Adding to groups

dammerel · 2 Dec 2007, 00:57

Hi all
Can you add edges and faces to an existing group ?

Andrew

Gaieus · 2 Dec 2007, 00:58

Andrew - only in the "traditional" way; double click to edit and you can draw whatever you want in the group. Then just click somewhere outside to close it again.

dammerel · 2 Dec 2007, 00:58

Gai
What I did was put 2 groups into one ... It works..
Andrew

Gaieus · 2 Dec 2007, 00:59

That's also a good solution sometimes; that's called "nested groups". You can do that with components, too and even mixing components/groups when nesting them and even in quite serious depths.

Whenever you succeed to get ultimately confused, use the outliner to navigate yourself in the mess.

I can get lost in my models, too - I just know...

Rodentpete · 2 Dec 2007, 00:59

I draw the new geometry outside of the group and then select it, cut, open group and paste in place.

Ross Macintosh · 2 Dec 2007, 01:00

Rodentpete is right to point you towards using the 'paste in place' function found in the edit menu. It was a function some of us requested specifically because it would give an easy way to move even complex geometries into existing groups. The developers listened and it was added in Version Six.

Regards, Ross

dammerel · 2 Dec 2007, 01:00

Thanks Guys..The cut and paste option worked well

Andrew

Gidon Yuval · 2 Dec 2007, 01:00

Ross, what is the difference between move/copy and 'paste in place'?
Thanks

Ross Macintosh · 2 Dec 2007, 01:01

Well the real value of the 'paste in place' command is it will paste the copied (or cut) selection in exactly the same xyz position as it came from. In contrast any regular paste or duplication requires you to place the geometries where you want them and sometimes precise placement is difficult.

A real-world example of using paste-in-place is as follows:
Let's say you've modelled a house and used components and groups for major elements. You put all the grouped site & landscape elements on a layer so you can turn it off to see just the house. Upon turning off that layer's visibility you find a bunch of stray lines in the pool deck area are still visible. Shame on you! They are lines that should have been within the group that made up the pool area. Being oriented towards perfection as you are, you decide to fix the sloppy modelling rather than beat yourself up. You select and cut the stray geometries so they are in your system's clipboard. You turn back on visibility of the relevant layer and open the pool area group for editing. Then you use the 'paste in place' function with the confidence of knowing the lines will end up just where they were in xyz space but now within the proper group.

As an aside, I add that because of this feature (paste-in-place) it can make working with the component/group editing feature 'hide rest of model' more practical.

Regards, Ross