Selection

Select and deselect entities to modify with other HyperWorks tools. Selected entities are outlined to indicate their selection state.

Hover over an entity to highlight it.

In idle mode, entities can be selected from either the modeling window or the browser area. Selecting an entity in the modeling window automatically selects the corresponding entity in the browser and vice versa.

When working in a tool, entities should be selected from the modeling window.

Entity Selectors

Use entity selectors to specify which type of entity you are able to select.

Entity selectors act as a filter by limiting your selection to a single entity type in the modeling window. For example, if an entity selector is set to Surfaces, only surface are available for selection. If it is set to Points, you can draw a window around the entire model and only the points will be selected. After performing a selection, the number of selected entities appears in parenthesis.

Entity selectors can be found in the modeling window, the Entity Editor, and tool guide bars. They may also appear in certain dialogs. Left-click on an entity selector to make it active. Active selectors are highlighted blue.

Modeling Window

In idle mode, the entity selector is located in the top, left corner of the modeling window. Use the drop-down menu to view a list all of the entity types available in your model that can be selected from the modeling window. By default, the entity selector is set to All.


Figure 1.

Guide Bars

Entity selectors are also found on tool guide bars. If a guide bar requires two or more selections to complete a workflow, left-click on a selector to highlight it or press Tab to cycle between selectors.


Figure 2.

If a selector supports multiple entity types, click the arrow to view a drop-down menu of available options.

Entity Editor

In the Entity Editor, you can use selectors to assign certain entities to another entity or a group of entities.


Figure 3.

Similar to a guide bar, if a selector supports multiple entity types, a drop-down menu becomes available.

Entity selectors do not affect your selection in a browser. The entity selector in the modeling window will automatically update to match the selected entity type. You're also able to select multiple entities of different types in a browser.

When working in a panel, the above selectors are disabled and the yellow panel selectors take precedence.

Tip:
  • Use keyboard shortcuts to change the active entity type in an entity selector.
  • In idle mode, convert your selection to a new entity type by changing the entity selector. For example, if you select elements, and then set the entity selector to nodes, all of the nodes associated with the selected elements will be selected.

Select Single Entities

Select a single entity by left-clicking.


Figure 4.

Append and Remove Entities From a Selection

  • In a browser or a dialog:
    • Append and remove individual entities to/from your selection by holding Ctrl while left-clicking.
    • To extend your selection from a selected entity to a target entity, hold Shift while left-clicking.
  • In the modeling window:
    • Append entities to your selection by holding Ctrl while left-clicking.
    • Remove entities from your selection by holding Shift while left-clicking.
    Figure 5.
  • Clear your selection in the following ways:
    • Left-click in empty space.
      Note: Only available in idle mode.
    • Click on an active entity selector.
    • Press Backspace to clear the active entity selector.
    • Press Esc to clear all entity selectors.

Select Multiple Entities Simultaneously

Select multiple entities simultaneously using window selection.
  • For box, circle, or freehand selection, click-and-drag to draw a selection window.
  • For polyline selection, click-and-drag to draw a line, then release the mouse to create an end point. Continue drawing lines, then left-click the start point, middle-mouse-click, or press Enter to close the selection window.
Figure 6.
Tip: You can also click and drag to select multiple entities in a browser.

Window Selection Settings

Change window selection settings from the modeling window right-click context menu.



Figure 7.
  1. Window Select Disabled. Disable window selection. Allows for fast clicking without the risk of dragging a mini window.
  2. Window Shape. Change the shape of the selection window when you drag your mouse.
  3. Intersection. Select entities that intersect the window. Available for elements, lines, and surfaces.
  4. Only Select Visible. Only select visible entities. Available for elements.

Perform Extended Entity Selection

Use extended entity selection to find, filter, and select subsets of entities. You can also save and retrieve previous selections.

