Action Mode Tools

Use the action mode tools, on the right side of the Model Browser, to control both entity selection and the display of the model.

The first two tools determine the type of entity that you wish to manipulate, while the rest perform specific actions.


Figure 1.

Entity Type

The Entity Type tool () sets functions as a "mode" selector for the rest of the tools by determining what type of entity the remaining tools will act on.

For example, if you set the Entity Type to "components", the Selector will only select or deselect components.

Click () to open the Entity Type drop-down menu and then select the desired entity type.


Figure 2.

Elements/Geometry

The Elements/Geometry tool () sets functions as a "mode" selector for the rest of the tools, by determining what type of contained entities the remaining tools will act on.

For example, if you set the mode to "elements", the Selector will only select or deselect elements.

Click () to open the Elements/Geometry drop-down menu and then select the desired contained entity type. The entity types available from the drop-down include: Elements, Geometry, and Elements and Geometry.


Figure 3.

Selector

Use the selector () to interactively select supported entities from either the Model Browser or from within the graphics area.

The type of entity you are able to select is determined by the entity selection that you made in the Entity Type drop-down menu.
Note: You are only able to select one entity type at a time, but you can select multiple entities without losing your selection. This is also an efficient way of selecting multiple entities at once – such as when changing color.
HyperMesh outlines the selected entities with a thick white line in the graphics area, and highlights the entity names in grey in the Model Browser.


Figure 4.
The selection behavior of ply entities acts differently than other entities. Plies often contain both geometry and FEs that nearly match. In order to distinguish between the two in the graphics area, HyperMesh outlines selected geometry with a thick white line and selected FEs with the color that it is assigned.


Figure 5.
When you select materials and properties, the visualization mode changes to by Mat or by Prop, respectively.


Figure 6.

Change the Selection in the Graphics Area Using the Mouse Scroll Wheel

In a Microsoft Windows environment, you can also use a scroll-wheel-equipped mouse to "drill down" through the model and select parts that may not be immediately visible.

  1. To move deeper into the field of view and away from you, hold the left mouse button down while rolling the scroll wheel forward.
  2. To move the selection closer to you, hold the left mouse button down while rolling the scroll wheel backward.
    Highlighting indicates the component that will be selected once you release the left button.
    Note: This only works in a Windows environment; it will not work in UNIX, Linux, and so on.
  3. You can also use the Selector tool in conjunction with the Hide or Isolate functions to hide or isolate the entities selected in the graphics area. Once you have made a selection in the Model Browser or graphics area, using the selector, click the Hide icon (right mouse button) to hide that selection or click the Isolate icon (left mouse button) to isolate that selection.

Select Entities in the Graphics Area

To select entities in the graphics area, you can:
  • Left-click to select entities.
  • Left-click and hold to pre-highlight entities; the entity under the selector at any given moment highlights, but is not selected until you release the mouse button.
  • Shift + left-click to use window selection to highlight or select multiple entities.
  • Right-click an entity to deselect it.
  • Control + right-click to use window selection to deselect multiple entities.
When using a panel with an active collector, each entity selected gets added to the collector, while each one de-selected gets removed from the collector.


Figure 7.

Select Entities in the Model Browser Tree List

To select entities using the Model Browser, you can:
  • Left-click to select and highlight an entity in the browser – the entity is also highlighted in graphics area.
  • Control + left-click to select multiple entities in both the browser and graphics area. Multiple entities of the same type can be appended to the selection. Left-click can be used to add/remove components from an active collector on a pane.
  • Shift + left-click highlights multiple entities in the browser and the graphics area. You can append and remove entities from a panel's active collector list depending on which entity entry is selected.
  • Right-clicking highlights components in the list and invokes the context menu – no highlighting of the entity in graphics area will occur with this operation.


Figure 8.

Add to Panel Collector

The Add to Panel Collector () is a function whereby the browser can be used to select and add entities to the panel collectors.

This is an alternative method to using the advanced selection capabilities already available in each collector's extended entity selection menu. This button is only available when you have a panel open that contains at least one entity collector.


Figure 9.
Note: The selected entities are only added to the panel's active (blue halo) collector. Additionally, only entities of the correct type will be added to the active collector; for example, you cannot add lines to an Elements collector.

There are two ways of using this tool:

  1. Use the selector to choose a set of entities beforehand, and then click Add to Panel Collector to add them to the panel's collector.
    In this method, the selector effectively gives a preview of the selection, because the selected entities are highlighted but only added to the active panel collector when you click Add to Panel Collector. For example:


    Figure 10.
  2. Click Add to Panel Collector first to activate it, then select the entities you wish to add to the collector. HyperMesh adds each selection to the collector immediately after you release the mouse button.
You can use either method in the graphics area or the browser tree list. Control-clicks and Shift-clicks are supported in the browser list; window selections (Shift+click-and-drag) are supported in the graphics area.

