You can use the common plot options to customize the appearance of undeformed and deformed plots. The common options are also used in conjunction with the other plot state–independent options in the View menu and the dependent and independent customization options for contour, symbol, and material orientation plots. Select OptionsCommon from the main menu bar or use the tool in the toolbox to access the Common Plot Options dialog box. Click the following tabs to customize the appearance of plots in the current viewport:

• Basic: Choose render style, edge visibility, and deformation scale factor (deformed plot only).

• Color & Style: Control model edge color and style, model face color, edge style, and edge thickness.

• Labels: Control element, face, and node labels and node symbols; and control probe annotation labels.

• Normals: Control element and surface normals.

• Other: The Other page contains the following tabs:

  • Scaling: Control model scaling and shrinking.

  • Translucency: Control shaded and filled render style translucency.

If you choose to superimpose the undeformed and deformed model shapes, the common options control the display of the deformed shape and the superimpose plot options control the display of the undeformed shape (for more information, see “Superimposing deformed and undeformed model plots,” Section 43.6). Plot state–dependent options may override some common options; for example, the color options for contour plots will always override the common color options.

To learn how to customize the render style and other display characteristics of your plots, see Chapter 55, “Customizing plot display.”