Select Parts

For any kind of viewing, handling or processing operation in netfabb, it is essential to first select the part you want to edit.

Information about selected parts is given in the tabsheet.

Parts can be selected by simply clicking on them in the main screen or in the project tree. Selected parts are always colored green, framed by green brackets and marked in the project tree. In the tabsheet below the cutting functions, information is given regarding the size, volume, area and number of triangles of the selected part. Below, you can see how many parts are selected and how many parts are in the project in total.

You can select as many parts as you like. If you hold Shift, parts are added to the selection by clicking on them. By holding Ctrl, parts can be both added to or removed from the selection by clicking on them. If you select parts in the project tree, the Shift key works differently, as holding Shift and clicking on a part selects all parts in the list between the part clicked on and the last part selected without Shift.

If you right-click on empty space in the screen, the context menu offers general options for your selection.

By holding the left mouse button and dragging a selection rectangle with the mouse, you can select everything within that frame.

In the context menu of the viewing screen, if you do not right-click on a part, but on empty space, you can either select all parts, select no part to clear the selection, or invert the selection. With that last option, selected parts are deselected and unselected parts are simultaneously selected. All three options are also available in the Edit menu.

Drag a selection rectangle.

The resulting selection

Invert the selection in the context menu after right-clicking on empty space.

Additionally, as a shortkey, you can press Ctrl+A to select all part in the project tree.

If two or more parts are selected, many (though not all) handling operations are conducted with all selected parts. The information in the tabsheet is then based on all selected parts.

Advanced Part Selection

The Advanced part selection is a feature with which you can select parts with certain properties. It is available in the Part menu or in the context menu after a right-click on empty space in the viewing screen.

In a dialog box you can define the conditions for the part selection. The dialog has four registers with which you can choose if you want to select parts by the size of their outbox, their volume, their quality or their number of triangles.

In the bottom half of the dialog, in the field Selection Preview, there is a list of parts which would be selected with the current conditions. If you tick the box Add to current selection, parts which are already selected remain selected. Otherwise, the selection is replaced.

Select parts by outbox

To select parts by their outbox size, enter limit values for the three axes into the text fields on the right. In a dropdown menu on the left, you can choose if you want to select parts with outbox dimensions larger or smaller than those values. Below, you can choose if you want only one outbox dimension or all outbox dimensions to match the conditions defined above. With the option "Ignore orientation", the values are no longer assigned to one specific axis. So, it does not matter how the parts are oriented.

Select parts by volume

To select parts by volume, open the dropdown menu on the top and choose if you want to select all parts with a volume larger or smaller than a certain value. To the right, you can enter that limit value in the text field. Please note that parts with holes do not have a volume and cannot be selected here.

Select parts by quality

If you select parts by quality, you can choose from several criteria in the dropdown menu. Valid parts are all closed and correctly oriented parts. Faulty parts are all parts which are not valid. Closed parts are all parts without any open triangle edges or holes. The orientation is ignored. Parts with holes do have open edges. Oriented parts, unlike non-oriented parts, are parts where all triangles are oriented correctly, with the outside of a triangle on the outside of the part. Further options are Parts with more than one shell, Parts with exactly one shell and Parts without triangles.

Select parts by their number of triangles

To select parts by their number of triangles, open the dropdown menu on the top and choose if you want to select all parts with more or all parts with less than a certain number of triangles. To the right, you can enter that number of triangles.

Select parts by outbox dimensions.

Select parts by their volume.

Select parts by quality.

Select parts by their number of triangles.