Selecting Objects

In order to do anything in Blender, you need to select objects. What you’ll notice first is that you select objects with the mouse’s right click! Users often go crazy when they learn this because most programs use a left click. There are at least a couple of reasons (probably more) for the RMB selections:

It’s ergonomic: Research over several years has shown that about 90 percent of the time, you use only left clicks in most programs. Blender’s right-click selections share the workload between two fingers, so in the long run your hand is healthier.

Blender is different: Blender doesn’t follow conventional software standards and that’s why it does things in a new way. The Blender UI changes the paradigm other software uses: for some actions, such as selecting an object, you use a right click, while for confirming an action or clicking various buttons you still use a left click. Also, you’re supposed to work with shortcuts in Blender, so there is no need for a right-click menu. As a plus, left clicking alone has another use in Blender: it sets the 3D cursor location (you’ll learn about that soon).

Selected objects will be highlighted with an outline. While you select, you can press Shift + RMB to add or subtract objects from the selection. There are also various tools you can use to select a group of objects, including Box Selection, Lasso Selection, and Paint Selection (see Figure 2.9).

Box Selection (A): Press B and LMB drag to determine the size and position of a box. By default, any objects inside the box will be added to the current selection, but you can subtract them by dragging the box with MMB instead of LMB.

Lasso Selection (B): Press Ctrl + LMB and drag to draw the lasso shape over the objects you want to select. The objects inside the lasso will be added to the current selection.

Paint Selection (C): Press C and a circle will appear around the cursor. Drag the scroll wheel to pick the size of the “brush,” and then click and drag with LMB to add to the selection or with MMB to subtract.

Figure 2.9 Selection methods to select groups of objects

If you want to select or deselect all the objects in the scene, just press A.

When you select multiple objects at once, the last one selected (and only the last one) will become the active object and it will have a brighter highlight. The active object has several different uses, such as providing a pivot point or for copying its attributes to the rest of the objects in the selection. However, if you have multiple objects selected and you apply a modifier, for example, it will be applied to the active object, not to the whole selection.