Selection commands

Dedicated selection commands let you select by object properties.

Selection categories

All objects

Action order

Annotation

Blocks

Capture

Cages

Control Points

Curves

Duplicates

History

Invert

Layers and Groups

Lights

Meshes

Object type

Point

Polysurfaces

Properties

Surfaces

Select object basics

Note

• When you make a window selection, objects completely enclosed in the selection rectangle are selected.

• To make the mouse always use either a window or crossing selection, see Mouse Options, Mouse group select.

• Search for SelectionWindowStrokeColor and SelectionWindowFillColor in Tools > Options > Advanced to change the colors of the window selection rectangle.

  

See: SelWindow

Note

• When you make a crossing selection, all objects inside or partially inside the selection rectangle are selected.

• To make the mouse always use either a window or crossing selection, see Mouse Options, Mouse group select.

• Search for SelectionWindowCrossingStrokeColor and SelectionWindowCrossingFillColor in Tools > Options > Advanced to change the colors of the crossing selection rectangle.

  

Selection menu

If several objects appear to be stacked in the area of the cursor and Rhino is not able to tell which one you want to select, the Selection Menu appears.

When the Selection Menu pops up, the current object and its designation in the list highlight.

To configure the selection menu, see: Selection Menu Options, or right-click the Selection Menu title bar.

Select sub-parts of objects

For many commands, you can select sub-parts of objects or specified object types to allow you to restrict selection in a tight area.

Examples include:

• Curve and surface control points
• Polysurface and extrusion faces and edge curves
• Surface edge curves
• Mesh vertices, faces, boundaries, and edges
• SubD surface points, faces, boundaries and edges.
• Objects within a group
• Polycurve and polyline segments
• Surface, polysurfaces, and extrusion object vertices. These are the equivalent of the points enabled by SolidPtOn.
• Whole objects in block instances.

Selecting sub-objects with a mouse

You can select sub-objects with a mouse before a command starts (pre-select) or during a command (post-select).

Restrictions for blocks:

• Only whole objects in blocks can be selected.
  For example, you can select a box in a block, but you cannot select its faces or edges.
• Whole objects and sub-objects in nested blocks cannot be selected.

Pre-select/Post-select

For commands that require object input, the objects can be selected before or after the command starts. Command prompts or options may be slightly different in the two methods. When objects are pre-selected the possibilities include:

• The command determines that the objects can be used and proceeds without further prompting.
• The command may proceed, but the result may be unexpected.
• The command cannot determine which objects are to be used and the pre-selected objects are unselected, and you are prompted to select specific objects again.
• Options may not appear at the command prompt.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The Select command selects objects.

Toolbar	Menu	Shortcut
Select Standard	Edit Select Objects > All Objects	Ctrl (CMD) + A

The SelAll command selects all objects.

Toolbar	Menu	Shortcut
Select Standard	Edit Select Objects > None	Esc

The SelNone command deselects all objects.

The SelNone command does not run inside a command to clear pre-selected objects.

Toolbar	Menu	Shortcut
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.	C

The SelCrossing command selects with a crossing window.

Toolbar	Menu	Alias
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.	W

The SelWindow command selects with an enclosing window.

Toolbar	Menu
Geometry Fix Select Select Points STL Tools Visibility	Edit Select Objects > Invert

The Invert command deselects all selected objects and selects all visible objects that were not previously selected.

Toolbar	Menu
Analyze Diagnostics Geometry Fix	Analyze Diagnostics > Select Bad Objects

The SelBadObjects command selects all objects that do not pass Check.

Delete or rebuild the object.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Meshes Select Polysurfaces Select Surfaces	Edit Select Objects > Visible Surfaces and Meshes

The SelVisible command selects all surfaces or meshes that are in front of other objects in the active viewport with a crossing selection.

Note: The SelVisible command does not work with block instances since they are drawn using their own draw lists that have no relationship with other objects in the model.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Small Objects

The SelSmall command selects all objects smaller than the specified size.

Toolbar	Menu
Organic Select Select Points	Edit Select Objects Area and Volume Select Lasso Control Points > Select Control Points > Lasso

The Lasso command selects objects by sketching an irregular shape around them.

The lasso uses the Tracking lines color set in Color Options.

Command-line options

SelectionMode

Undo

Removes the last point of the lasso path.

Note

• Objects outside the viewport boundaries but within the boundaries of the selection object can be selected.

