Selection groups allow you to group multiple entities of a common type, such as parts, edges, surfaces, line, or vertices. You can select all of the entities that comprise a group with a single click on the group in the browser.
Use selection groups to make many of your processes quicker and more efficient. For example, you can make internal or critical parts visible when you hide exterior parts or surfaces. When you group such exterior parts or surfaces into a selection group, you can turn their visibility on or off as a group. You can also use selection groups in a more functional capacity - for example, defining surface-to-surface contact pairs in MES. Combine multiple surfaces into a selection group and define the group as one of the contacting items.
Create a Selection Group
- In the browser or graphics window, select objects of a common type.
- Right-click in the graphics window.
- Click Selection Groups.
- Click Create new group.
Note: If you have selection groups already defined, rather than create a new group, you can choose to add selected objects to existing selection groups, if the object types are the same. Likewise, you can choose to remove selected , respectively.
Expand the Selection Groups folder in the browser to view your group.
Work with Selection Groups
You can perform many operations on existing groups. Choose from the following, as appropriate.
- Add selected objects to existing groups.
- Remove selected objects from existing groups.
- List the groups which contain the selected objects.
- Move objects between groups.
- Copy objects between groups.
- Remove objects from groups.
Tip: You can create selection groups with objects from different parts. However, in the case of MES analyses, better setup and solution times result when you limit groups to objects from the same part.
Note: See the Selection Group Essential Skills video on the Wiki for additional information about selection groups and their application.