Selecting objects

The selecting or marking of objects is prerequisite to the use of certain tools and functions.

An object in pCon.planner which has been selected is distinguished from one which has not been selected by being framed in blue as shown in the screenshot below. The left-hand rectangle has been selected, but not the right.

There are two additional ways of marking objects in pCon.planner PRO: these are the highlighting of Reference Objects and of OFML Articles.

pCon.planner_object_interactor

If an object is selected, not only the blue selection frame for the object will appear, but also the object interactor (see illustration on left). This is enabled by default. It can be switched on or off using the interactor button on the Status Bar.

Objects can be rotated and moved using the object interactor. You will find further details in the Edit Objects section.

In the case of most elements in a room, the Object Interactor will not be displayed as they will each have their own interactors.

If there are Reference Objects in a design, the familiar blue frame will appear when one of them is selected. All further reference objects will be given a greyish green frame. This enables the user to know which objects relate to the same reference as the one currently selected. The following screenshot will help make this clear.

The central chair in the top row has been selected and is thus marked with a blue frame. All other objects related to the same reference object have been given a greyish green frame.

There is an additional possibility of marking objects in the case of OFML articles. It becomes apparent when the relevant article is opened either with a double click or the hammer symbol (

The left-hand screenshot shows an OFML article that has in the first instance simply been selected. At this stage there is no difference from the selection of any other object. The right-hand shot shows the article when opened. The additional dotted grey marking shows the user that the object has now been opened and can have its features edited.

pCon.planner_snapping_types

Objects are selected at their edges or surfaces. Simply clicking on them will select the object.

For selection of separate items pCon.planner provides Snap Points, which appear on the object when the mouse is moved over it. The Horseshoe icon in the Status Bar allows you to open a menu with the option of enabling or disabling object snap. If one of the items here is disabled (e.g. for lines), it will not be possible to select any object by that method.

The following screenshot shows which Snap Points will be visible when moving the mouse over objects when (for example) two rectangles are superimposed.

pCon.planner_snap_points

Depending where the cursor is on an object, the Snap Point will appear as an icon. To clarify this, the figure on the left has not had all snap points added graphically. If the cursor is on a surfac of the object, there will not be an extra icon visible. Snap Points are particularly valuable when aligning objects.

If a number of objects are to be selected in succession, press the Ctrl key and hold it down while selecting the objects. This procedure will allow you to select any number of objects in a design at once.

To select a number of objects at once, you can use the mouse to create a marked area. This means clicking in a viewport and holding the mouse button down while you drag the mouse to create the area selected. Depending on where the creation of this area is started, it will appear highlighted in either red or green.

If you start on the left and drag to the right, the area will be highlighted in red (see image on left). All objects fully within this area will be selected when you have released the mouse button. In the screenshot given, only the two upper rectangles will have been selected on releasing the mouse.

On the other hand, if you drag the mouse from right to left to create the selection area, the highlighting will be in green (image on right). In this case, all objects that have been touched by the green area will be selected on releasing the mouse button. For the example given, all four rectangles would have been selected.

Pressing Ctrl+A together will select all objects in a design. Ctrl+I in combination will deselect any objects already selected and select all those which had previously not been selected. To cancel a selection, press the Esc key.