Cant click to select when body is inside another body

[nkloski]

This is frsutrating and I run into it all the time:  I can't select a face/edge/point/whatever when that selectable thing lies inside of another body.  Fusion requires me to drag-click to select it.  Maybe it is not a big thing, but if I am editing a body, why not let me edit that body fully and completely?  One would think that "select through" would allow someone to "select through" but it does not work that way.  Is anyone lese bothered by this?

[jeff_strater]

Have you tried Select Other?  Just hold down the left mouse button for about a half second, and this dialog comes up:

moving the mouse over each item in the list highlights a item along the view direction of the original selection direction:

I use it all the time to select back or interior faces, when I'm too lazy to rotate the model around to see those faces.

It's not super-discoverable, but it's very useful once you know about it.

Jeff Strater (Fusion development)

[nkloski]

Thanks, Jeff....I do know about that functionality, but when I am "editing form" (to me) I am playing around with design iterations and "seeing how things would look". Being able to select things quickly and (most importantly) not have the selection behavior change between modes is something that spurs creativity.

It is awesome that I can see a shaded figure of all other bodies when I am editing a specific body....but I am editing that specific body for a reason....I want to change that body! ....and having to slow down the workflow to select "now hidden" entities does not work like I think it should (at least 🙂

I would love to just have an option I could select that allows me to fully edit a form no matter where that form is buried inside of others, and toggle that switch back to the way it is now.

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

Ah, I see.  Yes, that's a good point.  Fusion doesn't have exactly what you want (which would be some sort of "active body"), but there is the "unselectable" attribute on a body, that you can apply to the bodies that are "in the way".  For instance, I have a small quadball inside a box:

and if I want to just work on the quadball, I can make the box "unselectable":

then you can select faces of the ball "through" the box:

to make life easier, I might apply a glass material to the box, so I can see the sphere (but you have to toggle the box selectable to apply the material, then back to unselectable!):

Jeff

[nkloski]

Yep, that will work....but yes, having the notion of an active body would be very nice. Your example works for simple setups, but if I have a complex assembly, there could be many bodies that are preventing me from playing around with the designs....

Plus, when in that editing mode the only way to identify those bodies would be the hold-click on them to even identify them to be unselectable in the first place.

But your example works, thanks! I may even (when working on models with a lot of components, make a "selection set" of everything I don't want to edit and then make everything unselectable before I start that design study. Thanks!

[jssprecker1]

Thank you for this tip. I was almost at wits end and it could not have been easier...

[Anonymous]

This does not work when it is only a shape on an offset plane. What is a solution for that?

[TrippyLighting]

Yes it does! If you feel it cannot be donee, the very least we need is a screencast.