Sub Object Pick - Point to Point Selection

[Daf]

Hi,

2 of the new features for 2017 were Sub Object Pick & Point to Point Selection. I can't seem to find any info on either other than the release blurb which is vague. The 2017 help file doesn't have any info either.

This is all I can find on the Sub Object Pick

Sub Object Pick simplifies the task of switching between different sub-object modes (vertex, edge, face and boundary) by making one hotkey shift between modes. This allows the artist to spend less time searching and more time focusing on their project. This is only for the edit poly modifier and editable poly.

I don't get this at all - hasn't that always been there with 1-5?

Point to Point Selection - is this the new thing where if you select an edge or polygon and hold shift it will give you a gold selection band that can be clicked to select the entire loop? If not what is that being called? I have a question about how that works. Sometimes I get the selection band and sometimes I don't. 😕

If anyone can link me up with some more info on these 2 features I would greatly appreciate it! 🙂

Thanks

Daf

[Anonymous]

Yes Its a little tricky. I will make a video on this shortly showing this, but here is the written answer.

1.) "SubobjectPick" as the feature is called, is envoked by a hot but no hot key is assigned by default. You need to assign it. This is done here:

http://screencast.com/t/RJlmtOvWs

NOTE: This only works for Ediable poly and Edit Poly Modifier 

Use: This is a "sequence" hot key... not a mode-change hot key. So when you hit the hot key... the NEXT SO-mode you click will become the active sub object mode. It does not cycle through. It actives what you click next.  

2.) The gold band is called Selection Preview. Select one sub object (like polys) hold the SHIFT key but don't click anything... move/hover the mouse over adjacent polys and you'll see the preview.

Point-to-point selection is when you do that exact same thing... but SHIFT and click/drag. The you will see the point-to-point selection in action. Click when you get the location you want to select... then the command switches to a "hover" operation until you click the next location.  

Its a little obtuse for sure...

Hope this helps. I'll make a video and post it to my youtube channel shortly.

[Anonymous]

Here you go! This is the Sub Object Pick video. These were great questions and made a great tutorial. I also made one for Point-to-point selection but I'll have to post that later... hope this helps!

[markus]

How do I use the point to point selection if I already have selected som polys and want to select more between two points? I get the ring selection preview every time.... Can't seem to figure it out?

[markus]

I figured it out now, but the behavior is improved in Max 2019, and I was running max 2018 yesterday.

Hold down shift before you click to select. If you let go of the keys and want to select more, hold down shift and click again where you want to start. 

I created a screencast to show how it's different in 3dsmax 2019 compared to 2018.

[edit: I'm having serous trouble inserting my screencast in the forums]'

Here is the path

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/88e41b29-9ac2-4ba0-b910-3d1be570899a

[Anonymous]

Ok, i think you are on something here:I was struggeling with Point-to-Point selection as well.

In 3dsmax 2019.1.1 editablePoly-object i can expand from already existing selections by shift-clicking on a selected polygon. Holding shift and dragging expands the selection from the existing selected polygons.Great.

In 3dsmax 2019.1.1 editPoly-modifier however this doesn`t work. Shift-clicking on a selected polygon and dragging out will trigger loop, if you hover over adjacent polygons.

So it seems the improvement in editablePoly was not propagated to the edit-Poly modifier?

[markus]

Hmm, @Anonymous it seems you are right. I didn't try it with the modifier in Max 2019.1.1, but I used a modifier when I used Max 2018. Maybe the difference isn't between the two versions of Max as I first thought but between the modifier and the editable poly object? If you are in the "edit-poly modifier" mode you'll have to select a face outside of your current selection, but in "editable-poly" you can also start inside your current selection. 

[Anonymous]

I really don`t think this is intentional, probably a bug or a current limitation of this implementation.

So the 'editablePoly way' of handling point-to-point selection is the prefered workflow, so i will try to report this as a bug.Let`s see what happens.

[markus]

Thanks for reporting it!

Yes, the modifier functionality seems a little crippled compared to edit-poly. Hopefully, it's possible to make it consistently good in the near future.