Graphical Selection

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.

If two or more selections are required to complete a workflow, left-click on a selector to make it active or press Tab to cycle between selectors. The active selector is highlighted blue.

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

In idle mode, the entity selector is located in the top, left corner of the modeling window. It shows all of the entity types available in your model that can be selected from the modeling window.

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.

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.

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 4.
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 or press Esc to clear all entity selectors.
  (HyperMesh only)

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.

Available in HyperMesh, HyperView, and HyperGraph.

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

Select Entities from the Entity Editor

Parameter values in the Entity Editor, as well as attributes in browser columns that require a selection pop out an embedded entity selector when clicked. All controls, shortcuts, and behaviors for this entity selector are the same as any other, except for a few differences in buttons layout.

Click , press ".", or press Ctrl + Spacebar to select by typing names or IDs. While typing, the selection search function provides live suggestions of:
- Entity names that contain the typed search terms (separated by space) somewhere in their name.
  Tip: If you wish to treat spaces as characters instead of search term separators, turn on the Match Exact Phrase option in the Preferences dialog, located in File > Preferences > Browsers > Selection Search.
- Entity IDs that begin with a numeric search term.
A live suggestions list will show partial matches for names and IDs while typing, up to a certain number (configurable in File > Preferences > Browsers > Selection Search). If the model contains more partial matches than listed in the suggestions list, click Browse More, or press Ctrl + Enter, to browse and select from the full partial match list.
Tip: Live partial match suggestions are available for entity counts of up to 100,000. However, you can still select by typing names or IDs regardless of model size, and full match suggestions will be still provided and selectable.
To confirm your selection, click .
To cancel your selection, click .

Select Set Segments

The following additional functionalities are available in the entity selector when editing the contents of a set segment.

Use standard selection controls to append or deselect elements, facets, faces, or edges where the segments are defined.
Click to reverse or align segment directions using the Adjust Directions dialog. The reverse function flips all or some segment directions simultaneously. The align function is only available for segments defined on shell elements.
Tip: When aligning segments on shell elements, you can manually specify a reference element to align to by toggling the switch from Auto to Reference mode.
When selecting 3D elements, segments are added to their outside faces only, based on the current display state.
Tip: While selecting set segment contents, you can freely switch between supported selection types (for example: elements, facets, faces) and the current selections are converted accordingly.

The following restrictions and considerations apply when selecting set segment contents:

A single set segment can contain either face (2D) segments, or edge (1D) segments, but not a mixture of both.
- When using box selection, if a mixture of 1D/2D elements is detected, the 2D elements are given priority. Only the 2D elements inside the box are selected and any 1D elements are ignored.
Switching the selection type between elements, faces, and facets is supported, but some conversions might result in additional segments.
- Example 1: A single facet of a single floating 3D hex element is currently selected, and the selector is then switched from facets to elements. The selection is converted correctly from 1 facet → 1 element, and upon accepting the new selection, the resulting number of segments is now 6 since every exposed side of the selected 3D element gets a segment.
- Example 2: If the same 3D element is not floating but instead part of a displayed mesh, the resulting number of segments is less than 6 because only its currently exposed outside faces get a segment (hidden internal mesh faces do not get segments).
When selecting faces or facets, advanced selection operations are available (for example: select adjacent, reverse, by face, by path, and so on) which rely on their underlying elements. As such, any advanced selection operation performed on faces or facets considers their current base elements as fully selected (including all outside faces of 3D elements). The same applies to saving and retrieving selections via the right-click menu.
When selecting facets, performing graphical window selections of a large number of facets can have a significant performance cost. For such scenarios, using elements as the selection type is recommended for optimal performance.

Perform Extended Entity Selection

Use extended entity selection to find, filter, and select subsets of entities. Extended selections can be added to, removed from, or intersected with existing selections, and previous selections can be also saved and retrieved.

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.
Use the drop-down menus at the top-left of the dialog to choose the extended selection mode (Add, Remove, or Intersect) and the selection method (options vary depending on entity type), 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 that are located on the same surface face as the previously selected entity. HyperWorks finds entities that are attached to each other without crossing a feature line. Attached, adjacent surfaces, nodes, or elements are progressively selected when the angle between them is less than or equal to the specified feature angle.

In HyperMesh, the feature angle option is set in Preferences > Geometry. In HyperView, it is set in Preferences > Visualization.

HyperView 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. HyperView performs the entity binding changes for proper selection.

HyperView only

Similar

Select entities that are similar to the your current selection based on config.

Clear Selection

Remove all entities from your active selection.

(HyperMesh only)

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.

HyperMesh 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 that are located on the same surface face as the previously selected entity. 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, nodes, 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 Limits (3D): Using this method, selection propagates to all connected faces selected, while excluding faces that are connected to the specified limit nodes. Limit nodes must be selected first to enable the propagating faces selector.
Note: This method is only available when the selection type is faces or facets.
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.

HyperView 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,HyperView 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, HyperView 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, HyperView 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.

Quick Advanced Selection

Use quick advanced selection to associate a preferred advanced selection method to different entity types. The advanced method becomes instantly accessible while holding the Alt key during any selection action.

Appending and deselecting while using quick advanced selection is also possible via Alt + Ctrl and Alt + Shift, respectively.

Configure quick advanced selection controls and associated methods via Preferences > Mouse Controls.

Select Mesh Faces and Edges

Direct selection of mesh faces and edges is available in some tools, as well as their individual selection modes which are called Facets and FE Edges, respectively.

Mesh faces and edges are calculated on displayed mesh based on a break angle value. You can adjust the break angle dynamically using Alt + Scroll. You can also adjust it via the Advanced Selection dialog by clicking

or pressing Spacebar where the following additional options are also available.

When selecting faces, options are available to ignore mesh intersections, plot element boundaries, or restrict face selection to only shell or solid meshes.
When selecting edges, options are available to ignore mesh intersections, plot elements, or restrict the edge selection to only free edges or full loops.

It is important to note that these special selection types are provided as conveniences and are not native HyperMesh entities (like nodes or elements are), and as such have the following restrictions and considerations:

The topology of mesh faces and edges has to be calculated on-the-fly each time their selection is requested, so hovering or selecting large mesh areas can produce delays in calculating the resulting selection.
When selecting faces or individual facets, advanced selection operations are available (for example: select adjacent, reverse, by face, by path, and so on) which rely on their underlying elements. As such, any advanced selection operation performed on faces or facets considers their current base elements as fully selected (including all outside faces of 3D elements). The same applies to saving and retrieving selections via the right-click menu.
When selecting individual facets, performing graphical window selections of a large number of facets can have a significant performance cost. For such scenarios, choosing elements or nodes as the selection type is recommended for optimal performance.
Switching the selection type from mesh faces and edges to their underlying nodes or elements is supported in all tools, however the reverse conversion (from faces or edges to nodes or elements) is only available in some tools.

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 attached	Ctrl + T
Select similar (based on type and config if applicable)	Ctrl + M
Reverse selection	Ctrl + R
Open advanced selection	Spacebar
Quick advanced selection Configurable via Mouse Control Preferences	Alt + Left Mouse Click
Adjust feature angle when selecting elements By Face or By Edge	Alt + Scroll
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
Selection search (Entity Editor only)	"." or Ctrl + Spacebar

Tip: For entity types that have the same first letter (solids, surfaces), continually press the keyboard shortcut to alternate between entity types.

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.

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:

Use the Extended Entity Selection Menu

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.
Choose an entity selection technique from the menu.
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

Click the entity type selection switch to access a pop-up menu of possible entity types.
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.

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.

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.