AutoCAD 2010

[#1]

Hello,

I have one question on object selection.

I notice that there is a difference that when I drag the cursor to the left of the first point, the selection is green; if to the right, the box is blue. Some online articles say that this is the difference between window and cross selection.

Technically, what is the difference? I tried to search "cross selection" and "window selection" in F1 help (both Index and Search), but didn't find matching results.

I also noticed that for only left (cross) selection could make stretching work. Why?

Could anyone help me on this?

Thanks,
Bob

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Simple answers, Bob. First, the colors are a visual aid that eventually you get used to, so when you intend to do one thing and you are in fact doing something else, the color should be a signal to your subconscious that maybe you just did something different and maybe you should stop and check it (all part of heads-up display). The selection boxes are not the only thing that have visual clues to them -- the UCS icon has different colors for each of the 3 axes, for example...

Now, the difference between window and crossing is basic, and has been there since before I started on R10. When you select by crossing, everything the bounding box touches is included in the selection set, including things only partially within the bounding box. When you select by window, only the objects within the bounding box are included in  the selection set (so if it just touches part of an object, that object isn't included).

Since you sound fairly new to this, I'll add a few tips. First, if your options are set up properly, you can do multiple windows/crossings to add to a selection set, AND you can hold down the shift key and select objects to remove from the selection set. Just type OPTIONS on the command line and it will bring up that dialog box, so explore that. Secondly, all of this stuff IS contained in your user's guide, and has been for years. Just hit F1 for help...

[#3]

Dear Modman_4,

Thanks very much for the detailed answer. These are indeed visual clues and intends to help differentiating between the functions. I have tried the SHIFT key and is now playing with OPTIONS. There is really lots of staff here..

Bob

[#4]

Here's another tip...when you use the extend command, holding down the shift key lets it trim instead. It also allows you to extend when you are in the trim command. If you extend all (extend enter enter) you can do a repeating extend (combined with shift for trim) -- just hit ESC to cancel the command. It also works for trim all...