Selecting 3D objects in a 3D model

You may want to select one or more 3D objects in a 3D model in order to view their properties, or in order to associate the corresponding objects in the 3D model with tasks using IFC product selections, by dragging and dropping the objects onto the bar chart.

Selecting a single 3D object in a 3D model

To select a single 3D object in a 3D model, click the left mouse button over the object that you want to select, in either the IFC Model or the IFC Comparison Model pane. The 3D object is selected and highlighted in a different colour. Regardless of the pane in which you select a product, the 3D object is highlighted in both the IFC Model and the IFC Comparison Model panes.

In the following illustration, a single interior 3D object has been selected and is highlighted in blue:

A single interior 3D object selected and highlighted in blue

Selecting more than one 3D object in a 3D model

To select more than one 3D object in a 3D model, hold down CTRL on the keyboard and left-click the objects that you want to select. The 3D objects are all selected and highlighted in a different colour.

To make the selection of multiple 3D objects easier, you can turn on selection mode. When in selection mode, you can select multiple 3D objects without having to hold down CTRL. To toggle between selection mode and non-selection mode, on the 4D tab, in the 3D Viewer group, click Selection Mode. Alternatively, right-click the IFC Model or IFC Comparison Model pane and select Selection Mode from the menu that appears.

In the following illustration, a single interior 3D object has been selected and is highlighted in blue:

A single interior 3D object selected and highlighted in blue

In the following illustration, three different interior 3D objects have been selected together and are all highlighted in blue:

Three interior 3D objects selected together and highlighted in blue

In the following illustration, three different exterior 3D objects have been selected together and are all highlighted in orange:

An IFC model in which three exterior 3D objects have been selected

You can select multiple 3D objects in the IFC Model and IFC Comparison Model pane by holding down SHIFT and clicking and dragging. If you do this, a rectangle appears, outlining the scope of the selection. There are four ways of selecting multiple 3D objects by clicking and dragging:

To select all visible 3D objects that are completely, or partially, within the selection rectangle, hold down SHIFT, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag it from the top-left to the bottom-right. This produces a selection rectangle with a solid outline:

You can see in the above illustration that 3D objects that are partially within the selection rectangle - including both walls and the floor - are selected.
To select all visible 3D objects that are completely within the selection rectangle, hold down SHIFT, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag it from the bottom-right to the top-left. This produces a selection rectangle with a dotted outline:

You can see in the above illustration that only 3D objects that are completely within the selection rectangle - the window and its ledge - are selected.
To select all visible and obscured 3D objects that are completely within the selection rectangle, hold down SHIFT, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag it from the top-right to the bottom-left. This produces a selection rectangle with a dotted outline and diagonal lines in the corners:
To select all visible and obscured 3D objects that are completely, or partially, within the selection rectangle, hold down SHIFT, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag it from the bottom-left to the top-right. This produces a selection rectangle with a solid outline and diagonal lines in the corners:

Obscured 3D objects are those that you cannot see purely because other, larger, objects appear in front of them. For example, if you can see the outer wall of a building, any 3D objects inside the building are not visible as they are obscured by the wall - they are behind the wall.

Selecting 3D objects with similar properties to a selected object

You can identify and select 3D objects in a 3D model that have similar properties to one or more objects of your choice. For example, you may want to identify and select all 3D objects that have the same 'IfcType' value as a particular object; all 3D objects that have the same 'Material' value as a particular object; or all 3D objects that have the same 'BuildingStorey' value as a particular object.

To identify and select 3D objects with similar properties to one or more objects:

Select the 3D object - or objects - that have the property in which you are interested.
Right-click one of the selected 3D objects and select Select Similar Products By - <property> from the menu that appears. For example, if you want to identify and select all 3D objects that have the same 'IfcEntity' value as the selected objects, select Select Similar Products By - IfcEntity. The properties that are available depend on the properties that have been defined in the 3D model; up to 300 properties can appear in the list.

All 3D objects in the 3D model that share the same property value as the objects you selected initially are selected automatically. For example, if the 3D object you selected initially had an 'IfcEntity' value of 'IfcSlab', all objects in the 3D model with an 'IfcEntity' value of 'IfcSlab' would be selected.

If you select more than one 3D object initially and these objects have a variety of values in the property you specify, all objects in the 3D model that share any of the values will be selected. For example, if you select two 3D objects and choose to select similar objects by 'IfcEntity', if one of the objects has an 'IfcEntity' value of 'IfcSlab' and the other has an 'IfcEntity' value of 'IfcWallStandardCase', all objects with an 'IfcEntity' value of 'IfcSlab' or 'IfcWallStandardCase' will be selected.