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# Editor States

The MGED editor operates in one of six states. Either of the two PICK states can be entered by button press, menu selection, or keyboard command. The selection of the desired object can be made either by using illuminate mode, or by keyboard entry of the name of the object.

Illuminate mode is arranged such that if there are n objects visible on the screen, then the screen is divided into n horizontal bands. By moving the cursor (via mouse or tablet) up and down through these bands, the user will cause each solid in turn to be highlighted on the screen, with the solid's name displayed in the faceplate. The center mouse button is pressed when the desired solid is located, causing a transition to the next state (Object Path, or Solid Edit).

Illuminate mode offers significant advantages over more conventional pointing methods when the desired object lies in a densely populated region of the screen. In such cases, pointing methods have a high chance of making an incorrect selection. However, in sparsely populated regions of the screen, a pointing paradigm would be more convenient, and future versions of MGED will support this.