Selecting

Selection determines which elements will be the target of our actions. Selections work on the current scene visible objects. Blender has advanced selection methods. Both in Object Mode and in Edit Mode.

Selections and the Active Object

Blender distinguishes between two different states of selection:

Active object in yellow, selected object in orange, and unselected object in black.

In Object Mode the last (de)selected item is called the "Active Object" and is outlined in yellow (the others are orange). There is at most one active object at any time.

Many actions in Blender use the active object as a reference (for example linking operations). If you already have a selection and need to make a different object the active one, simply reselect it with Shift-LMB.

All other selected objects are just selected. You can select any number of objects. In order to change a property or to perform an operation on all selected objects (bones, and sequencer strips) hold Alt, while confirming.

Select Menu

All A

Select all.

None Alt-A

Select none.

Inverse Ctrl-I

Selects all the geometry that is not selected, and deselect currently selected components.

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Box Select B

Interactive box selection.

Circle Select C

Interactive circle selection.

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Select All by Type

Select objects based on their type.

Select Active Camera

Select the viewport's active camera.

Mirror Selection

Select mirrored objects based on their name.

Select Random

Selects a random object, based on a percentage value.

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Select More/Less

Select objects based on their parent child relationships.

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Select Grouped

Select objects based on matching properties to the active object.

Select Linked

Select objects sharing data with the active object.

Select Pattern

Select objects by pattern matching their name.

Selection Tools

Select All

Reference

Mode

All Modes

Menu

Select ‣ All

Hotkey

A

Select all selectable objects.

Deselect All

Reference

Mode

All Modes

Menu

Select ‣ None,

Hotkey

Alt-A

Deselect all objects, but the active object stays the same.

Invert Selection

Reference

Mode

All Modes

Menu

Select ‣ Invert,

Hotkey

Ctrl-I

Toggle the selection state of all visible objects.

Select Random

Reference

Mode

Object and Edit Modes

Menu

Select ‣ Select Random

Randomly selects unselected objects based on percentage probability. The percentage can be modified in the Adjust Last Operation panel. It is 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.

Mirror Selection

Reference

Mode

All Modes

Menu

Select ‣ Mirror Selection

Select the Mirror objects of the selected object, based on their names, e.g. "sword.L" and "sword.R".

Select All by Type

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ Select All by Type...

With this tool, it becomes possible to select objects of a certain type in one go.

The types are Mesh, Curve, Surface, Meta, Font, Armature, Lattice, Empty, Camera, Light, Speaker.

Select Active Camera

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ Select Active Camera

Selects the active camera, this can be used in a complicated scene to easily find the active camera.

Select More/Less

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ More/Less

Hotkey

Ctrl-NumpadPlus, Ctrl-NumpadMinus

Their purpose, based on the hierarchical.

More

Expand the selection to the immediate parent and children of the selected objects.

Less

Contrast the selection, deselect objects at the boundaries of parent/child relationships.

Parent

Deselects the currently selected objects and selects their immediate parents.

Child

Deselects the currently selected objects and selects their immediate children.

Extend Parent

Extends the selection to the immediate parents of the currently selected objects.

Extend Child

Extends the selection to the immediate children of the currently selected objects.

Select Grouped

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ Select Grouped

Hotkey

Shift-G

There are two ways to organize the objects in relation to one another. The first one is parenting, and the second is simple grouping. These relationships to an artist's advantage by selecting members of respective families or groups. Select Grouped uses the active object as a basis to select all others.

Children

Selects all hierarchical descendants of the active object.

Immediate Children

Selects all direct children of the active object.

Parent

Selects the parent of this object if it has one.

Siblings

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).

Type

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

Collection

Select all objects that are in the same collection as the active one. If the active object belongs to more than one collection, a list will pop up so that you can choose which collection to select.

Object Hooks

Every hook that belongs to the active object.

Pass

Select objects assigned to the same render pass.

Color

Select objects with same Object Color.

Keying Set

Select objects included in the active Keying Set.

Light Type

Select matching light types.

Select Linked

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ Select Linked

Hotkey

Shift-L

Selects all objects which share a common data-block with the active object. Select Linked uses the active object as a basis to select all others.

Object Data

Selects every object that is linked to the same Object Data, i.e. the data-block that specifies the type (mesh, curve, etc.) and the build (constitutive elements like vertices, control vertices, and where they are in space) of the object.

Material

Selects every object that is linked to the same material data-block.

Instanced Collection

Select every object that is linked to the instanced collection.

Texture

Selects every object that is linked to the same texture data-block.

Particle System

Selects all objects that use the same Particle System.

Library

Selects all objects that are in the same Library.

Library (Object Data)

Selects all objects that are in the same Library and limited to Object Data.

Select Pattern

Reference

Mode

Object Mode

Menu

Select ‣ Select Pattern...

Selects all objects whose name matches a given pattern. Supported wild-cards: * matches everything, ? matches any single character, [abc] matches characters in "abc", and [!abc] match any character not in "abc". As an example *house* matches any name that contains "house", while floor* matches any name starting with "floor".

Case Sensitive

The matching can be chosen to be case sensitive or not.

Extend

When Extend checkbox is checked the selection is extended instead of generating a new one.