• ArchiCAD 10
• Feature Comparison
• Selection

Feature Comparison between ArchiCAD 9 to ArchiCAD 10

Interactions

Selection - Identification

1. Identification of Elements prior to and during selection

In ArchiCAD 9, there is no way of telling which element is going to be selected in case you place your mouse cursor over a node or edge shared by several elements on the Floor Plan. There are tricks, such as activating a certain Tool would then select elements of the Tool. E.g. if a Wall, a Fill and a Slab shares an edge on the Floor Plan, activating the Fill Tool and the clicking the shared edge would select the Fill.
In ArchiCAD 10, the pre-selection highlight feature always informs you of which element will be selected if you click with your mouse at that position. Also, in case several choices are possible, you can toggle through these available choices with the TAB key. This will cycle through all possible selectable elements with the pre-selection highlight, so you will always know which element will be selected. Also, you do not need to switch Tools or use other tricks to select the correct element.
The Tracker also shows basic information about the pre-selected element. Also, most elements can now be selected using Quick Selection (e.g. moving over a Wall body on the Floor Plan will pre-select the Wall, you do not need to find its edge or node).

Selection is also enhanced in ArchiCAD 10. In ArchiCAD 9 you see only the selection hotspots of an element. If you zoom in so no selection hotspots are visible, you need to resort to the Info Box to see what the last selected element is. This is even more difficult in case several elements are selected. Also, to select an element, at least one of its nodes must be visible at the current zoom factor.
In ArchiCAD 10, if you can see any part of an element at the current zoom, you can select it. The edges and the area of the elements will be highlighted when selected. The color of edge and area highlights is configurable and can be enabled or disabled. The above pre-selection and selection methods are available in both 2D and 3D in ArchiCAD 10.

Category2dDrawing, Category3dModeling