• The view can be panned during the selection to bring more objects into view.

• Use the CullControlPolygon command to hide control points and mesh vertices behind objects.

• Use Selection Filters to change what types of objects/sub-objects are selectable.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Boundary

The SelBoundary command selects objects based on a boundary defined by an existing closed curve.

Command-line options
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.
Precise	Yes The selection wire boundary is used as the boundary. The testing is done in double-precision floating point in screen space. If any part of the object is even slightly outside the selection boundary, it will not be included. No A selection mask bitmap is built from the boundary, and the objects are tested against that mask. The testing is done using a bitmap selection mask, which effectively adds an average of half a pixel wide fuzz zone around the selection boundary. Objects that visually seem as though they should be included, but are actually partially outside the boundary, are still included.

Toolbar	Menu
Select SubD Tools	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Brush

The SelBrush command selects objects based on painting a thick brush stroke.

Command-line options

Curve

Select an existing curve that represents the brush stroke.

Polyline

SelectionMode

BrushWidth

SelectThroughObjects

RealTimeSelection

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Brush

The SelBrushPoints command selects points, control points, and points within a point cloud with a drag of the mouse to simulate a brush stroke.

To unselect, press Ctrl while brushing selected points.

Command-line options
Curve	Select an existing curve that represents the brush stroke.
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.
BrushWidth	Specifies the brush width in pixels.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Circular

The SelCircular command draws a circle to select objects.

Command-line options
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Box

The SelBox commands selects objects with point samples inside/outside/crossing a box-shaped volume.

It will not select objects that should not be included, but may miss an object if the point samples miss the selection box.

Command-line options
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Pipe

The SelVolumePipe command selects objects inside, outside, or crossing a pipe-shaped volume.

Command-line options
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Area and Volume Select > Sphere

The SelVolumeSphere command selects objects inside, outside, or crossing a spherical volume.

Command-line options
SelectionMode	Window Selects objects completely covered by the selection object or brush stroke. Crossing Selects objects crossed by the selection object or brush stroke. InvertWindow Selects objects completely outside the selection object or brush stroke. InvertCrossing Selects objects outside and crossed by selection object or brush stroke.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelVolumeObject command selects objects enclosed by an extrusion object, surface, polysurface, or mesh.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Annotation Style

The SelAnnotationStyle command selects annotation objects based on their style.

Toolbar	Menu
Drafting Select New in V7	Edit Select Objects > Dimensions

The SelDim command selects all dimensions.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Dimensions	Edit Select Objects > Dimensions with Style Override

The SelDimOverride command selects dimension objects that have style settings changed and different from the associated annotation styles.

See also

SelDimTextOverride

Selects dimension objects with non-default dimension text.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Dimensions	Edit Select Objects > Dimensions with Text Override

The SelDimTextOverride command selects dimension objects with non-default dimension text.

See also

SelDimOverride

Selects dimension objects that have style settings changed and different from the associated annotation styles.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelDot command selects all annotation dots.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Edit Select Objects > Leaders

The SelLeader command selects all leaders.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Text

The SelText command selects all text.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Add Next U

The AddNextU command adds the control point in the positive u direction to the selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Add Next V

The AddNextV command adds the control point in the positive v direction to the selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Add Previous U

The AddPrevU command adds the control point in the negative u direction to the selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Add Previous V

The AddPrevV command adds the control point in the negative v direction to the selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Next U

The NextU command selects the control point in the positive u direction.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Next V

The NextV command selects the control point in the positive v direction.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Previous U

The PrevU command selects the control point in the negative u direction.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Previous V

The PrevV command selects the control point in the negative v direction.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Not on menus.

The SelControlPoint command selects all control points on a curve or surface.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Not on menus.

The SelControlPointRegion command selects a range of control points on a curve or surface.

Note

• If curve or surface control points are pre-selected, the command expands the selection to cover all control points between the limits set by the selected control points.
• If nothing is selected, the command asks to select a curve or surface, and then asks for two points that define a region of control points to select.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Connected

The SelConnected command selects adjacent control points of a curve, surface, mesh, or SubD.

It also selects adjacent SubD surface points (turned on by EditPtOn ).

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Select U

The SelU command selects all control points in the u direction.

Note:

When Make control polygon pickable is enabled, double-clicking a control polygon selects all control points in the row. Hold down Ctrl(CMD) and double-click to deselect a row of control points in selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Select UV

The SelUV command selects all control points in the u and v directions.

