Group Seletion

One of L3DD’s most powerful features is group selection --- the ability to select multiple vertices, faces and edges in order to move them, apply symmetry, delete them, clone them, etc. Multiple faces can also be extruded, or have various tools applied to them. Edges can be group selected for moving their associated vertices.

Select All Use the Select All button in the Select Toolbar to select the entire project currently on the screen. The whole object turns yellow. Click on the button again, or the background, to reverse the selection.

Shift-Left Mouse Button The standard way of selecting a small group of vertices, faces and edges is to hold the Shift key down while selecting with the left mouse button. The first face or handle selected does not require the use of the Shift key. Each face or handle turns yellow as it is selected. To remove a selected vertex face or edge from the group use Shift-left-click again to deselect it. The group is cancelled as soon as you-left-click on the background, or left-click on something without holding the Shift key down.

Double Click Component Selection If the project has been subdivided into components, a left-button double click on any face of a component will select the entire component. By holding the Shift key down you can select components additively via double-left clicks. Components can also be selected with the ‘Select Component’ command, which is in the Edit Menu and the Background and Face context menus.

Symmetrical Selection Shift-Left Click is also used to apply the current symmetry elements when selecting a group of faces or vertices. In selecting a single face or vertex, Shift-left click multiplies the selection according to the symmetry elements present. For example, if you use Shift-left click on one face of an octahedron with all three mirrors active, all eight faces are simultaneously selected (the octahedron must be centered on the origin).

Select Mode To enter Select Mode click on the Select Mode button in the Select Toolbar. In this mode you drag a rectangle with the left mouse button to select all faces and vertices that fall wholly or partly within the rectangle. These include faces and vertices on the far sides of objects. To deselect everything again drag a small rectangle on an empty part of the screen. A group selection can be fine tuned back in Normal Mode using shift-left button. To return to Normal Mode just click on the Select Mode button again.

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Select by Numbers Use the the Select Vertices command in the Vertices Submenu of the Edit Menu Select Faces command in the Faces Submenu of the Edit Menu, to select a groups of vertices or faces by entering a range of vertex or face numbers. To do this just enter this starting and ending numbers in the resulting dialog boxes. To enter the maximum possible vertex or face numbers, just enter a number larger than necessary -- e.g., ‘99999’.