Perform Extended Entity Selection

Use extended entity selection to find, filter, and select subsets of entities. You can also save and retrieve previous selections.

To access extended entity selection:

Right-click in the modeling window and choose an option from the Select menu.
This menu shows all available selection functions and methods for the currently active entity selector types.
Open the Advanced Selection dialog in one of the following ways:
- Click next to an entity selector.
- Press ".".
- Right-click in the modeling window and choose Select > Advanced.
Pick a selection method from the drop-down menu in the top-left of the dialog then select a subset of entities.
The process for selecting entities varies depending on the method.

Tip: The options in the context menu beneath Advanced (By Entity, By ID, etc. ) correlate to different selection methods in the Advanced Selection dialog. Choosing one of these options opens the dialog with the selected method.

Extended Entity Selection Options

The following options are available for extended entity selection.

Note: Not all entity types offer all the following selection options. Only valid selections for the current entity type are displayed on the menu.

Context Menu Options

Displayed

Select all entities of the specified type currently displayed in the modeling window.

Reverse

Allows for a Boolean "not" to be performed on the currently displayed entities; all selected entities are removed from the mark; all entities which are not on the mark and are currently active are selected.

All

Select all entities of the specified type. The set to be added to the user mark includes entities displayed and those not displayed.

Adjacent

Select entities adjacent to the entities already selected.

Attached

Select entities by specifying an entity among a large group of continuously connected elements. HyperLife includes the entities currently displayed that are attached to the entities already selected. Entities that are not displayed will not be selected although they may be attached to the entity selected.

Face

Select nodes/elements that are located on the same face as the previously selected entity. A face is defined as a region on the model surface where the angle between element normals does not exceed a certain threshold. This threshold is controlled by the Feature angle setting.

Limitations:

Works on shell elements only.
Does not handle flipped normals.
Cannot be used to select components.

By Dimension

Select entities by dimension (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D). You can select one or more of the dimensions available.

Setting the entity selector to Nodes allows you to select nodes attached to all elements with the selected dimension. HyperLife performs the entity binding changes for proper selection.

Save Selection

Save the currently selected entities to a holding area known as the user mark.

Retrieve Selection

Retrieve previously saved entities from the user mark.

Advanced Selection Dialog Options

All selection methods in the dialog include a visibility filter. This allows you to apply your settings to all entities in the model, regardless if they are displayed on the screen or not, or only the entities that are displayed.

In addition,HyperLife is capable of entity binding changes between nodes, elements, and components - which provides you with easy selection. For example, when Nodes is specified on the entity selector, the By ID option allows you to select either By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID.

By ID

Select entities by entering an ID number.

Make a selection from the By ID drop-down menu (By Node ID, By Element ID, or By Component ID), and then enter a valid expression (listed below) and an ID in the text box.

==: Displays entities equal to the ID entered
!=: Displays entities not equal to the ID entered
<: Displays entities less than the ID entered
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the ID entered
>: Displays entities greater than the ID entered
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the ID entered

Note: You can also enter IDs and/or ranges, separated by commas (for example: 1, 3, 5-12) in the text box.

In addition, you may also make a selection from the Look in drop-down menu. When a model contains duplicate IDs, HyperLife organizes the model into different pools - therefore you need to specify a pool in order to select a unique element.

If All is used, all the entities with duplicate IDs are selected.

By Type

Select elements by configuration. You can select one or more of the various element configurations available.

If Element configuration is selected, HyperLife will apply the binding changes to find the nodes connected to the elements.

By Sets

Select the entities within a set.

By Contour

Select entities by contour.

The following contour options are available:

Value: Enter a contour value in the text box (see the Note below).
Percent: Enter the percentage of entities to select (0 to 100) in the text box (see the Note below).
Top N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the top 50 elements/nodes that have the highest contour value.
Bottom N: Enter a positive decimal value for N, where N is the number of entities to be selected. For example, if you enter 50, the application displays the bottom 50 elements/nodes that have the lowest contour value.
No result: All nodes or elements without any results are selected.
Max of Window: Displays the maximum contour value for the entities selected with a window.
Min of Window: Displays the minimum contour value for the entities selected with a window.

Note: If you select Value or Percent, you must select a quantifier from the bottom, left-most drop-down menu:

=: Displays entities equal to the contour value/percent entered.
!=: Displays entities not equal to the contour value/percent entered.
<: Displays entities less than the contour value/percent entered.
<=: Display entities less than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.
>: Displays entities greater than the contour value/percent entered.
>=: Display entities greater than or equal to the contour value/percent entered.

By Sphere

Allows you to select entities by entering location information for x, y, z and a user-defined radius.