Selection improvements

#1

Hey guys, so I recall there may be an update soon for selection improvements?. Curious what to expect.

Currently I’m struggling BIG time selecting edges, it’s super hard, I tend to select faces/surfaces most times. Does adjusting the line thickness to max size have any in easing edge selection? or is line thickness purely visual?

If I could freeze/lock surfaces it would make selecting way easier. A toggle freeze lines, freeze surfaces would improve the workflow considerably. I spend most time in uMake selecting and not as much time creating.

My work around: generate lines and surfaces > move surfaces to new layer > lock + hide that layer > Then select the edges.

The work around works but requires planning and a very clean scene. If we could make the hotspot for the interaction bigger it would help a lot. So maybe take the line and expand the selection 5-10 pixels in radius bigger. Or a toggle button - lock edges, lock surfaces

#2

Thanks!

The line thickness is purely visual.

A quick workaround would be:

  1. Select all surfaces and edges using the lasso tool or by double tap on the object, then another double tap to continue the selection
  2. Open the “View” settings card, and under the “Appearance” tab, turn off the “Lines” button - this way only the surfaces will remain selected (NOTE: it won’t work on grouped objects, the shape needs to be ungrouped before)
  3. Move the selected surfaces to a new layer and lock it (similar to your current flow)
  4. Turn back on the “Lines” option under the “Appearance” tab

Maybe we can improve the lasso tool in the future to be configured which element to select.

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks,
Evi

1 Like
#3

This selection issue is something that definitely needs some improvement. Could you add a filter to the select tool, or the lasso, to only select edges, or faces, or lights, or certain materials, whatever, on the action card? That would really help.

Also, ungrouping is a big deal…at least to me. Even if I have just 10 window or doors to manage and copy around, grouping is the key to an efficient workflow in addition to the layers.

#4

Hi @ctm3,

Thank you for the suggestions!

I agree, filtering selection would be very powerful. Do you think the selection should be configured/set each time you select or pre-configured? For example: once selected, there will be a new tab that allows you to turn on/off the different elements in the selection vs. a settings card where you select what to select and what’s not and will be applied to all of your selections.

Ungrouping - I think you meant for editing groups, right? Because right now you can group & ungroup.

Thanks,
Evi

#5

Hi Evi,

I love the tool - still learning it - but the forums are a great place to find out things about the newest features.

On the filtering, I like a settings card to see what the settings are currently. (maybe because I have used MAX and Revit so long with these features?) I think the first time you use it, it scould show the options with nothing “un-checked”. In other words, nothing is being excluded from the lasso tool by default. Then you can select what to not select by un-checking the things you don’t want, such as faces. It should be a “sticky” setting, so it remains the same in the editing session and does not have to be set every time, except to alter its behavior. Once the file is re-loaded, it should probably reset. It would be great to have a “none” and an “all” option on the card to quickly clear and load. I know the card is probably to “big and clunky”, so I get it if you find a simpler and more graceful way to implement this idea.

On the ungrouping, I was specifically referring to the workaround that was being described above… to move edges to a layer, and faces to a layer, and lock one or the other. It would require blowing up all your groups. For certain objects that don’t have a lot of groups, that is fine. But, for me, its not good if you have a lot of grouped objects, like lots of doors, windows, etc…

Thanks,

ctm3

1 Like
#6

Thanks! All suggestions make sense. I’ll add it the selection enhancement as a task, as I think it’s something we achieve sometime soon after we complete some other tasks we’re currently working on.

As for groups - we understand the frustration and plan to improve this experience.

Thanks again,
Evi