Plate properties

The plate property forms described here are only available in the traditional graphics window. For information about the renderer's property panels, refer to Property panels or The renderer.

Plate properties include plate type, connectivity, orientation of local axes, plate thickness, plate offset and material properties.

There are three modes available for editing plate properties as follows.

To edit or query plate properties one plate at a time

Simply double-click on a plate.

Note "Edit/Query Plate" in the title bar of the form that appears.

Although this mode only lets you edit the properties of one plate at a time, you can simply click on any other plate to display and edit its properties without exiting the command. When doing so, any changes you made to the properties of the previously displayed plate are saved.

You can also press the "Results" button and then click on any plates to display their analysis results in a scrollable window (see also Query analysis results).

To edit or query plate properties for multiple plates using a form

Select some plates graphically, click the right mouse button and then select "Properties (Form)" from the popup menu that appears.

Note "Edit Plate Properties" in the title bar of the form that appears.

Edit mode works in a similar way to edit/query mode except that you can’t select other plates while the form is open. You can, however select multiple plates initially and make changes to all of them simultaneously.

Blank fields

A blank field indicates that for the plates selected, more than one value exists. If you leave such a field blank then the selected plates will retain their individual values. However, if you type into a blank field then all of the selected plates will receive the new value.

Special buttons

$image\LibraryBtn.gif$

Allows you to input a material from a standard library.

Material properties are different to the other items in the plates form because a single material can be shared amongst many plates. All other items of data in the plates form have their own independent values for each plate. Hence, as soon as you change the material property number, the rest of the material data changes to match.

$image\ebx_660342046.gif$ You can scroll through the materials in the current job by changing the material number in the plate properties form. All of the properties that have been defined for that material will be displayed. If no properties have been defined for that material then the name field will be blank, as will the properties fields.

To edit or query plate properties for multiple plates using a datasheet

Select some plates graphically, click the right mouse button and then select "Properties (Datasheet)" from the popup menu that appears.

Refer to "Using datasheets" for information on how to operate the above datasheet.

$image\ebx_-1773499217.gif$ You can view plate offsets graphically by depressing the "View offsets" toggle button in the side toolbar.

$image\ebx_-1773499217.gif$ If you change any plate properties that affect the structure’s geometry, you may not be able to select some nodes or plates until after a redraw. This is due to their displayed position becoming out-of-date. The "Regen" check box allows you to order an automatic redraw after you exit the node properties form.