  • Right-click in the modeling window and choose an option from the Select menu.
  • Use the Advanced Selection dialog, which can be opened in the following ways:
    • Click next to an entity selector.
    • Press Spacebar.
    • Right-click in the modeling window and choose Select > Advanced.
    Pick a selection method from the drop-down menu in the top-left of the dialog then select a subset of entities.

    The process for selecting entities varies depending on the method.

    Tip: The options in the context menu beneath Advanced (By Entity, By ID, etc. ) correlate to different selection methods in the Advanced Selection dialog. Choosing one of these options opens the dialog with the selected method.

Extended Entity Selection Options

The following options are available for extended entity selection.

Note: The following selection options do not apply to all entity types. Only valid selections for the current entity type are displayed in the menu.

Context Menu Options

Displayed
Select all entities of the specified type currently displayed in the modeling window.
Reverse
Allows for a Boolean "not" to be performed on the currently displayed entities; all selected entities are removed from the mark; all entities which are not on the mark and are currently active are selected.
All
Select all entities of the specified type. The set to be added to the user mark includes entities displayed and those not displayed.
Adjacent
Select entities adjacent to the entities already selected.
Attached
Select entities by specifying an entity among a large group of continuously connected elements. HyperWorks includes the entities currently displayed that are attached to the entities already selected. Entities that are not displayed will not be selected although they may be attached to the entity selected.
Face
Select entities by surface face. HyperWorks finds entities that are attached to each other without crossing a feature line. The Geometry feature angle option in Preferences > Geometry determines the feature lines. Attached, adjacent surfaces or elements are progressively selected when the angle between them is less than or equal to the specified feature angle.
Similar
Select entities that are similar to the your current selection based on config.
Clear Selection
Remove all entities from your active selection.
Save Selection
Save the currently selected entities to a holding area known as the user mark.
Retrieve Selection
Retrieve previously saved entities from the user mark.

Advanced Selection Dialog Options

By Assembly
Select entities by assembly.
By Block
Select entities associated with one or more block entities.
By Collector
Select elements, lines, surfaces, loads, coordinate systems, vectors, equations, and points by collector.
If you select component collectors in regard to elements or lines, the elements or lines contained in the selected components are selected. With all other entities, the entities selected by this operation are those attached to the selected component.
By Component
Select entities by component.
By Config
Select elements by configuration and type. The element type is dependent on the template file.
Use the visibility filter drop-down menu to apply your settings to all entities in the model, regardless if they are displayed on the screen or not, or only the entities that are displayed.
By Connector Group
Select entities associated with one or more connector groups.
By Domains
Select entities associated with a morph domain.
By Edge
Select entities (nodes, elements) by surface edge. HyperWorks finds entities that are attached to each other without crossing a feature line. The feature line can be adjusted using the Angle slider. Attached, adjacent surfaces or elements are progressively selected when the angle between them is less than or equal to the specified feature angle.
Click to view more options.
Tip: You can also select elements by edge by holding Alt while left-clicking. Hold Alt and scroll to adjust the feature angle.
By Face
Select entities (nodes, elements) by surface face. HyperWorks finds entities that are attached to each other without crossing a feature line. The feature line can be adjusted using the Angle slider. Attached, adjacent surfaces or elements are progressively selected when the angle between them is less than or equal to the specified feature angle.
Click to view more options.
Tip: You can also select elements by face by holding Alt while left-clicking. Hold Alt and scroll to adjust the feature angle.
By Group
Select entities by group.
By Handles
Select entities associated with morphing handles.
By ID
Select entities by typing in their ID numbers.
Use a comma to separate multiple entities.
By Include
Select FE entities such as elements, loads, and groups that belong to the selected include.
Note: Includes created via the Model Browser are only valid for solvers that support them.
By Laminate
Select entities associated with one or more laminate entities.
By Line
Pick lines in the modeling window. Entities associates with the lines are selected.
By List
Select entities from a list.
By Material
Select entities by material.
By Morphing Volumes
Select entities associated with morphing volumes.
By Multibodies
Select entities associated with one or more multibody entities.
By Output Block
Select the nodes, elements, comps, systs, groups and mats within an outputblock.
By Part
Select entities associated with a part.
By Path
Pick multiple nodes, lines, or elements and select all the nodes/lines/elements that fall in the closest connecting path. If you select two nodes on a free edge of some elements, the function tries to find the closest path along that free edge. This function uses the connectivity of the elements between the nodes, and thus requires the selected nodes to be part of a continuous shell mesh. Similarly, By Path for lines uses the connectivity of surfaces/solids and thus requires the selected lines to be surface/solid edges.
Activate the Show path preview option to the visualize the path before you create it.
Tip: You can also select node/line paths by holding Alt while left-clicking. Note that the path preview is not displayed when using the keyboard shortcut.
By Ply
Select entities associated with one or more ply entities.
By Points
Pick points in the modeling window. Entities associates with the points are selected.
By Property
Select entities by property.
By Set
Select the entities within a set.
By Solid
Pick solids in the modeling window. Entities associates with the solids are selected.
By Surface
Pick surfaces in the modeling window. Entities associates with the surfaces are selected.
By Width
Select surfaces by width, either by picking a sample surface or by specifying a range of values for the width.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Mouse Controls

