contour

Mapdl.contour(wn='', ncont='', vmin='', vinc='', vmax='', **kwargs)

Specifies the uniform contour values on stress displays.

APDL Command: /CONTOUR

Parameters:

wn

Window number (or ALL) to which command applies (defaults to 1).

ncont

Number of contour values. NCONT defaults to 9 for X11 or WIN32 and to 128 for X11c or WIN32C. The default graphics window display for 3-D devices is a smooth continuous shading effect that spans the maximum of 128 contours available. Use the /DV3D command to create defined banding for your contour values (values of 9 and 128 are displayed in smooth shading only). The legend, however, will display only nine color boxes, which span the full range of colors displayed in the graphics window.

vmin

Minimum contour value. If VMIN = AUTO, automatically calculate contour values based upon NCONT uniformly spaced values over the min-max extreme range. Or, if VMIN = USER, set contour values to those of the last display (useful when last display automatically calculated contours).

vinc

Value increment (positive) between contour values. Defaults to (VMAX-VMIN)/NCONT.

vmax

Maximum contour value. Ignored if both VMIN and VINC are specified.

Notes

See the /CVAL command for alternate specifications. Values represent contour lines in vector mode, and the algebraic maximum of contour bands in raster mode.

Note:: : No matter how many contours (NCONT) are specified by /CONTOUR, the actual number of contours that appear on your display depends also on the device name, whether the display is directed to the screen or to a file, the display mode (vector or raster), and the number of color planes. (All these items are controlled by /SHOW settings.) In any case, regardless of whether they are smoothed or banded, only 128 contours can be displayed. See Creating Geometric Results Displays in the Basic Analysis Guide for more information on changing the number of contours.

If the current ANSYS graphics are not displayed as Multi-Plots, then the following is true: If the current device is a 3-D device [/SHOW,3D], the model contours in all active windows will be the same, even if separate /CONTOUR commands are issued for each active window. For efficiency, ANSYS 3-D graphics logic maintains a single data structure (segment), which contains precisely one set of contours. The program displays the same segment in all windows. The view settings of each window constitute the only differences in the contour plots in the active windows.

This command is valid in any processor.