UI: View-Facing Mesh Select Option #109357

Lukas Sneyd · 2023-06-26T08:02:07+02:00

Lukas Sneyd commented

2023-06-26 08:02:07 +02:00

First-time contributor

Optional selection behavior based on viewport facing angle.

Blender selects unseen mesh. If you can see some of the verts of an edge or face, they're potentially selectable regardless of their visibility. If it isn't truly random which unseen edges and faces this applies to, it may as well be. The 3 drag selection tools select the same wrong things, but if the viewport camera is moved or rotated, this will usually mean that different unseen edges and faces are now selectable. Watch 4:17 of this youtube video about my custom build #109150 to see what I mean.

Viewport-Facing Select is in Toolsettings. It works in near select, X-Ray, or both. When you drag select with box/circle/lasso, it compares mesh normals to the viewport. If they aren't facing each other within the threshold, they won't be selected. Has a range from +/- 0.999999. Greater or equal to 0 means you will only select mesh with normals that are pointed in the direction you have it set to, usually this would be towards the viewport but it can be reversed if you want. The higher you set the threshold, the more the mesh needs to be facing in that direction. A value of 1 should mean the viewport and mesh are aligned, but was only working from the front perspective (numpad 1) and from nowhere else regardless of ortho. Max threshold of 0.999999 is functionally the same as having it at 1 except it works from any angle. Negative values can select unseen mesh.

All Verts setting saves performance without compromise, because Blender doesn't select unseen verts. They're dimensionless, and since there's only one position for them to be drawn in, they shouldn't be in the selection bitmap unless they're visible.

Front Verts will select verts based on their normals,. Some of the verts at the edge of a mesh are excluded. Verts of Front Face will fix that, it selects verts if they're part of a face with a viewport facing normal. There's also rear facing counterparts to these, they do the opposite where they'll select stuff pointed away from the viewport. Not sure if they're useful but it's easy to include.

The settings for edges work the same as verts. Using edge normals will exclude things you probably want to select, and Edges of Front Face will correct that. Same goes for face settings, except Front Faces are what give accurate selection. Faces of Front Vert will select faces that have at least one vert with a viewport facing normal. This means it can select unseen faces, which is what I'm trying to avoid, but maybe it's useful for something.

Sometimes you will be able to see a face even though it has a rear-facing normal, and VFS won't select it. Usually this is because you are dealing with two triangles that have no business sharing the same quad, but that's going to happen from time to time, and you'll need a way to select them. Besides turning this feature off temporarily, triangulating or otherwise fixing the mesh, single-clicking, or rotating the camera, you can drop the VFS threshold into the negative. How negative you go depends on what you're willing to live with, and it gets worse the lower you go. I keep it at zero, because at least I have a chance of noticing things I didn't select. Hard to keep track of random selections that you can't see. It's not perfect, but it's predicable, and should work with most geometry.

