Lets say I am building an architectural model and want to select a few objects within a room. Currently I am unable to use the selection rectangle because when I do the initial click, it selects the floor, the walls or the stuff behind the objects. Is there any way to not select that which is under the cursor if the click is held and dragged into a rectangle? How do other people deal with this problem?
Either hold down Alt before you click and drag to force a selection window, or use SelWindow / SelCrossing to do the same.
Sam
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I have been using Alt to force window selection for a few years now, but sometimes it gives me trouble when I have to do window selection multiple times. I have to do Alt+Shift on the second forced window selection, which is the same keys to force sub-object selection (and I don’t always want to select sub-objects). The reason why I have to force window selection is because sometimes I have hatches or surfaces behind things I want to select.
Can I propose that window selection is always on? If I want to select the hatch/surface behind, I can click on it. Currently, if I click and drag, it selects the the hatch/surface behind (no different than just clicking). Why not re-purpose click and drag for window selection?
Maybe this issue has been addressed since my original post. Is there an option somewhere to make window selection the default?
Why not just Lock the Floor object or Lock the Layer it’s on?
Even though I have worked in rhino for years, I don’t have a very good/consistent workflow. Sometimes I build things, then assign them to layers. Sometimes I change my active layer and then build things. Is there a best practices/workflow tutorial somewhere. Sometimes I have a hatch layer, sometimes I have multiple hatch layers, and sometimes I do not have a hatch layer at all. I am pretty much the only one at my office that uses Rhino so I do not have good examples to follow.
This is also not just a layer issue. Maybe I want to window select the plates on a table. Is the table supposed to be on a separate layer from the plates?
But still, why can’t click and drag (when the initial click is on an object) perform a window selection? The intention of a click and drag is clearly more than a simple object selection (from a user perspective), but that is what it does right now. I understand that some people drag objects around instead of using the move command. Can this be an option?
You can if the object or the layer that object is on is Locked. That’s why I suggested it.
You can also press and hold Alt drag to the right to surround select and drag to the left for crossing select.
The fundamental change in selection behavior I fear would “break” Rhino for everyone that uses it the way it is now.
I am aware of the Alt drag solution, but my first post today outlines the issue of forcing multiple window selections.
Who uses click and drag to select the object under the initial click? Why drag at all? There is an obvious difference in intention by dragging. Regular click and click and drag should not do the same thing. I understand that changing selection behavior can be problematic, which is why I was suggesting that this be an option. I know there is a whole section dedicated to mouse options.
Hello - Alt-Shift is not the sub-object selection combo, that is Ctrl-Shift, so Alt-Shift should just work… But typing W and Enter will also force a window select.
-Pascal
Thanks for clearing that up. I realize now that I misspoke when I said that. But still, I don’t see why click and drag is not utilized for a higher purpose than is current. I wouldn’t be pushing so hard for this if it was not a pain point.
Hello - I am confused - does Alt-Click and drag a rectangle work to force a window, or not, on your system? Note Left to right window is a full window selection, right to left is a crossing selection.
-Pascal
Alt + click and drag does work to do window selection. I just wish it was the default setting for the mouse (or at least an option to make it persistent). I would prefer not to hold alt.