Setup > Selection

Use Setup > Selection to control how entities are selected.

This topic describes the controls in the Selection panel as well as entity selection in general.

Selection Mode

Specify the selection mode by selecting Volume, Surface, or Edge.

Note: Edge is not available for all tasks when working with 3D models.

Associative Selection

To select multiple entities that are related to another (easily selected) item, select from the Direct menu.

Entities of the selected type highlight as you move the mouse over them. To select all items that are associated with the selection type, click on any highlighted item.

For example, if ten parts are assigned the same material, select Material from this list. As you move your mouse over the model, you will see that all ten parts highlight together because they have the same material. To select all ten, click on one of them.

The selection methods for each selectable entity are:

Entity	Selection Method
Volume	Direct -- Volumes are highlighted and are selected
	Material -- All volumes that have the same material are highlighted and selected together.
Surface	Direct -- Surfaces are highlighted and are selected
	Volume -- Volumes are highlighted, and all surfaces touching a picked volume are selected.
Edge	Direct -- Edges are highlighted and are selected
	Surface -- Surfaces are highlighted, and all edges touching a picked surface are selected.
	Volume -- Volumes are highlighted, and all edges touching a picked volume are selected.

Selection Controls

To select the last previously selected item, click Select Previous.
To select every entity of the current selection mode, click Select All.
To resume the visibility of all hidden items, click Show All.
To deselect an item that is currently selected, either click on it or click Deselect. (If multiple items are selected, the Deselect control deselects items in the reverse order in which items were selected.)
To deselect all selected items, click Deselect all.

Curser Types

The curser indicates the current selection mode:

Volume Mode

Surface Mode

Edge Mode

To change the selection mode, do one of the following:

Right click in the graphics window, and select from the Selection type menu.
Click either Volume, Surface, or Edge from Setup > Selection.

Selection Colors

Specific colors are used to indicate the selection status of entities:

When the mouse hovers over an entity, it turns green.
When an entity is selected, it turns red.
When the mouse hovers over a selected entity, it turns yellow.

When an item is selected, its label appears on the Selection List. To select entities from the Design Study Bar, simply left click on their label in the appropriate branch.

Note: To be selectable, an entity must not be occluded by another entity. If another entity blocks the line of sight to the desired entity, hide the blocking entity.