All the Select menus have the following structure:
• List operations
• Limiting to elements
• Selection methods
• Probing for geometry
When working with Creo Elements/Direct Modeling, there are many situations when you have to refer to existing geometry. These situations include:
• Creating a parallel line
• Rotating geometry about a specified axis
• Dynamic positioning in 3D relative to existing geometry
• Deleting geometry
When appropriate Creo Elements/Direct Modeling also activates the Select button which opens a Select menu. This allows you:
• To select a specific type of element.
• To use a specific selection method.
• To select several elements at once.
To help in the selection of elements, Creo Elements/Direct Modeling provides a Probe tool with which you can select elements at different levels inside a model.
If you need to specify only a single elements, it is probably easiest to select these elements with the cursor. However, when specifying multiple elements, it is recommended to use the Select tool. You can also group individual elements into user-defined features, as described in the previous section.
The system automatically displays the Select menu which applies to the current command. The menus differ for 2D elements, 3D elements, and 3D objects. 3D elements are edges and faces, 3D objects are parts, assemblies, workplanes, and so on.
List operations
The list operations of the Select menu enable you to build a list of existing geometry items to be used in a specific action.
You can add items to a list or remove them. You can also work with two selection lists and choose those items common to both, or exclusive to both lists.
Limiting to elements
The selection can be limited to 2D or 3D elements, or to a specific part or workplane.
This means that only geometry from the specified area will be selected.
Selection methods
There are a number of selection methods. It is possible to click the desired part, select all elements, elements sharing a vertex, elements within the projection of a frame in the viewport direction or elements contained within a three dimensional box. Alternatively, you can use the chain selection method to select a concatenation of smoothly connected features.
If unwanted elements also fall within the box, limiters can be set to ensure that only the wanted elements are added to the list.
If you want to delete construction geometry in the active workplane, click the options for the active workplane and construction geometry in the Select menu. If you then click All, all construction geometry in the active workplane is deleted.
Probing for geometry
The Probe tool provides a convenient way to select hidden parts, workplanes, or geometry elements. With Probe you have access to any element, no matter what it is or where it is located.
When using Probe as your selection tool, click at a position which is aligned with the element you want to select. You can then probe - or step - forward in the viewport direction, highlighting elements in series until you reach the element you want to select. At this point, you can accept the element to make your selection. If the Probe tool finds no further element, it starts over from the beginning.