Select mesh faces

The Select Mesh Faces commands help to edit existing meshes by selecting faces in the mesh object.

Mesh faces can be selected using:

Select mesh faces commands

SelMeshFacesByArea

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshFacesByArea command selects mesh faces from the parent mesh object that are within a specified range of area.

Steps

Select mesh faces by area options

Select faces larger than ___

Selects mesh faces with an area larger than the specified setting.

Select smallest face

Select a mesh face to set the area of the smallest face.

Select faces smaller than

Selects mesh faces with an area smaller than the specified setting.

Select largest face

Select a mesh face to set the area of the largest face.

Increment

Sets the amount the value is changed with each arrow click.

Select range from face

Select an example mesh face to set the size range. A range of ±10% of the area of the selected face is used.

SelMeshFacesByAspectRatio

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshFacesByAspectRatio command selects mesh faces from the parent mesh object that are greater than the specified aspect ratio limit.

SelMeshFacesByAspectRatio selects mesh faces that are very long compared to their width. A ratio of 25:1 or above is considered long.

In the image, the selected red faces have an aspect ratio of 9:1 or more.

Steps

Select mesh faces by aspect ratio options

Aspect ratio ___ to 1

Set the target aspect ratio.

Increment

Sets the amount the value is changed with each arrow click.

Select aspect ratio from face

Select a mesh face to specify the Aspect Ratio value.

SelMeshFacesByDraftAngle

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshFacesByDraftAngle command selects mesh faces from the parent mesh object based on the angle of the faces to the view.

SelMeshFacesByDraftAngle can split a mesh object for molds or to look for undercut areas. In the example, the mesh faces were selected in the top view.

Steps

Select mesh faces by draft angle options

Start angle from camera direction

Sets the starting angle from the direction of the viewport camera.

End angle from camera direction

Sets the ending angle from the direction of the viewport camera.

SelMeshFacesByEdgeLength

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshFacesByEdgeLength command selects mesh faces from the parent mesh object that have an edge length greater or less than a specified value.

The SelMeshFacesByEdgeLength command selects small or large mesh faces that do not belong in the mesh object.

In the example image, the selected red faces have an edge length shorter than 0.1.

Steps

Select mesh faces by edge length options

Edge length

Sets the mesh edge length to compare.

Select edge

Pick a mesh edge to specify the edge length you want.

Increment

Sets the amount the value is changed with each arrow click.

Select edges:
Shorter than edge length

Selects mesh faces with an edge length shorter than the Edge length setting.

Longer than edge length

Selects mesh faces with an edge length longer than the Edge length setting.

SelConnectedMeshFaces

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelConnectedMeshFaces command selects mesh faces from the parent mesh object that are connected to a selected face.

The SelConnectedMeshFaces command selects a set of mesh faces from a joined mesh object based on a specified break angle. This can be used to select a series of mesh faces that make up a planar surface in a mesh object or to select set of faces that make up a coherent feature in the mesh.

Steps

  1. Select mesh faces, and press Enter.
  2. Adjust options to get the selection you want.

Select connected mesh faces options

Select faces connected with angle

Sets the angle between mesh faces for selection.

Less than / Greater than ___ degrees

Note

Increment

Sets the amount the value is changed with each arrow click.

Select faces to measure angle

Select two mesh faces to specify the angle you want.

Edit Selection

Click to select a different mesh face.

SelMeshEdges

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshEdges command selects edges from the parent mesh determined by an angle between mesh face normals.

The command may help if you have a mesh that came from a polysurface but no longer have the polysurface. Using the command with the Unwelded option creates polyline approximations of where the edges of the polysurface were.

Steps

Select Edges Options

Extract edges by
Unwelded

Extracts edges with coincident vertices.

Break angle

The angle between the face normals of adjacent faces.

Greater than

Specify a minimum break angle.

Select Edge

Specify an example edge to set the minimum break angle.

Less than

Specify a maximum break angle

Select Edge

Specify an example edge to set the maximum break angle.

Increment

Sets the amount the value is changed with each arrow click.

SelMeshPart

Toolbar Menu

Not on toolbars.

Not on menus.

The SelMeshPart command selects all mesh faces radiating out from the selected face to naked or unwelded edges in the parent mesh object.

  • Some STL/SLA printers have problems if meshes contain many long, thin facets. These facets can slow the printer down, produce odd results, or run the printer out of memory.
  • The MeshRepair command may be useful when tuning up meshes for STL/SLA printing.

Steps

Command-line options

EditSelection

Change which mesh faces are selected.

BorderOnly

Makes polylines out of the edges of the selected mesh faces instead of extracting them from the parent mesh object.

MakeCopy
Yes

Makes a copy of the selected mesh faces rather than extracting them from the parent mesh object.

No

Extracts the mesh face leaving a hole in the parent mesh object.

SelectToNonManifoldEdges

Adds non-manifold edges (edges common to three or more faces) to the selection criteria.

See also

Collapse mesh faces and vertices

Extract object sub-elements

Edit mesh objects

White paper: Scan, Cleanup, Remodel

 

 

 

Rhinoceros 6 © 2010-2020 Robert McNeel & Associates. 11-Nov-2020