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:

A specified maximum or minimum area
By a view-based draft angle
A specified aspect ratio
A specified edge length

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.

Select mesh faces commands

SelFacesToBoundary

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New in V8 Select SubD SubD Tools	Edit Select Objects > Faces to Boundary

Toolbar

New in V8

Select SubD

SubD Tools

Edit

Select Objects >

Faces to Boundary

The SelFacesToBoundary command selects SubD or mesh faces surrounded by selected faces, borders, or both.

SelMeshFacesByArea

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

Steps

Select a mesh object.

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

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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 a mesh object.

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

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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 a mesh object.

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

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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 a mesh object.

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

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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

Select mesh faces, and press Enter.
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

A setting of 0 will give you all the mesh faces that are connected and planar with the face you select.
Sometimes planar meshes have a little noise in them, so a angle of 1 can help select planar faces.

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

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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 a mesh.

Select Edges Options

Select edges by

Unwelded

Selects edges with coincident vertices.

Break angle

Selects edges based on the angle between the face normals of adjacent faces.

Greater than

Specifies the minimum break angle.

Select Edge

Pick a sample edge to set the minimum break angle.

Less than

Specifies a maximum break angle

Select Edge

Pick a sample edge to set the maximum break angle.

Increment

Sets the amount the value changed by each arrow click.

Naked

Selects the edges that have only one face associated.

SelMeshPart

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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

Select a mesh object.

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.

Select mesh faces

Select mesh faces commands

SelFacesToBoundary

SelMeshFacesByArea

Steps

Select faces larger than ___

Select smallest face

Select faces smaller than

Select largest face

Increment

Select range from face

SelMeshFacesByAspectRatio

Steps

Aspect ratio ___ to 1

Increment

Select aspect ratio from face

SelMeshFacesByDraftAngle

Steps

Start angle from camera direction

End angle from camera direction

SelMeshFacesByEdgeLength

Steps

Edge length

Select edge

Increment

Select edges:

Shorter than edge length

Longer than edge length

SelConnectedMeshFaces

Steps

Select faces connected with angle

Less than / Greater than ___ degrees

Note

Increment

Select faces to measure angle

Edit Selection

SelMeshEdges

Steps

Select edges by

Unwelded

Break angle

Greater than

Select Edge

Less than

Select Edge

Increment

Naked

SelMeshPart

Steps

Yes

No

See also