Stage Settings

The Stage Settings option in the Data menu allows you to set a Reference Stage > 0 if you wish to view differential data between any two stages of a multi-stage model. To view differential data:

1. Select Stage Settings from the Data menu.
2. In the Stages dialog, select a Reference Stage. You can also select a Visible Stage, but it is not really necessary to use this, since the stage tabs are always visible on each view. Note that the dialog automatically checks that the Reference Stage is less than the Visible Stage.
3. Select OK or press Enter. Notice that the tabs for changing stages (at the lower left of the view) now indicate the Visible Stage AND the Reference Stage. For example, if your model has 3 stages and the Reference Stage = 1, then only two stage tabs will be available: [Stage 2 – Stage 1] and [Stage 3 – Stage 1].
4. All data in the view will now be in differential format.
5. To set the Reference Stage = 0 again or to set it to a different stage, repeat steps 1 to 3.

Note that each view can have its own Stage Settings, allowing different Reference Stages in different views.

All data can be contoured in differential format, including stress, displacement, strength factor and user data. See the Differential Data topic for more information.

Minimum Animation Time

The Stage Settings dialog also allows you to set the Minimum Animation Time for the Animate Tabs option.