Is there a workaround the lack of “select similar” tool in Rhino - could be so useful in making sense out of complex imported geometry into rhino, where lots of similar objects are just found in the default layer.
It exist in Autocad!
Hello - how do you want to determine similarity?
-Pascal
Similarity can be determined in several ways, among then number of points/vertices, surface area, copied objects - just to name a few. These can be selectable options from the option menu, just as it is found in any rhino command option in the menu bar. This function already exists in AUTOCAD - one can get inspired from there (in case of any doubt of how to use this selectable option.
No one seems interested to reply…
Hi,
I know this function is very frequently used by Autocad users, I can see why. If implemented into Rhino, it would also become frequently used. These are the options offered in Autocad…please add!
Still haven’t defined what is expected with “similar”. If defined as “same type of…” most of these are either available natively or with a small script - for example SelColor allows you to select all objects of the same color as the selected object…
Select similar in CAD is multifold - and someone did post above the select similar parameters dialogue box shown in CAD. However, my settings don’t show that box. When I use select similar it is selecting by type on the same layer. Hope this helps, cause selectsimilar would be an amazing addition to Rhino 3D!
Hi Helvetosaur, in my case a “SelMaterial” would come in very handy sometimes. Any chance you have something like that scirpted in the past and willing to share or else if you have a script in that direction? I know about SelMaterialName, however it’s a bit cumbersome compared to quickly being able to select all the objects with the same material as the selection. Cheers!
Here you go…
SelObjsWithSameMatl.py (1.3 KB)
Legend! this works perfectly
Is there an easy way to modify the script so that it works with multiple objects of different materials as well? Similar to how _SelColor works
I figured someone was going to ask that sooner or later… 
Hang on…
Here ya go…
SelObjsWithSameMatl2.py (1.5 KB)
Reviving this thread if y’all don’t mind. I work in the fabrication field, and it requires a lot of imported vendor files, which I imagine are made in a variety of different programs. They are usually very detailed and very complicated. We receive mostly .iges files from vendors, but are not limited to that. Sometimes, selecting the surfaces and hitting “join” solves the problem because it takes all the single surfaces and makes them polysrf. For instance, a model could have 3000 surfaces, but hitting “join” simplifies the model down to say 30 polysrfs and 10 surfaces…manageable.
But commonly, “join” does not work because there are MANY (apparent) duplicates that prevents the join command from working. Sometimes the entire model seems to be duplicated, but for whatever reason, seldup doesn’t pick up on it.
I’ve attached a file with just one example of apparent duplicates. This is from a model with 8000+ surfaces that will not join, and seldup doesn’t find one instance. I’ve searched for some scripts and tools that could find these duplicates, but nothing has been useful. I tried one posted by Helvetosaur, but it required you to select a defining surface first, which isn’t useful because of the 1000s of surfaces, they are all different sizes, shapes, etc.
notduplicates.3dm (103.7 KB)
If something exists that I’m not aware of, please point me in the right direction. Or if there is more information you need, please let me know. 99% of my work is surfaces, not curves or solids. I’m on Rhino 7 btw.
Thank you.