Autodesk® CFD Viewer

Use the Autodesk® CFD Viewer to:

The Autodesk® CFD Viewer reads Dynamic Images (".vtfx"), which contain the model geometry, results, display attributes, and animation settings. They are fully navigable, so unlike static images, they allow direct interaction for a deeper understanding of the results.

To save a Dynamic Image, click Results (tab) > Image (panel) > Dynamic Image.

Main Window

The Autodesk® CFD Viewer is shown with a results set loaded:

main window

Toolbar Functions

File Open and Add File

Open Dynamic Images (VTF and VTFx) created in Autodesk® CFD.

Add a Dynamic Image file to the session.

InfoBox On/Off

Toggle the display of the Result Info box in the lower right corner of the graphics window. This shows the date, the active scalar and vector quantities.

Step Info On/Off

Toggle display of time step and load case information. This is shown in the lower left corner of the Graphics window.

Color Legend On/Off

Toggle display of all legends.

Navigation Cube On/Off

Toggle display of the Navigation Tool.

Drop Shadow On/Off

Toggle display of the shadow visual effect below the model.

Rubberband Zoom

To zoom to a region:

  1. Click this icon
  2. Press and hold the left mouse button on one corner of the desired zoom region
  3. Drag to the other corner of the zoom region
  4. Release the mouse button

Viewports

Select the number of viewports and their initial placement.

Synchronous Navigation

Causes the mouse movement in all viewports to be the same

This is useful when comparing designs and scenarios in multiple viewports.

Automatic Rotation Point

Click to enable automatic computation of an optimal rotation point based on the geometry.

The default center of rotation is the origin.

Selection

Select Part: Toggle to select a part and probe values on the part

Select Element: Toggle to select an element and probe values on the element

Select Node: Toggle to select a node and probe value from the node

Select Element Node: Toggle to select an element node and probe values

Animation Control

Use the animation control buttons to pause, play, and single step through the animations to inspect individual steps.

Control how the animation cycles with the Repeat from Start and the Repeat Forward/Backward buttons. Use the slider to control the animation speed.

Case Selection

Every case that is included in the Study View (VTFx) file is listed in this drop menu. Use the arrows to select the case to view.

Case Panel

The Case Panel lists information about each case (scenario from Autodesk® CFD).

To show a case, drag and drop its thumbnail in the Table of Cases list into a viewport.

Selection Panel

Probed results are displayed in the Selection Panel.

Settings Panel

Use the Settings Panel to manipulate visibility and drawing modes of parts and element sets.

Visiblity options include visibility, shaded, and outline.

Model Navigation

ZoomCtrl + LMB
RotateCtrl + MMB
PanCtrl + RMB

Microsoft® Office Add-Ins

The CFD 3D Viewer has connections to Microsoft® PowerPoint and Microsoft® Word. These enable Dynamic Images to be a part of your Office presentations and documents.

PowerPoint

To add the CFD Viewer Addin

Before adding a Dynamic Image for the first time, add the CFD Viewer AddIn:

office button

options

add in

add in close

If the button does not appear, reduce the PowerPoint security settings:

security

If you see the following error, the required plug in is not installed on your computer:

error message

Note: If you attempt to insert a dynamic image after receiving this error but before downloading and installing the plugin, you may see a "Microsoft Visual Basic" crash message.

To add a Dynamic Image

insert image

load image

finished

Word

To add the CFD Viewer Addin

Before adding a Dynamic Image for the first time, add the CFD Viewer AddIn:

office button

office options

word addin

word addin close

If the button does not appear, reduce the Word security settings:

word security

If you see the following error, the required plug in is not installed on your computer:

error message

Note: If you attempt to insert a dynamic image after receiving this error but before downloading and installing the plugin, you may see a "Microsoft Visual Basic" crash message.

To add a Dynamic Image in Word

add dynamic image

load dynamic image

finish load