Selection

To do this Press
Window select Left Mouse Drag
Append selection Ctrl + Left Mouse Click
Deselect Shift + Left Mouse Click
Select displayed Ctrl + A
Select all Ctrl + Shift + A
Select adjacent Ctrl + J
Select similar (based on type and config if applicable) Ctrl + M
Reverse selection Ctrl + R
Open advanced selection Spacebar
Select elements By Face or By Edge Alt + Left Mouse Click
Adjust feature angle when selecting elements By Face or By Edge Alt + Scroll
Select nodes and lines By Path Alt + Left Mouse Click
Edit Double Mouse Click
Suspend snaps Alt
Clear active selector Backspace
Clear all guide bar selectors Esc

Entity Selector

To do this Press
Set to components/connectors C
Set to elements E
Set to laminates/lines/loads L
Set to materials M
Set to nodes N
Set to plies/points/properties P
Set to solids/surfaces/systems S
Set to all Esc + Esc
Tip: For entity types that have the same first letter (solids, surfaces), continually press the keyboard shortcut to alternate between entity types.

Select Entities From a Panel

When working in a panel, selection is performed via yellow entity selectors.

The yellow entity selectors allow you to indicate which entities are to be modified when a function is performed in a panel. Their behavior is similar to the entity selectors elsewhere in the application.

An entity selector in a panel contains a switch or toggle, a data type button and a reset (|<) button. An entity selector is active when the data type button is enclosed in a blue rectangle.


Figure 8. Entity Selector

To change the data type, click the entity selector switch to access the pop-up menu of possible data types and select the type you want to use.

In addition to selecting one entity at a time on the screen, you can select multiple entities via quick window selection.

The extended entity selection window allows you to choose various methods of selecting entities of a specified data type. To access the options, click the data type button. The extended entity selection window opens, displaying a list of available selection methods.


Figure 9. Extended Entity Selection Window

These selection options display for all of the entity types supported in the active client. Selections that are not valid for the current entity type are grayed out.

If you want to reset the entity selections, click the reset button to deselect all selected entities.

If the data type is a line list, click the data type of the entity selector to see the selected entities in the order in which they were selected.

