P3D v4 Multi select

[RED COOL]

Hello @scruffyduck
I found that to multi-select things in ADE we have to use the list or the shift key
in my case i have many paths to select and shift key will just take me ages, the list is impossible as I don't know the order or the name of the paths

can we have like a square box select or polygon select just like in photoshop or 3Ds, please?

thnx in advance

 

[scruffyduck]

In the ADE airport view hold down the R key and left drag a box over the area . Anything with it's reference point inside the box will be selected.

 

[RED COOL]

thnx i'll try it

 

[tgibson]

But unfortunately, this will result only in a properties box that contains those properties common to all the objects (which is usually pretty few). Not very useful for changing things like the surface type of multiple taxiways, etc. Since I'm using FS9 I load the airport into AFCAD for that kind of thing - much easier.

 

[RED COOL]

i wanna chage the draw center line boolean hope i can do it

 

[GHD]

Use"List >Taxi Links"and sort on "Centre-Line"

 

[RED COOL]

i tried the R box but it doesn't let me edit the center line cus it selects the taxi points too
can you like making the selection made in the render apply in the list so i can open the taxi links list and edit the links only without taxi point ?

 

[GHD]

can you like making the selection made in the render apply in the list so i can open the taxi links list and edit the links only without taxi point ?

Of course you can.

Select the first, <Shift> Select the last then hit <Enter>

 

[RED COOL]

Of course you can.

Select the first, <Shift> Select the last then hit <Enter>

no i mean i select in the render not the list

 

[scruffyduck]

I am still not sure what you are trying to do. Select all the taxi links or select some of them in a given area? The Multi select rectangle will select everything that has its reference point inside it.

It seems to me that if you want to select a specific set of section of taxi links to change the properties then you might just use Shift + left click for each one. Yes that involves some work but you appear to need some sort of control over what you select. I selected five links in a few seconds and the Edit box will allow me to change any property to change

 

[raymk]

I have mentioned this before but here goes again.
Years ago, we used to have a "Format painter" button, like the ones that exist in many Windows programs (Word, Excel, Coreldraw, etc.). In these programs, you pick an item that has the 'qualities' that you are happy with, 'click' the 'Format painter' icon and then click on an object which will change to the same 'qualities' as the original. If you want to change more than one object then, instead of 'single-clicking' the 'Format painter' icon, you 'double-click' it. You then select each of the items in turn that you want to change. When all are changed, you 'single-click' the icon to de-select it. I use this icon on a daily basis in many of my Windows programs and would love to see it re-appear in ADE as it would make my ADE experience so much more simpler and satisfying when modifying airports.
I think the original 'poster' here would find 'Format painter' most useful in his endeavors.

 

[scruffyduck]

That is an interesting idea but I am curious how it would work in practice with ADE bearing in mind there are many different object types some (such as runways) have many properties while others (such as aprons) have only one or two. Would we:

• Select an object and apply all it's properties to other objects of the same type via the Format Painter Icon or
• Select the object type from a list and then select which properties to copy on to other objects
• something else?

 

[raymk]

Jon,
I will consider just how I would like to use such a command and come back asap with my thinking.
Am I wrong in thinking that an early version of ADE had such a command?

 

[scruffyduck]

It never had anything like this in the past Ray

 

[GHD]

I find the lists are very flexible and easy to use for multi-select.

 

[raymk]

OK I have had a look at where a 'Format painter' command would make my life a load quicker.

I am frequently looking to modify downloaded airfield layouts and finding that I am wanting to make changes to the various TAXIPATH objects (Taxi, Path and Vehicle). I want to change their width, edge and centreline, and lighting features as I often find they are not what I expect them to be.

What I would want to do is, select a segment and set the characteristics as required. Then re-select that segment, select the Format Painter (double click) and then successively select any other segment that I want to be the same as the first item. When done, click on the FP icon to deselect. (I cannot do this using 'Lists' as I cannot tell which listed items are the ones I want to change - I usually want to change a 'chain' of segments which cannot be selected using the 'R' plus box method.)
I know that I can do this by manual multi-selecting and using Edit but I would prefer to do it as I have described as i often find that, during multi-selecting, I select something that is not among the objects I want to edit and the wrong edit box opens up.
Perhaps I should call this command "Make same as ..." rather than Format Painter as this is a more obvious description in this particular case but it would follow what users of Windows-style software can do with the FP command found in many Windows programs. As a regular user of this type of command I would find it more intuitive to use - I like to think that others might agree (?).

Perhaps, because I am asking for something that is limited to only editing TAXIPATH types, I may be asking for something that has limited gain for the effort required in adding it to the program but I find I spend a lot of time in this area of editing. It sounds like "RED COOL" could make use of it too.

 

[tgibson]

I think the old way that AFCAD did multiselect is much better than the Format Painter approach. You used the mouse to select a rectangle of airport, and all items inside were selected. You could also Shift-Click items if the rectangle missed them. When all the desired objects were selected (along with a lot of things you don't care about), you right clicked the type of item YOU wanted to change (i.e. right click on any selected taxiway line to edit all the selected taxiway lines), choose Properties, and the property box for taxiway lines would come up with all the properties there available to change. Any changes you made to the property box were made to all the selected taxiways; all other properties were left as they were for each individual selected taxiway.

This avoids the click, click, click tedium of the current ADE approach and the Format Painter approach as well.

 

[scruffyduck]

Tom, I have a feeling that there is some code in ADE already that did something like that. However for reasons I can't recall it was never implemented. it is probably in an old archived Dev build. I will look it out if I can find it.

 

[raymk]

Tom,
thanks for your input.
If something like this did/does exist somewhere perhaps it will go a long way to answer my request for a more useful method of multi-selecting.

 

[scruffyduck]

I think this can be 'replicated' in ADE quite simply At the moment multi-select Edit will only display the common properties for all the selected objects which is not much help. If I can arrange for the user to open the properties for one object type in the selected group then it should do the same thing. The multi edit box shows all the properties for the object type. Those that have the same value across all the selected objects will have that value displayed. If the value is not the same across all the selected objects then the field is blank. Any changed value will be replicated across all the selected objects but those not changed will be unaltered. Pretty much what AFCAD does