Customizing basic ply stack plot options

Click the Basic tab to choose which plies are displayed in the ply stack plot and how the plies are arranged. If your composite layup contains many plies, the ply stack plot can become confusing and hard to interpret. To make the ply stack plot more readable, the basic ply stack plot options allow you to view only a manageable number of plies.

  1. Locate the basic options.

    1. Click the Ply Stack Plot Options button from the prompt area, or do one of the following:

      • In the Property module, choose ViewPly Stack Plot Options.

      • In the Visualization module, choose OptionsPly Stack Plot or click the tool in the toolbox.

    2. Click the Basic tab in the Ply Stack Plot Options dialog box that appears.

  2. From the Display options, do the following:

    • Select the render style—shaded, filled, or wireframe.

    • Choose whether to display the edges of each ply and the style and thickness of the edges.

    • Choose whether to display the plies as a staircase image descending from the last ply to the first ply or as an image that is symmetric about the center ply or plies.

  3. From the Visible Plies options, choose which plies to display. Abaqus/CAE updates the ply stack plot when you modify the display parameters, which allows you to quickly and conveniently display the plies in a composite. You can choose the following:

    • Display the specified plies, starting with the Start ply and ending with the End ply.

    • Display Number of plies, starting with the Start ply. Click Increment by Number to increment the Start value by Number of plies instead of by 1. This allows your ply stack plot to be a window that moves incrementally across the layup, with each increment displaying the next adjacent group of plies.

    • Display Number of plies, centered around the Center ply. Click Increment by Number to increment the Center value by Number of plies instead of by 1. This allows your ply stack plot to be a window that moves incrementally across the layup, with each increment displaying the next adjacent group of plies.

    • Display Number of plies, centered around the Center ply. Drag the Center slider to move across the layup.

  4. Choose the color of the Even and Odd plies:

    1. Click the color sample .

      Abaqus/CAE displays the Select Color dialog box.

    2. Use one of the methods in the Select Color dialog box to select a new color. For more information, see Customizing colors.
    3. Click OK to close the Select Color dialog box.

      The color sample changes to the selected color.

    Abaqus/CAE applies your choice of color relative to the plies that are displayed, not to the actual ply number. For example, if you are displaying plies 2, 3, and 4; Abaqus/CAE will apply the Odd color to plies 2 and 4 and the Even color to ply 3.

  5. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The ply stack plot changes to reflect your specifications.

    By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent ply stack plots in that viewport. If you want to retain your changes for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions.