| In order to work on an object, the object must first be switched on and then marked for editing. Furthermore, it can be useful to combine separate objects and manipulate them as a group. You can do this - and many other things - in the Select Objects dialog. However, you can also mark objects directly with the mouse in the viewport windows. Other functions introduced here in the Select Objects dialog can be also accessed through the popup selection that opens, when you click with the right mouse button in a viewport window.
|
| See also:
|
| Selecting Objects, Facets or Points in the Viewport
|
| Viewport - Popup Selection
|
|
|
|
 - Menu "Objects - Select Objects" - Short Cut:  + "O".
|
|
|
| When the Select Objects dialog is called up for the first time, you will note that there are already several objects displayed in the selection window. In it, in addition to the camera, are two lights and the background object. The preset illumination is the light-object "AMBIENT" (general area brightness) and the light-object "PARALLEL" (a parallel light-source). You can switch on or off the three standard objects "CAMERA", "BACKGRND" and "AMBIENT" but since there can only be only one of these basic objects you cannot delete or copy them.
|
| If a normal object or a light object is switched off it will not be included in picture generation, i.e. the lamp is not "on." Nor will a background be drawn when the picture is later generated if the background object is off. The camera is always activated as there can be no picture without a camera. However, you can also switch it off to prevent the camera-symbol being drawn in the viewport windows.
|
| The camera, background, all lights, NURBS- and analytical objects, and the skeleton bones are prefixed with a special icon, to distinguish them from the "normal" faceted objects.
|
|
|
| Just click on an object's name with the left mouse button to switch the object on or off. If you click on a parent object then also the complete subordinated branch in the hierarchy will be selected. You can switch on or off individual objects in a hierarchy branch by holding the <Ctrl>-key pressed when clicking on the object's name. After leaving the Select Objects dialog, all objects that are switched on will be drawn, but in order to manipulate individual objects - i.e. position, scale or rotate them - the relevant objects must first be marked.
|
|
|
| To mark an object, click on the object's name in the Select Objects Dialog with the right mouse button. If you click on a parent object then the complete subordinated branch in the hierarchy will be marked, too, since child objects always follow their parent's movements. But you can still switch off individual objects in a marked hierarchy (<Ctrl> + left mouse button), for instance, to mark a single object in a hierarchy for deleting.
|
| To mark or unmark additional objects, click with the right mouse while holding down the <Ctrl> button. The name of marked objects is shown in red letters on a black background.
|
| In the viewport windows the marked objects are emphasized by a different outline-color, which can be determined in the Work Colors Dialog.
|
| You can, however, also select objects for editing directly in the viewport window by clicking on them with the left mouse button. This is the simplest and quickest method in most cases.
|
| Only objects that are visible and can be directly manipulated in the viewport-windows (e.g. moved, scaled or rotated) can be marked for editing. The "AMBIENT" light (area brightness), and "BACKGRND" (background mode) objects, which cannot be manipulated in the viewports, can only be switched on or off here.
|
|
|
| While holding the <Ctrl> and the left mouse button pressed you can also drag a framework to enclose all objects you want to select. Thereafter a popup list opens and you can choose to switch on/off or mark/unmark this selection.
|
| You can also use the -shift key to select a range of objects. If you click on a name (left or right mouse button) while holding the shift-key pressed, then all objects lying between the last selected object and the currently selected object will be switched off/on or marked/unmarked, respectively.
|
|
|
| The four buttons next to the selection window enable you to simultaneously switch all objects on or off, or to (un)mark for editing all objects that have been previously switched on.
|
| The <All> button switches all objects on.
|
| The <Mark> button marks for editing all objects that are switched on.
|
| The <Unmark> button removes marks from all objects previously selected for editing.
|
| The <Off> button switches all objects off.
|
|
|
| If you mark only a single object then this object will automatically be the reference object. This means, all coordinates and object dimensions or the position of the object axes printed in the tool window's parameter fields will reference to this object.
|
| If you mark a hierarchy branch then the reference object will always be the topmost marked parent object of that branch.
|
| If a group of several independent objects or hierarchies are marked simultaneously, then you have the choice to determine the reference object by clicking on the desired object or hierarchy while holding the <Ctrl>- and -shift key pressed simultaneously. This key-combination can be applied in the viewport as well as in the Select Objects dialog. In the Select Objects dialog reference objects will be emphasized by an additional arrow following the name of the object. In the viewport, reference objects are highlighted through a different representation color (default = yellow).
|
|
|
| With help of the "Select Object Group" select box, you can create up to 8 different groups of selected and marked objects, and switch to and fro between them. The same selector box is found in the button strip directly over the viewport, so that you need not invoke the Select Objects dialog every time to change between 2 groups of objects during editing of different objects.
|
|
|
| The <Copy> button duplicates all marked objects in the selection. Each copied object is preceded by the indicator "-" to distinguish it from the original.
|
| Next to the <Copy> button is a selector box, in which you can decide how the object is duplicated.
|
| · | Normal - The copy is identical to the original.
|
| · | Mirror - Vertical - The copied object is mirrored about the central Y-coordinates.
|
| · | Mirror - Horizontal - The copied object is mirrored about the central X-coordinates.
|
| As stated at the start of this section, the objects "CAMERA," light "AMBIENT" and the background-object "BACKGRND" cannot be copied or deleted.
|
|
|
| The <Delete> button deletes all marked objects. You can also delete marked objects outside of this dialog any time by pressing the Delete button on your keyboard.
|
| Deleted objects may be recovered by pressing the Undo button on the toolbar.
|
| As mentioned at the start of this chapter, the objects "CAMERA", "AMBIENT" and "BACKGRND" cannot be copied or deleted.
|
|
|
| After double clicking on an object's name you can edit it. You can use up to 255 characters to define a name. The names of the objects "CAMERA," "AMBIENT" and "BACKGRND" cannot be changed. However, this does not apply any other light objects.
|
|
|
| If you choose the <Boolean Operation> button in the "Edit Object" tool-window, a popup selection opens with several entries for joining objects in different ways. Those entries are found also in the popup selection, which opens, when clicking with the right mouse button into a viewport window and once more in the "Edit Object" menu, thus enabling access to these functions in every work mode. Look at this chapter for a detailed description of Boolean Operations.
|