Selecting Visible Elements

You can hide already hidden elements when performing a selection, thus selecting only the visible elements in a subdivision surface.

Before you begin:

  • Create a 3D shape containing a subdivision surface.

  • The Show hidden lines in dashed lines option is selected in Tools > Options > Shape > Imagine & Shape > Display tab, Base Mesh area.
Related Topics
More about Visible Elements
Selecting Elements

  1. Click Modification .

  2. Select the surface. You can see that the hidden edges and vertices of the mesh are also visible and can be selected. Selection of visible elements becomes difficult.



  3. Select the View and Selection All mode in the Operations toolbar.

    Tip: You can also access this command by pressing ALT+SHIFT+Z.

    Its state changes to View All and Selection Front .

    You can see that all the hidden (back) edges of the subdivision surface are grayed out and cannot be picked:



  4. Click the icon again to only view visible elements. The icon changes to View and Selection Front . You can see that all the hidden edges covered by the subdivision surface are no longer visible. Some part of these hidden edges which is not covered by the subdivision surface are still visible in the mesh, but they are grayed out and cannot be picked.

  5. Rotate the subdivision surface or modify its shape. You can see that as the surface moves, the relevant hidden edges are not visible. The selected edge remains highlighted and selectable even after rotation:

    Note: Refer to Display for further information.