Methods of Selection in Edit Mode of Blender

Objective: There are many ways of selecting in Blender. This post goes over the various methods and explains why certain methods are preferred in certain situations over others. The methods are ranked by the most used to least used method.

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Step 1: Right Click Selection

[Right Click] is the way to select something, as this may not be intuitive. As you select something the object with become highlighted.

Step 2: Multiple Selection

To select multiple objects [Shift]+[Right Click].

Step 3: Deselection

If you [Right Click] on an already selected item than it will deselect it. The important note here is that [Shift]+(any selection method)= deselection In addition if you accidentally select something you can always undo with [Ctrl]+[Z]. Or redo with [Shift]+[Ctrl]+[Z].

Step 4: Select All

[A] to select everything. [A] again to deselect everything.

Step 5: Edge Loop

[Alt] + [Right Click] on an edge between two vertices. This will only work as well as your topology is.

Step 6: Vertices, Edges, Faces

Usually you should select the vertices, but occassionally it is smart to select the faces or edges. This can be done by changing what you want to select as seen in the image below. This can also be done witht the hotkey [Ctrl]+[Tab].

Step 7: Box Selection

[B] This is an excellent method to select that allows you to draw a box around what will be selected. This is especially useful when using it in a view such as front view [1] (and orthographic [5]). Remember that you can also deselect with box mode with [Shift]+[B].

Step 8: Circle Selection

[C] This will allow you to color over your model and anything within the circle will be selected. You can adjust the circle size by scrolling. When finished with your selection push [Enter] to apply or [Esc] to exit.

Step 9: Lasso Selection

[Ctrl] + [Right Click Drag] Draw the shape around what you want to select.

Step 10: Vertex Group Selection

This is a really awesome feature that you will need to know for more advance use of blender. Here are the steps which can also be seen below:

Make your SelectionGo into the Object Data MenuClick on the Add button to create a new vertex groupName your vertex group (optional, but makes it easy to work with)Click assign to make your selection apply to the vertex groupAt any point in time you can select this vertex group

Step 11: Wireframe

This is not a selection, it is view that will make selection easier. You can go into wireframe with [Z] or using the button seen below. Note that your selection will be both the front and back of your model now.

Step 12: See Through Selection

Another way to select everything in front and in back is to turn on the see through feature by pushing the button. Your model will go see through as seen below.

Step 13: Linked Selection

[L] This is extremely useful as it will guess selections for you. An example is when you want to split an object into two you can use this to select the object. You can also slowly adjust the selection with [Ctrl] + [+] or [-] to grow or shrink it as seen below.

Step 14: Invert Selection

[Ctrl]+[I] will make what you have selected and deselect that and make everything else selected.

Step 15: Random & Pattern Selections

There are also many other methods of selection which you can find within the select menu. The two I will highlight in this post are Random and Checker. Note that you can change the settings of the random select with the small options tat appera in the bottom left hand corner.