Abstract: A new hybrid method for displaying, detecting, and selecting objects in a CAD system is disclosed. A CAD model is loaded and displayed using one of several render techniques to approximate natural visual perception (e.g. hidden-line rendering, solid rendering or 3D textured rendering). These render techniques necessarily hide parts of the model to approximate natural vision; additionally, only objects visible to the rendered presentation may be detected (as geometry “snapped to” for additional constructions) or selected for editing. The hybrid presentation method provides in any editing context an instantly available “x-ray view” that apparently de-renders the model in a region surrounding the point of interest and makes any part of the model at any depth visible within the region available for detection, selection or editing. In this mode objects are selectable not by their faces, but by their edges, which are more easily distinguished and picked in this view.