Blender | Drag select & deselect like Maya
READ UPDATE FIRST(SEE BELOW).. Was just trying to figure out how to drag select(lasso in Blender) multiple objects in Blender. To do this you do not use the main action button on your mouse(as you do in Maya), rather by default you would use the left click to drag select(as right click is the main action button in Blender). Since I have my Blender set up like Maya where my main action button is the left click - drag selecting for me was done through holding the right click instead. This did not seem very intuitive or efficient at least for me, so I have changed this set up so that all of my drag selecting and deselecting needs are assign to my left click/main action button. To do this I went into my Blender user preferences(File > User Preferences) and then navigated to the input tab and searched for lasso. From here I dropped down the two “Lasso Select” options under the “3D View” section - This is where you can adjust the hot key set ups for both drag/lasso selecting and deselecting. For the first option I simply changed the middle drop down(mouse button) to “Left”. Then for the second one for deselecting, I also changed the mouse button to “Left” and for the secondary button I just checked off “Ctr”(Keeping it the same as how it is in Maya). Posted an image of this below for reference.
Originally posted: July 29, 2019
UPDATE: So after looking into this further it turns out there are a few ways to drag select in Blender. The lasso technique is only one of them. There is a similar technique to what Maya/3DsMax uses, however it is still a bit of an argues process to make it work - it’s called border selection(you have to hit the b key to enter into the box/border selection mode). It seems Blender has sacrificed a fast and fluid selection workflow for the ability to move objects around on all axis’ quickly by holding the main action button(the button typically assigned to box/border sleeting in other applications). Since there’s already many ways to translate objects around in Blender(translate gizmo, the g key/followed by the x, y, and z keys) I thought it would be more efficient to figure out a set up that incorporates the ability to box/border select by simply holding the main action button(rather then first having to hit the b key). Based off of my experience in Maya, I drag select and deselect quite often - far more often then I need to move objects around on all axis’. Perhaps I’m wrong on this and it is more efficient keeping it as is(Blender does have some nice snapping features, which may make moving objects on all axis’ more practical). But for now - at least to learn the program as quick as possible, I feel like this will speed things up.
With that said, since discovering there were more selection methods and one more in line with what other programs offer - that being the box/border selection method; I have readjusted my shortcuts to accommodate for a different workflow from the one I made above where it was solely song the lasso selection method. It is a combination of the box/border selection method to select objects/elements along with the lasso selection method to deselect objects/elements. I have attached screenshots below showing my adjusted shortcut setup for this workflow. I have also listed the steps below.
Create a new border select command(you will have 2 border select commands in the 3D View drop down section after doing this. The other being the original one with the b key shortcut. You can turn that one off once the new one is created).
- Go File > User Preferences > Input(tab)
- Navigate to the “3D View” section and drop it down
- Drop down the “3D Globals” section below that
- Scroll to the bottom of the section and click the “+ Add New” button
- Enter in the settings shown in the above image
For the newly created border selection shortcut command to work you need to turn off the above shortcut. This is the short cut the allows you to move objets on all axis’ by holding the main action button(left click for the Maya setup workflow and right click for the default Blender settings).
This set up allows you to use the lasso selection to deselect from a grouped selection. It also enables you to use the lasso selection method to add to your current selection. Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to do these functions using the box/border selection method.