OOF2: The Manual

4.5. Setting the Time

A Mesh can store many sets of Field values at different times. The Mesh's current time is the time of its latest stored data set, and is displayed on the FE Mesh and Solver Pages. The Graphics Window, however, can display Mesh data at any time between the initial time and the current time. Thus each Graphics Window has its own time which may be different from the Mesh time and the time of other Graphics Windows. The Time Controls (Figure 4.5) at the top of the Canvas determine which data set to display.

Figure 4.5. Graphics Window Time Controls

Graphics Window Time Controls

Only Layers that have a when parameter that is set to <latest> will be affected by the window's time setting. Layers that have an explicit time, or whose time is set to <earliest> display Mesh data at their assigned time.

The buttons on the left side marked with arrows change the time to the previous or next time stored in the Mesh or Meshes displayed in the window. The slider in the middle allows the time to be changed continuously between the oldest and newest times. When the slider is not set to a stored time, the Fields in the Mesh are interpolated to the selected time, and the displayed quantities are computed from the interpolated values.

The text box on the right side of the controls displays the Graphics Window's current time. The time can be changed directly by typing a number into the box and hitting return. As with the slider, the data will be interpolated if the time entered does not correspond to a stored time.

When a Mesh is being solved and the Graphics Update Output is scheduled, the time control and the graphics window always display the latest time. Similarly, when the Window is being animated, the Time Controls display the animation time.