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Creating Objects
PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:36 am Reply with quote
sam.dockrill
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Joined: 30 Nov 2021
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Location: Sydney, Australia




Not sure if this was discussed in the early adopter forum and I missed it, but I'm really missing the create object functionality from EA4.4.

It was of particular use when constructing wire frames with large architectural ceiling batten systems, allowing me to draw a single batten, turn it into an object and then duplicate. Once this was done, adjusting individual objects was much quicker and easier then having to adjust individual vertices/faces associated with those objects.

Has this feature request come up previously or been dealt with in another way?

Obviously, there are many other occasions (beyond the example given above) where objects are useful and it would be great if anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to approach dealing with duplicates of complex elements.

Thanks.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:01 am Reply with quote
AFMG Frank Siegmann
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Hi Sam,
The general functionality of objects is now given in EASE 5-FE by Selection Sets. This feature was introduced with version 5.48. Please see also here:
https://www.afmg.eu/en/ease-5-fe-upgrade-history

Best Regards
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:07 am Reply with quote
sam.dockrill
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Hi Frank, thanks for your reply.

However, using selection sets seems quite limiting (in the context of what could previously be done with objects);

It doesn't appear to be possible to duplicate a selection set, so I would still need to individually select faces to add to a selection (or multiple selections). It also doesn't seem possible to move an entire selection set - I can only move groups of items if they aren't part of a set, which again means having to select multiple faces individually.

Furthermore, previously (in EA4) it was possible to displace a face of an object and all the attached vertices/faces would also be displaced. Whereas now moving a face, disconnects it from the faces it was attached to (whether part of a selection set or not), so each face needs to be moved individually which seems much more time consuming (albeit with the added functionality of being able to snap an anchor point to a new location).

Is there likely to be future updates that allow for this functionality in selection sets, or are these (and similar) object functions going to be reintroduced separately? If so, is this also going to address creating objects from 3D shapes/creating 3D shapes?

Thanks.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:38 am Reply with quote
Tim
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Yep, I agree with Sam.
The Objects functionality from v4 must be reinstated.

I'm actually not sure of the purpose of these Selection Sets.
I can't see how to copy or move a Selection Set.
It's not possible to save a Selection Set.
I can't edit Selection sets - for example, updating all Faces within the Set to be the same Material.

Hoping I've missed something...
Confused

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:33 am Reply with quote
AFMG Pedro Lima
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Location: Germany




Hello all,

Yes, you are missing a small component. It is actually interesting that this did not occur to you. We will see how can we make it more obvious, either in the software or in tutorials.

Please allow me clarifiy:

In EASE 5-FE there are two ways, or two different workflows, for perfoming an operation over an item:
- Either you click the item first to select it, and then click the button to apply an operation, such as duplicate or move. Or;
- You click the button first (e.g Duplicate), and then click the item to apply the operation.

With Selection Sets you can create groups of items so that you can apply an operation to them. You can also edit these selections by adding or removing elements.

This means you can click a selection set, in order to select all items you want to make an operation, then just click the related button to apply that opearation: Move, duplicate, add Area above Face, Mirror, Add Back Face, Apply a Material, etc. Basically almost all operations you can apply to a single item. This is in fact on of the reasons why selections sets exist at all, to allow to modify several items quickly.

Of course, you can also just select several items with Ctrl + mouse clicks in order to apply an operation to them withotu even having to store a selection set. If you will create a selection set or not only depends on if you think you will want to recall/select/modify those items in the future again.

Notice also that you can change all the materials for the Faces that use the same material via the Materials in Use window. Instead of clicking a Surface to apply a selected material to it, just click a tile in the Materials in Use view.

Differently from EASE 4, in EASE 5-FE adjacent Face do not share vertices. This is actually a feature, as it makes much easier to close a room. That said, I understand that sometimes one might want to e.g. move or transform a Face, and will want that adjacent Faces are adapated too. We can regard this as a feature request, for sure.

Let us know if you find anything else you can do with Objects in EASE 4 that you cannot do in EASE 5-FE. We might help with claryfing it. At the moment, there are only few things you can´t do yet, really, such as rotating items. This however I will naturally be added.

In EASE 5-FE we have a different concept for dealing with groups of items, depending on the task to be accomplished. For instance, not only Selection Sets allow you to make changes to several items, we also provide other features and views for that, that are more intuitive then abstract concept of Objects in EASE 4. For instance, the Materials in Use View (as in the example above), processing blocks, and the master gain and eq tile in the acoustic parameters window offer you ways of making changes to several items, or global changes.

I hope this helps clarifying.

Best,
Pedro
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:41 am Reply with quote
sam.dockrill
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Joined: 30 Nov 2021
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Hi Pedro,

I'd just like to confirm some items you have raised. Firstly you said there are two ways to perform an operation over an item and the second option is;

"You click the button first (e.g Duplicate), and then click the item to apply the operation."

However, in the version I am running (V5.48.0.1450) both the Edit (Move/Duplicate) and Mirror (X / Y) functions are greyed out and not available in the tools menu until you select an item (or multiple items) - so it is not possible to perform the second option you described.

