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Improve selection sequence

Improve selection sequence

At the moment, the selection sequence seems to draw a line under your cursor straight into the screen, and then select the nearest entity to that line first.  This usually means that it selects an edge somewhere on the back of the model, rather than the surface directly under the cursor; and results in me screaming "No, stupid, the thing I'm pointing at!" at the screen.  The surface I actually want is usually about the 17th thing on the list.

Surfaces are the most robust entities to reference, followed by edges, and vertices last; yet the current system seems to pick edges and vertices early, and surfaces at the bottom of the list.

Please can we have a selection sequence which reflects this, and which makes more sense with a shaded view (rather than wireframe, in which perhaps that edge at the back was the thing I was pointing at)?  Perhaps it should first select surfaces which are directly under the cursor, starting with the nearest to the screen; then select all edges within the selection radius, again starting with the 'top', and only then vertices...

{edit}

Alternatively, as suggested in the comments thread, perhaps a selection sequence working strictly on distance into the screen would be more intuitive to use.  This would certainly put the surface directly under the cursor first, which is my usual complaint.

{/edit}

31 Comments
KrisR
1-Newbie

Great idea! I've noticed that too!

GrahameWard
5-Regular Member

I agree with this. I hardly ever used "Pick from List" until recently. I almost always want a feature or a surface, but it always goes to the bloody vertices and edges first. Only when I am rounding something do I want to pick an edge (well, almost only).

On top of this, if you have Publish Geometry features it will pre-select those first, even if they are hidden or on a hidden layer. Publish Geometry is not something I want to Edit Definition very often once I've created them. Why should they be the first to show up?

TractorGuy
12-Amethyst

I agree. This issue makes me want to throw my computer on a hourly basis. The pick order should always be surfaces, edges/lines, vertices, then parts.

dveljkovic
6-Contributor

One more thing that would make our work (life?) easier. Make SURFACE filter selection to be default, or at least keep the filter list everywheree the same so we can make mapkey. Currently, filter list changes based on assembly, part or drawing, and items on the list have different id numbers. So, if map key is made in assembly it will not work in part and vise versa.

GrahameWard
5-Regular Member

Or at the very least how about making the selection filter editable, so the user can decide the hierarchy in which Pro selects?

dgschaefer
21-Topaz II

Although I agree that surfaces are more important, I'd like to see the selection start with the first thing under my mouse and then show items as they would be encountered moving through the model.  If it worked that way every time, that would make things much easier.  I'd know that if the item (surf, edge, curve or whatever) is buried in the model, I'm going to have to RMB a few times or use the list, if it's near the top it ought to be fie first couple of things in the list.

Don't try to filter based on anything but the order they are found.

pimm
14-Alexandrite

I have voted for this request; however I find myself agreeing with Doug in terms of how the selections should filter.

JonathanHodgson
11-Garnet

That's fine Paul - discussion on the detail is welcome.  The key thing is to draw attention to the need to improve this.

pimm
14-Alexandrite

The critical thing is that you can easily set yourself up to select the entity that you need.

hheinze
6-Contributor

good point.

i second this.

it should go down through the z-direction from the viewer perspective

rsobecki
12-Amethyst

I think also the selection mode called "Smart" isn't the best for selecting - I prefer to use "Geometry" mode - this works the best for me.

Try to make a mirror or geometry pattern of selected surface and you'll feel my example...

JonathanHodgson
11-Garnet
lroose
1-Newbie

I agree with Doug.  The mouse-over should only preselect/highlight the top-most entity (surface, edge, or vertex) directly under the pointer, i.e. the first entity along a line starting from the pointer and extending into the screen.  This is more intuitive and how it would work if I were actually holding the model in my hands and pointing to it.  If I want to pick something deeper into the model, I can RMB to query-select or pick from list, both of which should be in order along the aforementioned line .  Then, if needed, I can further refine the selection/list using the filter.

The current method for the order of selection is overly complicated and assumes most everyone works the same way but they don't.  What IS the same for everyone is the way they see their model on screen and understand the design.  Keep the preselection/highlight simple (only the top-most entity according to filter setting) and let the user dig deeper with RMB as needed.  It seems this would eliminate a lot of frustration and performance issues that have been around for years and are well-documented in other posts.

On a related note, highlighting a component in the window should highlight not only the component in the tree but also its parents all the way to the first level in the tree.  Basically, this would be the reverse of current functionality where highlighting the top level subassembly in the tree highlights all its children in the window.  This also was noted years ago but still hasn't changed.

BobSchwerdlin
3-Visitor

I also agree with Doug.  The first item in the selection list should be the very first item under the mouse cursor.  Then you could scroll through the remaining choices with the RMB, or Pick From List options.

ograf
3-Visitor

I am the same opinion. I did nearly same task or idea. unfortunately this topic was opened 2012 and nothing happened till today...

PTC has very good software experts. But the tests for new software should be done by users, which work day for day with it in business.

ahaas
13-Aquamarine

I voted down because the selection process in Creo 4.0 is supposed to change dramatically.

dgschaefer
21-Topaz II

Where did you hear this?  Can you elaborate?

ahaas
13-Aquamarine

It was discussed at the user conference in Nashville last year.

Sorry, no details.

ahaas
13-Aquamarine

And to be clear, I'm not even sure the changes will affect the described situation. I only know changes are planned.

StephenW
23-Emerald II

So why would you vote down based on no real information?

maitken
1-Newbie

selection sequence worked well in WF4 but has recently regressed ...

the order of selection should be determined by context - if you're trying to add edges it should present edges

dcookson
1-Newbie

The selection sequence in Creo is in my opinion awful and needs revising

mliska
5-Regular Member

I wonder, where is the logic to start selection sequence with points instead with surfaces and edges.

I miss Querry Select from ProE 2001 a lot - the list with posible selections was great! It's a pitty, there is no config option to turn Querry Select forever on and visible as in ProE 2001.

JonathanHodgson
11-Garnet

Hi Lukas,

If you disable preselection highlighting (and the resulting stroboscopic effect on large models!) then Query Select becomes available again, using the same RMB - LMB - RMB× n - MMB sequence, with a list popping up showing the references you're choosing from as it always did.

mliska
5-Regular Member

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for reminding me about this, I forgot a bit that this option exists, but:

- in my C3-M110 the Picklist disables sometimes at random when working in part and I have to re-enable it with RMB -> it's confusing because it should be active all the time

- when making for example in assembly on a active part: extrude->Select DTM/Surface for sketch, you have always re-enable Query with RMB -> by default is Query in extrude always off (also in other features). Is there any option in config to change this?

- Also, this doesn't change the default behavior of C3 - first are selected hidden points in battleground and then surfaces. It should be the other way around.

Thanks for sharing again with me. I will make mapkey to toggle the preselection highlighting ON/OFF. That would solve some problems.