Selection Basics

Selection is central to almost every MeshTools workflow.

Basic Selection Modes

Replace selection

• Left-click in the viewport to replace the current selection.
• Left-drag to box-select.

Toggle selection

• Hold Cmd on macOS or Ctrl on other platforms while clicking or box-selecting.
• Matching entities are toggled instead of replacing the selection.

Path selection

• Hold Shift while clicking.
• MeshTools extends selection along a path from the current anchor when that path is available.

Selection Filters Matter

Selection always respects the active edge/face/point filter toggles. For example, if only faces are enabled, clicking cannot pick edges or points.

Reading The Current Selection

Use the bottom Selection tab to inspect:

• total selected entities,
• selected face count and IDs,
• selected edge count and IDs,
• selected point count and IDs.

This is the best place to confirm what the tools will operate on.

Invert Selection

• Invert selection flips the current selection for the enabled filter types only.
• If faces are enabled and edges are disabled, only faces are inverted.

Select Edge Loop

Select edge loop works from an edge selection.

• Start by selecting an edge.
• Trigger the command once to pick the first loop candidate.
• Repeating the shortcut cycles through alternative loop candidates for the same seed edge.

If the current edge cannot define a loop, MeshTools explains why in the console.