UI: Select Through Option #109319

Lukas Sneyd · 2023-06-24T10:47:42+02:00

Lukas Sneyd commented

2023-06-24 10:47:42 +02:00

First-time contributor

Optional control over whether unseen mesh is selected

Gives user control over xray's influence on box, circle, and lasso select. Blender doesn't intentionally (see #109357) let you select unseen mesh unless xray is on. Blender forces you to select through objects regardless of xray. Inconsistent and unexplained.

I put the controls for select through in a new popover next to the xray header button. Now that xray has its own popover, the xray settings are in there instead of the Shading popover. I also decided that since solid and wireframe have separate xray properties, it should be more obvious. I extended their names to "X-Ray Solid" and "X-Ray Wireframe" inside of the xray popover. I think it's very useful to control which tools use select through. That way you don't have turn it on and off when you switch between tools, assuming you want it on for one of them, and off for the others.

This feature is a reduced form of kio's work here: https://archive.blender.org/developer/D6322

The following covers some more optional features that I either excluded, or separated, from this PR. You can see more details about it in my custom build #109150 and at 2:38 of this youtube video. I didn't want to combine multiple features into a single PR, so I kept auto xray #109318 separate from select through. But it makes sense to have both. They don't conflict, and can even complement each other. Everyone I've heard from has said it's necessary that you can control how blender selects edges and faces when using select through. Nobody wants to select unseen facedots, or by the hybrid edge style you get from box and lasso because it can be a bit confusing and unpredictable. This is available here #109309.

My build includes an operator to have a more direct and intuitive control over this modular style of using select through. Having a header button also makes it more clear when select through is enabled. It seemed less likely to be approved if I am adding header buttons, so I didn't do any of that for this PR. The operator checks what tool and mode you're in. If everything is enabled, meaning the main bool and whichever tool and mode is currently in use, the operator will disable the main bool to turn the feature off. Otherwise, it will turn on any of the bools (main, tool, mode) that aren't enabled. An on/off switch that doesn't compromise individual control and gives visual feedback in the header.

To reduce unwanted clutter in the viewport header, I made it where the header buttons for xray, auto xray, and select through are hideable. It is controlled from inside the xray popover. If all of the header buttons are disabled, the xray button will still be visible. Otherwise, any combination of the three buttons are visible in the header.

Optional control over whether unseen mesh is selected --- Gives user control over xray's influence on box, circle, and lasso select. Blender doesn't intentionally (see #109357) let you select unseen mesh unless xray is on. Blender forces you to select through objects regardless of xray. Inconsistent and unexplained. I put the controls for select through in a new popover next to the xray header button. Now that xray has its own popover, the xray settings are in there instead of the Shading popover. I also decided that since solid and wireframe have separate xray properties, it should be more obvious. I extended their names to "X-Ray Solid" and "X-Ray Wireframe" inside of the xray popover. I think it's very useful to control which tools use select through. That way you don't have turn it on and off when you switch between tools, assuming you want it on for one of them, and off for the others. ![image](/attachments/1fd0e775-826a-4cf4-915d-714a406d639f) This feature is a reduced form of kio's work here: https://archive.blender.org/developer/D6322 The following covers some more optional features that I either excluded, or separated, from this PR. You can see more details about it in my [custom build](https://blenderartists.org/t/blender-with-better-selection-and-more/1471220) #109150 and at 2:38 of this [youtube video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVrFCOa7RO8&t=158s) I didn't want to combine multiple features into a single PR, so I kept auto xray #109318 separate from select through. But it makes sense to have both. They don't conflict, and can even complement each other. Everyone I've heard from has said it's necessary that you can control how blender selects edges and faces when using select through. Nobody wants to select unseen facedots, or by the hybrid edge style you get from box and lasso because it can be a bit confusing and unpredictable. This is available here #109309. My build includes an operator to have a more direct and intuitive control over this modular style of using select through. Having a header button also makes it more clear when select through is enabled. It seemed less likely to be approved if I am adding header buttons, so I didn't do any of that for this PR. The operator checks what tool and mode you're in. If everything is enabled, meaning the main bool and whichever tool and mode is currently in use, the operator will disable the main bool to turn the feature off. Otherwise, it will turn on any of the bools (main, tool, mode) that aren't enabled. An on/off switch that doesn't compromise individual control and gives visual feedback in the header. To reduce unwanted clutter in the viewport header, I made it where the header buttons for xray, auto xray, and select through are hideable. It is controlled from inside the xray popover. If all of the header buttons are disabled, the xray button will still be visible. Otherwise, any combination of the three buttons are visible in the header.

select through.jpg

68 KiB