Filtering your selection based on the type of object

To help you select the desired entities (such as vertices, edges, faces, nodes, and elements) from the current viewport, Abaqus/CAE provides a set of filters that you can use to limit your selection based on the type of object. For example, if you are creating a set that contains only surfaces, you can limit your selection to only faces—other objects, such as vertices and edges, will not be selected.

Related Topics
Using the selection options

The object filters are listed in the Selection toolbar. Abaqus/CAE configures the filter list based on the current procedure. If you have not started a selection procedure, Abaqus/CAE lists some commonly used filters (for more information on selecting objects outside of a procedure, see Selecting objects before choosing a procedure).

You can press CtrlA to select all objects in the current viewport based on the active selection filter. The view is rescaled to fit the viewport to clearly display the selected objects, which are highlighted in the viewport. For example, if edge objects are selected in the filter and you press CtrlA, all edges visible in the viewport are selected. You cannot customize the CtrlA keyboard shortcut.

If the current viewport contains an Abaqus/CAE part or part instance, you can select one of the following filters:

All

All objects except skins and stringers.

Cells

All volumes, such as cells and elements.

Faces

All planar objects, such as faces, datum planes, and element faces.

Edges

All edge objects, such as edges, datum axes, and element edges.

Vertices

All point objects, such as vertices, datum points, and nodes.

Elements

All elements.

Nodes

All nodes.

Datums

All datum objects, such as datum planes, datum axes, and datum points.

Features

All feature objects.

Ref points

All reference points.

The list of available filters is updated as you change modules or selection procedures, and additional filters (such as Instances, Skins, and Stringers) are displayed where applicable. By default, Abaqus/CAE selects from all objects but excludes skins and stringers. You can select a skin or stringer from the viewport only after you select the appropriate filter.

Similarly, if you are selecting orphan elements in the current viewport (to assign an element type, for example), you can select one of the following filters:

  • All

  • Zero-dimensional elements

  • One-dimensional elements

  • Two-dimensional elements

  • Three-dimensional elements

  • Skins

  • Stringers

By default, Abaqus/CAE selects from all elements except skins and stringers.