If the data type is a node list, you can click the collector to access a pop-up with the selections by list, by path, show node order, or by window.
by list
Allows you to pick the nodes individually from the node list.
by path
Allows you to select a few nodes that form a path, which will be used to automatically select all the displayed nodes that lie in the shortest path of the nodes selected. If you select nodes on the edges of a part, the function tries to find the closest path along the edges of that part. By path follows the connectivity of the elements between the nodes selected. Therefore, if the nodes selected are not connected by elements, this function does not apply.
show node order
Allows you to view the nodes currently stored in the nodelist collector by numbering the nodes in the sequence of their selection.
by window
Allows you to select nodes by window and internally the order of the nodes selected is determined based on its spatial location and element connectivity (if connecting elements exist).
The line list collector provides the following extended selection options:
by list
Allows you to select lines or surface edges individually in the desired sequence.
by path
Allows you to pick surface edges (two or more) and selects all the surface edges that fall in the closest path connecting the selected edges. If you select two free (red) edges, the function tries to find the closest path along the free surface edges. Since this function uses the connectivity of the surfaces, it only works with surface edges and not with free unconnected geometric lines.

Extended Entity Selection Menu

The extended entity selection menu provides a number of entity selection options.

To access the extended selection menu, click the data type button on the current entity selector.


Figure 10. Entity Selector


Figure 11. Extended Entity Selection Menu
You can then select an option from the extended entity selection menu. These selection options are displayed for all of the entity types in the active client. Selections that are not valid for the current entity type are displayed in dimmed text.
Note: When working outside of a panel, the equivalents of these options are accessed:
  • By right-clicking in the modeling window.
  • In the Advanced Selection dialog by clicking on an entity selector.
Table 1. Extended Selection Options
Option Description
by window Select entities inside a user-defined multiple-sided polygon in the plane of the screen. Selecting by window activates the Build Window panel. Select points in the graphics area to define a window enclosing the pick handles of the desired entities. Click select entities to highlight the enclosed entities. Alternatively, click reject entities to deselect enclosed entities that were previously highlighted.
displayed Select all of the entities currently displayed on the screen. When disp is selected, all entities within collectors that are active in the disp (display) panel are selected.
all Select all entities of the specified type. When you select all, the set to be added to the user mark includes entities displayed and those not displayed.
reverse Allows for a Boolean "not" to be performed on the currently displayed elements. When reverse is selected, all selected elements are removed from the mark; all elements which are not on the mark and are currently active are selected.
by collector Select elements, lines, surfaces, loads, coordinate systems, vectors, equations, and points by collector. When you select by collector, HyperWorks displays a list of the available collectors. You may select multiple collectors from this list.

If you select component collectors in regard to elements or lines, the elements or lines contained in the selected components are selected. With all other entities, the entities selected by this operation are those attached to the selected component.
on plane Select a group of entities whose pick handles reside on a plane. This is useful when you want to apply constraints to a plane.
retrieve Retrieve previously saved entities from the user mark. Entities can be saved to the user mark by selecting save in this pop-up window, or by selecting save failed in the Check Elems panel.
save Save the currently selected entities to a holding area known as the user mark.
by id Select entities by typing in their ID numbers. When you select by id, a pop-up window prompts you to type ID numbers or ranges of ID numbers.

You can use keywords to specify a range that determines which entities are selected. The standard format is: <start number> - <end number> by <increment value> "through", "thru", or "t" may be substituted for the dash (-), and the letter "b" may be substituted for "by" when you specify the range.

Examples of valid by id expressions:
  • 127
  • 127 – 722
  • 300 through 600
  • 300 thru 600
  • 300 t 600
  • 1000 - 2000 by 100
  • 1000 - 2000 b 100

You can also use a comma to separate individual entities or entity ranges.

