How To Select Your Vertices, Edges, And Faces In Blender | Blender Base Camp (2023)

How To Select Your Vertices, Edges, And Faces In Blender

In Blender, we have various modes that we can use to edit our objects, one of which is edit mode. In this mode, we are able to select the geometry of the model including the vertices, edges, and faces. But what are the different methods that we can use for selecting geometry in Blender 3D?

To select your geometry, hit the tab key to enter edit mode, then select your geometry as she would select an object. By pressing one, two, or three on your keyboard, you can switch between vertex select, edge select, and face select to vary what types of geometry you want to be able to select and use.

The ability to select your individual pieces of geometry is perhaps one of the most important skills for any 3D artist, as you will not be able to do much with your models if you are unable to select them. Their various parts. So let’s take a look at some of the various means of selecting our geometry in edit mode.

The Basics Of Selecting Geometry In Edit Mode

Selecting the geometry of an individual model is very similar to being able to select an entire object. You just use the left mouse button to select. Of course, in Object mode we are only able to select the objects as a whole, so we need to first select the objects that we want to edit and then hit the TAB key to transition into edit mode.

When you transition into edit mode, your geometry should already be highlighted if you added your object into the viewport. A vertex is a point on your model is used to construct the various edges which are the lines in between each vertex.

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The flat areas meanwhile are the third type of geometry on your model. and these are the faces. So you have the vertices that make up the edges, and the edges that make up the faces.

If you left-click on a vertex, you will be able to select it and the rest of your object will be unselected as a result.

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If you want to select edges instead, then you can go up to the header menu of the 3D viewport and locate three buttons close to the mode selection menu. The first of these three buttons will be highlighted blue and indicate vertex select mode.

The second button indicates the edge select tool, so left-click on this button to be able to select your edges. And then the third button represents face selection which will allow you to select the individual faces on your model.

Alternatively, you can also use the 1, 2, and 3 keys on your keyboard to switch between these methods of selection.

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If you want to be able to select multiple types of geometry at the same time, however, then you can do this by holding down the shift key and then press either 1, 2, or 3 on your keyboard to add or detract them from your selection.

For example, if you are currently on Vertex select mode and then you press Shift + 2. Then Edge selects mode will also be highlighted, allowing you to select both vertices and edges.

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How To Select More Than One Vertex, Edge, Or Face?

There are going to be many situations where you are going to be required to select more than one vertex, edge, or face. So you need to know exactly how to select multiple vertices, edges, or faces in order to successfully edit them.

For example, let’s say on a UV sphere we wanted to delete the middle ring or edges. To do this, we would need to be able to select that entire ring, or loop, in one go. For this, we can use the secondary keys, which on a windows device are the shift, control, and alt keys.

If you hold down the shift key, for example, you can select multiple vertices, edges, or faces one by one. So select your first piece of geometry, then hold down the shift key and select the second.

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The control key is the second of these three keys, and it allows you in terms of mesh selection to select a path of geometry by defining a start and endpoint.

For example, if you select one vertex on a UV sphere and then select a second vertex on your UV sphere that is far enough apart, then with the control key, you can actually create a path selection. You can do this multiple times to create more complex paths as seen below.

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So you would select your first vertex, and then hold down control and press the second vertex, and not only with those two vertices be selected, but a selected path would be created to join them together.

Third, we have the Alt key which in terms of our geometry would allow us to select either rings or loops. In the case of a UV sphere, if we hold down our alt key and then left-click on our edge.

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We not only select that edge, but also any edges that are connected to it that form an edge loop. Now that we have the loop selected, we can press the X key and delete that loop.

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Selecting An Entire Model Of Your Object With Box, Circle, And Lasso Select

The secondary keys are normally used if you want to select specific geometry and want to maintain control. But if you are looking at a much faster way of selecting a large area of your mesh then you can try using the box, circle, and lasso select tools.

These tools can be found on the tool shelf, which is located on the side of the 3D viewport. If you cannot see the tool shelf, then you will want to press the T key on your keyboard to bring it into view. By default, however, the tool shelf should always be in view.

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The very first icon that you will see in the tool shelf is going to be the selection icon. Left-click on this first button and hold. You will see a menu for the various methods of selection including box select, circle select, and lasso select.

