Chain 2D Graphics

On the Attributes page you can set the following 2D Graphics properties for a chain:

Category	Option	Description
Global Attributes	Show	Hide/Show all Chain graphics in both the 2D Graphics and 3D Graphics window.
	Show in 2D Windows	Hide/Show all Chain graphics in the 2D Graphics window.
Static Graphics	Show	If enabled, all objects involved in any valid strand of the Chain displays graphics indicating they are part of a valid strand. Displays complete chain intervals for objects in the chain based on applicable time and object constraints. Accesses among chain objects are displayed as thick lines that overlay the ground tracks.
	Line Width	Select the width of the line that overlays the ground track in the 2D Graphics window.
	Color	Select the color in which chain graphics are to be displayed.

Category	Option	Option	Description
Animation Graphics	Strand Graphics	Show Highlight	If enabled, access is displayed in bold print during animation. A box appears
		Show Line	If this check box is selected, a line appears on the 2D Graphics window between the objects in the chain to show when they are accessible to each other during animation.
		Width	Specify width of the optimal strand lines
		Color	Specify color of the optimal strand lines
		Hide for large # of strands	Disables the animation graphics past a certain threshold.
		Max Strands	Defines the number of valid computed strands as the bound for when animation lines are not displayed if the previous option is enabled.
	Optimal Strand Graphics	# Strands to Display	Maximum number of stored optimal strands to display at a given time. The number of optimal strands at a given time can vary, so the displayed number may be less than this value.
		Show Lines	If enabled, lines are displayed between objects for the valid optimal strands (if computed) for the current animation time.
		Width	Specify width of the optimal strand lines
		Best Strand Color	Color ramp start color for the most optimal strand of the displayed optimal strands
		Worst Strand Color	Color ramp end color for the least optimal strands of the displayed optimal strands
Show Direction		If enabled, each access line is numbered to show the sequence of the lines.

If a connection between two objects is part of more than one chain, the line between that object pair is segmented into multiple lines using the colors from each chain to color the segments. To identify the chain that is used in access calculations, select the line in the 2D or 3D Graphics window.

Optimal strand lines are drawn based on the stored best strand sampled data for the closest previous computed time to the current animation time. If the animation time is not in sync with the optimal strands computed times, the optimal lines may not be correct. See the optimal strand sampling details for more information.

The number of optimal strand lines drawn is based on the number of stored optimal strands, the number of optimal strands to be drawn settings, and the number of valid optimal strands at a given animation time. The actual number of strands drawn will be the minimum of all these values. The color for each optimal strand line drawn is based on the color ramp from the most optimal valid strand drawn to the least optimal valid strand drawn from the current animation time.

If multiple drawn optimal strands have common connections, those connections are segmented into multiple lines using colors from the optimal strands using that connection. If you want all optimal lines to be the same color, simply set the best and worst optimal strand colors to be the same color.

Changing the animation start time does not recompute the optimal strands, so if your animation time is not in sync with a computed optimal path, the lines may not show or may be incorrect. Either recompute optimal strand data for a smaller timestep or make sure your animation timestep is the same as your optimal strand sample time.

For 2D Graphics windows, single left-click a line to display the name of the chain in the status bar of the 2D Graphics window.

For 3D Graphics windows, double left-click a line to display the Chain name and the names of the objects for the connection of the strand selected.