Simcenter Testing Solutions Simcenter Testlab Active Picture

2019-09-20T20:06:47.000-0400

Simcenter Testlab

Summary

Details

Direct YouTube link: https://youtu.be/YvPjqwLugGE

The active picture feature of Simcenter Testlab (formerly called LMS Test.Lab) allows editing and changing a graph inside of any Microsoft Office product, without requiring a license of the Simcenter Testlab software. The graph editing options in Office are the same as in Simcenter Testlab.

This article covers:

Creating an active picture
Features of active pictures
Adding data to an existing active picture
Active picture plug-in

Creating an Active Picture

To make an active picture, click on the picture tab in the upper right of the graph (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Click in upper right and choose “Copy as Active Picture (embedded data)”

Select “Copy as Active Picture (embedded data)” from the pulldown. Then, in a Microsoft Office application, right click and select “Paste” as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 – In PowerPoint, right click and choose “Paste” to insert active picture

Active pictures are supported in any application that works with Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). This includes Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.

To activate the picture, double-click on it as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Double click on pasted image to make it active

When the picture is active, the normal PowerPoint toolbar is not accessible. To exit active picture mode, click once in PowerPoint outside of the active picture.

There is an extensive set of capabilities available in active pictures.

Features of Active Pictures

Features of Simcenter Testlab active pictures include changing limits, using cursors, exporting to Excel, weighting, smoothing, integrating, and more…

These features are also available both in the Simcenter Testlab software and in the Active Picture.

Limits and Cursors

As in Simcenter Testlab, the limits of an active picture can be adjusted. To do so, right click on the axis of interest and choose “Limits -> Fixed” as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: To change limits, right click on axis and select “Limits -> Fixed”

Enter the desired limits in the Minimum and Maximum field and press the “OK” button.

Cursors can be added and used in the displays as well. For example, right click in the active picture and select “Add Cursor -> Double X” (Figure 5).

Figure 5: To add cursors to the active picture display, right click and choose “Add Single Cursor -> X” or “Add Double Cursor -> X”

The maximum value of the data between the cursors can be exported from an active picture. Next right click on the Double X cursor and choose “Calculations -> Max” as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 – Right click on the Double X cursor and choose “Calculations -> Max”

A legend will appear which contains the maximum values between the two cursors for each data curve. The maximum values can be exported to Excel by right clicking on the legend and choosing “Copy Values” as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 – Right click on legend and choose “Copy Values” to paste maximums to Excel

After opening Excel, paste the maximum values into a worksheet.

More on display limits and cursors can be found in the following knowledge base articles:

Weighting and Integration

Data can be conditioned in the display by right clicking on Y-axis and selecting “Processing” as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8 – Right click on Y-axis and select “Processing -> Integration” to change data from acceleration to velocity

In the “Processing” menu, the data in the display can be weighted, integrated, scaled, smoothed, and more…

After selecting an option, the data in the display will be instantly updated.

Data Properties

Viewing a data graph and wondering who took it, where it came from, and how it was processed?

From the active picture, right click on a curve and choose “Data properties” as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 -Right click and selected “Data Properties”In the “Data Properties” window, all data attributes are listed by scrolling from left to right.

Some attributes include:

PointId – Name of location of measurement
Resolution – Frequency resolution of measurement
Actual sensitivity – Calibration factor used during measurements
Sample frequency – Rate at which data was acquired
Original project – Name of project that contained the data
Original project Dir – Directory of project that contains the data
Window – Type of window (Hanning, Flattop, etc) used to perform FFT
Average type – Averaging method used to calculate data (peak, energy, etc)

Export to Excel

Right click on the data curve to export the data to Excel. Choose “Copy Values -> All” as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10 – To copy data to Excel from an Active Picture, right click and choose “Copy Values -> All”

Open Excel. Right click and choose “Paste” in a cell and the data headers and values will appear.

For more information on copying Simcenter Testlab to and from Excel, see the knowledge base article: Simcenter Testlab: Import/Export to Excel

Adding Data to an Existing Active Picture

Sometimes, it might be desirable to add an additional piece of data to an existing active picture already in Microsoft PowerPoint or another program.

This can be done by copying the data directly from Simcenter Testlab into the existing active picture.

Right click on the data curve in Simcenter Testlab and choose “Copy” as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 – Right click on data curve in Simcenter Testlab and select “Copy” to move data from Simcenter Testlab to PowerPoint

Then double-click on the active picture in PowerPoint. Once the picture is active, right click in the display and select “Paste to Front” as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12 – Double-click on the active picture, right click, and choose “Paste to Front”

Data is now added to the Simcenter Testlab active picture (Figure 13).

Figure 13 – After selecting “Paste to Front”, data is in active picture

The ability to copy data from Simcenter Testlab into an existing active picture in PowerPoint was introduced in LMS Test.Lab Revision 17. It is also possible to drag and drop data from Simcenter Testlab into an existing active picture.

Active Picture Plug-In

Sharing a powerpoint with a colleague who does not have Simcenter Testlab installed on their PC, and want them to be able to use the features of an active picture? Active pictures do not require a license, but a freely downloadable plug-in is required to be installed. When viewing a document on a PC without the active picture plug-in, the image can be viewed, but it is not editable.

The plug-in can be downloaded from the community article: Simcenter Testlab Active Picture Plug-in and installed on any computer.

It is not necessary to install the active picture plug-in on a computer that already has Simcenter Testlab installed. The plug-in is strictly for PCs without a Simcenter Testlab installation.

Enjoy active pictures! Questions? Email peter.schaldenbrand@siemens.com or contact Siemens Support Center.

Simcenter Testlab Tips:

Simcenter Testlab Display Tips:

KB Article ID# KB000043093_EN_US

Summary Details

Associated Components

Simcenter Testlab Digital Image Correlation Testlab Environmental Testlab Acoustics Testlab Data Management Testlab Desktop Testlab Durability Testlab General Acquisition Testlab General Processing & Reporting Testlab Rotating Machinery & Engine Testlab Sound Designer Testlab Structural Dynamics Testlab Turbine

Simcenter Testing Solutions Simcenter Testlab Active Picture

Summary

Details

KB Article ID# KB000043093_EN_US

Contents

Associated Components