Problem with ring selection

[t_smith5]

I seem to have a problem more often than not when trying to make multiple ring selections, particularly a face selection. The first will work no problem by holding Shift and hovering the mouse at an edge, but if I want to select more by holding Ctrl, instead of the selection producing another ring, it goes horizontally instead. Is there any way of getting around this? Preferably without having to rely on the box selection...? I know this ring select can sometimes work with adjoining faces, but it often can't a lot of time, which is annoying.

It never seems to be an issue in Maya. You can select as many adjoining faces and double click to get another ring.

[10DSpace]

@t_smith5 

After selecting your first ring  of polygons,  Hold down ctrl and click on 1 polygon in the new ring of ploys that you want to add.  Then hold down shift and hover the mouse over the edge of that newly selected poly and you should see the yellow-greenish  highlighting of the new ring you are specifying by where you are hovering your mouse.  When the highlighting is correct click on it and that adds the new ring.  Repeat process to add more rings/loops.

[t_smith5]

Yeah, that’s exactly what I do. In some situations it works perfectly, but in others, it never highlights the next adjacent vertical ring, but rather, it keeps highlighting a horizontal ring of faces instead. I keep trying to hover the mouse over the right edge, but it doesn’t do anything. 😕

[10DSpace]

@t_smith5 

It could be that the geometry of the ring you are trying to add to your selection is messed up in some way (eg. unwelded vertices) so that it is not actually recognized by Max as a complete loop/ring. To test this, try selecting the ring or loop on it's own via double click or alt +L or alt + R.

[t_smith5]

I'm not sure I follow when you say double click and alt + L/R. With double click, do you mean where it selects the entire object as though in Element mode...? To see if everything is all one object...? Because if so, yeah, the entire thing becomes highlighted, so it's all one object. I don't quite get Alt + L/R though. Is that 'left/right click'...?

See, from this GIF, it works fine based on the edge the mouse hovers over, but in some cases, no matter where I try to hover the mouse, it'll only select a ring in the opposite direction. Once I find a perfect example, I'll capture another sequence and upload it.

[10DSpace]

@t_smith5 

I'm not sure I follow when you say double click and alt + L/R. With double click, do you mean where it selects the entire object as though in Element mode...? To see if everything is all one object...?

No, I meant only selection at the sub object mode.  For edges, you can double click any edge and the entire loop will be selected.  For polygons, you need to select 2 consecutive polygons in the loop you are interested in and then press Alt + L and the entire loop will be selected. 

In watching your animation, it looks like maybe you are not locking in 1 loop selection before trying to add another to it.   Also, I have found that Max does indeed get confused with the shift + mouse hover selection if you do not have "Ignore backfacing" checked.   Enable "Ignore Backfacing" and proceed methodically with 1 loop selection at a time and see if that works for you.  After your first loop selection, you select a single polygon in the new loop you want to add and then shift + hover the mouse over the edge to guide max as to the direction of the next loop.   This is where I have found you need to have Ignore Backfacing on to get reliable selection. 

[t_smith5]

Ahhh. Alt + L. I didn't know that. Handy. 🙂 Okay, in future, I'll try having Ignore Backfacing selected and see if that helps. Thanks.

[t_smith5]

I've found a good example of the issue. And even selecting Ignore Backfacing and pressing Alt + L doesn't help. 😕

[10DSpace · Accepted solution]

@t_smith5 

Yes, in the case of adjacent loops of polygons that is an issue that I get too.  To select adjacent loops of polygons, double click on the edge loop between the polys then convert the selection to polys via Ctrl + Click on the polygon icon in the selection group section of the Editable poly rollout.  This will convert the edge selection to a poly selection that you are trying to get.

[10DSpace · Accepted solution]

@t_smith5 

Here is a graphic to better illustrate:

[t_smith5]

It's certainly a solution. One I didn't think about. Thanks again. 🙂

[Anonymous]

hello 10Dspace, I am a student of 3ds and I am beginner, I have a problem with the ring selection in Edit Poly, I hope you can help me:

When I am in edit poly and I select a polygon, and then I want to select the whole row around pressing shift and the left button of the mouse, this kind of selection does not work, I don't see the yellow/brown preselection of the ring i want to select. Nobody could help me so far. I had to stop with the course because i am stuck on this problem.

Thank you for you help in advance

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

What version of Max are you using?   I do not remember when Autodesk added the shift + Left mouse hover highlight feature for loop/ring selection to Max, but if you are using an older version of Max (maybe pre-Max 2020?) that might be your issue.   I know that this feature works in Max 2020 but apparently does Not work in Max 2021.  I am not sure about Max 2022 because I don't have it installed. 

But there is an alternative approach to selecting a loop or ring of polygons which is nearly as easy and works in Max 2020 and Max 2021:

1. Select 2 adjacent polygons that are in the loop or ring that you want to select

2. press  Alt + "L" (the letter L)  or Alt  + "R" (the letter R) depending on whether you want the loop to be selected or the ring to be selected.  

To see how this works, Create a default cylinder and convert it to an editable poly or add an Edit poly modifier to the stack.  Then go to polygon mode and select 2 adjacent polygons.  Try Alt + L and Alt + R each out to see what Max considers a "Loop" or a "ring".

Don't be discouraged or let a shortcut for polygon selection get in your way of learning.  

If you are still having trouble, post a screenshot.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much!

I use the 2022 from today, and used the 2021 until yesterday and it did not work as you said. I will try your suggested alternative and let you knw. I am very grateful.

Thanks thanks