Examples of valid lists of by id expressions:
  • 1, 3, 4, 5, 100
  • 3, 5, 8 - 10, 800, 850
  • 1 - 100 by 2, 77, 400 t 500 b 3
by assems Select entities by assembly. When you select by assems, HyperWorks displays a list of the available assemblies. You may select multiple assemblies from this list.
by width Select surfaces by width, either by picking a sample surface or by specifying a range of values for the width.
by group Select entities by group. When you select by group, HyperWorks displays a list of the available groups. You may select multiple groups from this list.
duplicate Duplicate the currently selected elements, lines, surfaces, or points. When you select duplicate, a pop-up window allows you to choose a component for the newly created duplicate entities. Select current to place the new entities in the currently active component collector. Select original to place the new entities in the same component collectors as the original entities. The initially selected entities are deselected when the duplicate elements are created and selected. This can be very useful when you use the reflect function on a model (only available for elements and lines).
by config Select elements by configuration and type. When you select by config, HyperWorks displays a panel for specifying an element configuration and type for selection. The element type is dependent on the template file.
by sets Select the entities within a set. When you select by sets, HyperWorks displays a list of the available sets from which you may select. Sets are created in the Entity Sets panel.
by geoms Select the entities which are associated to a surface or solid. When you select by geoms, HyperWorks displays a panel from which you may select one or more surfaces or solids. Once the geometric entities have been picked, click add to selection or subtract from selection. HyperWorks selects the entities which are associated to the selected geometry. You can associate entities to a surface in the Node Edit panel.
by adjacent Select entities adjacent to the entities already selected. When you select by adjacent, HyperWorks includes the entities that are adjacent to the entities already selected.
by attached Select entities by specifying an entity among a large group of continuously connected elements. When you select by attached, HyperWorks includes the entities currently displayed that are attached to the entities already selected. Entities that are not displayed will not be selected although they may be attached to the entity selected.
by face Select entities (nodes, elements) by surface face. It finds entities that are attached to each other without crossing a feature line. The feature angle parameter in the Options panel’s mesh and geometry subpanels determine the feature lines. Attached, adjacent surfaces or elements are progressively selected when the angle between them is less than or equal to the specified feature angle.
by output block Select the nodes, elements, comps, systs, groups and mats within an outputblock. When you select by output block, HyperWorks displays a list of the available output blocks from which you may select. Output blocks are created in the Output Blocks panel.
by domains Select entities associated with a morph domain. When you select by domains, HyperWorks displays a new panel in which you can pick and select the desired domains.
by handles Select entities associated with morphing handles. When you select by handles, HyperWorks displays a new panel in which you can pick and select the desired handles.
by block Select entities associated with one or more block entities. When you select by block, HyperMesh displays a new panel in which you can pick and select the desired blocks.
by ply Select entities associated with one or more ply entities. When you select by ply, HyperWorks displays a new panel in which you can pick and select the desired plies.
by laminate Select entities associated with one or more laminate entities. When you select by laminate, HyperWorks displays a new panel in which you can pick and select the desired laminates.
by path Pick multiple nodes or lines, and selects all the nodes/lines that fall in the closest path connecting the selected ones. If you select two nodes on a free edge of some elements, the function tries to find the closest path along that free edge. This function uses the connectivity of the elements between the nodes, and thus requires the selected nodes to be part of a continuous shell mesh. Similarly, by path for lines uses the connectivity of surfaces/solids and thus requires the selected lines to be surface/solid edges.
by include Select FE entities such as elements, loads and groups that belong to selected include. When you select by include, HyperWorks displays a list of the available includes that you may select.
Note: Includes created via the Model Browser are only valid for solvers that support them.
Some panels in HyperWorks require only a single entity to collect; for example, origin in the Systems panel requires only one node. The extended entity selection menu is not displayed in such situations. Some collectors, such as nodelist and linelist must remember the sequence in which the entities are selected. Thus their extended entity selection menu is different from that of the standard extended selection menu. The nodelist collector displays the following extended selection options:


Figure 12.
Option Description
by list Select nodes individually in the desired sequence.
by path Pick nodes (two or more) and selects all the nodes that fall in the closest path connecting the selected nodes. If you select two nodes on the free edge of the elements, the function tries to find the closest path along the free edge. This function uses the connectivity of the elements between the nodes and thus requires the selected nodes to be part of a continuous shell mesh.
show node order Review the nodes currently stored in the nodelist collector by numbering the nodes in the sequence of their selection.
by window Select nodes by window and internally, the order of the nodes selected is determined based on its spatial location and element connectivity (if connecting elements exist).
The linelist collector provides the following extended selection options:
Option Description
by list Select lines or surface edges individually in the desired sequence.
by path Pick surface edges (two or more) and selects all the surface edges that fall in the closest path connecting the selected edges. If you select two free (red) edges, the function tries to find the closest path along the free surface edges. Since this function uses the connectivity of the surfaces, it only works with surface edges and not free unconnected geometric lines.

