Chapter 10: Getting Started with Graphics
The ANSYS program (and the associated DISPLAY program) enable you to portray almost any aspect
of your model in pictures or graphs that you can view on your terminal screen, store on a file, or plot
out as hard copy. ANSYS has numerous features to help you to customize or enhance your graphics
displays to suit your needs.
The following graphics topics are available:
10.1. Interactive Versus External Graphics
10.2. Identifying the Graphics Device Name (for UNIX).
10.3. Specifying the Graphics Display Device Type (for Windows)
10.4. System-Dependent Graphics Information
10.5. Creating Graphics Displays
10.6. Multi-Plotting Techniques10.1. Interactive Versus External Graphics
Any discussion of graphics might seem to imply that you are running the ANSYS program interactively
and viewing graphics images on your terminal screen. For the most part, this chapter is written for such
a scenario. However, you can run the ANSYS program in either interactive or batch mode and store
graphics images on a file for later viewing and processing. This process is called creating external
graphics.External Graphics (p. 295) discusses the procedures for external graphics. Chapter General
Graphics Specifications (p. 245) through Animation (p. 287) pertain to obtaining graphics displays inter-
actively on your screen.
10.2. ANSYS-Supported Graphics Device Types (for UNIX).
When using the ANSYS program, one of the first things you must do is specify the graphics device name
(sometimes referred to as the graphics driver). ANSYS requires this information to properly direct
graphics instructions to your display device. The default graphics device name for most systems is X11.
You can change it from X11 to, say,3D if you have a 3-D graphics device for running ANSYS.
You must define the graphics device name before you activate the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Once
you have activated the GUI, you cannot change graphics device names. Refer to the Operations Guide
for more information about using the GUI.
The best way to identify the graphics device name is to do so directly at program start-up. You can
enter the graphics device name in the launcher from the ANSYS GUI Settings dialog box, accessed by
selecting Edit> Preferences> ANSYS GUI Settings. By defining the graphics device name at start-up,
you can activate the GUI immediately upon entering the ANSYS program. Alternatively, you can specify
the graphics device name using /SHOW command once you have entered the program (but before
you have activated the GUI).
10.2.1. Graphics Device Names Available
X11 (or X11C) and 3D are common graphics device names supported by the ANSYS program. Each of
these are described briefly below.
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