Working with occluded textured geometric elements

Selecting textured geometric elements in a dense scene via the Viewer window can be challenging and time consuming especially if the elements are occluded by other elements. You can change the camera view or use the Navigator window to access and select elements behind other elements but this workflow may be quite inefficient particularly with large scenes.

This release optimized the selection of occluded textured geometric elements by providing the following capabilities:

Selecting an occluded textured geometric element through alpha channels
Selecting an occluded textured geometric element through partially transparent textures
Selecting an occluded textured geometric element by using a selection override color

Keyboard shortcuts for selecting and displaying occluded textured geometric elements in the Viewer window

The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts and User Interface (UI) elements associated with the selection and display of occluded textured geometric elements in the Viewer window. The keyboard shortcuts are supported in all default and custom cameras.

Note: All keyboard shortcuts associated with actions within the Viewer window require the Viewer window to be in an active state.

Action	Keyboard Shortcut	UI Element	State / Alternative to Keyboard Shortcut
To toggle the EZ Selection button on.	`Alt` + `Shift` + `A`		Enable the IDBufferPicking property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To toggle the EZ Selection button off.	`Alt` + `Shift` + `A`		Disable the IDBufferPicking property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To display the transparency threshold of textures.	`Shift` + `A`	IDBufferDisplay	Enable the IDBufferDisplay property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To define the transparency threshold of textures.	`Shift` + `A` + scroll mouse wheel	IDBufferPickingAlpha	Adjust the value of the IDBufferPickingAlpha property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To enable the selection override color for selecting occluded geometric elements.	`Alt` + `Shift` + `Q`	SelectionOverride	Enable the SelectionOverride property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To disable the selection override color for selecting occluded geometric elements.	`Alt` + `Shift` + `Q`	SelectionOverride	Disable the SelectionOverride property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To define the selection override color for selecting occluded geometric elements.	None	SelectionOverrideColor	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To define the selection override color transparency for selecting occluded geometric elements.	None	SelectionOverideTransparency	Adjust the value of the SelectionOverrideTransparency property in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To select and cycle through textured geometric elements with a selection override color.	Click a geometric element and press `Shift` + `1` + scroll mouse wheel	None	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To cycle through textured geometric elements with a selection override color and hide the geometric elements in front of the selected geometric element.	Click a geometric element and press `Shift` + `2` + scroll mouse wheel	None	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To hide textured geometric elements with a selection override color in front of the selected textured geometric element.	Click a geometric element and press `Shift` + `2`	None	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To show only the selected textured geometric element.	Click a geometric element and press `Shift` + `3`	None	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.
To isolate the selected textured geometric element with a selection override color and then scroll through all the geometric element with a selection override color (one by one).	Click a geometric element and press `Shift` + `3` + scroll mouse wheel	None	Define the selection override color in the SelectionOverrideColor property fields or button in the Renderer Properties Resources.

Selecting an occluded textured geometric element by using a selection override color

imilarly to selecting occluded geometric elements through alpha channels, you can select a geometric element in the background through partially transparent textured geometric elements in the foreground by using the Easy Selection button () in the Viewer toolbar or its keyboard shortcut (Alt + Shift + A), and by specifying the texture's selection override color. Setting a selection override color uses the textures' diffuse channel for the color override.

To select an occluded textured geometric element in the Viewer window by using a selection override color:

Important: To select an occluded geometric using a selection override color, the textured geometric element requires a shader (such as the Lighted shader) with its Transparency setting type set to other than No Transparency.

Click in an empty area in the Viewer window to make it active.
Press Alt + Shift + Q.
The Selection Override option is enabled. The Renderer's SelectionOverride property is shown enabled.

Note: The IDBufferPickingAlpha value is 1.
(Optional) Press Shift + A.
The following figure shows the geometric elements available for selection based on the defined textures' transparency threshold ( IDBufferPickingAlpha).

Tip: Drag a selection box in the Viewer window to see which geometric elements can be selected based on the defined textures' transparency threshold.
In the Renderer's properties, define the Selection Override color properties by either:
- dragging in the SelectionOverrideColor R, G, B fields or double-clicking the R, G, B fields to enter values,
- or by clicking the SelectionOverrideColor R, G, B button () and picking a color in the Color window.
The SelectionOverrideColor R, G, B fields update.
In the Renderer's properties, drag or double-click the SelectionOverrideTransparency property to define the transparency of the selection override color.
In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element.
Setting a selection override color enables you to easily see which textured geometric element is selected.

The following figure displays the selected geometry with the selection override color defined in the Renderer's SelectionOverrideColor property.

If you are working in a dense scene containing geometric elements with various subtle transparent textures, taking advantage of the Renderer's SelectionOverrideColor property optimizes the selection process.

To select and cycle through textured geometric elements with a selection override color:

In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element.
Press Shift + 1 + scroll with the mouse wheel.
The textured geometric elements with a selection override color are selected one by one using the Z buffer.

To hide textured geometric elements with a selection override color in front of the selected textured geometric element and then cycle through the textured geometric elements (with a selection override color) in the back:

In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element.
Press Shift + 2 + scroll with the mouse wheel.
The textured geometric elements in front of the selected geometric element are hidden and the geometric elements in the back are selected one by one using the Z buffer.

To hide textured geometric elements with a selection override color in front of the selected textured geometric element:

In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element and press Shift + 2.

To show only the selected geometric element with a selection override color:

In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element and press Shift + 3.

To isolate the selected textured geometric element with a selection override color and then scroll through the geometric element with a selection override color (one by one):

In the Viewer window, click a textured geometric element and press Shift + 3 + scroll with the mouse wheel.