Optional selection behavior based on viewport facing angle. --- Blender selects unseen mesh. If you can see some of the verts of an edge or face, they're potentially selectable regardless of their visibility. If it isn't truly random which unseen edges and faces this applies to, it may as well be. The 3 drag selection tools select the same wrong things, but if the viewport camera is moved or rotated, this will usually mean that different unseen edges and faces are now selectable. Watch 4:17 of this [youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVrFCOa7RO8&t=257s) about my [custom build](https://blenderartists.org/t/blender-with-better-selection-and-more/1471220) #109150 to see what I mean. Viewport-Facing Select is in Toolsettings. It works in near select, X-Ray, or both. When you drag select with box/circle/lasso, it compares mesh normals to the viewport. If they aren't facing each other within the threshold, they won't be selected. Has a range from +/- 0.999999. Greater or equal to 0 means you will only select mesh with normals that are pointed in the direction you have it set to, usually this would be towards the viewport but it can be reversed if you want. The higher you set the threshold, the more the mesh needs to be facing in that direction. A value of 1 should mean the viewport and mesh are aligned, but was only working from the front perspective (numpad 1) and from nowhere else regardless of ortho. Max threshold of 0.999999 is functionally the same as having it at 1 except it works from any angle. Negative values can select unseen mesh. ![image](/attachments/f5a7f77c-084b-4be0-baeb-5beaf4c71017) All Verts setting saves performance without compromise, because Blender doesn't select unseen verts. They're dimensionless, and since there's only one position for them to be drawn in, they shouldn't be in the selection bitmap unless they're visible. Front Verts will select verts based on their normals,. Some of the verts at the edge of a mesh are excluded. Verts of Front Face will fix that, it selects verts if they're part of a face with a viewport facing normal. There's also rear facing counterparts to these, they do the opposite where they'll select stuff pointed away from the viewport. Not sure if they're useful but it's easy to include. The settings for edges work the same as verts. Using edge normals will exclude things you probably want to select, and Edges of Front Face will correct that. Same goes for face settings, except Front Faces are what give accurate selection. Faces of Front Vert will select faces that have at least one vert with a viewport facing normal. This means it can select unseen faces, which is what I'm trying to avoid, but maybe it's useful for something. Sometimes you will be able to see a face even though it has a rear-facing normal, and VFS won't select it. Usually this is because you are dealing with two triangles that have no business sharing the same quad, but that's going to happen from time to time, and you'll need a way to select them. Besides turning this feature off temporarily, triangulating or otherwise fixing the mesh, single-clicking, or rotating the camera, you can drop the VFS threshold into the negative. How negative you go depends on what you're willing to live with, and it gets worse the lower you go. I keep it at zero, because at least I have a chance of noticing things I didn't select. Hard to keep track of random selections that you can't see. It's not perfect, but it's predicable, and should work with most geometry.

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Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-06-26 08:02:16 +02:00

94b881a0af toolsetting for box circle and lasso to filter mesh selection based on

normal direction relative to the viewport

Lukas Sneyd referenced this pull request

2023-06-26 08:02:45 +02:00

WIP: Viewport-Facing Mesh Select #106531

Lukas Sneyd referenced this pull request

2023-06-26 08:04:01 +02:00

Selection Options #109075

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-05 13:03:41 +02:00

187d75eab0 remove scene conflicts:

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-05 13:04:17 +02:00

0764c2f795 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-05 13:15:12 +02:00

9821d38a7d add scene dna/rna back

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-06 14:16:11 +02:00

03d8a870e3 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-07 05:39:03 +02:00

70ea47416c Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-15 23:44:46 +02:00

e9cc6d56a7 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd changed title from ~~WIP: Viewport Facing Mesh Select~~ to Viewport Facing Mesh Select

2023-07-15 23:48:35 +02:00

Lukas Sneyd commented

2023-07-15 23:48:42 +02:00

First-time contributor

I was told to tag you guys. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but I will try this. Thanks for your time
@ideasman42 @harley

I was told to tag you guys. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but I will try this. Thanks for your time @ideasman42 @harley

Harley Acheson referenced this pull request

2023-07-16 19:57:53 +02:00

UI: Automatic X-Ray #109318

Lukas Sneyd referenced this pull request

2023-07-17 02:02:16 +02:00

UI: Automatic X-Ray #109318

Lukas Sneyd referenced this pull request

2023-07-17 05:50:03 +02:00

UI: Select Through Option #109319

Lukas Sneyd referenced this pull request

2023-07-17 07:46:17 +02:00

UI: Drag Select Edge and Face Keymap Configuration #109309

Harley Acheson changed title from ~~Viewport Facing Mesh Select~~ to UI: View-Facing Mesh Select Option

2023-07-17 22:54:09 +02:00

Harley Acheson added this to the User Interface project 2023-07-17 23:00:10 +02:00

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-07-23 18:23:24 +02:00

100ef2a9e7 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-08-01 10:12:12 +02:00

02deb3876c Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-08-06 08:58:14 +02:00

941f98e0e8 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-08-13 10:03:44 +02:00

46e469bbb4 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Lukas Sneyd added 1 commit 2023-08-21 06:32:39 +02:00

cad381b844 Merge branch 'main' into vfs

Harley Acheson referenced this pull request

2024-03-01 00:06:42 +01:00

Roadmap #118940

This pull request has changes conflicting with the target branch.

source/blender/blenloader/intern/versioning_defaults.cc
source/blender/editors/space_view3d/view3d_select.cc
source/blender/makesdna/DNA_scene_types.h

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UI: View-Facing Mesh Select Option #109357

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