Following up on this 9 year old request, is there a chance we will see a modern mesh selection highlight in our lifetimes ?
Here’s Rhino vs Blender for example :
I’m not saying Rhino’s highlight is “stupid” or “silly”, but let’s just say it’s somewhat impractical.
I’m not sure what you mean by pointing me to a discussion that has 396 posts.
Am I supposed to read them all and discover somewhere in there something related to my request ?
If you click the shared link, it takes you to what you’re looking for.
This way it should be even clearer.
All I need to do is learn Italian first…
Now if you’re trying to tell me you can hack a display mode to create a mesh outline, that’s not what I’m after.
I want the outline to appear when a mesh is selected, like in most modern software except Rhino.
You don’t need to learn anything — you just need to watch how a dense mesh can be displayed in Rhino in the video I recorded for you.
While I was recording, I was also looking at other things, so the voices you hear in the background are unrelated.
If you expect it to work exactly like in Blender, I’m sorry, but at the moment it doesn’t work that way.
What you see in the recording is the most useful solution available. You’ll see dense objects — including heavy files coming from ZBrush — and as shown in the video, the mesh turns yellow when I select the object. At least you can hide the mesh wireframe.
OK, so you’re suggesting a workaround.
Why it doesn’t work for me : I don’t need the whole mesh shading to turn yellow, but I DO need the wireframe for many mesh-related tasks.
The solution found so far is the only workable one. I don’t think you’ll find any other real alternatives.
You need to enable or disable it in the Display section, on the right side, under “Mesh wires.”
“To simulate the switch” in Blender from Object Mode (where you see the selection overlay) to Edit Mode (where you see the wireframe), this is what I do in Rhino when working with meshes.
When I need to see the wireframe, I turn Mesh wires ON.
When I don’t need the wireframe and just want to move, transform, or simply view the object, I turn Mesh wires OFF.
This works properly only if, in Display Options (in the specific display mode you’re using — in my case:
Display Modes → Shaded → Objects), you enable:
“Shade highlighted selected meshes.”
That way, when Mesh wires are off, the selected mesh is still clearly highlighted.
As far as I know, there are no other real alternatives. I’ve tried different approaches. I also work with Blender and ZBrush, and Rhino simply doesn’t function in the same way when it comes to selection overlay and edit visualization.
Here is an example based on what I told you earlier: I enable or disable the wireframe only when I need it.
For example, here I have some mesh parts — the floral elements — and some NURBS parts. In the screenshot, as you can see, the wireframe is not visible. However, while I was working on it, I would enable the wireframe depending on the situation. It’s a bit like entering Edit Mode in Blender.
Err… I know that mesh wires can be turned on or off.
This thread is about selection highlight and the lack of silhouette highlight in Rhino.
On another topic, you seem to be doing amazing stuff !
The first image shows a personal sculpting project I made with ZBrush, combined with some elements generated with Grasshopper.
The second image, actually, is from an industrial project that I probably shouldn’t have shown. It was simply the only example I had at the moment that partially explained how I work, at least regarding the mesh selection issue.
My suggestion, if you want a selection behavior similar to Blender, is to create a new post with clear screenshots or a short video explaining exactly what you want and why. That way the Rhino developers can better understand the problem.
I’ve seen this issue mentioned several times before, but so far there hasn’t been a real solution.
If multiple users request the same feature, there’s a higher chance the developers might consider implementing it.
Here you can find several example requests made on the forum, where Rhino issues and feature implementation requests are explained.
Hi .Try this option; it works well, but the issue is that it treats everything as curves and surfaces. It should be restricted to meshes only.
At the moment I’m not in front of my PC. Could you share an image of how it should appear?
If it opens like this, it’s the first link I shared that takes you to that type of view, but it works for surfaces.
Uploading: Screenshot_2026-03-04-14-38-45-120_com.android.chrome.jpg…
@PowerShape Interesting, I tried it, but you always have to keep the wireframe turned off (to simulate Blender’s normal viewing mode).
I removed it because it interferes with surfaces. It’s a real shame, because it almost simulated Blender’s silhouette highlight. Unfortunately it can’t be enabled only for meshes, and the outline isn’t uniform — silhouette curves also appear on internal areas. It was close, though.
Is it possible to enable this option only for meshes? @Gijs @theoutside
Interesting-
Question, (I’m not familiar with that piece of software) are you ever in a situation on that package where you have to interact with the individual face, edge or verts of a polygon in that mesh?
In Blender, in the standard mode, when you click on a mesh the whole object is highlighted through its silhouette.
When you press TAB, you enter Edit Mode. In Edit Mode you can press 1 to select vertices, 2 to select edges, and 3 to select faces. Pressing TAB again lets you quickly switch in and out.
It would be very useful if Rhino worked in a similar way. For example, the TAB key could toggle the wireframe on and off, instead of having to manually activate or deactivate it in the Display settings. This would make the workflow much faster.
At the same time, when selecting a mesh, it would be helpful if Rhino highlighted the entire silhouette of the mesh, similar to how Blender does it.
Yep, that’s my wish too !
No more horsing around with hidden “test” display modes, please.
Hi Olivier -
I added this thread to RH-31739 Selected object highlighting - more options
Many users have requested this for other types of geometry as well. Especially hatches and annotations are mentioned frequently.
Why do you say that this is not something that could be used on surfaces? What about SubDs?
Kyle was asking how it looks when (possibly not adjacent) subfaces (or edges/vertices) of a mesh are selected.
-wim
Then it should be possible to create a “Selection highlight” tab with a check-list of all the sorts of objects that could potentially have a highlight, right ?
Here’s what the selection highlights looks like in Blender for Nurbs, Mesh and Sub-Ds, in Shaded and Wireframe mode :
@wim I can immediately recognize the selection when it’s a surface versus a mesh. However, when that option is enabled it becomes confusing, because it behaves as if it were a mesh. As for NURBS, they shouldn’t behave like meshes during selection.
The silhouette option should be located here only for meshes and SubD. It should be placed here.
@wim The NURBS selection is correct the way it currently works, because I can see all the edges, including those on the back side of the object.
If it behaved like the silhouette highlight, that would actually make things worse.
When I work on NURBS objects I often need to create curves or points, or edit elements on the back side of the surface. Seeing all the edges allows me to have full control and visibility while modeling.
The silhouette highlight on NURBS objects would only create confusion and make the workflow more difficult.
Here in the video you can understand why.
@theoutside I uploaded this video on YouTube for you.
I duplicated the same object so you can see its behavior in the viewport.
