Creating Clipping Regions

Qbitec provides three drawing tools for creating clipping sections: Fence, Window, and Circle. The best choice depends on the shape of the area you want to keep or remove.

During creation, view navigation such as zoom, pan, and orbit is temporarily disabled until the clipping operation is completed. This keeps the drawn screen geometry consistent with the view direction used for the projection.

The Fence tool is the most flexible option. It creates a polygon from the points you place in the view and is suited for irregular boundaries such as building outlines, excavation limits, plant rooms, stair cores, or scan areas that do not fit a simple rectangle. Click to place each vertex of the polygon. At least three points are required. If the last point is wrong, press BACKSPACE to remove it. Press ENTER to confirm the fence, or press ESC to cancel the operation.

The Window tool creates a rectangular section. It is the quickest option for orthogonal work areas, elevations, rooms, shafts, or scan strips. Click the first corner of the rectangle, then click the opposite corner. The rectangle is applied immediately after the second point. Press ESC before completion if you want to cancel the operation.

The Circle tool creates a circular section from two points that define the diameter. It is useful for columns, shafts, tanks, manholes, local MEP work, or any review area that is naturally radial. Click the first diameter point, then click the second diameter point.

All three tools support inverted creation. Hold SHIFT while placing the first point to invert the new section. In the normal mode, the inside of the drawn region is kept. In inverted mode, the inside of the drawn region is removed and the outside remains visible. This is useful when a small object, noisy scan area, or temporary obstruction must be cut away without redrawing the larger surrounding area.

Inversion can also be applied after a valid clipping state already exists by using the Invert command. This flips the current result, which is useful when you first isolate an area precisely and then want to hide exactly that area.

Example: To isolate an irregular main building footprint, the user first sets up a suitable top or 3D view and chooses Fence. They click around the visible outline of the building, remove a misplaced vertex with BACKSPACE, and confirm the polygon with ENTER. From another view direction, they add a Window section to remove scan points above the relevant floor range. Later, a circular area around a column can be kept with Circle, or removed by holding SHIFT on the first diameter point when the column scan should be excluded from the result.