Select Entities Using Legacy Selectors

For older contexts, 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. Their behavior is similar to the newer entity selectors elsewhere in the application.
Note: When using the Dark theme, the legacy entity selector color turns blue.
A legacy selector contains an entity type selection switch, an entity type button, and a reset button. An input collector is active when the entity type button is enclosed in a blue rectangle, as shown in the image below.


Figure 1.

An entity type in the plural form, such as "elements", indicates that you are able to select more than one entity from your model. An entity type in the singular form, such as "node", indicates that you can select only one entity from your model at a time.

When you need to define a plane by specifying a plane's normal vector, the selector allows you to select nodes one at a time by entering the node ID. Similar to other selectors, the active node is surrounded by a blue square.

Examples of this type of input collector include:



Figure 2. Plane normal vector definition using the global axis


Figure 3. Plane normal vector definition

Use the Extended Entity Selection Menu

  1. Click the entity type button on the selector to access the extended entity selection menu.
    A pop-up menu containing the available selection techniques is displayed. This menu allows alternative methods for selecting elements of the specified entity type.
    Note: The options displayed on the extended entity selection menu are dependent upon the active input collector.
  2. Choose an entity selection technique from the menu.
  3. Fill in any secondary dialog that is displayed.
    The selected entities are highlighted in the modeling window.
Note: When working with newer entity selectors, 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.

Change the Entity Type

  1. Click the entity type selection switch to access a pop-up menu of possible entity types.
  2. Select the type that you want to use.

Reset the Selector

Click the reset button, , to deselect all entities.

Card Filter

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



Figure 4. 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 5.

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.