Graphical Selection

Select and deselect entities to modify with other HyperLife 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 Selector

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

In idle mode, the entity selector limits your selection to a single entity type in the modeling window. For example, if the entity selector is set to Elements, only elements are available for selection. If it is set to Nodes, you can draw a window around the entire model and only the nodes will be selected. After performing a selection, the number of selected entities appears in parenthesis.

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.

The entity selector does not affect your selection in a browser. You're also able to select multiple entities of different types in a browser.

When working in a panel, the entity selector in the modeling window is disabled and the yellow panel selectors take precedence.

Tip:

Use keyboard shortcuts to change the active entity type in the entity selector.
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.

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 3.
Clear your selection in the following ways:
- Left-click in empty space.
  Note: Only available in idle mode.
- Click on the entity selector
- Press Esc.

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.

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.

Window Shape. Change the shape of the selection window when you drag your mouse.
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.

To access extended entity selection:

Right-click in the modeling window and choose an option from the Select menu.
This menu shows all available selection functions and methods for the currently active entity selector types.
Open the Advanced Selection dialog in one of 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: Not all entity types offer all the following selection options. Only valid selections for the current entity type are displayed on 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. HyperLife 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 nodes/elements that are located on the same face as the previously selected entity. A face is defined as a region on the model surface where the angle between element normals does not exceed a certain threshold. This threshold is controlled by the Feature angle setting.

Limitations:

Works on shell elements only.
Does not handle flipped normals.
Cannot be used to select components.

By Dimension

Select entities by dimension (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D). You can select one or more of the dimensions available.

Setting the entity selector to Nodes allows you to select nodes attached to all elements with the selected dimension. HyperLife performs the entity binding changes for proper 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

All selection methods in the dialog include a visibility filter. This allows you 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.

In addition,HyperLife is capable of entity binding changes between nodes, elements, and components - which provides you with easy selection. For example, when Nodes is specified on the entity selector, the By ID option allows you to select either By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID.

By ID

Select entities by entering an ID number.

Make a selection from the By ID drop-down menu (By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID), and then enter a valid expression (listed below) and an ID in the text box.

==: Displays entities equal to the ID entered
!=: Displays entities not equal to the ID entered
<: Displays entities less than the ID entered
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the ID entered
>: Displays entities greater than the ID entered
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the ID entered

Note: You can also enter IDs and/or ranges, separated by commas (for example: 1, 3, 5-12) in the text box.

In addition, you may also make a selection from the Look in drop-down menu. When a model contains duplicate IDs, HyperLife organizes the model into different pools - therefore you need to specify a pool in order to select a unique element.

If All is used, all the entities with duplicate IDs are selected.

By Type

Select elements by configuration. You can select one or more of the various element configurations available.

If Element configuration is selected, HyperLife will apply the binding changes to find the nodes connected to the elements.

By Sets

Select the entities within a set.

By Contour

Select entities by contour.

The following contour options are available:

Value: Enter a contour value in the text box (see the Note below).
Percent: Enter the percentage of entities to select (0 to 100) in the text box (see the Note below).
Top N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the top 50 elements/nodes that have the highest contour value.
Bottom N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the bottom 50 elements/nodes that have the lowest contour value.
No result: All nodes or elements without any results are selected.
Max of Window: Displays the maximum contour value for the entities selected with a window.
Min of Window: Displays the minimum contour value for the entities selected with a window.

Note: If you select Value or Percent, you must select a quantifier from the bottom, left-most drop-down menu:

=: Displays entities equal to the contour value/percent entered.
!=: Displays entities not equal to the contour value/percent entered.
<: Displays entities less than the contour value/percent entered.
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.
>: Displays entities greater than the contour value/percent entered.
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.

By Sphere

Allows you to select entities by entering location information for x, y, z and a user-defined radius.

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 adjacent	Ctrl + J
Reverse selection	Ctrl + R
Clear selection	Esc

Entity Selector

To do this	Press
Set to components	C
Set to elements	E
Set to nodes	N

Select Entities Using the Input Collector

When working in a panel or the Entity Editor, selection is performed via yellow input collectors.

Input collectors allow you to select entities in a model to which you can apply various tool functions. Their behavior is similar to the entity selector in the modeling window.

An input collector 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.

There are five types of input collectors:

Nodes: Nodes; Nodes on graphic representation (such as ellipsoids, cylinders, etc.)
Elements: Elements; Elements on graphic representation
Components: Components; Components on graphic representation
Assemblies: Hierarchical component sets; Body
Systems: Local coordinate system; Marker

After activating the input collector, you are able to select entities by:

Picking entities from the modeling window.
Using quick window selection.
Using the extended entity selection menu.

An input collector entity type in the plural form, such as "elements", indicates that you are able to select more than one entity from your model. An input collector 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 input collector allows you to select nodes one at a time by entering the node ID. Similar to the standard input collector described earlier, the active node is surrounded by a blue square. Click the entity type selection switch to change the input collector type, and click the reset button to reset the input collector.

Examples of this type of input collector include:

When you click N1, N2, or N3 on the collector pictured above, the Select by ID dialog is displayed:

Look in: Allows you to select which pool contains the entity. For example in the case of elements, ID 1 could be in the Shell pool or the Solid Pool (if the model has duplicated IDs), therefore you would need to specify a pool for selecting a unique entity.
All: All of the entities with duplicate IDs are selected.

