Click on ELEMENT(S) button to open the SELECT ELEMENTS dialog box as shown in Figure 4.4.3. There are three options available for selecting elements in the display screen and/or active database. They are SELECT BY CURSOR, SELECT BY, selection by Displayed (elements on the display screen) and All Elements (in active database).
Figure 4.4.3 Select Element dialog box
If the checkbox for SELECT BY CURSOR is toggled on, the user can select elements using the following methods.
1. Click
on (Element) icon
to select an element using mouse cursor and/or pressing the left mouse button
and move the mouse cursor over the desired elements to select multiple
elements.
2. Click
on (Surface) icon
to pick elements on a surface.
3. Click
on (Drag Window)
icon to pick elements inside a window defined by two diagonal corners.
4. Click
on (Free Region)
icon to pick elements inside a free hand region.
5. Click
on (Spread) icon
to pick elements by chained approach based on spread angle which is the angle
difference between normal vector of an element and normal vector of its
adjacent elements. The slider can be moved to adjust the spread angle. If the
angle formed by the normal vectors of the selected element and the adjacent
element is less than the selected angle, the adjacent element is selected.
6. Click
on (Multi-Point Region)
icon to pick elements inside a polygon. Click the left mouse button in a
sequence to define the polygon. Click the right mouse button to reject
the last point. Click the middle mouse button to complete polygon definition
and element selection.
7. Click
on (Circular
Region) icon to pick elements inside a circle. Click the left mouse
button to define the center of the circle and hold the left mouse button. Move
the mouse to define the circle. Release the left mouse button to complete
definition of circle and element selection.
SELECT BY
If the SELECT BY option is toggled on, two approaches can be used to select elements. The user may select elements by Part and/or Range by clicking on the drop down button as illustrated in Figure 4.4.4.
Figure 4.4.4 Select element by Part and/or Range
Figure 4.4.5 Select element by Range
1. SELECT BY PART
This function allows the user to select elements by selecting parts, as shown in Figure 4.4.4. If this option is selected, after clicking the UNSPECIFIED button, the program will pop up a Select Part dialog box for the user to select a part. All elements in the selected part will be selected automatically and be highlighted on screen.
2. SELECT BY RANGE
Type the range of element ID in the input box as illustrated in Figure 4.4.5, following by clicking on Done button to complete the operation. All elements within the desired range will be selected.
FILTER
If the Filter option is toggled on, user can select the specifically element type through this option. User can click the FILTER TYPE button to set the element type. The Element Filter Type dialog box is illustrated in Figure 4.4.6.
Figure 4.4.6 Element Filter Type dialog box
There are nine types of element in the Element Filter Type for user to filter. They are Shell, Solid, Beam, Rigid Body, Mass, Spot Weld, Spring/Damper, Thick Shell and Plotel. User can toggle off the unneeded element types to reduce the range of selection.
User can select all elements in the display screen by clicking on the DISPLAYED button.
The total number of selected elements will be shown in the window. The EXCLUDE option is used to remove selected elements, while the REJECT function is used to deny last selected elements.
Select OK to complete the element selection and return to the Add To PART dialog box.