Mechanical APDL Basic Analysis Guide - Ansys

13.2.3.2. Choosing a Format for the Graphical Display of Numbers
You can select the format in which you want floating point numbers to be displayed by issuing the /GFORMAT
command Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Style> Floating Point Format. This command lets you indicate the
width of the fields in which numbers are displayed and the number of digits that are displayed for a FORTRAN
format type. Other commands that let you tailor the appearance of the display include /PNUM, /PBC, /PBF,
and /PSF.
13.2.3.3. Controlling Number and Color Options
Once you have turned numbering on for an item, you can then use the /NUMBER command (which uses
the same GUI path as /PNUM) to choose among the four possible "on-off" combinations of numbering and
coloring (for instance, show colors and numbers (default); show colors, but not numbers; do not show colors,
but show numbers; show neither colors nor numbers).
13.2.3.4. Controlling Color Values
You control the correspondence between specific items or numbers and their associated colors using the
/COLOR command (Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Style> Colors>color option). You can also change the overall
color map (edit an existing or store a new color map on a file). See the /CMAP command for more information
on this capability.
The CMAP utility allows you to change the assignment options for the colors you use, and to save different
assignment protocols in separate files that you can load later. This is especially useful for generating specialized
contour plots and intricate component and assembly structures.
When you use the CMAP utility, you should close any other ANSYS window, especially the Annotation, Pan
Zoom Rotate, Working Plane and Picker windows.
13.2.4. Displaying Loads and Other Special Symbols
The following sections describe how to manipulate loads and other special symbols.
13.2.4.1. Turning Load Symbols and Contours On and Off
13.2.4. Displaying Loads and Other Special Symbols
To turn load symbols on or off for degree of freedom constraints and concentrated loads, use the /PBC
command (Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Symbols). /PBC controls both solid-model and finite-element load
symbols.
For surface loads symbols or contours, use the /PSF command (Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Symbols). /PSF
activates "immediate" display of surface loads on finite elements, but does not activate "immediate" surface
load display on solid model entities.)
For body force load contours, use /PBF (Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Symbols). /PBF applies to finite-element
loads only; body force symbols do not appear in solid model displays. /PBF does not produce an "immediate"
display.
You can also use the /PBF command to display your current density magnitude as a vector instead of a
contour. /PBF, JS, 2 will display the current density magnitude as vector arrows along the surface. The length
of the arrows is proportional to the current density magnitude.
You will typically use the above commands to turn load symbols on for visual verification when you apply
the loads in SOLUTION (or PREP7). The ANSYS program automatically turns these symbols off when you
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