GSA Advanced Interface Features

 

 

Graphics

 

The graphics facility in GSA is designed to feel spontaneous in response to the commands of the user. Various single key commands have the effect of producing standard views, adjusting the orientation, scale and content of the drawn structure, windowing, zooming, labelling and annotating the display. Dynamic viewing and animation of results provide powerful tools to aid the engineer in understanding the behaviour of the structure. Hard copy may be produced on a printer or plotter. Graphical output can be sent to a printer or in DXF format for exporting directly to CAD systems

 

• designed to feel spontaneous and intuitive

• extensive use of accelerator keys and colour coded toolbar buttons

• graphic cursor modes allow:

  • image rotation

  • zoom

  • volume - to identify a subset of the model for display

  • entity selection modes

  • sculpt tools

• graphic manipulations include:

  • standard views, both orthographic (plan, elevation, etc.) and perspective

  • intuitive rotating, panning, zooming and scale to fit

  • scale to fit

• graphic adornments include:

  • labels, selectively applied

  • diagrams, selectively annotated

  • contours, selectively annotated

• displayed model limited by:

  • volume, multiply stacked, inclusive and exclusive, and/or

  • entity list

• set and list interaction, for example:

  • select a list - to find specific entities

  • save set as list - to refer to selected items in a list field

• solid and wireframe

• shading

• translucency

• model checking utilities include:

  • edge checks

  • coincident entity checks

  • element orientation checks

• close interaction with the object viewer

• undo and redo of all changes to the displayed view

• saved view facility for easy redisplay of views across sessions

• copy and paste of view data for easy replication of views inter- and intra-model

• output:

  • graphics can be printed

  • graphics can be saved to the clip-board in both bitmap and WMF formats

  • graphics can be saved at specified resolution to PNG and JPEG file formats

  • graphics can be saved in vector based WMF file format

  • graphics can be in 3D DXF file for exporting directly to CAD systems

• graphic animation:

  • animation of deformation

  • animation of looping cases

  • image can be zoomed, panned and rotated during animation

• movies can be recorded and saved in AVI format

 

Lists and sets

 

• sophisticated list syntax offering comprehensive entity reference by string

• graphical selection of sets of entities

• two-way translation between sets and lists

• saved list options

• concise entity reference by list reference in data modules

• the basis of inter-module relationships

 

Data management

 

• deletion of blank entities

• renumbering of entities

 

Object viewer

 

• reports properties of currently selected items

• reports results for currently selected items

 

Backup

 

• timed backup file saved at pre-determined interval, with or without results

• manual backup file saved on demand

• restored manual backup file opens in existing views

• backups offered on start-up in the event of bad program closure

 

Undo

 

• Undo/redo available for all data edits, whether by table, wizard or sculpt

• Specifiable number of undo steps

• Undo/redo available for Graphic View and Output View displays