Work with local edits

The following workflows provide detailed descriptions of Local Edits tool behavior and functionality.

Use local edits in a single selection

The area of effect of a local edit depends on the selection. You can select single or multiple parts of a building.

When you select components of a building with the Local Edits tool , an orange highlight shows the current area of effect in the Viewport window. The editable attributes in this area are also highlighted in orange in the Inspector window.

1. Click the Local Edits tool to activate local editing.
2. Click the component of the building whose attributes you want to edit.

   

3. Edit the attributes by adjusting the handles of a highlighted attribute, or make the edits directly in the Inspector window. You are affecting the attributes only for the current highlighted selection.

After making local edits, the edited attributes have orange highlights with an asterisk (*) in the Inspector window. The asterisk indicates that the attributes have local edits applied in the current selection. The Inspector window also displays the attribute values in bold after changes are made.

You can also edit attributes that are outside the current orange highlight, such as floorHeight. This has a greater area of effect. To see the area, hover over the corresponding handle.

Use local edits in multiple selections

You can select several components and edit the attributes for the whole selection at one time. To select multiple components, do the following:

1. Press Shift and click to add elements to the selection.

   Edits will only affect attributes of the selected components.

   

2. Press Ctrl+Shift and click to remove items from the selection.

Use local edits on higher levels

During rule application, a shape tree is created with multiple levels, such as windows, floors, and facades. See Model Hierarchy for more details.

You can use this shape tree to make local edits on multiple objects at once, for example, on all windows on one floor or on all floors on one facade. This is called local edits on higher levels. The levels where edits are possible are determined automatically, and you can select them using Select higher level as follows:

1. Create a single selection.

   

2. Right-click the local selection and choose Select higher level, or press Page Up to select the next level up.

   

   You’ve selected all the windows on the higher level. The windowHeight and windowWidth attributes are highlighted in orange in the Inspector window, which indicates they can be locally edited.
3. Edit the windowHeight attribute with the handles or in the Inspector window.

   

   All the windows in the selection change.

The Inspector window now displays the following:

• The windowHeight and windowWidth attributes are highlighted, indicating that changes will affect only the current selection.
• windowHeight*—Local edits have been applied to the windowHeight attribute at the current selection level; its bold value indicates that edits have been applied.

Use local edits on multiple levels

By stepping even higher up, you can perform edits on multiple levels. When multiple edits apply, the lowest edit, which is closest to the leaf shape, always has precedence.

1. Press Page Up again to select the next highest level.

   

   You can see in the Inspector window that floorHeight is now also highlighted.

   • floorHeight , windowHeight, and windowWidth are highlighted, indicating local edits will only affect the selection.
   • windowHeight↓—Local edits have been applied at a lower level.
2. Make local edits to the floorHeight and windowHeight attributes.

   Edits to windowHeight don't affect the previously selected level because the lower level already has an edit, which takes precedence. However, the other levels are affected, because they do not have a lower-level edit.

   

The Inspector window displays the following:

• /floorHeight, windowHeight, and windowWidth indicate local edits will only affect the current selection.
• floorHeight*—Local edits have been applied at the current selection level.
• windowHeight*↓—Local edits have been applied at the current and lower level.
• The ↓ and ↑ symbols indicate that a local edit is applied at a higher or lower level for this attribute, relative to the current selection. Press the Page Up or Page Down keys to change the current level and display the asterisk (*) in the Inspector window for attributes edited at that level.

You can add more edits on the lowest level. It is possible to have an attribute in the Inspector window that indicates local edits at the current selection level, a higher level, and a lower level.

1. Press Page Down until you get to the lowest level.
2. Edit the windowHeight attribute.
3. Press Page Up to go to a higher level.

   

The Inspector window displays the following:

• windowHeight and windowWidth—Local edits will only affect the current selection.
• floorHeight—Local edits have been applied at a higher level, but the attribute is not currently selected.
• windowHeight↓* ↑—Local edits have been applied at the current, lower, and a higher level.

Note:

To select different level components, you may need to press Page Up or Page Down to move the selection level to match the component level you want to select. For example, if you are on the floor selection level and you want to select a window on another row, press Page Down to go to the lower level and then make your selection. Alternatively, you can deselect the object and select it again with the Local Edits tool to reset the selection.

Use local edits on patterns

Use pattern selections when you want to select objects based on a pattern. Patterns are automatically detected.

1. Click a window to make a selection at the lowest level.
2. Right-click the local selection and choose Select next pattern or press End.

   The Local Edit tool estimates a pattern to your selection and makes multiple selections based on the structure of the model hierarchy. In the example below, a pattern was selected of a single window in the same location on all four sides of the building.

   

3. Press End to select the next pattern.

   This time, the Local Edits tool calculates a selection with windows in the same column.

   

4. Right-click and choose Select previous pattern or press Home to scroll back down the pattern options.

Manage local edits

There are many way to manage local edits.

Discover local edits

To see if local edits are applied to a specific selection, first click the Local Edits tool . When making a selection, the Inspector window now indicates whether local edits are applied to the attributes of this selection using the following symbols:

*— This attribute has been locally edited at the current selection level.

↑— Local edits have been applied on a higher level than the current selection.

↓— Local edits have been applied on a lower level than the current selection.

To see edits applied on higher levels, use Page Up and Page Down to change the selection level. Stepping all the way up will highlight all performed local edits in the Inspector window with a ↓ symbol.

Reset local edits

You can return to the default value of a specific attribute (without local edits applied). All local edits on the current and higher levels for this attribute will be removed.

1. Click the drop-down menu next to the attribute value.
2. Select Rule Default.

   

   The locally edited windowHeight attributes at the current and higher levels are removed. Local edits at lower levels are not removed, as shown by the single taller window in the middle.

   

Reset local edits for multiple attributes

To revert multiple attributes at once, you can use the context menu while in the local edits mode. Right-click the local selection or right-click in the Inspector window to see the following options:

• Reset highlighted local edits—Revert all the selected attributes to the values without local edits.
• Reset all local edits—Revert all locally edited attributes to the values without local edits.