Selecting parts of an open contour - UI tweak

[Anonymous]

Some background, for anyone who isnt aware... When you select a contour path in CAM, it will automatically complete the entire loop for you (closed contour). This is great, 90% of the time. Sometimes you just want to select pieces of that loop. The way to do it is click and hold, which brings up a context menu that allows you to pick a contour segment-by-segment.

My issues is the way that these lines are highlighted. A normal closed contour is highlighted boldly in blue - very easy to see. However, when I first starting using the open contour selection tool I had no idea what was going on because i couldnt even see that there was a line selected. In my opinion, these segments should be highlighted in the same bold blue color. You can see the faint blue line on the outer contour in the pic below (in contrast to the bold blue lines of the closed contours).

[martha.deans]

Hi Mikemaat,

I think the intention of the current visuals is to make really clear what has already been selected and what is in the process of being selected. That being said, you're totally right that it can be really hard to keep track of the light blue selection, especially with such a bright blue present.

A good place to put improvement ideas like this is in the IdeaStation where other people can view and vote for your idea, and the development team will monitor and implement ideas that meet the criteria. (Also do a quick search to make sure this idea hasn't been submitted before - you want all the votes in one place to make it more likely to be implemented!)

Thanks for submitting your great ideas and happy Wednesday!

[Anonymous]

Woops! I thought I did put it in ideastation. I must have been asleep. Agreed on the differentiation between what is already selected, but even if the same bright blue was kept and it was made equally as thick/bold that would go a long way.

[porsbym]

@Anonymous

First, I totally agree that the open contour selection UI needs to be improved, and in fact this has been a fairly high priority for a while. It's just that there has been other higher priorities, and we haven't gotten around to it yet...

With that said, I think you can improve the experience significantly with the current version if you do the following:

Change "Selection display style" to "Normal" under Preferences, Graphics. From your screenshot it looks like they are set to "Simple" which also affect contour highlights.

Hold Alt when adding a chain selection to start with a single edge instead of a whole chain. This in many cases make it easier to contruct an open chain.

I hope this helps in the meantime while we work on improving the UI for this.

/Mark

[Anonymous]

Hi @porsbym

Sorry to jump in, but...You say "Hold Alt to start with a single edge"

but I can't seem to get this to work on Mac at all. I have to select the chain and then edit. Is Alt supposed to work and it is a problem with me, or does Alt not work on mac, and if so, what key should I be using?

Thanks!

[porsbym]

Bummer.. I just checked. Indeed this is broken in the Mac version. Tons of apologies. Will get it fixed asap.

[martha.deans]

@Anonymous a workaround in the mean time is to select the contour, click on it again, and then use the contour editor that pops up to open the contour and then select the parts you do want (just until the Mac fix is out 🙂 )

[balsmen]

Hey Autumn,

Happy to report that this issue has been fixed for Mac and will be included in the May 25th update for Fusion.

Once this update happens, you will be able to hold the Alt (Option) key for single edge selection on Mac.

Hope this helps!

Noah

[Anonymous]

Thanks! That will help for sure