Setting Preferences

Define a variety of options for display, shortcuts, paths, and client behavior.

From the menu bar, select File, then press the Preferences button.

Workspace Preferences

Define the display, language and behavior of the software workspace.

For this Preference Do this
Show splash screen at startup Select to display the splash screen when starting the software.
Show tool names on ribbon Select to display names of the tool icons on the ribbon.
Scale UI Select to scale icons up for large displays.
Select all text when line editing Select to capture all of the text on a line.
Theme Click and select from a variety of color schemes for the GUI.
Language Select a language for the interface.
Attention: After changing the language, restart the application for the modification to take effect.
Recent files Enter the maximum number of recently viewed files displayed in the File menu.
Help Select Use Online help or clear to use locally installed help. Online help is the default and directs you to a website with the most up-to-date help topics. Local help is included with the software installation.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Define shortcuts to common operations.

File

To do this Press
Open Ctrl + O
New Ctrl + N
Import Ctrl + I
Save Ctrl + S
Save As F12
Save All Ctrl + Shift + F12
Save a Copy As... F9
Save Selected Shift + F12
Close Ctrl + W
Close All Ctrl + Shift + W
Exit Ctrl + Q

Edit

To do this Press
Redo Ctrl + Y
Undo Ctrl + Z
Copy Ctrl + C
Cut Ctrl + X
Paste Ctrl + V
Delete Delete
Rename F2
Duplicate Ctrl + D
Switch Ctrl + T

Edit Blocks

To do this Press
Super Block Ctrl + B
Expand Super Block Ctrl + Alt + X
Show Name Ctrl + L
Flip Ctrl + F
Rotate Right Ctrl + R
Rotate Left Ctrl + Shift + R
Auto Mask Ctrl + M
Remove Mask Ctrl + U
Restore Mask Ctrl + Shift + M
Left Ctrl + Shift + L
Right Ctrl + Shift + R
Bottom Ctrl + Shift + Down
Top Ctrl + Shift + Up
Vertical Ctrl + Shift + V
Horizontal Ctrl + Shift + H

Simulate

To do this Press
Run Ctrl + E
Compile Ctrl + Alt + C

Tools

To open Press
OML Editor Ctrl + H
Model dialog Ctrl + Alt + M
Context dialog Ctrl + Alt + D
Setup dialog Ctrl + Alt + S
Debug File Viewer Ctrl + Shift + D

View

To view Press
Maximize Window Ctrl + Alt + 6
Restore Window Alt + Shift + X
Full Screen Shift + F11
Split Vertical Ctrl + Alt + V
Split Horizontal Ctrl + Alt + Z
Split Window Ctrl + Alt + W
New Window Ctrl + Alt + N

Help

To open Press
Help Ctrl + F1

Miscellaneous

To do this Press
Close All (Ignore Messages) Ctrl + Shift + F4

Dock Windows

To open Press
Project Browser Ctrl + F2
Property Editor F3
Python Window F4
Command History Ctrl + Alt + H
Variable Browser Ctrl + Alt + R
OML Command Window F8
File Browser Ctrl + Alt + F
Demo Browser F7

Modifying Keyboard Shortcuts

You can modify the default keyboard shortcuts in the Preferences dialog.

  1. From the menu bar, select File > Preferences.
  2. In the Preferences dialog that appears, under Category, select Keyboard Shortcuts.
  3. Select a shortcut that you want to modify and enter a new value.

Plot Preferences

Define the display and behavior of the plots generated during the simulation process.

Title

For this Preference Do this
Visibility Select to display plot titles.
Font Select a font family, style and size for plot titles.
Color Select a color for plot titles.

Axis Scale

For this Preference Do this
Mode Select an automatic or fixed mode for axis scale.
Type Select Linear, Logarithmic, db20, or db10.

Horizontal and Vertical Axis Scale

For this Preference Do this
Label Select a font family, style, size and color for label display.
Tick Select a font family, style and size for tick display.

Legend

For this Preference Do this
Visibility Select to display legends.
Border Select the thickness for the legend borders.
Border Color Select the color of the legend borders.

Miscellaneous

For this Preference Do this
Color Select the color for the legend background, frame, zero line, and grid line.
Antialiasing Select to enable antialiasing.

Page Setup

For this Preference Do this
Orientation Select portrait or landscape.
Margin Enter a left, right, top and bottom margin in inches.

Activate Preferences

Define file paths, code display and session recovery options.

Activate Paths

For this Preference Do this
Cosimulation with MotionSolve Enter the paths for MotionView, MotionSolve, MotionSolve Licence and Python.
Cosimulation with Flux Enter the path to Flux (flux/Flux folder). For example, on Windows, enter C:\Program Files\Altair\20xx.x\flux\Flux.
VI-CarRealTime Enter the path for VI-CarRealTime.

Recovery

For this Preference Do this
Enable recovery Select to enable the recovery of model files after a software crash.
Recovery interval Enter a value in minutes.
Note: Enabling this preference can result in slower performance times if the recovery interval is high or model files are very large.

Tool Tips

For this Preference Do this
Show tooltips on blocks Select to display tooltips.

Mouse Controls

For this Preference Do this
Rotate wheel upward to Select to set the upward wheel action to Zoom In or Zoom Out. By default, the downward wheel action is the reverse of your selection.

General: Project Browser

For this Preference Do this
Remember Entity Types
  1. In the Project Browser, select the entity types to be displayed in the tree.
  2. From File > Preferences, select Remember Entity Types to save your selections for future Activate sessions.

General: Command Window

For this Preference Do this
Number of lines Enter a value between 100-25000.
Show warning when lines are purged Select On or Off.
Font size (2 to 20) Enter a font size from 2-20.
Number of matrix rows and columns printed Enter a value between 25-2500
Font Enter a font family, size and style.

General: Auto Completion

For Code Completion Do this
Show parameter information Select to display parameter information.
Minimum characters to match Enter a minimum value for character matching.
Ignore case Select for the Editor to ignore case.
Automatically suggest Select for the Editor to display code suggestions.

OML

For this Preference Do this
Command Window Set pagination and display parameters.
Editor Set display parameters.
Plot Set display parameters.