Tools

Point Selection

Reference

Mode:All Modes Hotkey:RMB and Shift-RMB

The simplest form of object selection consists of using RMB on it. To add to the selection, use Shift-RMB on more objects. If the objects are overlapping in the view, you can use Alt-RMB to cycle through possible choices (Object Mode only). If you want to add to a selection this way then the shortcut becomes Shift-Alt-RMB. To activate an object that is already selected, click Shift-RMB on it.

To deselect an active object, click Shift-RMB one time and hence, two clicks if the object is not active. Note that this only works if there are no other objects under the mouse. Otherwise it just adds those to the selection. There appears to be no workaround for this bug.

Also you can use Ctrl-RMB and Shift-Ctrl-RMB shortcut to select the object by its center point rather then its contents.

Border Select

Reference

Mode:Object Mode and Edit Mode Menu:Select ‣ Border Select Hotkey:B

To activate the tool, press B. With Border Select you draw a rectangle while holding down LMB. Any object that lies even partially within this rectangle becomes selected. If any object that was last active appears in the selection it will become active.

For deselecting objects, use MMB or Border Select again while holding Shift or Alt. To cancel the selection use RMB.

Hint

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

Circle Select

Reference

Mode:Object Mode and Edit Mode Menu:Select ‣ Circle Select Hotkey:C

Circle Select C is used by moving with dotted circle through objects with LMB. You can select any object by touching of circle area. It is possible to dynamically change the diameter of circle by scrolling Wheel or with NumpadPlus and NumpadMinus as seen in pictures below. Deselection is under the same principle – MMB. To cancel the selection use RMB or key Esc or Return.

Lasso Select

Reference

Mode:Object Mode and Edit Mode Hotkey:Ctrl-LMB

Lasso select is used by drawing a dotted line around vertices or the origin of the objects, in Object Mode. To use this hold Ctrl-LMB and simply draw around the points you want to select.

Lasso select adds to the previous selection. For deselection, use Shift-Ctrl-LMB.

(De)select All

Reference

Mode:All Modes Menu:Select ‣ (De)select All, Select ‣ Inverse Hotkey:A

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

Action

Select, Deselect, Invert, Toggle

Inverse Ctrl-I

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

Random

Reference

Mode:Object and Edit Modes Menu:Select ‣ Random

Randomly selects unselected objects based on percentage probability on currently active layers. On selecting the operator a numerical selection box becomes available in the Tool Shelf. 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

Reference

Mode:All Modes Menu:Select ‣ Mirror Hotkey:Shift-Ctrl-M

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

Select All by Layer

Reference

Mode:Object Mode Menu:Select ‣ Select All by Layer

All by Layer selection menu.

This option allows the selection of every single object that belongs to a given layer. Selected objects become visible.

Match

The match type for selection.

Extend

Enable to add objects to current selection rather than replacing the current selection.

Layer

The layer on which the objects are.

Tips

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.

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, Lamp, Speaker.

Select Camera

Reference

Mode:Object Mode Menu:Select ‣ Select 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 ‣ 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.

Layer

Objects that have at least one shared layer.

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. If the active object belongs to more than one group, a list will pop up so that you can choose which group 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.

Properties

Select objects with same Game Engine Properties.

Keying Set

Select objects included in the active Keying Set.

Lamp Type

Select matching lamp types.

Pass Index

Select matching object pass index.

Select Linked

Reference

Mode:Object Mode Menu: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.

Texture

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

Dupligroup

Selects all objects that use the same Group for duplication.

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 ‣ 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.