Select inside or outside contour

Belongs to

• Category: Position and Size
• Type: Selections
• Since version: 13 update 1

What it does

Selects objects using the area defined by the current selection. This Action is useful to select objects only within a defined shape, such as a Dieline or a Cutter Guide.

Note that this Action must be preceded by a Select Action in the same Action List (for example a Select spot color or a Select objects on layer Action). You can use any "select" Action you want, e.g. select by layer, by color, by line weight and you can use even operators (AND, OR) as required, but remember that only the basic shape of the selected line art objects will contribute to the contour!

Remarks

• Clipping is taken into account when determining whether an object lies inside or outside the contour. For example, if an image is partly outside the contour, but this part is clipped, it's considered to be completely inside the contour. The clipping paths are not logged.
• In case of complex shapes, the even-odd rule is used to determine what lies inside the contour. This rule supposes that you draw a line between a point inside the shape outline and a point outside its outline.
  • If that line crosses the line of the shape an odd number of times, the shape area to which the point belongs, is filled.
  • If the number of crossings is even, the area is not filled.
  On the image below, the contour area (marked in red) is determined by applying the even-odd rule to the two selected line art objects (two ellipses, one inside the other).
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The line art that is used to determine the contour area (through the preceding "select" Action) is not selected by "Select inside contour"; only the objects (images, shadings - which may have exactly the same shape as selected the line art) in that area will be part of the selection. This is illustrated in example 2 and 3.
• New in 13 update 2: you can even select objects inside or outside a non-closed contour or one with gaps using the Ignore gaps in contour if smaller than ... checkbox.
• Annotation objects are logged too.

Example 1

Select by layer "Cutting"
Select inside contour 
Select images 
Select AND 
Log selection 

Example 2

This Action List moves all elements belonging to the barcode to a separate layer. Note that the technical contour around the barcode is not moved!

Select spot color "Barcode area"
Select inside contour
Move to layer "Barcode"   

Example 3

This Action List converts the color of all objects with spot color "Content area" to CMYK. The "content area" spot color itself is (obviously) not touched.

Select spot color "Content area"
Select inside contour
Convert selection to CMYK   

Related Action