Partial Selection

[philem]

Hi PP

It is inefficient because I have to leave the main work area to go to the new geometry window to keep selecting the face, edge or vertex I want to work on when I change actions ie; extrude, move, scale etc, That was one of the reasons I asked about assigning hotkeys, especially for the actions I just mentioned.

[puzzledpaul]

Whilst I realise that you'll have to leave the main work area - the 2nd geom window can be located very close to that area and thus minimise the 'travel' required.

I'm talking about a very small 2nd window ... say 1/25 the area of the main window - positioned as close as possible to the work area, without getting in the way of what's happening.

The hotkeying of tools aspect is another issue ... and can be done with the cursor inside either window, as can the actual element modification.

Not trying to force a w/flow on you - just wondering about the extent to which this has been tried.

At the end of the day, there's no magic bullet to this problem (imo) ... so it'll be a case of the compromise(s) that best suits the user's way of working.

pp

[philem]

Hi PP
I understand what you are saying and I do agree, I did this model in Hexagon and a couple of techniques used were very useful, but I have the wings manual open and will work through it.

Just another quickie (I did look in the manual and it wasn't there).
I bring in a cube, select a face, extrude the face a little, hit D to repeat the action, now what I want to do is to increase the size of the face bigger than the cube (sort of a scale command) but I just want the face only to extrude outwards.
is this possible ?

[Fonte Boa]

I bring in a cube, select a face, extrude the face a little, hit D to repeat the action, now what I want to do is to increase the size of the face bigger than the cube (sort of a scale command) but I just want the face only to extrude outwards.
is this possible ?

Instead of Face|Extrude, explore the two following commands, by which you are able to extrude and scale simultaneously using a single command (ever keeps an eye at info line to know how to proceed):

(a) Face|Inset
(b) Face|Sweep (more powerful yet, since it allows you to rotate the face that are being extruded).

[Fonte Boa]

Philem, with the intention to aid you (and maybe some other Wings new users), i recorded a video (sorry but it hasnt audio) to show the funcionality of the following commands:
View|Highlight Aim ( A )
View|Frame ( Shift+A )
View|Reset View ( R )
View|Ortographic View ( O )

It is impossible to live without these commands and, although in video i use them by top menu, it is fundamental you use their respective hotkeys (noted above).

The basic use is the following.
If you have one or more objects (called in Wings "body") in scene, once you select anything (a Vertex, an Edge, a Face or an entire Body):
- if you hit A Wings will center the selection in viewport,
- if you hit Shift+A Wings will center and zoom selection in viewport,
- if you hit R Wings will return its default viewport zoom.

Usually i select an element or an area (by drawing a marquee around what i am interested), and go direct to Shift+A. Using A or Shift+A, if you rotate the camera, the elements aimed will be centered to camera.

As they are selection sensitive, so it is very important (to speed up the things) to use the following hotkeys to change the Mode and to deselect:
Deselect All ( Spacebar )
Vertex Mode ( V )
Edge Mode ( E )
Face Mode ( F )
Body Mode ( B )

It is an annoying video, but if you have some patience and experiment those procediments yourself, then, well, i hope the video can have some use for your studies.

ps: i didnt use View|Ortographic View ( O ) in video, but try it; this command turns on/off the perspective view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M_pkWtiY...e=youtu.be

ps: i'll try to record another one (in another thread) to show the Micheus Selection Groups window use.

---

Here it is: just a quick look at Selection Groups window. After select the areas you want, with a single click at that window you can quick select each one. If you click on another saved selection, the anterior one is deselected. It is easy (it was harder if you make this by using top menu Select|Selection Groups).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2QKu1gRu...e=youtu.be

ps: the new Micheus window, called Saved Views (released today), is for sure very useful to you too.

[puzzledpaul]

In addition to the above, I think it's worth mentioning other nuances of using the A key.

If you have a 'stable' selection - ie elements that remain 'highlighted' when you remove the cursor from them - and use A, then wings will centralise the selection.

If, however - you 'hover' cursor over a specific chunk of geometry ... whether that chunk is selected or not ... and irrespective of whether it is v/e/f/b ... wings will place this temporarily highlighted portion / element in screen centre ... ignoring whatever else is selected.

So what, I hear from the back row

Well, for a start it allows you to modify large (intricate) selections easily ... without losing what's already been selected.
User selects stuff
places cursor over new area / region, presses A
user selects more stuff
etc etc

Another use is if using something like Face | Bridge ... where the faces being bridged are very small (difficult to see / select) ... and a large distance apart.
User aims at first face,selects same
Aims at second, selects ... then bridges.

If used in v mode, this gives user great precision of movement around the scene ... and can all be done / achieved without losing any selection that's present

Worth a bit of playing around with ... I suggest.

As is View | Align to selection
Select a face
V|AtS will align face parallel to screen plane ... and by doing so show user its true shape (assuming it's flat)

pp

[philem]

Hi Fonte,
I am following your suggestions and slowly its sinking in I have been giving Wings a real going over today and picked up some things in some of the tutorials that I have been looking at, Also coming to grips with the info bar, some things I still don't understand but I am sure they will come to me the more I practice with Wings. I found a solution to creating the face bigger than the cube, basically as far as I worked out it cant be done, I found that if I
Extrude a face, then extrude again, then deselect.
click on an edge of the cube I want to expand, hit "G" then "F" then select "Extrude" and pick Normal I get the result I was after.
Am looking at the videos as well, will add them to my collection while I am learning.

Hey PP
I am now finding the value of the "A" key in centralizing the view, and also going through your suggestions one at a time.

Maybe I will put up a tutorial one day

Again thanks guys

[optigon]

Aiming the camera with A is great.

As an alternative, some users like to use auto-aim, which aims at the element under the mouse when zooming in with the mouse wheel.

This preference has to be enabled in:
Edit>Preferences>Camera>Zooming in Aims Camera

Something to try I guess.