Selection of Objects and Materials

Use

Objects and materials must be selected before their properties can be modified.

This can be done in a variety of ways including manually selecting objects and materials in the Scene tree, and searching for objects by name, size, polygon count, or vertex count.

Individual, and grouped objects (both selected and unselected) can be highlighted or made transparent. This isolates the objects to make it easier to distinguish them from others.

Activities

Selecting Objects Manually

Perform one of the following:

  • Click the object in the viewport, hold down CTRL and drag in the viewport to select multiple objects

  • Click a 3D Editor selection tool, hold down CTRL and drag in viewport. All objects within the selection region are selected

  • Click the object in the 3D Objects list or Parts panel. Hold down SHIFT to select adjacent objects or CTRL to select non-adjacent objects and click other objects in the list.

  • Open the Select Objects window and click the objects you want to select. Hold down SHIFT to select adjacent files and folders, or hold down CTRL to select non-adjacent files and folders and click other objects in the list.

Locking your Selection

  1. From the 3D Editor selection tool dropdown, choose Selection Lock.

  2. Make your selections in the viewport. All objects within the selection region are locked.

Selecting Objects, Where Multiple Objects Lie Under the Current Mouse Position

Click the required object in the viewport and hold the mouse in the same position and click to step through all items in that position.

Each object is selected in turn, and sorted in Camera Z depth order. That is, the first object selected is the one closest to the camera; the second is the next closest to the camera and so on. When there are no more objects in that position to select, the first object is selected.

Searching for and Selecting Objects

Click the tab for the type of search you require in the Select Objects window and do one of the following:

  • If you are searching by name, enter the letters contained in the name of the objects you want to select

  • You may use any combination of letters (a through z) and numbers (0 through 9)

  • The text entered must be in the correct order. For example, if you wish to select objects with the name eye in them, you can enter ey but not ee.

  • If you are searching by size, polygon or vertex count, use the slider to specify the size or count for the objects you want to select

Clearing Objects from Selection

  1. Click outside of the model in the viewport.

  2. Click another object in the 3D Objects list or Parts panel.

  3. Hold down CTRL + ALT and drag over the selected objects in the viewport.

Sorting the Objects List

In the Select Objects window, click a column name for the column on which you wish to sort. The list is sorted in ascending or descending order depending on the original order. A small triangle on the column name indicates the current order type.

Filtering the Objects List

In the Select Objects window, click the down arrow to the right of the filter field, and do one of the following:

  • If you wish to display all objects, select All objects.

  • If you wish to display all visible objects, select Visible objects.

  • If you wish to display previously selected objects, select Previously selected.

Selecting Materials

Materials can be selected manually using the Materials panel, or from directly within the scene. When a material is selected, the material name is highlighted in the Materials panel, and all objects that are using that material are highlighted in the scene.

To manually select materials, do one of the following:

  • Click the material in the Materials panel

  • Right-click the material in the 3D Objects list, and choose Select Objects.