Picking Point Types

Use the Pick > Point Types tools to pick the following types of points:

• CVs

• Hulls

• Clusters

To use one of these tools, select it from the Pick > Point Types cascading menu in the Tool Palette, or click one of the icons.

	CV See Picking CVs on page 167.
	Hull See Picking Control Hulls on page 169.
	Cluster See Picking Clusters on page 170.

Pick > Point types > CV

Picking CVs

Purpose

To pick one or more control vertices (CVs).

You can modify the picked CVs with any number of Xform functions to reshape a curve or surface.

How to Use

1

Select Pick > Point Types > CV from the Tool Palette, or click on its icon. The system prompts:

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

2

To pick one CV, click on the CV in the modeling window. Picked CVs become highlighted, indicating that they are active.

To pick multiple CVs, either:

• Drag a pick box around the objects that contain the CVs in the modeling window.

• Use the Pick Walker from the keyboard. (See Using the Pick Walker on page 15.)

• Use the lasso function by opening the option box and turning on Use Lasso. This lets you pick CVs by drawing a lasso around the ones that you want.

Notes

• To delete any active CV(s), use Delete > Del active.

• CVs cannot be picked by name.

For information, see Viewing and Hiding Controls on page 288.

• CVs can only be picked if they are visible. If the display of CVs has been set to OFF in the ObjectDisplay > Control- window, they are not pickable. To make CVs visible,in the Control window set Scope to ALL and click CVs on.

See Also

• For more information on CVs, see Understanding Curves in NURBS Modeling in Alias.

Pick > Point types > Hull

Picking Control Hulls

Purpose

To pick one or more control hulls.

How to Use

1

Select Pick > Point Types > Hull from the Tool Palette 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

Using the mouse, click directly on the hull or hulls. Once selected, all CVs associated with the picked hull are automatically selected.

Notes

• Hulls cannot be picked by name. If you type a name in the information line, an error message is displayed.

For information, see Viewing and Hiding Controls on page 288.

• Hulls can only be picked if they are visible. If the display of edit points has been set to OFF in the ObjectDisplay > Contro-l window, they cannot be picked. To make hulls visible, in the Control window set Scope to ALL and click hulls on.

To activate all the CVs on a hull if any one CV is already active, use the middle mouse button to select the CVs.

• When you pick a hull, the current status of the CVs on the hull is reversed; inactive CVs become active and active CVs become inactive. Therefore, it is not possible to activate all the CVs on a curve using Pick > Point types > Hull if any one CV is already active.

Pick > Point types > Cluster

Picking Clusters

Purpose

Lets you pick a cluster node from a modeling window.

A cluster is an entity that logically groups an arbitrary list of CVs and DAG nodes so that they can be transformed and manipulated.

How to Use

1

Select Pick > Point Types > Cluster from the Tool Palette, or click its icon. The system prompts:

Enter name of item to pick/unpick:

2

Type the name of the cluster at the keyboard (if you have named it) and press Enter, or click to select the cluster in the modeling or SBD window.

If you pick an item in a modeling window, every leaf level DAG node above the cluster containing the item is picked.

You can also pick clusters using the mouse. Click on a CV that is a member of the cluster, or click and drag to draw a pick box around the elements that contain the cluster.

For More Information

• Cluster Information Window on page 391

• Animating in Alias book.