The Selection rollout provides tools for accessing different sub-object levels, working with named selections and normals, display settings, and shows information about selected entities.
When you first access the Modify panel with an editable mesh selected, you're at the Object level, with access to several functions available as described in Editable Mesh (Object). You can toggle the various sub-object levels, and access relevant functions by clicking the buttons at the top of the Selection rollout.
Clicking a button here is the same as choosing a sub-object level in the Modifier Stack display. Click the button again to turn it off and return to the Object level.
The Selection rollout also allows you to display and scale vertex and face normals.
Interface
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Vertex -
Accesses the Vertex sub-object level, which lets you select a vertex beneath the cursor; region selection selects vertices within the region.
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Edge -
Accesses the Edge sub-object level, which lets you select the edge of a face or polygon beneath the cursor; region selection selects multiple edges within the region. At the Edge sub-object level, selected hidden edges are displayed as dashed lines, allowing for more precise selection.
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Face -
Accesses the Face sub-object level, which lets you select a triangular face beneath the cursor; region selection selects multiple triangular faces within the region. If a selected face has a hidden edge and Shade Selected Faces is off, the edge is displayed as a dashed line.
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Polygon -
Accesses the Polygon sub-object level, which lets you select all coplanar faces (defined by the value in the Planar Threshold spinner) beneath the cursor. Usually, a polygon is the area you see within the visible wire edges. Region selection selects multiple polygons within the region.
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Element -
Accesses the Element sub-object level, which lets you select all contiguous faces in an object. Region selection lets you select multiple elements.
- By Vertex
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When on, and you click a vertex, any sub-objects (at the current level) that use that vertex are selected. Also works with Region Select.
Note: When By Vertex is on, you can select sub-objects only by clicking a vertex, or by region. - Ignore Backfacing
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When on, selection of sub-objects selects only those sub-objects whose normals are visible in the viewport. When off (the default), selection includes all sub-objects, regardless of the direction of their normals.
Note: The state of the Backface Cull setting in the Display panel does not affect sub-object selection. Thus, if Ignore Backfacing is off, you can still select sub-objects, even if you can't see them. - Ignore Visible Edges
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This is available only at the Polygon sub-object level. When Ignore Visible Edges is off (the default), and you click a face, the selection will not go beyond the visible edges no matter what the setting of the Planar Thresh spinner. When this is on, face selection ignores the visible edges, using the Planar Thresh setting as a guide.
Generally, if you want to select a "facet" (a coplanar collection of faces), you set the Planar Threshold to 1.0. On the other hand, if you're trying to select a curved surface, increase the value depending on the amount of curvature.
- Planar Thresh (Planar Threshold) Specifies the threshold value that determines which faces are coplanar for Polygon face selection.
- Show Normals
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When on, 3ds Max displays normals in the viewports. Normals are displayed as blue lines.
Show normals is not available in Edge mode.
- Scale Specifies the size of the normals displayed in the viewport when Show is on.
- Delete Isolated Vertices
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When on, 3ds Max eliminates any isolated vertices when you delete a contiguous selection of sub-objects. When off, deleting a selection leaves all vertices intact. Not Available at the Vertex sub-object level. Default=on.
An isolated vertex is one that has no associated face geometry. For example, if Delete Isolated Vertices is off and you delete a rectangular selection of four polygons, all clustered about a single central point, the point remains, suspended in space.
- Hide
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Hides any selected sub-objects. Edges cannot be hidden.
Tip: The Select Invert command on the 3ds Max Edit menu is useful for selecting faces to hide. Select the faces you want to focus on, choose Edit
Select Invert, then click the Hide button.
- Unhide All
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Restores any hidden objects to visibility. Hidden vertices can be unhidden only when in Vertex sub-object level.
Named Selections
These functions are primarily for copying named selection sets of sub-objects between similar objects, and between comparable modifiers and editable objects. For example, you can apply a Mesh Select modifier to a sphere, create a named selection set of edges, and then copy the selection to a different sphere that's been converted to an editable mesh object. You can even copy the selection set to a different type of object, because the selection is identified by the entities' ID numbers.
The standard procedure is to create a selection set, name it, and then use Copy to duplicate it into the copy buffer. Next, select a different object and/or modifier, go to the same sub-object level as you were in when you copied the set, and click Paste.
- Copy
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Places a named selection into the copy buffer.
- Paste
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Pastes a named selection from the copy buffer.