Reviewing Your Simulation
The following animation controls in the Viewer allow you to examine every save data point of your simulation.
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Jump to start |  |
Stop |  |
Jump to end |
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Play backwards |  |
Step forward |  |
Record animation (video) |
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Step backwards |  |
Play forward |
Close the Data Browser to speed up playback.
Step By
The Step By dropdown allows you to step through your simulation by specifying:
- Iterations indicates the number of iterations
- Time indicates a fixed Time step
The number of iterations, or the size of the Time step are controlled by the value in the corresponding box.
For example, setting Step By to Iterations with a value of 5 and clicking the Step forward button will move the simulation forward by 5 iterations. Similarly, a Step By setting of Time 0.1 s will result in each click of the Step forward button moving the simulation ahead by 0.1 seconds.
Animation Type
The Animation Type dropdown contains three options that determine how you want to play your simulation back when pressing the Play forward button.
Step Playback
The playback will be determined by the Step By options. The number of frames per second (fps) the animation plays at is specified in the corresponding box.
Setting the time factor to every iteration will result in a smoother but slower playback, if all other settings are left unchanged. Similarly, increasing the fps will result in a smoother playback if all other settings are left unchanged. When your simulation contains partial saves, setting the step factor to match the partial save interval results in a constant display of full-save time steps.
Real-Time
The playback will last for a set period of time, as specified in the corresponding box.
The Step By iterations are not relevant for the playback of the simulation but are relevant if stepping through the simulation manually. For example, setting Step By Iterations as 10 will not influence the animation playback if you have selected Real-Time as the Animation Type, but will still influence the Step forward and Step backward buttons.
Playback Speed
The playback speed is multiplied by the value entered.
As in the Real-Time setting, the Step By iterations are not relevant for the playback of the simulation. However, they are relevant if you are stepping through the simulation manually. For example, a Playback Speed of 2 for a simulation time of 10 seconds will play the simulation back at twice the normal speed, which means that it takes 5 seconds for playback, irrespective of the Step By settings.
Configuring the View
The Viewer Controls help determine how items are displayed in the Viewer.
- Current Time
Select the Time Step displayed in the Viewer. Partial-save time steps are shown in a lighter color.
- View
Controls to change, add, and configure camera views.
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Text
Add descriptive text to the Viewer. Click the + icon and specify the text in the text field. Select the text color using the color dropdown. To position the text, select the Position Text option and click anywhere within the Viewer window. To delete text, use the x icon.
Scheduling Views
You can schedule a series of views for playback, so that the viewer automatically switches to a certain view and/or configuration when a specified time is reached, by pressing the Scheduler button. The Playback Scheduler dialog box is displayed.
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Select a Time Step from the list on the left, at which you would like to apply a different view and/or a different config file.
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Config allows you to select a config (*.dfg) file to load, at the selected Time step.
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View allows you to select a view to switch to, at the selected Time step.
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Halt Playback allows you to stop the playback of the simulation, at the selected Time step.
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Insert allows you to add the selected Time step, Config, View, and Halt Playback option to the Scheduler.
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Remove allows you to remove the selected Time step, Config, View, and Halt Playback option from the Scheduler.
Tracking Geometries
The geometry tracking feature allows you to focus on a geometry instead of the entire domain, making analyzing translating and rotating geometries easier. To enable a tracked geometry, you must first create a new camera view. In the example image, a new view has been created and called ‘Geometry tracking’. You cannot track a geometry with one of the predefined X+, Y+, Z+ views, only with a new view.
After clicking Settings, enable the Track Geometry checkbox, and select the geometry you want to track from the dropdown. To locate a geometry within a complex arrangement of geometries, click the Focus on Tracked Geometry button on the right, which will reset the camera view and ensure that the tracked geometry is in the center of the viewer.
Once you have selected the geometry that you want to track, click OK.
The playback of the simulation will now keep the current view stationary, relative to the tracked geometry, instead of the simulation domain.
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