System Options - General

Specify general system options such as the display of error and warning icons in the Simulation study tree, options for mesh and plot appearance, etc. System options apply to all studies in all documents.

To set the General options:

  1. Click Simulation > Options.

    The System Options - General dialog box appears.

  2. Select from the options described below, then click OK.
Reset All returns the General options to the system defaults.

What's Wrong Messages

Show errors Displays the error icon next to features with errors in the Simulation study tree. An error indicates that the feature is invalid.
Show warnings Displays the warning icon next to the Results and Mesh folders in the Simulation study tree. A warning indicates that the plots are not current or up to date.

To display an error or a warning message, right-click the feature next to which the error or warning icon appears, and select What's wrong?

Load/Fixture symbol quality

Specifies the quality of the load and fixture symbols.

Wireframe Displays 3D wireframe symbols.


Wireframe quality
Shaded Displays 3D shaded symbols.


Shaded quality

Mesh colors

Sets colors for plotting the mesh.

Boundary color Sets the color for plotting element edges.
Boundary color - Black Boundary color - light red
Shell bottom face color Sets the color for plotting the bottom faces of shell elements.
Shell bottom face color set to red - part color is yellow. Shell bottom face color set to purple - part color is yellow.

To change a color, select Boundary color or Shell bottom face color, click Edit, then choose a color, and click OK.

Result plots

Dynamic plot update When checked, plots are dynamically updated as the parameters that control the plots appearance are modified. Turn the flag off to improve performance of viewing results for large models.
List result quantities in higher precision When checked, results are listed with up to 16-digit precision.
Show yield strength marker for vonMises plots When checked, the location of the material yield strength on the plot legend for studies with parts is marked with a red arrow. The yield strength value is displayed at the bottom of the plot legend.
Display local coordinate system reference triad When checked, the local coordinate system reference triad is displayed at the lower right corner of the graphics area. The triad is displayed only for plots where you define a reference plane, axis, or coordinate system.
Color chart background color Sets the background color for the plot legend.

Font

Enables you to select fonts for the Plot Title, Plot Subtitle, and Color Chart.

Run Simulation Advisor from CommandManager When checked, Simulation Advisor starts when you click Study, Fixtures, External Loads, Connections, or Results on the Simulation CommandManager. When cleared, you can start the Advisors by clicking Study, Fixtures, External Loads, Connections, or Results on the Simulation CommandManager and selecting the corresponding Advisor from the menu.
If you change this option, you must restart SOLIDWORKS for the change to take effect.
Hide excluded bodies and show study material appearances (requires more time to load a study) When selected:
  • bodies of assemblies and multibody parts that are excluded from analysis in the Simulation study are hidden in the graphics area, when the study is active
  • If bodies are assigned different materials in a Simulation study, the bodies are shown in the graphics area with the appearance of the study-specific material, when the study is active.
When this option is selected, for large assemblies with many material assignments or many bodies excluded from analysis, activating a simulation study can take a significant amount of time (because the system must apply the internal simulation-specific display state on top of the model display state). However, interactive performance while editing the simulation study is not affected. To avoid these performance issues, turn this option off.
Load all Simulation studies when opening a model (requires more time to open a model). When selected, all the information for Simulation studies is saved to the memory on opening a model. It might take a longer time to open a model with multiple Simulation studies.

If this option is cleared, only the basic information for each Simulation study is saved to the memory on opening a model. When you activate a study, the rest of the Simulation study data is saved to the memory.
Automatically update beam joints when study is activated. The program recalculates the beam joint definitions of the updated weldments when you switch to the Simulation study tab. During the design process, you can change weldment features in the Model tab such as profile, length, beam rotation angle, suppress or unsuppress status, and conversion to solid body.
Save file after meshing and after analysis completes Select this option to enforce automatic saving of the active .SLDPRT or .SLDASM file after meshing and after the analysis completes.
Automatically detect underconstrained bodies

Detects bodies or mechanisms that are not sufficiently constrained during simulation at the early stage of a linear static study's solution. These bodies can exhibit translational or rotational rigid body (or free) modes.

When the solver detects rigid body modes, you have the option to continue with the solution, or stop the solution and review the rigid modes using the Underconstrained Bodies PropertyManager.

The automatic detection of underconstrained bodies does not support the Large displacement and the p-Adaptive options for Static studies.

Stabilize any rigid body modes with the appropriate translational or rotational restraints, before you proceed with the analysis. See also SOLIDWORKS Simulation Help: Use Soft Spring to Stabilize Model and Preventing Rigid Body Motion.