Selection commands

Dedicated selection commands let you select by object properties.

Selection categories

All objects

Action order

Annotation

Blocks

Capture

Cages

Control Points

Curves

Duplicates

History

Invert

Layers and Groups

Lights

Meshes

Object type

Point

Polysurfaces

Properties

Surfaces

Select object basics

Note

• When you make a window selection, objects completely enclosed in the selection rectangle are selected.

• To make the mouse always use either a window or crossing selection, see Mouse Options, Mouse group select.

See: SelWindow

Note

• When you make a crossing selection, all objects inside or partially inside the selection rectangle are selected.

• To make the mouse always use either a window or crossing selection, see Mouse Options, Mouse group select.

Selection menu

If several objects appear to be stacked in the area of the cursor and Rhino is not able to tell which one you want to select, the Selection Menu appears.

When the Selection Menu pops up, the current object and its designation in the list highlight.

To configure the selection menu, see: Selection Menu Options, or right-click the Selection Menu title bar.

Select sub-parts of objects

For many commands, you can select sub-parts of objects or specified object types to allow you to restrict selection in a tight area.

Examples include:

• Curve and surface control points
• Polysurface and extrusion faces and edge curves
• Surface edge curves
• Mesh vertices, faces, boundaries, and edges
• Objects within a group
• Polycurve and polyline segments
• Surface, polysurfaces, and extrusion object vertices. These are the equivalent of the points enabled by SolidPtOn.

Selecting sub-objects with a mouse

You can select sub-objects with a mouse before a command starts (pre-select) or during a command (post-select).

Restrictions for blocks:

• Only whole objects in blocks can be selected.
  For example, you can select a box in a block, but you cannot select its faces or edges.
• Whole objects and sub-objects in nested blocks cannot be selected.

Select sub-parts with a command-line filter

Command-line selection filters work on a more limited set of sub-objects for commands that ask you to select objects after the command starts (post-select). These commands let you use filters to pick a sub-part of an object or specific objects rather than the whole object.

Pre-select/Post-select

For commands that require object input, the objects can be selected before or after the command starts. Command prompts or options may be slightly different in the two methods. When objects are pre-selected the possibilities include:

• The command determines that the objects can be used and proceeds without further prompting.
• The command may proceed, but the result may be unexpected.
• The command cannot determine which objects are to be used and the pre-selected objects are unselected, and you are prompted to select specific objects again.
• Options may not appear at the command prompt.

The Select command selects objects.

The SelAll command selects all objects.

The SelNone command deselects all objects.

The SelNone command does not run inside a command to clear pre-selected objects.

The SelCrossing command selects with a crossing window.

The SelWindow command selects with an enclosing window.

The Invert command deselects all selected objects and selects all visible objects that were not previously selected.

The SelBadObjects command selects all objects that do not pass Check.

Delete or rebuild the object.

The SelVisible command selects all surfaces or meshes that are in front of other objects in the active viewport with a crossing selection.

Note: The SelVisible command does not work with block instances since they are drawn using their own draw lists that have no relationship with other objects in the model.

The SelSmall command selects all objects smaller than the specified size.

The Lasso command selects objects by sketching an irregular shape around them.

The lasso uses the Tracking lines color set in Color Options.

Command-line options

SelectionMode

Note

• Objects outside the viewport boundaries but within the boundaries of the selection object can be selected.

• The view can be panned during the selection to bring more objects into view.

• Use the CullControlPolygon command to hide control points and mesh vertices behind objects.

• Use Selection Filters to change what types of objects/sub-objects are selectable.

The SelBoundary command selects objects based on a boundary defined by an existing closed curve.

The SelBrush command selects objects based on painting a thick brush stroke.

Command-line options

Curve

Select an existing curve that represents the brush stroke.

Polyline

SelectionMode

BrushWidth

SelectThroughObjects

RealTimeSelection

The SelBrushPoints command selects points, control points, and points within a point cloud with a drag of the mouse to simulate a brush stroke.

To unselect, press Ctrl while brushing selected points.

The SelCircular command draws a circle to select objects.

The SelBox commands selects objects with point samples inside/outside/crossing a box-shaped volume.

It will not select objects that should not be included, but may miss an object if the point samples miss the selection box.

The SelVolumePipe command selects objects inside, outside, or crossing a pipe-shaped volume.

The SelVolumeSphere command selects objects inside, outside, or crossing a spherical volume.

The SelVolumeObject command selects objects enclosed by an extrusion object, surface, polysurface, or mesh.

The SelAnnotationStyle command selects annotation objects based on their style.

The SelDim command selects all dimensions.

The SelDot command selects all annotation dots.

The SelLeader command selects all leaders.

The SelText command selects all text.

The AddNextU command adds the control point in the positive u direction to the selection.

The AddNextV command adds the control point in the positive v direction to the selection.

The AddPrevU command adds the control point in the negative u direction to the selection.

The AddPrevV command adds the control point in the negative v direction to the selection.

The NextU command selects the control point in the positive u direction.

The NextV command selects the control point in the positive v direction.

The PrevU command selects the control point in the negative u direction.

The PrevV command selects the control point in the negative v direction.

The SelControlPoint command selects all control points on a curve or surface.

The SelControlPointRegion command selects a range of control points on a curve or surface.

Note

• If curve or surface control points are pre-selected, the command expands the selection to cover all control points between the limits set by the selected control points.
• If nothing is selected, the command asks to select a curve or surface, and then asks for two points that define a region of control points to select.

