Alt+Click to select overlapping bones #85796

New Issue

A revival of #83299, as approved by @ZedDB in #animation-module.

Current situation

In current Blender, you can Alt+SelectClick (whether you're on left or right click select) in object mode, and be prompted with a list of all objects which are underneath your mouse cursor, so you can easily select one from the list. This is often much nicer than repeatedly clicking to cycle between said objects, until you land on the correct one.

A small odd thing I noticed is that it seems to list the overlapping objects in reverse alphabetical order, I wonder if there's a reason for that or if it's just a bug.

This operator works in pose mode, but it's still listing overlapping objects instead of pose bones. The operator doesn't work in armature edit mode.

Goals

Ideally, the operator would work in both modes to select pose or edit bones.
I can even see some people who might want to set up their keymap so that click-selecting in pose or edit mode always uses this feature, without even having to hold Alt. If this was possible, that would be a nice bonus.

Use cases

Here is an example of a real bird rig currently used in production, where you can't even see the bird due to the amount of overlapping bones:

This is sort of an extreme case, sure, but really you can go into any production rig and see why this selection method would be extremely useful when debugging and tweaking rig helper bones.

I think it would also be useful for animators in some cases, since even control bones can get a bit dense sometimes.

A revival of #83299, as approved by @ZedDB in [#animation-module](https://blender.chat/channel/animation-module). ### Current situation In current Blender, you can Alt+SelectClick (whether you're on left or right click select) in object mode, and be prompted with a list of all objects which are underneath your mouse cursor, so you can easily select one from the list. This is often much nicer than repeatedly clicking to cycle between said objects, until you land on the correct one. A small odd thing I noticed is that it seems to list the overlapping objects in reverse alphabetical order, I wonder if there's a reason for that or if it's just a bug. This operator works in pose mode, but it's still listing overlapping objects instead of pose bones. The operator doesn't work in armature edit mode. ### Goals Ideally, the operator would work in both modes to select pose or edit bones. I can even see some people who might want to set up their keymap so that click-selecting in pose or edit mode always uses this feature, without even having to hold Alt. If this was possible, that would be a nice bonus. ### Use cases Here is an example of a real bird rig currently used in production, where you can't even see the bird due to the amount of overlapping bones: ![image.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9818137/image.png) This is sort of an extreme case, sure, but really you can go into any production rig and see why this selection method would be extremely useful when debugging and tweaking rig helper bones. I think it would also be useful for animators in some cases, since even control bones can get a bit dense sometimes.

Added subscribers: @ZedDB, @Mets

Added subscriber: @LucianoMunoz

Yes!, thank you @Mets for creating this task it's something that has been in the back of my head forever :)

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Added subscriber: @JerBot

I've posted a WIP patch: D10570

I've posted a WIP patch: [D10570](https://archive.blender.org/developer/D10570)

This issue was referenced by 5e77ff79cc

This issue was referenced by 5e77ff79ccdaffb2df4d54c97f17359c017c9b85

Changed status from 'Confirmed' to: 'Resolved'

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Alt+Click to select overlapping bones #85796

Current situation

Goals

Use cases