kirra-docs

Select Toolbar

The Select toolbar groups the workspace-wide tools for selecting entities, measuring distances and angles, controlling the view, and setting the selection mode. It is one of the eight floating toolbars in the Kirra workspace.

Despite the name, this toolbar is not only about selection — undo/redo, zoom, reset view, section plane, orbit focus, and the Settings dialog all live here because they apply across every other tool.

Toolbar Overview

Labelled Select toolbar The Select toolbar with its controls labelled.

The Select toolbar contains the following controls:

Control Type Purpose
Undo Action Reverse the last action
Redo Action Re-apply the last undone action
Pointer Select Mode Click to select; Shift+click to add, Ctrl+click to remove. This is Kirra’s home tool
Polygon Select Mode Select everything inside a shape you draw — a polygon, rectangle or ellipse (right-click the button to choose)
Mode Selection (H / K / V) Toggle Constrain selection to Holes, KAD entities, or KAD Vertices
Ruler Measurement Measure the distance between points on the canvas
Protractor Measurement Measure the angle formed by three points
Zoom In View Zoom the viewport in by one step
Zoom Out View Zoom the viewport out by one step
Reset View View Reset the camera — click repeatedly to step through three modes
Section Plane View Slice the scene with a section plane
Find Select Zoom Dialog Search holes / KAD by criteria (colour, shape, ID, type, length, bearing, mass, delay…), combine criteria, then zoom to the result
Orbit Focus View Click a point in the 3D scene to set it as the new orbit centre
3D Settings Dialog Open the Settings dialog — 2D view sizes and snap tolerance, 3D camera and lighting, and performance limits

Undo

Reverses the last editing action. Undo covers adding, deleting, moving and editing holes; inserting holes; adding, deleting, moving and editing KAD entities and their vertices; KAD transforms; trunk changes; and adding, editing or deleting surfaces. Kirra keeps the last 20 actions.

How to Use

See Keyboard Shortcuts for all undo/redo shortcuts.

Redo

Re-applies the last action that was undone.

How to Use

Pointer Select

The default selection tool. Kirra always returns to Pointer Select when another tool finishes or is cancelled, so it is never left with no tool active.

How to Use

  1. Click the Pointer Select button on the Select toolbar
  2. Click any entity on the canvas to select it
  3. Hold Shift and click more entities to add them to the selection — Shift+click on an entity that is already selected removes it
  4. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click an entity to remove it from the selection
  5. Click on empty canvas to clear the selection

Switching from Polygon Select to Pointer Select keeps the current selection.

Selection Mode Interaction

The Mode Selection toggle (H / K / V) determines which entity types this tool can select — see Mode Selection below.

Polygon Select

Selects every entity inside a shape you draw on the canvas. Right-click the button to choose the shape:

Shape How to draw it
Polygon Click each vertex, then double-click to close
Rectangle Click one corner, then the opposite corner
Ellipse Click one corner, then the opposite corner of its bounding box

The button’s icon and tooltip change to show the chosen shape, and the choice is remembered. Picking a shape from the right-click menu also turns the tool on.

How to Use

  1. Click the Polygon Select button on the Select toolbar (right-click it first to change the shape)
  2. Draw the shape on the canvas
  3. Everything inside it is selected, subject to the active H / K / V mode

Hold Shift while you finish the shape to add to the current selection, or Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) to remove from it.

Mode Selection (H / K / V)

A three-way toggle that constrains which entity types selection tools pick up. This is one of the most important settings in the workspace — the wrong mode is a common reason a click seems to do “nothing”.

Mode Selects
H Holes only
K KAD entities only (points, lines, polygons, circles, text)
V KAD vertices only (does not select hole collars). With Polygon Select, also the points of visible, unlocked point clouds

How to Use

Tip: If a click isn’t selecting what you expect, check the H/K/V toggle first.

Ruler

Measures the distance between two points on the canvas.

How to Use

  1. Click the Ruler button on the Select toolbar
  2. Click the first point
  3. Click the second point
  4. A floating panel beside the cursor shows the two elevations (Z1, Z2), the Plan and Total distance, ΔZ, Dip and Slope

Click again to start a new measurement.

Protractor

Measures the angle formed by three points — vertex in the middle, arms to either side.

How to Use

  1. Click the Protractor button on the Select toolbar
  2. Click the first arm point
  3. Click the vertex (the corner of the angle)
  4. Click the second arm point
  5. The angle is displayed in a floating panel beside the cursor

Zoom In

Zooms the viewport in by one step, centred on the current view.

How to Use

Note: Mouse-wheel direction is controlled by the Scroll wheel forward will setting on the 3D tab of the Settings dialog. The Cursor Zoom setting on the same tab decides whether the wheel zooms towards the cursor or the screen centre.

Zoom Out

Zooms the viewport out by one step.

How to Use

Reset View (Three Modes)

Resets the camera. Each click in quick succession moves to the next mode; after a pause of about a second and a half the next click starts again at the first mode. The button’s tooltip names the mode the next click will apply.

3D View

Click Result
1st click Plan view — looks straight down, keeps the current zoom
2nd click Extents of the visible data
3rd click Extents of all data (visible or not)

2D View

Click Result
1st click North up (rotation cleared)
2nd click Extents of the visible data
3rd click Extents of all data (visible or not)

Reset View also clears any orbit centre set with Orbit Focus.

Section Plane

Slices the scene with a section plane so you can see inside surfaces or cut through a pattern. Useful for inspecting hole depths against terrain, deck configurations inside a bench, and multi-level pit designs.

Section Plane dialog with a Two Points section across a blast face The Section Plane dialog, sectioning across the front of a blast.

