Smart Select Help Pages
Smart Select - Command Overview (Home) - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Extracted Surface Data - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Point Clouds - Click Here
Video Demonstration
In the following video we show how to use Smart Select in different ways to make selections of TBC objects and either Relayer, Delete or copy the selected objects to a new layer.
Using Smart Select with CAD Objects
TBC has a number of ways to select objects that can then have processes applied to them e.g. Delete, Relayer, Change Color, Rename etc.
Selection methods include the Rectangle and Polygon Select modes as well as other methods including Select by Layer, Select by Elevation Range, Select by Polygon, Select Similar, Select Duplicate Observations, Select Points, Select Duplicate Points and Advanced Select.
Rockpile Solutions commands for selecting data include Geometric Selection which allows you to select objects using their geometric properties (length, aspect ratio, number of nodes, open / closed lines, Clockwise or Anticlockwise direction etc.) and now the new Smart Select command which provides fast and easy ways to select TBC objects using variations of the Polygon Select method.
When using the TBC Polygon Select mode, you can draw a complete polygon area and select all of the data that lies 100% inside the polygon, outside the polygon or data that lies 100% inside or that crosses the polygon. This works well for area based selection in plan, profile, 3D, Station / Offset or Sheet views, however if you need to draw a polygon along a path and back again that can be time consuming for many types of selection.
Smart Select allows you to create polygon areas using a single line defined using 2 points or multiple points along with a selection width (predefined width values or user defined values), meaning that you can draw a line in a single direction and let Smart Select compute the polygon in the right way for Select Inside or Select Outside or Select Crossing.
In standard TBC, if you use the Polygon Select mode, you also have to remember to zoom out to the extents of the selected area to ensure that all required data for selection is visible on screen, failure to do that results in partial selections and the need to repeat a process. To solve this problem, Smart Select auto determines the extent of the area being defined, and zooms to its extents prior to making the final selection.
Command Interface
When working with CAD Objects the command dialog looks as follows
CAD objects vs Point cloud data
When working with CAD objects, select the CAD objects radio button. The alternative is to work with Point cloud data.
Smart select vs Standard select
The command allows you to use both Smart select methods or Standard selection methods (rectangle select, polygon select etc.). Choose the selection mode that you wish to use by clicking the appropriate radio button.
Inside vs Outside
When working with CAD objects you can choose to select objects that fall Inside the selection area or Outside the selection area.
Inside means that the object has to be 100% inside the polygon definition in order to be selected.
Outside means that the object has to be 100% outside the polygon definition in order to be selected.
Crossing checkbox
If you want to select objects that are Inside and crossing the polygon or Outside and crossing the polygon, check the Crossing checkbox. For many cad object selections, choose the Inside and Crossing options.
Action
The Action options provide options as to what you want to do with the data that you select. The commonest actions requested are Relayer, Delete, and Copy to Layer for CAD objects.
Relayer - select the New layer (target layer) onto which you want to move the selected objects.
Delete - this simply selects and deletes the selected CAD objects
Copy to Layer - select the New layer (target layer) onto which you want to copy the selected objects. Note that copying objects will create duplicate objects on the new layer, leaving the original objects in their current layer.
Selection methods
Smart Select provides a variety of selection methods including
- Two point line
- Multipoint line
- By line(s)
- By polygon(s)
- By circle
Two point line method
The two point line method cycles the user through a selection process that involves picking Point 1, Point 2 and delivering the action before cycling round to Point 1 again. On selection of Point 2, the action is automatically executed, and the next loop initiated.
When you select the two point method, you can pick or user define a selection width from a pick list of options. The options are as follows
- Narrow - 0.02 ft
- Medium - 0.50 ft
- Wide - 1.0 ft
- People / Poles - 3.0 ft
- Car - 9.0 ft
- Truck - 11.0 ft
- Conex box - 12.0 ft
- Machine - 16 ft
- User value
The Narrow, Medium, Wide and User Value options are typical for selecting CAD objects. The other options are more typical for selecting / cleaning point cloud data in the point cloud smart select workflows.
Each setting defines the full width of the polygon which is split 50/50 either side of the line or path that you select / define. The width for Cars, Trucks etc. is wider than those objects, however the extra width is typically needed to cleanly remove the selected point cloud data to a new region, leaving surface only data behind.
Snap modes
When you are selecting CAD objects using Two point or Multipoint line mode, it is often beneficial to suspend all running snaps and use Free snap mode only. If you select All selected snaps, this utilizes whatever you have set in the running snaps (option at base of screen to set your running snaps). Remember if you have e.g. PDF Vector Snaps, End Snaps, Point Snaps etc. in play, that it is possible to inadvertently select a line or point etc. when you meant to click in free space between the objects. Temporarily switching off the running snaps while working in this mode can be beneficial.
