A “Custom selector” is a set of functionalities that allow you to create a selection mechanism based on the properties of elements. We can find it in various plugins such as Advanced Reports, Clash Detection, or Takeoff Reports. They may differ slightly in these solutions, but in general, the principle of operation is the same.
When you want to use such a “Custom selector” for coloring purposes, you have two options.
First option: You can use the “Custom selector” for selection purposes only and then add colors manually (in the Gallery plugin)
Second option: You can use the “Custom selector” in the Advanced Reports plugin and set the coloring rules there based on the properties.
For the first option, please take a look at the videos below:
Use the “Custom selector” to define the selection.
Once you have defined it, you can use it to color objects, for example.
Here is another example of a “Custom selector” that selects walls with specified width.
In the above examples, we use the “Custom Selector” for selection only. Once we have made our selection, we can define a color for it.
However, there is a faster and smarter way to color.
Regarding the second option – it allows you to assign different colors to selected property values.
This can be done in two places. It is best to use the second tab of the Advanced Reports plugin for this purpose – the “Columns” tab. Read on and watch the video.
For example, you can set walls to be colored based on their specific property values.
Let’s see two examples of coloring rule definitions.
In the first example, the elements will receive different colors depending on their assignment to the floor.
In the second example, the walls will be colored based on their widths.
Now you can color your elements in different ways using smart queries.
Try to use them and discover the power of “Custom selector”.