DRAWING SAVE Mode Control

          

This command allows the user to save a particular view of the model and/or results.

Mode Control Comments

PLOTFILE filename Writes plotter data (see notes 1, 2 and 3)to the specified file in the current plotter format.

LIVE -- Saves a live drawing which is given a drawing number (see note 4). (FEMVIEW only)

Notes:

1.

Saving to a plotfile
A drawing may be saved by writing to a plotfile in any of the formats available under the UTILITY SETUP PLOTTER command. On hardware where 'forms' are available the plotfile format may also be specified as part of the DRAWING SAVE PLOTFILE command. Further details on formats is given in Appendix E of the User Manual Appendices. The plotfile may then be sent to a plotter to produce a hardcopy plot.

Plotfiles written in the FEMGV Plotfile Neutral Format may be recovered and re-displayed by FEMGV for subsequent reference, or may be accessed by a plotting program.

The user will be prompted to enter a title to be saved with the drawing in order to help identify the drawing in the future.

2.

Ensuring a plotfile is current
In cases where commands have been issued which do not automatically produce a redraw, the picture on the display will not be necessarily the picture that is written to the plotfile. In these situations it is advisable to issue the command DRAWING DISPLAY before the command DRAWING SAVE PLOTFILE [filename] so that the current picture can then be viewed prior to making a plot.

3.

Limitations with plotter hardware
In cases where the picture displayed cannot be plotted, as for example with colour filled contours on a pen plotter; an equivalent representation will be output to the plot file, for example, contour lines.

4.

Saving to the database
Alternatively, the drawing may be saved in the form of a parametric description with the DRAWING SAVE LIVE command, in which case it will be stored in the database, and will appear in the drawing index. It may then be recovered on subsequent occasions with the DRAWING RECOVER LIVE command, and the parametric description will be read, and the picture regenerated from the model and results data stored in the data base. This will recover a `live' view of the model and/or results, and the user may then go on to work with this view, and for example, rotate the model, or adjust the results presentation. The recovery of the parametric description effectively reproduces the state of the program at the point where the user issued the DRAWING SAVE LIVE command.

The user will be prompted to enter a title to be saved with the drawing in order to help identify the drawing in the future.

Drawings saved in the drawing index are assigned a sequence number when they are stored, and this sequence number is displayed once the command DRAWING SAVE LIVE has been issued. A table of saved drawings together with the sequence number and title associated with each drawing can be obtained by issuing the command UTILITY TABULATE DRAWINGS.

See also the following commands

'DRAWING RECOVER'
'UTILITY SETUP PLOTTER'
'UTILITY TABULATE DRAWINGS'