Selection of Objects

To edit objects you have to select them.

There are different ways to select objects in nanoCAD. The most common way is to select objects with the mouse cursor without using additional commands. Objects can be selected both individually and in groups

Selection of an individual object is performed by hovering the cursor, followed by clicking on it with the left mouse button by .

Selection of a group of objects is performed using a rectangular selection window or a lasso:

·         if you move the cursor in the drawing area while holding down the mouse button, the lasso outline will be drawn. To stop the selection, just release the mouse button;

·         in case of a single click on an empty space in a drawing field, a rectangular selection window will begin to draw. A second click will mark the second vertex of the window and complete the selection process.

If after starting a group selection, the cursor moves to the right, a window or lasso with a blue semi-transparent fill is used. Only the objects that are entirely inside the specified area will be selected.

If after starting a group selection, the cursor moves to the left, a crossing window or lasso with green semi-transparent fill is used. This will select objects both completely inside and crossed by the border of the specified area.

There are three lasso modes:

·          window lasso – only objects that are entirely within the specified area (blue fill) will be selected;

·          crossing lasso – objects both entirely within and intersected by the boundary of the specified area (green fill) will be selected;

·          fence lasso – only objects intersected by the fence will be selected, but not those entirely within or outside the specified area (no fill, the lasso outline is displayed).

You can cycle through options while selecting by pressing the SPACEBAR. The selection mode will change on the fly.

  

Example of selecting objects by window lasso

  

Example of selecting objects by crossing lasso

  

Example of selecting objects by fence lasso

When selecting both individual objects and groups of objects, the selection mode set in the Properties bar plays an important role:

·          If multiple selection mode is enabled ( button), all newly selected objects are added to the selection. Objects selected in this mode while holding down the SHIFT key are excluded from the selection;

·          If sungle selection mode is enabled ( button), only newly selected objects are included in the selection. New objects selected in this mode while holding down the SHIFT key are added to the selection, while already selected objects are excluded from the selection.

For a more detailed description of the methods to select objects using the Properties bar, see Selecting Objects Using the Properties bar section.

The selection parameters are configured in the Select section of the OPTIONS dialog.

Options for selecting objects

Frame color, Fence color,Transparency – are fence and frame display options on the screen

Selection preview method

·          Click and Click – sets the frame by two clicks: first click starts selection, second click completes it.

·          Press and drag – sets the frame by mouse drag: press to specify the first point, then drag cursor and release the mouse button.

·          Automatic detection – automatic detection of the selection frame method: either click and click with the left mouse button or using press and drag.

·          Allow press and drag for lasso – enables/disables the lasso selection method.

 

Keep pre-selection after modification

Keep objects in selection after modify commands: Move, Rotate, Scale. For the Move, Rotate and Scale commands you can use the Keep pre-selection after modification mode, which allows you to keep objects selected even after the commands have stopped. The selection is cancelled by pressing the ESC key

Preview of selected objects

To preview objects of the selection or selection set, there is a mode of dynamic highlighting. Placed under cursor or pixbox objects or objects from set of selection objects are highlighted the same color, which they have.

Example of highlighting objects using different selection methods

The maximum number of dynamically highlighted objects is set by the Selection preview max objects count parameter. Setting this value to 0 disables selection preview

Control of preview of selected objects mode implemented by  ToggleSelectionPreview button in the status bar:

Parameter	Description
In command mode	Objects are highlighted only when any command is run (when command asks to select objects)
In non command mode	Objects are highlighted in non-command selection mode (are not highlighted when a command is run).
In all modes	Dynamic highlighting is active in all modes.
Never	Preview of selection is off.
Selection filter	Opens the Selection Preview Filter dialog. Checking boxes in the dialog box excludes objects from the selection preview. You can also open the dialog box using the SELFILTER command.