Remove Entities From a Panel Collector

To remove entities from a panel collector, you can either:
  • Click the collector's reset button .
  • Right-click (with full shift-, control-, or window-based selection) on individual entities when the Add to Panel Collector button is active.

Show/Hide

Use Show/Hide () to control the model display by interactively selecting entities within the graphics area.

This tool is not designed to operate within the browser; therefore, you should only use this tool to select entities in the graphics area. To control the browser display, use the local entity controls found inside the browser's tree structure.

Note: When using window selection (Shift-click-and-drag), an entity is considered selected if any portion of it falls within the window; you do not need to encompass the entire entity with the window, only a small portion of it. Also remember that only entities of the types determined by the Entity Types and Elements/Geometry buttons will be hidden or revealed.

When you select materials and properties, the Visualization mode will change to by Mat and by Prop respectively. However, no graphics highlighting of material or properties occurs when using the selector.

Similar to the selector, you can change your selection in the graphics area using the mouse scroll-wheel for the Show/Hide tools. To show your selection, left-click, hold, and scroll. To hide your selection, right-click, hold, and scroll.

Pick in Graphics

  • Left-click turns on entities to the display that are currently turned off.
  • Left-click-and-drag pre-highlights only the entities that are currently turned off in the display (entities already turned on do not highlight).
  • Right-click turns off entities in the display.
  • Right-click-and-drag pre-highlights only the entities that are currently turned on in the display (entities already turned off do not highlight.)

Single Selection



Figure 11.
  • Shift + left-click-and-drag uses window selection to turn on multiple entities in the display.
  • Shift + right-click-and-drag uses window selection to turn off multiple entities in the display.

Window Selection



Figure 12.

Pick in Browser

This tool does not function on line items within the browser's tree list. To control the display of the listed entities use All/None/Reverse, the individual local display control inside the tree structure, or the show/hide/isolate functions from the context menu.

Isolate

Use Isolate () to only display the selected entity in the graphics area and Model Browser.

The Isolate tool isolates within the entity type. For example, if there are components and load collectors displayed, and you use Isolate while the Entity Type is set to Component, then HyperMesh will only isolate that component, while leaving the load collectors untouched in the display. In other words, all of the other components will be turned off, but the isolated component and the load collectors will still display.
Note: Isolate can be used in conjunction with the selector. In such a case, after you have selected the desired entities, clicking Isolate hides everything else except for the selected entities. However, as described above only entities of the chosen type are hidden – so connectors and similar entities will still remain visible.

Using the selector may give you more precise control over which entities to retain – but for simple isolation tasks, direct usage of the Isolate button is generally quicker.

Similar to the selector tool, you can change your selection in the graphics area using the mouse scroll-wheel for the Isolate Shown/Isolate Not Shown tools. To isolate entities that are shown, left-click, hold, and scroll. To isolate entities that are not shown, right-click, hold, and scroll.

Pick in Graphics

In general, use the left mouse button to isolate visible entities, and use the right mouse button to isolate entities that are already hidden (thus turning the hidden ones back on):
  • Left-click will isolate the selected entity from those on display (single-click selection).
  • Left-click-and-drag will pre-highlight entities that are currently displayed. It will not highlight entities that are currently turned off in the display. Upon release, the pre-highlighted entity will be isolated.
  • Shift + left-click-and-drag uses window selection to isolate multiple entities (but only entities currently visible).
  • Right-click will isolate entities from all available entities, whether currently on or off in display.
  • Right-click-and-drag will pre-highlight an entity that is displayed or turned off from the display in the graphics area. Upon release, the pre-highlighted entity will be turned on and isolated.
  • Shift + right-click-and-drag uses window selection to isolate entities from all available entities, whether displayed or turned off from the display.

Single and Window Selection



Figure 13.
Note: When using window selection (Shift+click-and-drag), an entity is considered selected if any portion of it falls within the window; you do not need to encompass the entire entity with the window, only a small portion of it. Also remember that only entities of the types determined by the Entity Types and Elements/Geometry buttons will be hidden or revealed.

Pick in Browser

  • In Isolate mode, clicking on an entity folder, such as the Components folder, will isolate all components, therefore turning every component on.
  • Left-click will select/highlight an entity in the list – the entity is isolated and displayed in graphics area.
  • Control + left-click highlights an entity name in the browser and isolates it in the graphics area. Multiple entities of the same type, components for example, can be appended to the selection, thus displaying more than one entity but still hiding all non-selected ones. Selected/isolated entities can be de-selected by Control + left-clicking on them a second time.
  • Shift + left-click highlights all entities of the same type, components for example, in the browser between the first click and the most recent click, and displays the selected entities isolated from the non-selected ones in the graphics area. You can use additional Shift-clicks or Control-clicks to modify the selection of displayed entities.