Draw selection path
In Two point mode, the selection path is two points that create a line between them. The line is then offset left and right by half the selection width to define a polygon, the direction of the polygon is defined to meet the Inside, Outside, Crossing options that you elected. The data is selected and the selected Action performed. A new loop then starts for the next two point line. This repeats until you stop.
While processing the data, at any time you can change the target layer or change mode from relayer to delete or copy to layer etc. You can also change mode from Inside to Outside or from Crossing to No Crossing etc. You can also elect Standard select if while running the command you want to use TBC’s standard selection methods along with the defined action.
Multipoint line method
In the multipoint line method, you will sketch out a path for the line, the selection width will then be applied to the path in the same way as the two point line, only using the multipoint path as the baseline for the offsets.
On completion of the definition of the path you will either click Apply to execute the process or press the N key on your keyboard yo start a new loop process.
Disable zoom extents checkbox
On completion of the path definition, it is not uncommon to only be looking at part of the defined path, because you have panned along the path while defining it. Failure to zoom to the extents of the path / polygon created will cause the selection of objects inside / outside / crossing to partially fail, only data that is visible on screen in the plan view will be selected. For this reason by default, Smart Select will zoom to the extents of the polygon area. If you wish to control this yourself, you can check this checkbox, however we advise against this procedure, it is only there for special situations.
Snap modes
When you are selecting CAD objects using Two point or Multipoint line mode, it is often beneficial to suspend all running snaps and use Free snap mode only. If you select All selected snaps, this utilizes whatever you have set in the running snaps (option at base of screen to set your running snaps). Remember if you have e.g. PDF Vector Snaps, End Snaps, Point Snaps etc. in play, that it is possible to inadvertently select a line or point etc. when you meant to click in free space between the objects. Temporarily switching off the running snaps while working in this mode can be beneficial.
Draw selection path
Click a series of points that define the desired path for the polygon. When you reach the end of the path click Apply or press N on your keyboard.
By line(s) method
This mode is more typically going to be used to select point cloud data along the selected lines.
Selection width
When you select the two point method, you can pick or user define a selection width from a pick list of options. The options are as follows
- Narrow - 0.02 ft
- Medium - 0.50 ft
- Wide - 1.0 ft
- People / Poles - 3.0 ft
- Car - 9.0 ft
- Truck - 11.0 ft
- Conex box - 12.0 ft
- Machine - 16 ft
- User value
The Narrow, Medium, Wide and User Value options are typical for selecting CAD objects. The other options are more typical for selecting / cleaning point cloud data in the point cloud smart select workflows.
Each setting defines the full width of the polygon which is split 50/50 either side of the line or path that you select / define. The width for Cars, Trucks etc. is wider than those objects, however the extra width is typically needed to cleanly remove the selected point cloud data to a new region, leaving surface only data behind.
Select lines
Select the lines that you wish to use for the selection process. This method allows you to select any number of lines, that will be used to define the paths for the select by Inside, Outside or Crossing. This method is more typically used for point clouds than CAD objects, however it can be useful for selecting CAD data that falls inside or outside a corridor boundary area defined by a centerline with offsets for example.
Select the lines you wish to use and click Apply or N to execute and start a new selection process.
By polygon(s) method
Select polygons
The By polygon(s) method will select CAD objects that fall inside, outside, or that cross the selected polygon lines. Select the polygons that you wish to use for the process.
Once selected, click Apply or N to execute the process, make the selections, apply the action and start a new loop process.
By circle method
This method allows you to define the area using a circle defined by clicking the center point and a radius point to define the selection area.
The selection and action is automatically executed on clicking the second / radius point, and a new loop is initiated.
Apply
Applies the execution and action and readies for a new loop process.
New
Click New to start a new loop process without executing the prior loop that has been defined but not executed.
Switch command
click this button or press ESC key to pop up the running commands list and toggling to a different command. You can also select Close (the current command) or Close All (All running commands) from the pop up list. This is the new Smart Switch control which is common to all Smart Suite tools of the RPS Command Library.
Results pane
The results pane is used to present information about the command execution that was last performed.
Command Tips
In this area you can find tips that relate to the running of the current command. The tips always include a link to the help pages and help videos for the command along with any other information that we feel may be useful e.g. shortcut keys, operational tips etc.
Header Bar Commands
The header bar of the command has quick access icons to execute other commands that we feel may be relevant while running this command. The icons act as Smart Switch controls if the selected command is already running. In this command you will find quick access to the following commands
- Help
- RPS Settings
- PDF Manager
- Smart Draw
- Smart Edit
- Smart Elevate
- Create alignment
- Create XLINES
- Track Region
- Append Tracked
- Create point cloud region
- Add to point cloud region
- Drape objects on surface
Smart Select Help Pages
Smart Select - Command Overview (Home) - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Extracted Surface Data - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Point Clouds - Click Here