How to Use

  1. Click the Section Plane button on the Select toolbar
  2. Tick Enable Section Plane (the view switches to 3D)
  3. Choose the Plane — Two Points, Segment, XY (Elevation), YZ (East-West) or XZ (North-South)
  4. Set the slice thickness either side of the plane, then step it with Position
  5. Click Close to leave the dialog (the section stays on while Enable Section Plane is ticked), or Reset to return to the defaults

See 3D View — Section Plane for every option, and Section Views for how it compares with the Hole Section View.

Find Select Zoom

Opens the Find / Select / Zoom dialog — search for holes or KAD objects by one or more criteria, select the matches, and zoom the viewport to them. Handy for isolating a subset of a large blast (for example, every triangle-shaped hole, or every hole with a delay over a threshold).

Criteria are chips: click (or drag) one from the palette into the Match ALL of box, then set its comparison. Add as many as you need — a hole must satisfy all of them to be found.

Find / Select / Zoom finding every triangle-shaped hole Hole Shape is triangle — hole 1 is the only triangle in the pattern, and it is the only one selected.

Criteria for Holes

Chip Compares Notes
Hole Colour The colour the hole is drawn in Colour well, or sample one off the pattern with the target-arrow button. Also is auto / is not auto — see below
Delay Colour The delay / connector swatch A different thing from Hole Colour. This is the colour the ties and delay text take
Hole Type Production, Batter, Buffer, Presplit… Lists only the types present
Hole Shape circle, triangle, square, cross, diamond Lists only the shapes present. A hole that was never given a shape is a circle, and is found as one
Hole ID Hole name, as text or as a number text matches A1 exactly; number compares the trailing digits, so > 10 finds B11
Length, Diameter, Angle, Bearing, Bench Numeric Angle is degrees from vertical; bearing is degrees from north
Blast name The blast the hole belongs to is / is not / contains
Mass Explosive kilograms from the charging system 0 finds uncharged holes
Delay Hole delay, milliseconds 0 finds holes with no delay set

Criteria for KAD objects

Switch Find to KAD objects for a different palette:

Chip Compares Notes
Object type point, line, poly, circle, text  
Colour The object’s colour Colour well, or sample one with the target-arrow button
Point count Number of vertices = 2 finds two-point lines
Name The object’s name is / is not / contains
Closed Closed or open  
Line width Numeric  
Elevation Every point of the object See below
Layer The KAD layer it sits on Lists only layers that hold something. Unlayered objects are Ungrouped
Length Plan length, metres A closed polygon’s length is its perimeter; a circle’s is its circumference
Area Plan area, square metres Closed polygons and circles only; open lines are 0
Text A text object’s words is / is not / contains
Font height A text object’s font height  

Length and Area are measured in plan, the same as the L= and A= figures in the tree.

Elevation

Elevation looks at every point of the object, not just the first:

Comparison Finds
> / >= Objects lying entirely above that RL
< / <= Objects lying entirely below that RL
= Objects flat at exactly that RL — contours, bench lines
≠ Everything not flat at that RL

Add Elevation twice for a band: > 400 and < 500 finds everything lying between RL 400 and RL 500. An RL of 0 is a real elevation and is found like any other.

Find / Select / Zoom finding every KAD string between RL 400 and RL 500 Elevation > 400 and Elevation < 500 — the strings lying wholly inside that band are selected (green). Advanced shows the formula the two chips compiled.

To find strings that cross an RL — some points above, some below — use Advanced:

fx:minZ < 300 && maxZ > 300

Hole Colour, Delay Colour, and “is auto”

A hole carries two colours and they are not interchangeable:

Searching one will not find the other, so pick the chip that matches what you are looking at.

A hole does not have to carry a colour of its own. Left on auto it takes the theme’s contrast colour — white on a dark background, black on a light one — and there is no colour you could type that would name that set. The is auto comparison finds them:

Find / Select / Zoom finding every hole left on auto colour Hole Colour is auto — holes 1, 2 and 3 were each given a colour, so only hole 4 is still taking the theme’s black.

Sampling an auto hole with the target-arrow button switches the chip to is auto for you, rather than picking up the black or white it happens to be showing.

Advanced (fx: formula)

Expand Advanced (fx: formula) to see the predicate the chips compiled, and to edit it by hand. It is the same language as a live blast group formula — for example:

fx:holeShape == "triangle" && holeLength > 10

For KAD objects, Advanced can use minZ and maxZ (lowest and highest point), layer, length, area, text and fontHeight, alongside the original entityType, colour, pointCount, name, closed and lineWidth.

How to Use

  1. Click the Find Select Zoom button on the Select toolbar
  2. Choose Holes or KAD objects
  3. Click a criterion chip to drop it into the Match ALL of box
  4. Set its comparison and value — repeat for as many criteria as you need
  5. Choose Replace selection or Add to selection
  6. Tick Zoom to selection after Find if you want the view to follow
  7. Click Find

Use Clear to empty the criteria box and start again.

Orbit Focus

Click any point in the 3D scene to set it as the new orbit centre. This is the most effective way to inspect specific blast holes or surface features up close — the camera rotates around your chosen focus point instead of the scene origin.

How to Use

  1. Switch to 3D view (2D/3D toggle in the top bar)
  2. Click the Orbit Focus button on the Select toolbar
  3. Click any point in the 3D scene to set it as the orbit centre
  4. Alt+drag to orbit around the new centre

See 3D View & Orbit Focus for the full 3D navigation reference.

Settings

The 3D Settings button (globe-and-cog icon, at the bottom of the Select toolbar) opens the Settings dialog — 2D, 3D and Performance tabs. Every field, its default and when it applies are in Settings.