Show, Hide, and Isolate Entities

Turn the display of entities on and off in the modeling window.

Show, Hide, and Isolate Using Context Menus

Display control options are available in most context menus. In general, the options are dependent on whether or not there is a selection.
Note: The following display options do not apply to all entity types. Only valid selections for the current entity type are displayed in the menu.
Hide
Hides selected entities.
Hide All
Hides all entities of the same type as the entity selector.
Hide Model
Hides the entire model.
Hide All Off Screen
Hides all entities located outside of the modeling window but in currently displayed collectors.
Show
Shows selected entities.
Show All
Shows all entities of the same type as the entity selector.
Show Adjacent
Shows the entities adjacent to your selection or all adjacent entities that are the same type as the entity selector.
Show Model
Shows the entire model.
Show All On Screen
Shows all entities located outside of the modeling window but in currently displayed collectors.
Isolate
Isolates selection and turns off the display of all other entities, regardless of type.
Isolate Entity
Works locally within a specific entity type; for example, if component(s) are isolated, then all display states of other entities, such as load collectors, are unaffected. Isolate Entity displays only the selected entities, and turns off all other entities of the same type.
Isolate Displayed
Isolates all entities of the same type as the entity selector.
Reverse Displayed
Reverses the display of the entity type in the entity selector. If the All filter is active it reverses the display of all the entity types.
Reverse Selected
Reverses the display of the selected entities.
Unhide
Unmasks all entities in the currently displayed collectors.

Show and Isolate Nearby Entities

Supported source entities: Nodes, elements, components, systems, vectors, loads, and equations.

Supported target entities: Elements, components, systems, vectors, loads, and equations.

  1. Define settings for showing and isolating nearby entities.
    1. Select valid source entities.
    2. In the modeling window, right-click and select More > Nearby Options from the context menu.
      The Nearby Settings dialog opens.
    3. Define a search tolerance radius.
    4. Select whether to show or isolate nearby entities from the drop-down menu.
    5. Use the checkboxes to select the target entities types that are acted upon.
    6. Close the dialog.
  2. Select valid source entities.
  3. In the modeling window, right-click and select More > Find Nearby from the context menu.
    The target entities defined in the settings dialog are shown/isolated.

Show and Hide Using Browser Icons

Left-click on an entity's icon in a browser to switch between showing or hiding the entity. When an entity is hidden, it appears grayed out in the browser.
For certain entities, such as components and load collectors, you can control the display of both the geometry and the mesh. Click to show/hide geometry and to show/hide mesh.


Figure 1.

Show, Hide, and Isolate Using the Show/Hide Tool

  1. Activate the Show/Hide tool on the View Controls toolbar.
  2. Select entities to show or hide.
    • Activate or deactivate the checkboxes in the microdialog.
      The microdialog lists the available entity types in your model that you can show/hide. The checkbox next to each type of entity indicates its current display state. A checked checkbox indicates that all of the entities of that type are displayed. A checkbox with a line indicates some of the entities of that type are displayed, but not all. An empty checkbox indicates that there are no entities of that type displayed.
      Tip: Click All/None/Only to quickly change the display state of multiple entity types.


      Figure 2.
    • Use the Show/Hide guide bar for more precise control.
      1. Select an entity type using the entity selector.
      2. Click to define the following options.
        Furthest to closest
        When showing hidden entities, pick from furthest to closest in depth. Turning off this option will pick closest first.
        Sync with Browser
        Sync selection with browser.
      3. Left-click entities to hide them, Shift + left-click to show them, or use of the show/hide icons on the guide bar.
        Show all of the current entity type.
        Show none of the current entity type.
        Reverse the display of the current entity type.
        Isolate selection only or all of the current entity type.

Show, Hide, and Isolate Using the Mask Browser

These operations are only valid for entities contained in collectors that are currently displayed.
  1. From the menu bar, click View > Mask Browser.
    The Mask Browser opens in the browser area.

    Entities are logically organized in the browser to represent the collectors they belong to. Regardless of the current model, the entities listed in the browser remain the same.

  2. Use the icons to show, hide, or isolate entity groups.
    • Click to show the relevant entities for the current row and sub-folders. For example, the Show icon at the Geometry folder unmasks all points, lines, surfaces and solids within any displayed components.
    • Click to hide the relevant entities for the current row and sub-folders. For example, the Hide icon at the 1D folder masks all rod, bar2, bar3, weld, joint and plot elements within any displayed components.
    • Click to perform a Hide on the top level folder and then a Show on the current row and sub-folders.

      For example, the Isolate icon at the 3D folder masks all connectors, geometry, 0D/rigid elements, spring/gap elements, 1D elements and 2D elements and unmasks all 3D elements within any displayed components. The exception to this rule is when the Isolate button is selected at a top-level folder; in this case, all sub-folders underneath the top-level folder are unmasked and all other top-level folders, and their contents, are masked. For example, the Isolate icon at the Components folder masks all supported entities in any displayed groups, load collectors, morphing, multibodies and system collectors, and unmasks all supported entities within any displayed components.

Tip: To determine whether the masking operations for morph entities apply to all/displayed elements, right-click in the browser and select Morph operates on all elements / Morph operates on displayed elements.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Mouse Controls

To do this Press
Enter and exit the Show/Hide tool D
Show selection

If there is no selection, show all of the current entity type

A
Show entire model Shift + A
Hide selection

If there is no selection, hide all of the current entity type

H
Hide and clear selection

(Idle mode only)

Ctrl + H
Isolate selection and turn off all other entity types

If there is no selection, isolate the current entity type

I
Isolate selection and retain all other entity types

(Show/Hide tool only)

Shift + I
Middle Mouse Click
Tip: Middle mouse click again to reverse the isolated display. This is useful if you want to append to your selection and isolate more entities.
Show entities adjacent to selection

If there is no selection, show adjacent entities that are the same type as the entity selector

(Idle mode only)

J
Reverse display of selection

If there is no selection, reverse the display of the current entity type

R
Switch the display from mesh only, geometry only, or both

(Idle mode only)

G
Toggle on/off IDs of a selection

(Idle mode only)

Q
Tip: To show elements only, press E to switch the entity filter to elements, then I/Shift + I to isolate all displayed elements. To add loads to the display, press L to switch to loads, then A to show.