Note:

When Make control polygon pickable is enabled, double-clicking a control polygon selects all control points in the row. Hold down Ctrl(CMD) and double-click to deselect a row of control points in selection.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Select V

The SelV command selects all control points in the v direction.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Clipping Plane

The SelClippingPlane command selects all clipping planes.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelDetail command selects all Detail view rectangles in the current Layout viewport.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Polysurfaces	Edit Select Objects > Extrusions

The SelExtrusion command selects all objects created as light-weight extrusions.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Hatches

The SelHatch command selects hatch objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Lights

The SelLight command selects all lights.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelMappingWidget command selects all texture mapping widgets.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelNamedViewWidget command selects all named view widget objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Surfaces	Not on menus.

The SelPicture command selects all objects created with the Picture command.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Select Curves	Edit Select Objects > Curves

The SelCrv command selects all curves.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves	Not on menus.

The SelShortCrv command selects all curves less than a specified length.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves	Not on menus.

The SelClosedCrv command selects all closed curves.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Select Chain	Edit Select Objects > Chain

The SelChain command selects curve or surface edges that touch end-to-end.

Chain options
ChainContinuity	Controls the level of continuity required between segments to be selected.
Direction	Forward Selects curves in the positive curve direction. Backward Selects curves in the negative curve direction. Both Selects curves in both the positive and negative curve direction.
GapTolerance	If the gap between two edges/curves is less than this value, the chain selection will ignore the gap and will select the next segment.
AngleTolerance	When Continuity is set to Tangency, if the angle between two edges/curves is less than this value, the chain selection will consider the criteria for continuity met and will select the next segment.
Undo	Undo last segment selection.
Next	Select next segment.
All	Select all segments.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves	Edit Select Objects > Lines

The SelLine command selects all lines and straight, higher degree curves. For example, a straight degree three curve with four points will be selected, but a degree three curve with five or more points will not be selected.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves	Edit Select Objects > Polylines

The SelPolyline command selects all polylines.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Meshes	Not on menus.

The SelClosedMesh command selects all closed mesh objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Meshes Select SubD SubD Tools Texture Tools	Not on menus.

The SelEdgeLoop command selects a loop of mesh/SubD edges by picking an edge in the loop.

The SelEdgeRing command selects a ring of mesh/SubD edges by picking an edge in the ring.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Meshes Select SubD SubD Tools	Not on menus.

The SelFaceLoop command selects a loop of mesh/SubD faces by picking an edge between any two faces in the loop.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Select Meshes	Edit Select Objects > Polygon Meshes

The SelMesh command selects all mesh objects.

Toolbar	Menu
STL Tools	Not on menus.

The SelNakedMeshEdgePt command selects unwelded vertices on polygon mesh edges.

Note

• Polygon mesh vertices are not completely surrounded by faces are displayed.
• Joined meshes, such as those made by the MeshBox command, have naked mesh edge points where the sub-meshes are joined.
• To eliminate naked mesh edge points, match them in pairs, and then use the Weld command to make a single mesh that cannot be exploded. Edges that formerly rendered sharp will shade rounded, unless you use the FlatShade command.

Command-line options
IncludeUnweldedEdges	The IncludeUnweldedEdges option determines whether points on edges that are unjoined or only naked edge vertices will be included. This is good for troubleshooting MatchMeshEdge.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Meshes	Not on menus.

The SelOpenMesh command selects all open mesh objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelClosedSubD command selects all closed subdivision objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelOpenSubD command selects all open subdivision objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelSubD command selects all subdivision objects.

SelSubDFriendlyCrv

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves Select SubD	Edit Select Objects > SubD Friendly Curves

The SelSubDFriendlyCrv command selects SubD friendly (compatible) curves.

• SubD friendly curves are degree 3 uniform curves that have the second point on both ends locked. The first and last three control points are always collinear.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Select Points	Edit Control Points > Select Control Points > Invert

The InvertPt command deselects all selected control or edit points and selects all visible control or edit points that were not previously selected.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Points

The SelPt command selects all point objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelPtCloud command selects all point cloud objects.

Toolbar	Menu	Alias
Select Select Polysurfaces	Edit Select Objects > Polysurfaces	SelPolysurface

The SelPolysrf command selects all polysurfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Polysurfaces	Not on menus.