Use the Extended Entity Selection Menu

From a panel or the Entity Editor, click the entity type button on the input collector 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.
Select an entity selection technique from the menu.
1. Optional: Fill in any secondary dialog that is displayed.
  The selected entities are highlighted in the modeling window.

Extended Entity Selection Menu

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

Click the entity type button on the current input collector to access the extended selection menu.

You can then select an option from the extended entity selection menu. The above image shows all the selection options available in HyperLife. However, not all entity types offer all the selection options. Only valid selections for the current entity type are displayed on the menu. For instance, if you are using the Systems input collector, the By Config, By Dimension, By Sphere, and By Set (Group) entity selection options are not available.

HyperLife is capable of entity binding changes between nodes, elements, and components - which provides you with easy selection. For example, when Nodes is specified in the input collector, the By ID option allows you to select either By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID. Similarly when selecting nodes, the By Set option allows you to select a node set (group), element set (group), or component set (group). If you select an element set (group), the nodes connected to the elements defined in the set (group) will be selected.

Note: When working outside of a panel or the Entity Editor, the equivalents of these options are accessed:

By right-clicking in the modeling window.
In the Advanced Selection dialog by clicking on the entity selector.

The following extended entity selection menu options are available:

Displayed

Select entities that are currently displayed in the modeling window for the specified types.

All

Select all entities in a model of the specified type. When you select All, the set to be added to the user mark includes entities displayed and those not displayed.

Save

Save the current selected set of entities for future use.

Retrieve

Retrieve the current saved selection set of entities

Visibility filter

This affects the following options:

All: Apply your settings to all entities in the model, regardless if they are displayed on the screen or not.
Displayed: Apply your settings to only the entities that are displayed on the model.

By Window

Select entities based on a user-defined multiple-sided polygon on the screen.

Use Shift + left mouse button to define the window points. Select points in the modeling window to define a window enclosing the pick handles of the entities to select or exclude.

Select Entities inside the window to highlight the entities within the window.
Select Entities outside the window to highlight entities outside of the window.

Reverse

Allows for a Boolean "not" to be performed on the currently selected entities. When Reverse is selected, all selected entities are removed from the mark; all entities that are not on the mark are selected.

By ID

Select entities by entering an ID number.

Make a selection from the By ID drop-down menu (By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID), and then enter a valid expression (listed below) and an ID in the text box.

==: Displays entities equal to the ID entered
!=: Displays entities not equal to the ID entered
<: Displays entities less than the ID entered
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the ID entered
>: Displays entities greater than the ID entered
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the ID entered

Note: You can also enter IDs and/or ranges, separated by commas (for example: 1, 3, 5-12) in the text box.

If All is used, all the entities with duplicate IDs are selected.

By Dimension

Select entities by dimension (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D). You can select one or more of the dimensions available.

Setting the input collector to Nodes allows you to select nodes attached to all elements with the selected dimension. HyperLife performs the entity binding changes for proper selection.

By Config

Select elements by configuration. You can select one or more of the various element configurations available.

If Element configuration is selected, HyperLife will apply the binding changes to find the nodes connected to the elements.

By Set

Select from a drop-down menu of created sets/groups.

By Adjacent

Select entities adjacent to the entities already selected. When you select By Adjacent, HyperLife 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, HyperLife includes the entities that are attached to the entities already selected.

By Contour

Select entities by contour.

The following contour options are available:

Value: Enter a contour value in the text box (see the Note below).
Percent: Enter the percentage of entities to select (0 to 100) in the text box (see the Note below).
Top N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the top 50 elements/nodes that have the highest contour value.
Bottom N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the bottom 50 elements/nodes that have the lowest contour value.
No result: All nodes or elements without any results are selected.
Max of Window: Displays the maximum contour value for the entities defined using the Quick Window Selection feature (Shift + left mouse button).
Min of Window: Displays the minimum contour value for the entities defined using the Quick Window Selection feature (Shift + left mouse button).

Note: If you select Value or Percent, you must select a quantifier from the bottom, left-most drop-down menu:

=: Displays entities equal to the contour value/percent entered.
!=: Displays entities not equal to the contour value/percent entered.
<: Displays entities less than the contour value/percent entered.
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.
>: Displays entities greater than the contour value/percent entered.
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.

By Sphere

Allows you to select entities by entering location information for x, y, z and also entering a user-defined radius.

By Face

Limitations:

Does not handle flipped normals.
Cannot be used to select components.

By Plane

Select nodes/elements that lie within a certain tolerance (in model units) of the defined plane. This selection method uses a vector input collector (X Axis, Y Axis, Z Axis, Vectors, N1N2N3, Normal to screen).

The following options appear on each subpanel of the extended entity selection menu:

Add

Adds entities to the selection set that satisfy the user-defined criteria.

Subtract

Removes entities from the selection set that satisfy the user-defined criteria.

Reset

Removes the selections made and returns the model to its original state.

Return

Returns to the main panel.

Apply

After defining the entity selection set, click Apply to select the entities, apply the desired action, and return to the previous panel.

A default action is one of the following:

Create a vector plot (if invoked from the Vector panel).
Create a tensor plot (if invoked from the Tensor panel).

Note: You can continue to apply the selection rules until you click Return or move the mouse button out of the dialog to dismiss it.

Change the Entity Type

From a panel or the Entity Editor, click the entity type selection switch to access the pop-up menu of possible entity types.
Select the type that you want to use.

Reset the Input Collector

From a panel or the Entity Editor, click the input collector reset button

to deselect all entities.