Plotfiles to be used in an animation sequence need to be written in the FEMVIEW neutral plotfile format (this will normally be the default). To be sure that the files are written in the correct format the command UTILITY SETUP PLOTTER FORMATNEUTRAL should be used.

Animation within FEMGV works by displaying a sequence of previously stored plotfiles. Most current hardware uses a bitmap method to display pictures. These pictures are as far as possible stored in the computer's RAM, but if the computer has to page the files from disk then the whole animation sequence will be very slow.

The number of plotfiles that can be stored temporarily in RAM will depend on the amount of RAM available, the resolution of the screen, whether colour or monochrome pictures are being used (and with Windows systems the size of the window itself).

As an example consider a colour screen of resolution 1280*1024 with eight planes; this will require 1280*1024*8 bits to store the picture, which is about 1.25 Mbyte per plotfile!

On Window systems the situation can be improved by using smaller windows.