[westerfieldcct]

I am currently using the demo, waiting for the actual software to arrive. When I merge in a solid weather it be a sat., step., or stl., I am unable to select holes or seperate entites within the solid. The whole thing ends up selecting. It doesnt seem to matter what I have the selection mask set to.

Thanks

[dertsap]

if you save your cad file as an iges file then you'll be able to select various features on the part

[moldmker]

...I am unable to select holes or seperate entites within the solid. The whole thing ends up selecting....

Use Utilities > Extract Edges > From Entire Solid to extract selectable entities.
(don't ask why....it is what it is)

Also, helps to first define a new layer on which to extract these edges. You can then hide the layer containing the solid, thus making edge selection easier.

[BurrMan]

For 2d toolpaths, you will extract edges.. For 3d toolpaths, when you go to select geometry for the feature, the individual surfaces will be selectable... If you dont want a solid defined, you can "Unstitch solid to surfaces"..This is what bringing in an iges file without selecting the "make one solid" option is..Just bringing in all the surfaces un-joined.

An STL will be just a dumb solid.. You cant unstitch it or select anything other than the entire object (Make good use of boundries with this)..You also cant perform any other ops with an stl, like booleans or getting edges.

[westerfieldcct]

Thanks for the help.