Saving the scenario
When you create a new scenario, and also after you complete a set of steps, you should save the scenario.
- Click Save when the scenario loads. The Ansys Systems Tool Kit® (STK®) application creates a folder with the same name as your scenario.
- Verify the scenario name and location in the Save As window.
- Click Save.
Saving a scenario (in *.sc format) best practices.
A scenario in the STK application is an instance of an analytical or operational task that you are modeling. In the STK application, a scenario is represented by an icon of an idealized "scene", as shown below:
When you select Save from the File menu in the STK application, you are saving a scenario. However, unlike other applications that save a single file, the STK application saves a scenario as a group of files that comprise the collection of objects that are relevant to the scenario. The following image shows an instance of a saved scenario.
When you save a scenario, the scenario itself is saved as an object, and each object within the scenario is saved individually. The file extension for the scenario object is ".sc". Additionally, the current layout of your workspace is saved in a Workbook file.
Satellites, aircraft, ground vehicles, ships, planets, stars, receivers, and transmitters are examples of the objects that can constitute a scenario in the STK application. Within a scenario, you can set general properties, such as time period, units of measure, and the appearance of the 2D and 3D Graphics windows. You can use information that is contained in the scenario to create reports and to perform other analytical tasks.
By default, when you create a new scenario, all files associated with that scenario will be saved to the scenario folder. Unless otherwise specified, you can find all the reports, images, and objects in the scenario folder.
Two or more scenarios saved in the same folder
Saving a scenario can overwrite files from another scenario in the same directory. If you have a satellite named ISS in your scenario, the STK application will save a file called ISS.sa that contains all the properties of the satellite. However, if there are any other scenarios in the same directory with a satellite named ISS, that ISS.sa file will be overwritten. This is standard Windows OS behavior, as the Windows OS only allows one file with a given name and extension to be the same folder. To prevent these conflicts, it is a good practice to always save each scenario in its own directory.
Save a new scenario (see the attached video)
00:00 The left shows the STK workspace, and the right shows a File Explorer window with many scenario folders.
00:02 We open the folder "Scenario1", which has the same name as the scenario on the left.
00:07 Upon saving the scenario, a new window appears. It has the file path to the Scenario1 folder.
00:10 After clicking save, the folder on the right is populated with the associated files and the SC file.
00:16 We demonstrate inserting a place object and saving the scenario. Upon saving, you can see that two files with extensions .plc and .plc3 appear. These define the object and are needed if we are to open the scenario or share it.
00:23 We demonstrate inserting a satellite object and saving the scenario. Upon saving, you can see the SA and SA3 files appear; these define the satellite object.
Save a scenario using Save As (see the attached video)
00:00 The left shows the STK workspace, and the right shows a File Explorer window with the content of the Scenario1 folder.
00:02 In the STK application, we select the File-Save As option.
00:04 The Save As window appears.
00:05 We browse to the STK_ODTK 13 directory and create a New Folder.
00:09 We rename the folder "New_Scenario1_folder".
00:17 We open the new folder in the Save As window.
00:20 On the right, we browse to the "New_Scenario1" folder in File Explorer.
00:26 In the Save As window, we select the Save option. The Save As window then closes. After a few moments, the files will populate in the "New_Scenario1_folder".
