Results as an Animation
By selecting the 'Animate' option, you can watch (and save) a time-lapse animation of the structural response during the period of analysis.
To do this:
1. Open the "Results | Animate" dialog box.
2. Select the load case that you wish to view the results for.
3. IIf you wish to view the structural displacements (which is generally the desired output when animating), make sure the 'Show Displacements' box is checked. You may also wish to exaggerate the scale of the displacements to achieve a clearer impression of the behaviour of the structure during the analysis period. If so, enter a suitable scaling factor into the respective X, Y and Z boxes (5 or 10 usually gives a good result).
4. If you wish to view the principal stresses in the slab during the animation, check the 'Show Stress' box. In the 'Scale' box, enter a multiplier to increase or decrease the length of the lines used to represent the stresses.
5. By checking the 'Ping Pong' box, the animation will loop continuously backward and forward until stopped.
6. If you wish to save a copy of the animation to disk, check the 'Save to AVI' box before playing (once the animation has completed, a dialog box will appear that will allow you to specify the name and location of the resultant AVI file).
7. Use the slider on the right of the box to alter the playing speed of the animation.
8. Click the 'Play' button. The animation will now commence. You can stop the animation at any time by re-clicking the 'Play' button. Furthermore, you may jump to any time (which is displayed in the grey box) by moving the slider at the bottom of the window.