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Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

(OP)
Hello to all!

I was wondering if, when trying to measure or dealing with any aspect which requires geometry selection, is there a way to tell SolidEdge to ignore all geometry which is hidden behind visible faces when in shaded view. Lots of times, within complex assemblies, the selection snaps to points behind visible geometry, which forces me to make zoom or playing with show/hidden stuff, which is quite annoying.

Obviously, if I'm working in shaded view, I don't wanna deal with "behind" stuff, simply beacause I don't know what point/edge/face the program is selecting. You should better switch to wireframe display for that, allowing solidedge to select those points when in that view mode.

This is specially annoying when measuring, since SolidEdge doesn't seems to have any priority for "geometry you can see" vs "geometry hidden behind" when selecting points, which leads to constantly zooming and so.

All CAD software I have dealt with include this option, but I can't find it in SolidEdge.

Any clues?

Much thanks in advance!

RE: Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

I've never found this a problem - in fact I've found having to switch to wireframe to select points/edges/faces behind shaded faces to be a real pain.
Do you use the filters for keypoint, edge, surface etc?
Solid Edge generally picks things at the 'front' by default anyway.

bc.
Core i5-3570 @3.4GHz , 8GB RAM
Quadro FX4600. W7 Pro 64-bit.

RE: Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

My anecdotal evidence suggests this may be memory related.

What version of SE & what OS are you using.

We have an older version of SE running on Windows 7 machines and do (understandably) see various weirdness.

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Avoid selecting geometry "behind" in shaded view. Is it possible?

(OP)
I am running ST5 with the last MP updated on it. Yes, I can use filters and so, but for measuring I use points most of the time.

Although usually SE picks the point closest to the view, that's not always the case, mostly when you have a lot o points behind (at least it seems so). For example, when you are working on geometry besides sprockets or toothed pulleys, whose geometry generate a lot of keypoints, SE starts working that way. Is not a big deal, but quite uncomfortable, and makes you waste a beautiful time zooming and panning.

Most of the time you don't need to "play" with the geometry behind you if you are working in shaded way, and that's quite logical. If I'm not watching which points is SE selecting (I just can see a red dot, no idea where is it connected or where is it exactly placed!) how am I going to need any information from it? There are dozens of points behind, which one have you selected? When I need to play behind I just need to switch to wireframe in order to know what am I doing.

From SolidWorks to 3DSMAX or Softimage no matter which app dealing with 3D I have tested, that option is available, and in lots of cases one of the first configurations you must take in mind when learning the app, since it's a nice time-saver.

As a personal opinion, these little things help a lot for being comfortable with the software. In my country, Solidworks is winning the battle and, although we can't think about moving the software (I have LONG experience in both), new trainees are commonly used to SW. Is for me harder and harder standing up for SE when they complain about dozens of issues like this, which doesn't exist in SW, and you simply can't show a decent solution. SE guys should think about this.

Anyway, thanks to all.

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