The SelClosedPolysrf command selects all closed polysurfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Edge Tools Select Polysurfaces	Not on menus.

The SelOpenPolysrf command selects all open polysurfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelNonManifold command selects non-manifold polysurface objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Select Surfaces	Edit Select Objects > Surfaces

The SelSrf command selects all surfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Surfaces	Not on menus.

The SelClosedSrf command select all closed surfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Surfaces	Not on menus.

The SelOpenSrf command selects all open surfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Surfaces	Not on menus.

The SelTrimmedSrf command selects all trimmed surfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Surfaces	Not on menus.

The SelUntrimmedSrf command selects all untrimmed surfaces.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Color

The SelColor command selects all objects of a specified display color or material diffuse color depending on the display mode of the active viewport.

Command-line options
Color	Select a color from the Select Color dialog box.
RGBA	Select color using red, green, blue, alpha values.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelID command selects objects by object ID number.

Toolbar	Menu
Select Curves	Not on menus.

The SelLinetype command selects objects with the specified linetype.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelMaterialName command selects objects/sub-objects with the same render material name assigned by object or by layer.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Object Name

The SelName command selects object by name.

Toolbar	Menu
Not on toolbars.	Not on menus.

The SelRenderColor command selects objects by their (diffuse) render color. Objects enclosed in block instances are not selected. Objects enclosed in groups are selected.

Command-line options
Color	Select a color from the Select Color dialog box.
RGB	Select color using red, green, blue values.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelKey command selects objects by their user attribute key.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelValue command selects objects by their user attribute value.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelKeyValue command selects objects by their user attribute key and value.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Block Instances

The SelBlockInstance command selects all block instances.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Block Name

The SelBlockInstanceNamed command selects all block instances of a specified name.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Group Name

The SelGroup command selects a group by name

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > By Layer

The SelLayer command selects all objects on a layer.

Command-line options
Select	Allows selecting an object in the model to specify the layer.

Use the scriptable command: -SelLayer

• Separate sublayer names from parent names with double colons (::).

  -SelLayer LayerA::Layer01

• Wildcard character * (asterisk) and ? (question mark) are supported.

  -SelLayer *

  -SelLayer LayerA::*

  -SelLayer Layer?01

• If the layer names contain spaces, surround the names with double-quotes.

  -SelLayer "Layer 01"

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelLayerNumber command selects objects by layer number.

Note

• The number of the first layer is zero.
• Each layer has a number that is assigned to it for a Rhino editing session.
• The numbers may change when the model is closed and then reopened.
• This number has nothing to do with the order the layers appear in the layer dialog box.
• Deleted layers keep their number.

Toolbar	Menu
Cage	Not on menus.

The SelCaptives command selects captive objects set up using the CageEdit command.

Toolbar	Menu
Cage	Not on menus.

The SelControls command selects cage control objects set up using the CageEdit command.

Toolbar	Menu
History Select Select History	Edit Select Objects > History > Objects with History

The SelObjectsWithHistory command selects objects that have history.

Toolbar	Menu
History Select History	Edit Select Objects > History > Children

The SelChildren command selects child objects of the currently selected objects.

Command-line options

(These options are not visible with pre-selection.)

All

If no objects are selected, the All option will select all child objects.

DeselectOthersBeforeSelect

Toolbar	Menu
History Select History	Edit Select Objects > History > Parents

The SelParents command selects parent objects of the currently selected objects.

Command-line options

(These options are not visible with pre-selection.)

All

If no objects are selected, the All option will select all parent objects.

DeselectOthersBeforeSelect

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Last Created Objects

The SelLast command selects the last changed objects, including importing objects.

Command-line options
DeselectOthersBeforeSelect	Deselect currently selected objects before selecting the last changed objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Previous Selection

The SelPrev command re-selects the previous selection set of objects or sub-objects.

Command-line options
DeselectOthersBeforeSelect	Deselect currently selected objects before selecting the previous objects.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Edit Select Objects > Duplicate Objects

The SelDup command selects objects that are geometrically identical with another object, visible, and in the same location regardless of other object properties.

Toolbar	Menu
Select	Not on menus.

The SelDupAll command selects all visible objects that are geometrically identical, including the original.

Since this command selects both the copies and the originals, it lets you find objects that have been changed by comparing a before and after version of the model.

Compare to the SelDup command, which selects all visible objects that are geometrically identical, excluding the original.

See also

Select objects

Edit objects using control points.