour, and Symbol Plots
  1. Do one of the following to display the Plot Options:
    • Click the results plot and select the plot options tool in the context toolbar.
    • Double-click the results plot.
    • In the Results tabbed page of the Feature Manager, display the Plots list and then either double-click the plot you want to modify or highlight the plot and select Edit.
  2. Click the Options tab (, , or ) to display the Symbols group box in the middle of the tabbed page.
  3. Select Show symbols only on exterior to display symbol arrows only on the exterior of the model. For nodal data symbols are plotted only for nodes that reside on the exterior of the model; for element data symbols are plotted only for elements that have at least one node that resides on the exterior of the model.
  4. For vector plots, select a vector layout to determine if the vector begins or ends at the result location:
    • Show tail at result location for the vector arrow to originate from the result location.
    • Show head at result location for the vector arrow to terminate at the result location.

    Depending on the type of the result and the location, vectors might display inside or outside the model. For example, symbols at a location interior to a solid are always inside the model. In certain scenarios, changing the vector plot setting can move the vectors outside of the model.

  5. Drag the Symbol density slider to a location between Low and High to change the number of symbols in your plot. Click to restore the default symbol density. The density of symbols increases exponentially as you drag the slider closer to High.
  6. Choose a Node symbol to be used in the plot. Drag the Size slider to change the size of the symbols used in the plot.
  7. Click one of the following:
    • Apply to immediately apply changes.
    • OK to close the editor with changes.
    • Close to exit the editor without changes.

The plot changes according to your specifications.