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Focus

A finished layout is crowded. The cupboard you want to adjust sits behind the bed, under the worktop, beside the fridge, and every click lands on something in front of it. Focus fades everything except what you have selected and lets your clicks pass through the faded objects, so the thing you are working on is the only thing in the way.

Focus

Section titled “Focus”

What it is. A button at the right-hand end of the view strip, the bar along the bottom of the 3D view. It lights up while Focus is on.

What it does. Select one or more objects, then press Focus. Everything else in the scene - the van itself, every other object, windows and vents - fades, the same way the scene fades when you highlight a wiring or water run. What you selected stays solid, and you can go on selecting, moving and resizing it as normal.

  • Clicks pass through the faded objects. Clicking a faded cupboard does not select it: the click carries on to whatever is behind it, and clicking where only faded objects are behaves like clicking empty space. This is what lets you reach a focused object that is hidden behind others.
  • What is focused is what was selected when you pressed the button. Deselecting, or clicking into a focused group and selecting one of its parts, does not change it - the whole group stays in focus while you work inside it.
  • A focused group counts whole, including anything you add to it while Focus is on.

Options and limits. Focus needs a selection, so the button is greyed out with nothing selected. It is also greyed out while you are drawing a route or an opening, shaping a sheet or measuring, and starting any of those switches Focus off: each of them has its own use for your clicks. Wiring and water runs keep the look their own view settings give them. Focus is a desktop control: on a narrow window the button moves into the strip’s More menu, and there is no Focus on a phone. It works in the read-only viewer too, where there is nothing to edit but a busy design is just as hard to look into.

What it affects. Nothing in your design. Focus is not saved, it is not an undoable edit, and switching it on or off changes only how the scene is drawn.

Leaving Focus

Section titled “Leaving Focus”

What it is. While Focus is on, a notice in the top-right corner of the 3D view names it and carries an Exit Focus button, the way the notice for Fly mode does.

What it does. Any of these brings the whole design back:

  • Exit Focus on the notice;
  • the Focus button on the strip again;
  • the Esc key;
  • selecting something that is not in focus, from the Object List - the list still reaches everything, and picking an unfocused row ends Focus rather than editing a faded object;
  • deleting everything that was in focus, or opening another design.

What it affects. Nothing in your design.

Section titled “Related”