Tekla Structures - Selecting model objects

To use Tekla Structures effectively, you need to know how to select objects and use select switches. Selection filter settings also affect which objects you can select. See How to select objects You need to select objects to carry out many Tekla Structures commands. You can select objects as a sequence of single selections and/or area selections. Tekla Structures highlights the selected objects. You can use the following techniques to modify the current selection:



Technique	Description

Single objects	When you select objects using the mouse button, without pressing any other keys, every pick or drag selects objects. All previously selected objects are deselected.

Enclosing window selection	Drag the mouse from left to right to select all objects totally within that rectangular area.



Crossing window selection	Drag the mouse from right to left to select all objects totally or partly within that rectangular area.



Right-click	To select an object and open its pop-up menu, click the object with the right mouse button. This feature is active if you have a check mark next to Select on Right-Click in Tools > Options.

Nested components	To examine and work with nested components, hold down the Shift key and scroll with the mouse wheel.

Nested assemblies	To examine and work on different assembly levels, hold down the Shift key and scroll with the mouse wheel. An orange box indicates the assembly which you can select.





Assembly or cast unit	Press the Alt key while clicking a part to select the entire cast unit or assembly containing that part.

TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Introduction		37

Technique

Description

Handles

When you want to select only the handles of a part, select the part, press the Alt key and select the part again with enclosing window selection.

Adding

Press the Shift key and select objects, to add to the current selection.

Modifying

To toggle the current selection on and off, press the Ctrl key during selection. Tekla Structures deselects the objects, which are already selected and selects those, which are not previously selected.

Controlling the selection

Main select The main select switches shown in the following table set whether you can select objects in
switches component or assembly hierarchy. These switches have the highest priority.


Icon		Selectable objects	Description
	*:!:**	Components	When you click any object belonging to a component, Tekla Structures selects the component symbol and highlights (does not select) all component objects.
	:i!i	Component objects	Objects created automatically by a component can be selected.
	i^l]	Assemblies and cast units	When you click any object in an assembly or a cast unit, Tekla Structures selects the assembly or cast unit and highlights all objects in the same assembly or cast unit.
	isaii	Objects in assemblies and cast units	You can select single objects in assemblies and cast units.

■S

You can use the Select components

switch to select reference

itt

models, and the Select objects in components ijl j
switch to select reference model objects. For more information, see Selecting reference models and reference model objects.

TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Introduction

Shift + scroll

To define the level on which to select objects in nested components or assemblies, hold down the Shift key and scroll with the mouse wheel.
The active select switch defines on which level you start and toward which direction you move in the component or assembly hierarchy. The status bar shows the steps you take in the hierarchy.

Example

If the Select assemblies switch iffr
is active, you can select objects in assembly hierarchy, starting from the assemblies on the highest level, move to their sub-assemblies, and finally select single parts, bolts, and so on.

If the Select objects in assemblies switch

is active, you start selecting from single

objects and move to bigger and bigger nested assemblies.
Other select The following table lists the remaining select switches. Use these switches to set which object

switches types you want to select. For example, you can decide to select only welds and bolts, but no

parts.


Icon	Selectable objects	Description
[«	Any objects	Turns all switches on. You can select all object types, except for single bolts.
[4]	Components	You can select component symbols.

TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Introduction



Icon	Selectable objects	Description

	Parts	You can select parts, i.e. columns, beams, plates, etc.

	Surface treatments	You can select surface treatments.

	Points	You can select points.

	Grids	You can select entire grids by selecting one line in the grid.

	Grid lines	You can select single grid lines.

	Welds	You can select welds.

	Cuts and fitting	You can select line, part, and polygon cuts, and fittings.

	Views	You can select model views.

	Bolt group	You can select entire bolt groups by selecting one bolt in the group.

	Single bolts	You can select single bolts.

	Reinforcing bars	You can select reinforcing bars and bar groups.

	Loads	You can select point, line, area, and uniform loads.

3	Planes	You can select planes.

Distances		You can select distances.

Selection filter In addition to the select switches, selection filter settings control which objects can be selected. To set the selection filter, click the Selection Filter icon on the Selecting toolbar. There are also predefined filters available in the Available selection filters list box:

Canceling object selection

You can cancel the object selection process if the selection takes over a defined period of time. For example, if you are working on a large model and you accidentally select all or part of the model, you can cancel the selection if it takes over 5000 milliseconds to complete.

Usage 1. Click Tools > Options > Advanced Options > Modeling Properties.

2. Set the cancellation value for the variable XS_OBJECT_SELECTION_CONFIRMATION.

The default value is 5000 milliseconds.

Tekla Structures – Selecting model objects

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