17.6.1. How ANSYS Supports AVI Files
In ANSYS, animation capabilities are split among the options in the Utility Menu> PlotCtrls GUI path
and the animation macros described earlier in this chapter. If you are animating a deformed shape or
different mode shapes of your analysis, the program stores the animation frames in a file called Job-
name.AVI, where Jobname is the jobname for the current ANSYS session. Aft er completing this step,
ANSYS starts Media Player (located under Accessories). This application has a control panel that closely
resembles the controls of a videocassette player.
If you wish to animate contours, ANSYS displays a dialog box from which you can choose animation
options. Aft er you supply this data, ANSYS generat es the frames and Media Player displays them.
The Replay animation option starts Media Player. If you have stored an animation sequence during the
current ANSYS session, the file name associated with it is supplied to Media Player automatically.
You can animate other quantities, or do animation in other parts of ANSYS, via the /SEG command.
You can access this command directly through the ANSYS Input Window or Utility Menu> PlotCtrls>
Redirect Plots.
AVI files cannot be created directly in batch mode. If you are working in batch mode, you must save
multiple images to a single Jobname.GRPH file using the /SHOW command. Aft er the batch run, you
can open the resulting Jobname.GRPH file in the DISPLAY program and then create an AVI file.
17.6.2. How the DISPLAY Program Supports AVI Files
If you have stored a series of graphics in an ANSYS graphics file, you can create an animation file of
these in the DISPLAY program.
Start the DISPLAY program and choose Display> Animate> Create on the menu bar. The following
dialog box appears.
Figure 17.3: ANSYS DISPLAY Program and the Create Animation Sequence Dialog Box
Specify the plots to be used during the animation in the File Name box and the delay time in seconds
in the Time Between Frames box. For example, if your Jobname.GRPH file contains 20 plots and you
wish to use every other plot in your animation, select 1 (for the beginning plot), 20 (for the end plot),
and 2 (for the increment). The Create function stores your animated sequence in the default file AN-
IM.AVI.
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