Card Filter

Use the Card Filter to restrict the list of entities displayed when you click the entity selector.



Figure 13. Card Filter. Card Filter is outlined in red.

Some panels present a list of entities when you click their Entity Selector button instead of the Extended Entity Selection options.

They do this by limiting the list to only those entities that have the specified card type associated with them. Not all entities display in this fashion, so the Card Filter feature is limited to the following entity types:
Assembly Beamsection collector Blocks
Component Contact surfaces Control volume
Curves Ddvals Groups
Laminates Load collector Load steps
Material Multibodies Plies
Plots Property Sensors
Sets Shapes System collector
Tags Titles Vector collector
To filter the entity list, click the switch for the filter and select card.


Figure 14.

This displays a read-only text field adjacent to the Card Filter control. Click card to open a pop-up window that lists all of the cards defined in your model for the selected type of entity, and pick the card that you wish to filter by.

Once selected, only entities with the chosen card type will display in the entity list on the panel.

To remove the filter, simply use the switch to select all, displaying all entities regardless of card association, or no card, displaying only those entities that do not have a card at all.

Select Nodes on Geometry or Elements

Node and node list entity selectors allow you to not only select existing nodes in the model, they also allow you to create new nodes on geometry or on elements.

You can create a node on geometry by holding the left mouse button down along the geometry handle until the cursor becomes a square and then selecting the geometry (lines, edges, surfaces) on which you would like to place a node. Then, move your cursor to the exact location on the geometry where you would like the node to be placed and click the left mouse button to place a node. You can create nodes on elements by holding the left mouse button down on an element handle until the cursor becomes a square and selecting the element. Then, move the cursor to the exact location on the elements of that component and click the left mouse button to place the node.

  • Select new nodes on geometry.
    1. Position the cursor on a node and press the left mouse button.
      The cursor becomes a small white box .
    2. Continue to hold the left mouse button down and use the mouse to move this special cursor box close to the desired geometry entity.
    3. While the line/surface is highlighted, release the left mouse button to select it.
    4. While the line or surface is highlighted in this manner, you can select nodes at the desired location(s) on the geometry.
      You can create temporary nodes on an element, similar to creating a node on the fly on a line or surface. This function can be accessed from any node collector in any panel. This function allows you to create welds at locations that do not have pre-existing nodes.
  • Select new nodes on elements.
    1. When you are in a node collection mode, position the cursor on an element handle and hold the left mouse button down.
      The cursor becomes a small white box and the element is highlighted.
    2. Release the left mouse button.
    3. Move your cursor to the exact location on the element where you want to add a node and click the left mouse button.
      A temporary node is created at that location and is selected in the node collection for the panel.

Select Entities in the Modeling Window

After you select the correct data type, you can use the mouse to select the desired entities in the modeling window.

The graphics engine allows you to select entities by moving the mouse anywhere along the entity of interest. For lines and surfaces, it is much easier to work when you are zoomed in on a particular area, as you are not required to have a pick handle on the screen in order to pick the entity.

Another key feature in the graphics engine is the method by which nodes are selected. To select a node, select the element to which the node of interest is attached. HyperWorks selects the node closest to the point where the element was selected. The benefit of this feature is that it allows you to create zero length elements between two coincident nodes in a mesh.

For nodes that are not attached to any elements, HyperWorks allows you to select the node by picking the "node sphere" on the screen.

Each type of entity has a pick handle that allows you to select the entity.

