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62 Chapter 3: Selecting Objects
becauseyoufirstselecttheobject(thenoun)and
then select the command (the verb).
Identifying the S election I nter face
In the user interface, selection commands or
functions appear in the following areas:
•Maintoolbar
•Editmenu
• Quad menu (whi le objects are selected)
•Toolsmenu
•TrackView
•Displaypanel
•SchematicView
Thebuttonsonthemaintoolbarareadirectmeans
of selection. The Selection Floater, available from
theToolsmenu,iseasytouse,whiletheEditmenu
provides more general selection commands, plus
methods of selecti ng objects by property. Track
View and Schematic View let you select objects
from a hierarchical list.
Selecting From the Quad M enu
The quickest w ay to select an object is from the
Transform quadrant of the quad menu, where you
can easily switch among the Move, Rotate, Scale,
and Select modes. Choose any of these and click
on the object you want to select in the viewport.
Selecting by Name
Another quick way to select an object is to
use keyb oard shortcuts for the Select by Name
command. Press H on the keybo ard then select
theobjectbynamefromthelist.Thisisthemost
foolproof way to ensure you selec t the correct
object w hen you have many overlapping objects
in the scene.
Selection B uttons
Another way to select an object is to click one of
these buttons, t hen click t he object.
Select Object
Selection Objects
Select And Move
Select And Rotate
Select And Scale
Select And Manipulate
The main toolbar has several selection-mode
buttons. When any of t he selection buttons is
active, the program is in a state where you can
select objects by clicking t hem.
Of the selection buttons, you use Select Object
or Selection Floater when you wan t selection
only. The remaining buttons let you both select
and t ransform or manipulate your selection.
Use transforms to move, rotate, and scale your
selection. See
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
Objects (page 1–401)
and Select and Manipulate
(page 2–26)
.
Crossing Versus Wi ndow S election
The Selection toggle, available from the
toolbar, switches between Window and Crossing
modes when you select by region. In Window
mode, you select only the o bjects within the
selection. In Crossing mode, you select all objects
w ithin the region, plus any objects crossing the
boundaries of the region.