Dynamic Display Module

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Dynamic Display Module

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System Requirements

The Dynamic Display module uses DirectX 9.0c to enhance the visual appearance of models, and allow easy navigation in a fully 3D environment. As such, the minimum system requirements for the Dynamic Display module are as follows:

Windows® 10 or later

DirectX 9.0c

A DirectX 9.0 compatible graphics card

 

Overview

The PipeLay Dynamic Display module allows the user to view structure animations after having run analyses. The main features of the Dynamic Display module are described in the following articles:

'DirectX Features' describes the display module features such as:

Texture Mapping

Light Shading

Transparent Surfaces

Solid Structures

3D Backgrounds

Perspective Views

'Operation & Navigation' describes the operation of the display module including sophisticated controls for panning and rotating animation views.

'Menu Bar Reference' describes in detail the menu options available including:

An option to view a set of elements, rather than the whole model.

A facility to find and highlight nodes or elements.

The ability to handle large numbers of wave harmonics.

An option to view current model extents.

User controls over animations, including animation speeds and facilities for rewind, fast-forward and frame-by-frame advance.

An option to select from a variety of different backgrounds, including fully 3D environments.

An option to show applied boundary conditions.

Display of the current profile.

Options to show point masses and point loads.

'Toolbar Reference' describes the toolbars available to provide quick access to the common display module controls.

'Generating AVIs' describes the option to create an AVI version of a PipeLay animation, which allows PipeLay models to be viewed without the Dynamic Display module.

An example of the Dynamic Display module in operation is shown below. As you can see, it has a menu bar at the top of the screen. The Standard Toolbar is located along the left hand side of the screen. The View Toolbar is located directly below the menu bar. The positions of both toolbars can be customised by clicking and dragging the toolbar to the required position. The state of both toolbars can also be on or off. The View Toolbar is turned off by default, because all of its functions are available through the standard mouse controls. In the main part of the screen, there are two animation view windows.

dynamic_display_module

At any time, only one animation window can be deemed to be the current or active window. The title bar of the active window is highlighted. In the above example, the active window is the window on the left. To activate one of the other animation windows, simply click on it.

At the bottom of the Dynamic Display module screen, there is a status bar, which displays the current time and the current mode of operation. In PipeLay, this is always Post Analysis Mode. On the left side of the status bar, where the word “Ready” is written in the example above, informational messages are displayed. In particular, when you highlight a menu command or position the cursor over a toolbar button, a brief description of its function is displayed in the status bar.

File Types

The PipeLay Dynamic Display module structure animation files have the extension ‘.pdp’.