Select entities using the correct pick handle.
Table 2. Pick Handle Locations for Supported Entity Types
Entity Pick Handle
Nodes The pick handle for a node is located at the node. To select a node, move the mouse to the location on the screen where the node resides. If you need to select nodes on geometry or on an element where nodes do not currently exist.
Elements Shell and solid element pick handles are displayed as pixels at the centroid of the element. 1D element pick handles are displayed as letters at the centroid of the elements:

K

M

BAR2

BAR3

R

RL

W

RBE3

J

ROD

GAP

spring

masses

bar2

bar3

rigid

rigid link

weld

rbe3

joint

rod

gap

Element handles can be selected whether or not they are displayed.
Lines Each segment of a line has pick handles along its length. Each pick handle is displayed as a small "+." If there are many pick handles, a "+" is displayed at only some of the pick handles.
Surfaces Surfaces do not have pick handles. Surfaces can be selected along their edges or on interior UV lines, also known as surface lines.
Components Components do not have pick handles. A component can be selected by picking an element, line, or surface within that component.
Systems The pick handle for a coordinate system is located at the origin of the system.
System Collectors System collectors do not have pick handles. To select a system collector, simply select a system within that system collector.
Loads The pick handle for a load is located at the pick handle of the entity to which the load is applied.
Load Collectors Load collectors do not have pick handles. To select a load collector, simply select a load within that system collector.
Plots A plot can be selected by picking within its border.
Blocks Blocks do not have pick handles. Blocks are drawn in shaded mode with transparency and can be selected by picking anywhere on the entity.
Titles A title can be selected by picking within its bounding box.
Vectors Vector pick handles are located at the arrow tip of the vector.
Curves A curve can be selected by clicking anywhere along the curve.

User Features of the Graphics Engine

When you are post-processing, the graphics engine offers advanced and powerful features.

Cutting plane
Cutting plane functions have been expanded to allow three planes to be active simultaneously. Cutting plane control is more interactive and is controlled by selecting any of the active planes with the mouse and then dragging the plane across the model. The cutting plane feature can be found in the Hidden Line, Contour, and Animation panels.
Isosurfaces
The isosurfaces subpanel is available on the Contour and Animation panels. Isosurfaces can be displayed on a model in either a legend-based mode in which each of the legend colors generates an isosurface, or as a value-based surface in which you specify a value that indicates where an isosurface should be displayed.
Hidden components
If one or more of the components in a model are set to a display style besides wireframe, then HyperWorks draws the whole model in hidden line. To perform this task, HyperWorks relies on the z-buffer found on your graphics device. The z-buffer allows HyperWorks to render your model in hidden line, with the elements in back eliminated from the display. There are some limitations to using a z-buffer and some display output differences of which you should be aware.
One problem with using the z-buffer technology is that if two entities lie in the same location in space, or nearly the same location in space, the z-buffer may have difficulty deciding which entity to display. If this situation occurs, you might see a "dotting" or "stitching" effect where the z-buffer considers one entity to be closer to you at one pointer, and then another entity closer to you at another. Potential areas of z-buffer stitching are in the Features, Edges, and Faces panels. Here, since HyperWorks is creating entities that reside in the same location in space as another entity, the display lines which represent the edges (for example) might be partially or completely blocked out by the original entity in the database. If this occurs, you can turn the z-buffer off by making all of the components in your model wireframe. In some cases, it may help to use the shrink option (modeling subpanel on the Options panel).
When a component is set to hidden line, the interior is filled with solid color. This can make it very difficult to see a node. To correct this situation, the graphics engine draws all selected or temporary nodes as spheres when one or more components are set to a display attribute other than wireframe.
Optimization
The graphics engine optimizes the display of your finite element model. One of the optimizations is the removal of interior solid faces. If you have solid elements in your model, HyperWorks calculates where the external faces are in your model, and displays these instead of displaying all of the faces.
Memory usage
HyperWorks graphics use some memory. If swapping occurs while you are running HyperWorks, this could seriously affect performance. If you encounter this problem, you should obtain more system memory.