The SelConnected command selects adjacent control points of a curve, surface, or mesh.

The SelU command selects all control points in the u direction.

Note:

When Make control polygon pickable is enabled, double-clicking a control polygon selects all control points in the row. Hold down Ctrl and double-click to deselect a row of control points in selection.

The SelUV command selects all control points in the u and v directions.

Note:

When Make control polygon pickable is enabled, double-clicking a control polygon selects all control points in the row. Hold down Ctrl and double-click to deselect a row of control points in selection.

The SelV command selects all control points in the v direction.

The SelClippingPlane command selects all clipping planes.

The SelDetail command selects all Detail view rectangles in the current Layout viewport.

The SelExtrusion command selects all objects created as light-weight extrusions.

The SelHatch command selects hatch objects.

The SelLight command selects all lights.

The SelMappingWidget command selects all texture mapping widgets.

The SelNamedViewWidget command selects all named view widget objects.

The SelPicture command selects all objects created with the Picture command.

The SelCrv command selects all curves.

The SelShortCrv command selects all curves less than a specified length.

The SelClosedCrv command selects all closed curves.

The SelChain command selects curve or surface edges that touch end-to-end.

The SelLine command selects all lines and straight, higher degree curves. For example, a straight degree three curve with four points will be selected, but a degree three curve with five or more points will not be selected.

The SelPolyline command selects all polylines.

The SelClosedMesh command selects all closed mesh objects.

The SelMesh command selects all mesh objects.

The SelNakedMeshEdgePt command selects unwelded vertices on polygon mesh edges.

Note

• Polygon mesh vertices are not completely surrounded by faces are displayed.
• Joined meshes, such as those made by the MeshBox command, have naked mesh edge points where the sub-meshes are joined.
• To eliminate naked mesh edge points, match them in pairs, and then use the Weld command to make a single mesh that cannot be exploded. Edges that formerly rendered sharp will shade rounded, unless you use the FlatShade command.

The SelOpenMesh command selects all open mesh objects.

The SelClosedSubD command selects all closed subdivision objects.

The SelOpenSubD command selects all open subdivision objects.

The SelSubD command selects all subdivision objects.

The InvertPt command deselects all selected control or edit points and selects all visible control or edit points that were not previously selected.

The SelPt command selects all point objects.

The SelPtCloud command selects all point cloud objects.

The SelPolysrf command selects all polysurfaces.

The SelClosedPolysrf command selects all closed polysurfaces.

The SelOpenPolysrf command selects all open polysurfaces.

The SelNonManifold command selects non-manifold polysurface objects.

The SelSrf command selects all surfaces.

The SelClosedSrf command select all closed surfaces.

The SelOpenSrf command selects all open surfaces.

The SelTrimmedSrf command selects all trimmed surfaces.

The SelUntrimmedSrf command selects all untrimmed surfaces.

The SelColor command selects all objects of a specified display color or material diffuse color depending on the display mode of the active viewport.

The SelID command selects objects by object ID number.

The SelLinetype command selects objects with the specified linetype.

The SelMaterialName command selects objects with the same render material name assigned by object or by layer.

The SelName command selects object by name.

The SelRenderColor command selects objects by their (diffuse) render color. Objects enclosed in block instances are not selected. Objects enclosed in groups are selected.

The SelKey command selects objects by their user attribute key.

The SelValue command selects objects by their user attribute value.

The SelKeyValue command selects objects by their user attribute key and value.

The SelBlockInstance command selects all block instances.

The SelBlockInstanceNamed command selects all block instances of a specified name.

The SelGroup command selects a group by name

The SelLayer command selects all objects on a layer.

Use the scriptable command: -SelLayer

• Separate sublayer names from parent names with double colons (::).

  -SelLayer LayerA::Layer01

• Wildcard character * (asterisk) and ? (question mark) are supported.

  -SelLayer *

  -SelLayer LayerA::*

  -SelLayer Layer?01

• If the layer names contain spaces, surround the names with double-quotes.

  -SelLayer "Layer 01"

The SelLayerNumber command selects objects by layer number.

Note

• The number of the first layer is zero.
• Each layer has a number that is assigned to it for a Rhino editing session.
• The numbers may change when the model is closed and then reopened.
• This number has nothing to do with the order the layers appear in the layer dialog box.
• Deleted layers keep their number.

The SelCaptives command selects captive objects set up using the CageEdit command.

The SelControls command selects cage control objects set up using the CageEdit command.

The SelObjectsWithHistory command selects objects that have history.

The SelChildren command selects child objects of the currently selected objects.

Command-line options

(These options are not visible with pre-selection.)

All

If no objects are selected, the All option will select all child objects.

The SelParents command selects parent objects of the currently selected objects.

Command-line options

(These options are not visible with pre-selection.)

All

If no objects are selected, the All option will select all parent objects.

The SelLast command selects the last changed objects, including importing objects.

The SelPrev command re-selects the previous selection set.

The SelDup command selects objects that are geometrically identical with another object, visible, and in the same location regardless of other object properties.

The SelDupAll command selects all visible objects that are geometrically identical, including the original.

Since this command selects both the copies and the originals, it lets you find objects that have been changed by comparing a before and after version of the model.

Compare to the SelDup command, which selects all visible objects that are geometrically identical, excluding the original.

See also

Select objects

Edit objects using control points.