In Abaqus, as in any other CAD/CAE software, we often need to manipulate the visualization of the geometry on the screen, either pan, rotate or zoom. These operations are a must when editing or simply visualizing the geometry.
In general, every program has its own keyboard/mouse shortcut combinations. However, we all agree that the easier to remember and to use these shortcuts are, the better.
1. Manipulation through the toolbar
The first thing we need to do is to turn on the visibility of the toolbar with the manipulation options:
View > Toolbars > View Manipulation
In the toolbar View Manipulation you will find all the functionalities to modify the current view:
Although it is not difficult to remember these shortcuts, I prefer manipulating the view just with the mouse. It is much faster and we don’t need to look at the keyboard.
2. Visualization mode customization
If you are or you have been user of other softwares like CATIA or SolidWorks, lucky you because you can select those visualization shortcuts (and some more). To do that, go to the menu:
Tools > Options:
In the View Manipulation tab you can choose any of the available Mouse Configurations, from the default in Abaqus based on Ctrl + Alt + Mouse, until NX and some others.
3. My favourite visualization mode
Hold middle mouse button while panning
Hold middle mouse button and (without releasing it) press the left mouse button and move it in the direction you want to rotate
Scroll with the mouse wheel to zoom out (forward) and zoom in (backwards)
4. One more tip to rotate the view
Very often we are looking at a detail on our model and when we rotate the view, the whole model rotates and we have to move everything again to find again that detail. It is quite annoying and the solution to that is really simple. You just need to right click on the spot you are looking at and select ‘Set As Rotation Center‘. Like this all rotations will take place around that point.
Once we are done examining the detail we can right-click again anywhere and select ‘Use Default Rotation Center’.
Did you know that…
Every time that you want to accept or confirm a selection in Abaqus (“Done“, “Continue“…), you can do it by clicking the middle mouse button (anywhere). This shortcut may not seem worth it, but it really saves time too.
I hope you learned something and see you in the next one!!
By the way, if you find confusing how units are used in Abaqus, mm or m? Kg or g? MPa or GPa? Find all the answers to your questions in this blog post.