Also, you have stated that;

"you can click a selection set, in order to select all items you want to make an operation, then just click the related button to apply that opearation: Move, duplicate, add Area above Face, Mirror, Add Back Face, Apply a Material, etc."

However, similarly to above, the Edit (Move/Duplicate) and Mirror (X / Y) functions are greyed out and not available in the tools menu when I select a set. I also cannot apply a material to a selection set, add a back face, etc. If I select the faces individually, all of these options become available.

Can you please confirm your workflows regarding these operations, I'd be happy to provide some screen shots to show the difference in options available between multiple individually selected faces and the same faces as part of a selection set.


Thanks,
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:47 am Reply with quote
Tim
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Joined: 11 Feb 2008
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Location: Canberra ACT, Australia




Pedro,

If I activiate a Selection Set (so that all items are highlighted Pink in the table), the Move, Duplicate and Mirror icons become grey - they are no longer available.
I can not see how to save a Selection Set for use for example, in another Project.
If I have a Selection Set including Faces with different Materials, I can't see how to change all these Faces to a common Material - I do not want to do a globalmaterial change, only the Faces in teh Selection Set.
In a detailed model, I was finding it particularly time consuming to select items to include in a Selection Set (Can you bring back the Mouse Select modes?), then to find out it has limited use.
I still don't understand... what is the purpose of a Selection Set?

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:56 am Reply with quote
Tim
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Location: Canberra ACT, Australia




LOL Sam!
You beat me to it!
We must have been replying on the same wavelength!

Pedro,
I read in the User Guide under section 10.4 all the features of Selection Sets, but these options do not appear to be available to us. Are you running a different version?
I'm also running v5.48.0.1450

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 12:50 pm Reply with quote
AFMG Pedro Lima
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Joined: 05 Jun 2010
Posts: 266
Location: Germany




Oh, I see now why you´re struggling with this.

OK, one thing at a time. First:

After creating the Selection Set, eithe double click it, or click the little arrow pointing upwards on the Selection Set block, in order to activate the selection of the belonging items in the 3D view. They will become GREEN.

Anything that is actually selected is redenred (saturated) green. Then, after the items are selected, you are able to move, duplicate, etc.

When you click the selection set only once, it will not restore the selection in the 3D View. It will render the items in the 3D view with a red color that indicates relationship with another item in the GUI that is selected. In this case, the selection set block on the right side is actually selected.


That said, we will surely have a look at what we can improve here to make it more intuitive. Wink

Can you now duplicate/move using a selection set?

Best,
Pedro


Last edited by AFMG Pedro Lima on Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:15 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:08 pm Reply with quote
Tim
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Thanks Pedro,

Now we have something to work with.
But... why isn't this clearly explained in the User Guide?

OK, so now I have another query...
When duplcating a Selection Set, why does the software duplicate the items within the Selection Set but not create a duplicate Selection Set (containing the duplicated items)?
I now need to go around and select all the duplicated Faces (in this case) and create another Selection Set!! This is not an efficient workflow.
Confused

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:19 pm Reply with quote
sam.dockrill
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Joined: 30 Nov 2021
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Location: Sydney, Australia




Yeah that works, but I agree with Tim that duplicating a selection set should create a duplicate set.

As far as other "object" functionality to be added to selection sets, rotation as you mentioned and also the option to have connected faces/vertices displace when a face in a selection set is displaced are indispensable tools.

There are other functions I mentioned above regarding 3D shapes, but they aren't directly related to selection sets, so perhaps I start a separate thread raising that as a feature request?

Thanks Pedro
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:29 am Reply with quote
AFMG Pedro Lima
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Hi Tim and Sam,

Thanks for the additional comments, they are surely welcome. Our User Perspective team will regard and discuss these for improvements to the Selection Sets.

Selecting the resulting items can surely be helpful Tim, we agree. We will discuss that, and also if a new Selection Set should be created, or duplicated, and how to deal with this... This entity is in essence different than groups, as seen in other software.

The first implementation of the Selection Sets of course already allow you to do a lot, but there´s surely more functionality we need and envision short to mid-term. So any additional ideas related to Selection Sets are very welcome at this point. For instance, I can inform you that we do want to allow users to save parts of the model for reuse in the same or other projects.

Best,
Pedro
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2023 10:43 am Reply with quote
AFMG Silke Bögelein
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Joined: 14 Jul 2020
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Hi all,

Since version 5.52, tags and layers created in CAD Tools are saved directly as Selection Sets in EASE 5-FE. Elements such as speakers, surfaces, listener seats or audience areas can now be selected individually from a set and saved in their own selection sets, for example. The new Multi Selection via the mouse frame, as well as Faces On / Off, also helps when selecting different elements and saving new Selection Sets.

Regards,

Silke
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 9:33 am Reply with quote
Roberto de la Mata
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Joined: 05 Jul 2023
Posts: 12
Location: Spain




Hi!

Any updates about extending functionality in Selection Sets?

I have openned a post with a specific needed about it.
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