Selecting
Shack CAD selects from the exact solid: whole bodies, or the individual faces, edges and vertices of a body. The selection filter above the viewport decides what a click picks.
Selection filter
| Mode | What a click picks | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | A vertex or edge when the pointer is close to one, otherwise the face under it. ⇧-click adds whole bodies. | ⌥⌘4 |
| Body | Whole bodies only. ⇧-click adds to the selection. | ⌥⌘5 |
| Face | Faces, flat or curved. ⇧-click adds or removes faces of the same body. | ⌥⌘6 |
| Edge | Edges. ⇧-click adds or removes edges of the same body. | ⌥⌘7 |
| Vertex | Vertices. ⇧-click adds or removes vertices of the same body. | ⌥⌘8 |
The same modes are in the Select menu. Changing mode keeps your selection unless the new mode could not have made it.
In Auto and Body mode, ⇧-click is reserved for selecting a second body, which is what a boolean needs. To build up several faces or edges, switch to Face or Edge mode first.
What you get when you select
A selected face, edge or vertex is named in the status bar with its measurement, and a bar over the viewport offers the actions that follow from it:
- a face offers Shell, and a flat face also offers Sketch on face;
- a curved face can be selected and measured, but cannot host a sketch; the bar explains why;
- an edge offers Fillet, Chamfer and Boundary loop.
Colour is never the only cue: the status bar and the bar over the viewport always name what is selected.
Boundary loops
In Auto or Edge mode, double-click an edge to select the whole closed boundary it belongs to, such as the rim of a hole. You can also press Boundary loop in the bar, or choose Select ▸ Select Boundary Loop (⌥⌘L). The loop's length is shown.
When a selection goes stale
A face or edge selection belongs to a particular version of a body's shape. If an edit rebuilds the body so that the element no longer exists in the same form, Shack CAD refuses to guess which new element you meant. Select it again.