To customize the arrow appearance:

1. Locate the vector or tensor Color & Style options.

   Select OptionsSymbol from the main menu bar or click in the toolbox; then click the Color & Style tab in the dialog box that appears.

   • Click the Vector tab if you are creating a vector symbol plot.

   • Click the Tensor tab if you are creating a tensor symbol plot.

   The options for the symbol type of your choice appear.

2. To display all arrows in the plot with a single color, select Uniform, then do one of the following:

   • For a vector plot, click the Uniform Color sample , and select the color in which you want the variable or variable component arrows to appear. (For more information, see “Customizing colors,” Section 3.2.9.)

   • For plotting all principal components in a tensor plot, click the color samples labeled Maximum principal, Mid principal, and Minimum principal; and select the colors in which you want each arrow type to appear.

   • For plotting all direct components in a tensor plot, click the color samples labeled 11, 22, and 33; and select the colors in which you want each arrow type to appear.

   • For plotting only one principal or direct component, click the color sample labeled Color, and select the color in which you want the component arrows to appear.

3. To display all arrows in the plot using colors that correspond to their length, select Spectrum. You can choose one of the predefined color spectrums from the Spectrum Name list or define a new spectrum; for more information on selecting and defining a color spectrum, see “Customizing contour colors,” Section 44.5.10, and “Creating a new color spectrum,” Section 44.5.11. You can also drag the Number of intervals slider to change the number of intervals available for coloring the various arrows in the symbol plot; for more information about contour interval selection, see “Customizing contour intervals,” Section 44.5.12.

4. Drag the Size slider to change the arrow length. The arrow size ranges from 0 to 30; the default arrow size is 6.

   Your selection determines the size of the arrow representing the largest vector or tensor value in the plot. All other vector and tensor arrows in the plot will be scaled to that size.

   Note:  Abaqus/CAE maintains one size setting for both vectors and tensors; you cannot change the size of one independently of the other.

5. From the Basis options, select Screen size or Model size as the basis for calculations of maximum arrow length. If you select Screen size, Abaqus/CAE resizes the arrows as you change the size of the viewport; and if you select Model size, Abaqus/CAE resizes the arrows as you zoom in and out.

6. Click the arrow next to the Thickness field, and select the arrow shaft thickness of your choice.

7. Click the arrow next to the Arrowhead field, and select the arrowhead design of your choice.

8. If you are creating a tensor plot, customize the locations of the tensor arrows so that they are displayed at the Integration point, the Centroid, or the Nodal values for your model.

   Note:  If you choose the Nodal option for tensor variables, the results averaging option Compute scalars before averaging is not valid; the scalars are always computed after averaging.

9. If desired, you can display a smaller subset of the arrows in a symbol plot to clarify the presentation of a plot with many arrows. Drag the Symbol density slider to a value between High and Low.

10. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The symbol plot vector or tensor arrows in the current viewport change to reflect your settings.

    By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent symbol plots. If you want to retain your changes for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see “Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions,” Section 55.1.1.