Setting Preferences

Define a variety of options for display, shortcuts, paths, and client behavior.

Select File > Preferences button.

Workspace Preferences

Define the display, language and behavior of the software workspace.

For this Preference Do this
Show splash screen at startup Select to display the splash screen when starting the software.
Show tool names on ribbon Select to display names of the tool icons on the ribbon.
Scale UI Select to scale icons up for large displays.
Select all text when line editing Select to capture all of the text on a line.
Theme Click and select from a variety of color schemes for the GUI.
Language Select a language for the interface.
Attention: After changing the language, restart the application for the modification to take effect.
Recent files Enter the maximum number of recently viewed files displayed in the File menu.
Help Select Use Online help or clear to use locally installed help. Online help is the default and directs you to a website with the most up-to-date help topics. Local help is included with the software installation.

Edit Keyboard Shortcuts

Use the Keyboard Shortcuts editor to introduce new shortcuts or overwrite existing ones to run functions from ribbons and toolbars. It is also possible to run Compose OML, Python, TCL, or R scripts with a shortcut.

You can access Keyboard Shortcuts from File > Preferences.

Shortcuts can consist of letters, numbers, and a set of special characters (see the detailed list below) combined with or without the following modifier keys:
  • Ctrl
  • Shift
  • Ctrl + Shift
You can export and import shortcuts from an .XML file so that you can save a backup of the latest status or share definitions.

Functions Tab

The Functions tab provides a tree structure of the tools available for shortcut assignment. Use the Hide Empty check box to reduce the list to the functions that currently have a shortcut assigned.



To enter a shortcut, highlight the desired function and click on the field in the shortcut column. Then, press the keys you want to use as shortcut.

All newly applied shortcuts are highlighted in blue until you click Apply or OK.

To search for functions and sort alphabetically, click on a column header.

Scripts Tab

In the Scripts Tab, to register your own Compose OML, Python, TCL, or R scripts, click + in the upper right of the table. Right-click on a script to change its name.

You can also delete one or several scripts at a time from the context menu.



Supported Keys

You can use the following with or without the modifier keys Ctrl, Shift, Ctrl + Shift:

  • Function keys F2 ... F12
  • Numbers 0 – 9
  • Letters A – Z
  • ~ ` ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - _ = + [ ] { } ; : ’ ” , . < > / ? | \

Plot Preferences

Define the display and behavior of the plots generated during the simulation process.

Title

For this Preference Do this
Visibility Select to display plot titles.
Font Select a font family, style and size for plot titles.
Color Select a color for plot titles.

Axis Scale

For this Preference Do this
Mode Select an automatic or fixed mode for axis scale.
Type Select Linear, Logarithmic, db20, or db10.

Horizontal and Vertical Axis Scale

For this Preference Do this
Label Select a font family, style, size and color for label display.
Tick Select a font family, style and size for tick display.

Legend

For this Preference Do this
Visibility Select to display legends.
Border Select the thickness for the legend borders.
Border Color Select the color of the legend borders.

Miscellaneous

For this Preference Do this
Color Select the color for the legend background, frame, zero line, and grid line.
Antialiasing Select to enable antialiasing.

Page Setup

For this Preference Do this
Orientation Select portrait or landscape.
Margin Enter a left, right, top and bottom margin in inches.

Twin Activate Preferences

Define file paths, code display and session recovery options.

Twin Activate Paths

For this Preference Do this
Cosimulation with MotionSolve Enter the paths for MotionView, MotionSolve, MotionSolve Licence, and Python. For example, on Windows, enter:
  • MotionView: C:/Program Files/Altair/20xx/hwdesktop/hw/bin/win64
  • MotionSolve: C:/Program Files/Altair/20xx/hwsolvers/motionsolve/bin/win64
  • MotionSolve License: C:/Program Files/Altair/20xx/hwsolvers/common/bin/win64
  • PYTHONHOME: C:/Program Files/Altair/20xx/common/python/python3.8/win64
Cosimulation with Flux Enter the path to Flux (flux/Flux folder). For example, on Windows, enter C:/Program Files/Altair/20xx.x/flux/Flux.
Cosimulation with PSIM Enter the path to PSIM. For example, on Windows, enter C:\Altair\Altair_PSIM_20xx.
VI-CarRealTime Enter the path for VI-CarRealTime.
C Compiler Select the C compiler.

Recovery

For this Preference Do this
Enable recovery Select to enable the recovery of model files after a software crash.
Recovery interval Enter a value in minutes.
Note: Enabling this preference can result in slower performance times if the recovery interval is high or model files are very large.

Tooltips

For this Preference Do this
Show tooltips on blocks Select to display tooltips.

Mouse Controls

For this Preference Do this
Rotate wheel upward to Select to set the upward wheel action to Zoom In or Zoom Out. By default, the downward wheel action is the reverse of your selection.

General: Project Browser

For this Preference Do this
Remember Entity Types
  1. In the Project Browser, select the entity types to be displayed in the tree.
  2. From File > Preferences, select Remember Entity Types to save your selections for future Twin Activate sessions.

General: Command Window

For this Preference Do this
Number of lines Enter a value between 100-25000.
Show warning when lines are purged Select on or off.
Highlighting Select on or off.

General: Auto Completion

For Code Completion Do this
Show parameter information Select to display parameter information.
Minimum characters to match Enter a minimum value for character matching.
Ignore case Select for the Editor to ignore case.
Automatically suggest Select for the Editor to display code suggestions.

OML

For this Preference Do this
Command Window Set pagination and display parameters.
Editor Set display parameters.
Plot Set display parameters.