Prints an Abaqus python console command to add a named matplotlib colormap to a running Abaqus session. Tested with Abaqus/Viewer 6.13-4.

abq_cmap_cmd.py

#Prints out an Abaqus console command to add a matplotlib colormap to a running Abaqus Viewer session
#Tested with Abaqus/Viewer 6.13-4
#change COLORMAP_NAME for different options

import matplotlib.cm as cm
COLORMAP_NAME = 'magma_r'
chosen_cmap = cm.get_cmap(COLORMAP_NAME)
cols = chosen_cmap(xrange(0,255,16))
clist = []
for col in cols:
    r = '{0:x}'.format((col[0]*255).astype(int)).zfill(2)
    g = '{0:x}'.format((col[1]*255).astype(int)).zfill(2)
    b = '{0:x}'.format((col[2]*255).astype(int)).zfill(2)
    colstr = '#{0}{1}{2}'.format(r,g,b)
    clist.append(colstr)
cstr = repr(tuple(clist))
abq_cmd = 'session.Spectrum(name=\'{0}\',colors={1})'.format(COLORMAP_NAME,cstr)
print(abq_cmd)

Intent

Quickly add matplotlib built-in color maps for field output visualization in Abaqus/Viewer. Intended to copy and paste into the console, but easily modified for odb visualization scripts.

My particular interest was the use of perceptually uniform colormaps for field value contour plots. The reversed versions allow better visualization of the 3D shape of the part for positive-definite quantities.

Examples

'viridis' reversed:

'magma' reversed:

Running the code prints a session.Spectrum() command like:

session.Spectrum(name='magma_r',colors=('#fbfcbf', '#fddfa1', '#fec286', '#fda470', '#fb8660', '#f4685b', '#e55063', '#ce4070', '#b53679', '#9a2d7f', '#812581', '#681b80', '#4f117b', '#341068', '#1b1044', '#09071f'))