Selecting Entities in the GUI

Geometry, mesh entities, and boundary conditions can be selected with the left mouse button directly in the graphics window. Before selecting any entity, however, the correct selection mode must be chosen. This dictates which entity types will be available for selection in the graphics window. The Select Toolbars, which are located above the graphics window by default, are used to change the entity selection modes.

Figure 1. The Selection Toolbar for Geometry and Mesh Entities

Figure 2. The Selection Toolbar for Boundary Conditions

Figures 1 and 2 shows the selection toolbars. Selecting one of the entity selection modes will only permit selection of that particular entity type within the graphics window. These selections will not override a Pick Widget in the command panel.

If both volume and surface entities are picked on the select toolbar, a single click will select the surface while a double click will select the volume. More detailed information on selecting and specifying entities can be found in Entity Selection and Filtering .

Pre-Selection

When the mouse cursor is over an entity type that has been selected from the Pick toolbar, that entity will become highlighted. This is called pre-selection and is used as a graphical guide to show which entity will be picked when the mouse button is clicked.

Graphics pre-selection may slow down your graphics speed for large models. You can disable pre-selection from the Tools->Options dialog box.

Polygon and Box Select

The polygon/box selection feature allows you to select entities by drawing a box or polygon on the screen. To draw box on the screen press and hold the <CTRL> button* while clicking and dragging the left mouse button. Release the left mouse to complete the box select. To create a polygon selection, press and hold the <CTRL>* button while clicking and dragging the left mouse button. Click the left mouse button to create another side for the polygon. Press either of the other buttons to close the polygon and complete the selection. Only entities that are in active selection mode will be selected. To change between the polygon or box method, press the Toggle Between Polygon/Box Select button on the Select Toolbar. Clicking the Toggle Selected Enclosed/Extended button will toggle between Enclosed Selection and Extended Selection. Enclosed selection will only select entities that are fully enclosed within the bounding box or polygon. Extended selection will select entities that are either fully OR partially enclosed within the bounding box. Toggling the the Select X-Ray will select entities that are hidden behind other entities. X-ray selection will only apply to smoothshade and hiddenline graphics modes.

*Note: For Mac computers use the command (or apple) button for polygon or box select.