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Manual - Blender 2.45

[edit] Introduction

Selection, in almost any program, determines which elements will be the target of our actions. As such, the more adapted the selection tool is to the action intended the better. Tools and functions are in a great number in Blender and so are its selection methods.

What follows is a short description of the concepts and selection tools which are available in Object mode.

[edit] Selections and the Active Object

Blender distinguishes between two different states of selection:

A) Selected Active Object,
B) Selected Object,
C) Unselected Object.
Outlines have been thickened to make them easier to distinguish.

• In Object mode the last (de)selected item is called the “Active Object” and is outlined in pink (the others are purple). There is exactly one active object at any time (even when nothing is selected!).

Many actions in Blender use the active object as a reference, for example the boolean tools or linking operations. If you already have a selection and need to make a different object the active one, simply re-select it with ⇧ ShiftRMB .

• All other selected objects are just that, selected. You can select any number of objects.

[edit] Point Selection

The simplest form of object selection consist into using RMB on it.

To add to the selection, use ⇧ ShiftRMB on more objects.

If the objects are overlapping in the view, you can use AltRMB to get a list of possible choices.

If you want to add to a selection this way then the shortcut becomes ⇧ ShiftAltRMB .

To activate an object that is already selected, click ⇧ ShiftRMB on it.

To deselect an active object, click ⇧ ShiftRMB one time - and hence two clicks if the object isn’t active.

[edit] Rectangular or Border Select

[edit] Description

With Border Select you draw a rectangle while holding down LMB . Any object that lies even partially within this rectangle becomes selected.

For deselecting objects, use either MMB or RMB .

[edit] Example

In (Start), Border Select has been activated and is indicated by showing a dotted cross-hair cursor. In (Selecting), the selection region is being chosen by drawing a rectangle with the LMB . The rectangle is only covering cubes “A” and “B”. Finally, by releasing LMB the selection is complete; see (Complete).

Start.

Selecting.

Complete.

Notice in (Complete) the bright color of selected cube “B”. This means it is the “active object”, the last selected object prior to using the Border Select tool.

[edit] Hints

Border select adds to the previous selection, so in order to select only the contents of the rectangle, deselect all with A first.

[edit] Lasso Select

[edit] Description

Lasso select is used by drawing a dotted line around the pivot point of the objects, in Object mode.

[edit] Usage

While holding Ctrl down, you simply have to draw around the pivot point of each object you want to select with LMB .

Lasso select adds to the previous selection. For deselection, use Ctrl⇧ ShiftLMB .

[edit] Menu Selection

The selection methods described above are the most common. There are also many more options accessible through the Select menu of the 3D view, or the Select option of the “SpaceBar” menu.

Each is more adapted to certain operations.

[edit] Select Grouped

[edit] Description

There are two ways to organize the objects in relation to one another. The first one is parenting, and the second simple grouping.

We can take advantage of those relationships to select members of those families or of those groups.

Options for parented and grouped objects.

[edit] Options

Select → Grouped in Object mode uses the active object as a basis to select all others.

Available options are:

Children

Selects all children of the active object recursively.

Immediate Children

Selects all direct children of the active object.

Parent

Selects the parent of this object if it has one.

Siblings (Shared Parents)

Select objects that have the same parent as the active object. This can also be used to select all root level objects (objects with no parents).

Objects of Same Type

Select objects that are the same type as the active one.

Objects on Shared Layers

Objects that have at least 1 shared layer.

Objects in Same Group

Objects that are part of a group (rendered green with the default theme) will be selected if they are in one of the groups that the active object is in.

Object Hooks

Every hook that belongs to the active object.

[edit] Select linked

[edit] Description

Options for objects which share a datablock.

Selects all objects which share a common datablock with the active object.

[edit] Options

Select → Linked in Object mode uses the active object as a basis to select all others.

Available options are:

Object Ipo

Selects every object that is linked to the same Ipo datablock of the Object type. Any other type like Constraint, Pose, …, won’t work.

ObData

Selects every object that is linked to the same ObData, i.e. the datablock that specifies the type (mesh, curve, etc.) and the built (constitutive elements like vertices, control vertices, and where they are in space) of the object.

Material

Selects every object that linked to the same material datablock.

Texture

Selects every object that linked to the same texture datablock.

[edit] Select All by Type

[edit] Description

Options for selection of objects of one type.

The types are Mesh, Curve, Surface, Meta, Armature, Lattice, Text, Empty, Camera, Lamp.

With this tool it becomes possible to select every visible object of a certain type in one go.

[edit] Options

Select All by Type in Object mode offers an option for every type of object that can be described by the ObData datablock.

Just take your pick.

[edit] Select All by Layer

[edit] Description

Layers are another means to regroup your objects to suit your purpose.

This option allows the selection of every single object that belongs to a given layer, visible or not, in one single command. This selection is added to anything that was already selected at that moment.

Choice of one layer.

[edit] Options

We have the option of selecting the objects of one single layer at a time by LMB -clicking on its number. This has to be repeated for each new layer.

	Selection of Objects:
	Rather than using the Select All by Layer option, it might be more efficient to make the needed layers visible and use A on them. This method also allows objects to be deselected.

[edit] Other Menu Options

Other selecting options.

Available options on the first level of the menu are:

Random Select Percentage.

Random

Randomly selects unselected objects based on percentage probability on currently active layers. On selecting the command a numerical selection box is displayed for the user to select the percentage chance that an object will be selected.

It’s important to note that the percentage represents the likelihood of an unselected object being selected and not the percentage amount of objects that will be selected.

Inverse (CtrlI)

Selects all objects that were not selected while deselecting all those which were.

Select/Deselect All (A)

If anything was selected it is first deselected. Otherwise it toggles between selecting and deselecting every visible object.

Border Select (B)

As described above in the section on border select.

Manual