Coloring Mesh Parts

This task shows you how to color mesh part in order to identify mesh parts belonging to the following categories:

  • One-dimensional mesh part (1D mesh part)
  • Two-dimensional mesh part (2D mesh part)
  • Three-dimensional mesh part (3D mesh part)
  • Connection mesh part.

To color mesh parts you can also use the Properties contextual menu or the Graphic Properties toolbar but you have to do it for each mesh part. The Color Meshes command lets you automatically color mesh part of the same category.

Open the Sample12.CATAnalysis document from the samples directory.

  1. Right-click the Nodes and Elements set in the specification tree and select Color Meshes .

    The Color Meshes dialog box appears.

    • Mesh part: lets you select the type of mesh part you want to change the color.
      • All: lets you select all mesh part types.
      • 1D: lets you select only one-dimensional mesh part.
      • 2D: lets you select only two-dimensional mesh part.
      • 3D: lets you select only three-dimensional mesh part.
      • Connection: lets you select only connection mesh part.
    • Fixed color: lets you assign a unique color to all the mesh parts belonging to the selected mesh part.
    • Variable color: lets you assign color to mesh parts belonging to the same group using a palette of colors.
      You have to enter the number of colors that will compose the palette.

  2. Select the desired Mesh part option.

    In this particular example, select 1D as Mesh part option in the Color Meshes dialog box.

  3. Click Fixed color and choose a color using the Color Chooser.

    In this particular example:

  4. Click Apply.

    The 1D mesh part (1D Mesh.1 in this example) is colored with the color you fixed:

  5. Select an other Mesh part option.

    In this particular example, select 2D as Mesh part option in the Color Meshes dialog box.

  6. Click Variable color and select the desired value.

    In this particular example, enter 2 as Variable color value.

  7. Click Apply.

    The 2D mesh parts (Extrusion along Spine.1 and Translation Mesh.1 in this example) are colored with different colors:

    For a better visualization, hide the 1D Mesh.1 and Extrusion Mesh along Spine.2 mesh parts.
    To do this, use the Hide/Show contextual menu.

  8. Select an other Mesh part option.

    In this particular example, select 3D as Mesh part option in the Color Meshes dialog box.

  9. Click Fixed color and choose a color using the Color Chooser.

    In this particular example:

  10. Click Apply.

    The 3D mesh part (Extrusion along Spine.2 in this example) is colored with the color you fixed:

    For a better visualization, hide the 1D Mesh.1, Extrusion Mesh along Spine.1 and Translation Mesh.1 mesh parts.
    To do this, use the Hide/Show contextual menu.

  11. Click OK.