Picking Components

Purpose

To pick individual components from a group of objects without disturbing the entire group.

How to Use

1

Select Component from the Pick menu, or click its icon.

The system prompts:

Use mouse or enter name of item to pick/ unpick: [Left Toggle][Middle Replace][Right Remove]

2

You can pick individual text objects, primitives, curves, surfaces, and lights from part of a group using the keyboard or the mouse.

Pick components by:

• Typing the component name at the keyboard and pressing Enter.

• Clicking directly on the component.

• Selecting individual components from the SBD window.

• Dragging a pick box around the components (see Using the Pick Walker on page 15).

Pick Component Options

Using Toggle Options

You can selectively toggle any object option OFF to exclude them from the component pick list which makes them no longer pickable when you use Pick > Component.

This can be helpful if you have a complicated scene and do not want to accidentally pick the wrong component. For example, if you toggle all components off except Lights in the option box, only the lights are pickable.

This means that even if you drag a pick box around the whole model, only the lights are picked, as in the following diagram.

Pick Component Mask

The pick mask in the Alias menu area provides additional buttons which appear when Alias is in Pick Component mode. These buttons let you manipulate the mask and define what kind of components can be picked. This feature provides the same functionality as the option box.

The buttons reflect which instances of Pick Component are in force (that is, the shelf item or marking menu entry).

Notes on Pick > Component

• CVs, edit points, templates, curves-on-surfaces and hulls cannot be picked with this function.

• This mode of picking becomes the new default of the Pick button once it is selected. To return to the default (Pick > Object), select Pick > Object.

• By default, the Pick > Component function can be used to pick any object that is pickable using the Pick > Object function.