Plotting and Exporting Images
For a number of model entities, two methods for plotting and exporting images are available:
•
 image().plot() plots the model entity in a window. The plotting is available when running a graphics server. The plot() method does nothing when run from a model method.
•
 image().export() exports an image of the model entity to file.
To set properties related to the plotting or export of images, use the standard set method on the image() object.
The following examples show the basic usage of these methods.
This example plots a geometry sequence in a window:
model.geom("geom1").image().plot();
This example exports a physics interface to a PNG file.
model.physics("es").image().set("pngfilename", "C:\physics.png");
model.physics("es").image().export();
The image() method is available for many objects in, for example, the lists model.common(), model.cpl(), model.coordSys(), model.func(), model.geom(), model.material(), model.mesh(), model.multiphysics(), model.pair(), model.physics(), model.physics(<tag>).feature(), model.probe(), and model.selection().
Properties for the image() Objects
The following properties are available for the export of images:
Table 2-111: Export Properties
Property
Value
Default
Description
antialias
on | off
on*
Enable or disable antialiasing.
axes
on | off
on*
If options is on: enable or disable display of the coordinate axes. Used for 1D and 2D plots.
axisorientation
on | off
on*
If options is on: enable or disable display of the axis orientation indicator. Used for 3D plots.
background
current | color | transparent
color*
The background color.
bmpfilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is bmp.
customcolor
double array
{1, 1, 1}*
If background is color: the red, green, and blue components of the background color.
epsfilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is eps.
fontsize
integer
9*
The font size.
giffilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is gif.
grid
on | off
on*
If options is on: enable or disable display of the coordinate grid. Used for 3D plots.
height
integer
480 px*
The height of the image.
lockratio
on | off
off*
If on, the aspect ratio of the image is preserved when the width or the height is changed.
imagetype
bmp | eps | jpeg | png | tiff | gif
png*
The type of image to export. eps can only be used for 1D plots.
jpegfilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is jpeg.
logo
on | off
on*
If options is on: enable or disable display of the logotype.
options
on | off
off*
Enable or disable optional components of the image.
pngfilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is png.
resolution
integer
480 px*
Tthe image resolution in dots per inch.
size
current | web print | presentation | custom | any custom size settings
current*
How to specify the size and resolution of the image. The value current gives a 800x600 image with the resolution 96 dots per inch. The values manualweb and manualprint let you give a size and resolution suitable for the web or printing, respectively, but also let you specify the size and resolution manually.
tifffilename
String
 
The name of the output file if imagetype is tiff.
title
on | off
on*
If options is on: enable or disable display of the title.
unit
px | mm | in
px*
The unit for the dimensions of the image.
width
integer
480 px*
The width of the image when size is manualweb.
* When making an image export, the value of the image feature doing the export will be stored and used as the default value when creating a new image feature. The image feature is created the first time the image() method is called.
The following properties are related to plotting of images:
Table 2-112: Properties for Plotting
Property
Value
Default
Description
window
new | window tag
new
The window to plot in. The window tags must be of the form windowN, where N is an integer (for example, window3).
windowtitle
String
Plot N
The window’s title. The default is Plot N, where N is taken from the window tag.
The following properties are used for both export and plotting of images:
Table 2-113: Properties for Export and Plotting
Property
Value
Default
Description
renderwireframe
on | off | fromview
on
Whether to use wireframe rendering for the geometry. The value fromview specifies that the view controls the rendering. The other values override the view setting. This property is only available in 3D and only for the features that plot a selection. This excludes geometries, meshes, and functions.
view
auto | view tag
auto
The view settings to use when displaying this image. auto indicates that the view is selected automatically and will be the current view for the geometry being displayed.
zoomextents
on | off
on
Whether to zoom the image to its extents. This property is only available for image objects displaying a geometry or mesh.
zooming
nozooming | zoomextents | zoomtoselection
px*
How to zoom the image. This property is available for all image objects except for those displaying a geometry, mesh, or function.
zoomlevel
integer (in the range from -15 to 15)
0
The number of zoom-in (if positive) or zoom-out (if negative) action steps to perform after zooming or zoomextents has been applied.
The tables below contain properties that are available for image() objects attached to a certain parent type.
The following property is used when attached to a geometry object:
Table 2-114: Geometry Property
Property
Value
Default
Description
showmaterial
on | off | fromview
fromview
Enable or disable material color and texture.
showselection
on | off | fromview
fromview
Enable or disable material color and texture.
The only difference for the showmaterial and showselection properties for the geometry is that the values are taken from the view by default- They are off by default for all other features (such as probes and physics features).
The following property is used when attached to a pair object:
Table 2-115: Pair Property
Property
Value
Default
Description
selection
srcanddst | source | destination
srcanddst
Whether to display the source and destination selection, only the source selection, or only the destination selection.
The following property is used when attached to a physics feature or multiphysics coupling object:
Table 2-116: Physics Feature or Multiphysics Coupling Property
Property
Value
Default
Description
selection
main | selection name
main
Which selection to display. Some physics features and multiphysics couplings have multiple selections. The value main corresponds to the selection retrieved by calling selection() on the physics feature or coupling, and the other values are the names to obtain a selection using selection(<name>).
The following property is used when attached to a component coupling object:
Table 2-117: Pair Property
Property
Value
Default
Description
selection
srcanddst | source | destination
srcanddst
A property with these values is available for the Boundary Similarity, Edge Map, and Point Map component coupling features. Whether to display the source and destination selection, only the source selection, or only the destination selection.
selection
source | srcvertices | dstvertices
source
A property with these values is available for the Linear Extrusion and Linear Projection component coupling features. Whether to display the source selection, the source vertices selection, or the destination vertices selection.