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By default, we are currently on box select. If you hover over to your viewport you can left-click and drag your mouse cursor. This will create a white box that indicates your box selection. When you release the left mouse button, the box disappears and any geometry located within the box that you created will be selected.

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If you want to use a hotkey to activate the box tool then you can use the B key on your keyboard.

The second option here is to use the circle select tool, so left-click and hold on the icon in the tool shelf and then choose circle select from the menu. With this tool, you will notice a small white circle hovering around your cursor.

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You can then click and drag anywhere in your viewport to begin selecting your vertices, edges, and faces manually.

If you think the circle is a bit small for your selection, then go up to the header menu of the 3D viewport. You will see the option to adjust the circle radius. Increase this value to increase the size of the circle.

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The last of these three options is the lasso select tool, which is found at the bottom of the list for our tool on the tool shelf.

This works in a similar manner to the box select tool where we just click and drag to create the shape. The key difference here is that the box select tool will always create a box shape. The Lasso Select tool allows us to create a customized shape for our selection.

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As a result, the Lasso Select tool is not used as often as the other 2 tools for selecting a lot of geometry at once mainly because it is a bit more difficult to use than the other two.

What Are Some Of The More Advanced Methods Of Selection That You May Not Know About?

The ability to select your geometry on your 3D models is a crucial ability to have for any 3D artist. Blender recognizes this and offers many other ways of being able to select your geometry. In Edit mode, go to the select menu located in the header bar of the 3D viewport and left-click.

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You will see that there are many other ways in which we can select the models’ geometry. For example, we are able to select all of the vertices on our model at the same time by pressing the ‘All’ option, or by using the A hotkey. Alternatively, we can deselect all of the geometry on our model by selecting either than none option from this menu or by using the hotkey Alt + A.

There are some scenarios where you want to select the majority of your object, but you may not be able to do so very easily. Instead, what you can do is select the area that you don’t want to edit first, and then use the invert selection option to reverse the geometry that you have selected. You can do this via the select menu or by using the Control + I hotkey.

If you were looking to create a randomized selection, for example, if you were creating a mountain range landscape and you needed to select your geometry at random, then you can choose the random select option from the add menu.

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If you wanted to select based on a specific pattern, such as selecting two vertices and then having one unselected, then you could select a loop of vertices and then use the checker deselect option to define which of those vertices remain selected, and which of them are unselected?

The select more/less options will allow you to have more control over your selected geometry based on the points of your initial selection. For example, if you select a single vertex and then use these select tools, then all of the vertices that are directly connected to that selection will be selected as well.

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How To Select Your Vertices, Edges, And Faces In Blender | Blender Base Camp (18)
How To Select Your Vertices, Edges, And Faces In Blender | Blender Base Camp (19)

Each time you use the select more option, the area of your selection will increase. The alternative is true for the select less option. With these two tools, you can control your selections from a single point.

Another method of selection that you can use is the ability to select edge rings instead of edge loops. An edge ring is a series of edges that loop around your model, but they’re not directly connected. So for example in the case of a subdivided cube which we can see below, we have a lot of geometry.

If I use the typical Alt + left-click tool to select a loop, then the loop is going to be selected. However, if I was to hold down the control key, then hold down the Alt key, and then left-click on the same edge, Blender will select an edge ring instead, as seen below.

How To Select Your Vertices, Edges, And Faces In Blender | Blender Base Camp (20)

Finally, you have the ability to select your geometry based on certain attributes. These attributes can be things like sharing the same length or distance between them.

They can also be traits like whether or not that geometry is non-manifold. This is actually a useful tool if you want to select geometry that you want to get rid of. In the case of non-manifold geometry, which should not exist for many models, you can use this tool to select that geometry and then delete it.

As a quick bonus tip, if you want to be able to select geometry through your model without having to orbit around it all the time, then there is an option called the XRAY tool.

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If you go to the top corner of your 3D viewport where you find the different viewport methods, then you will notice that there is another icon that is located on its own just to the side. It looks like 2 squares.

Left-click on this icon to activate the Xray tool and you will be able to see through your model and select geometry on the other side.

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Alternatively, you could also just use the wireframe method for your viewport to be able to see through your model, as the wireframe method will basically hide all of your faces. Of course, because of this, using the wireframe method will make it more difficult to actually select the faces, if that’s the geometry that you’re working with.

Being Able To Select Geometry On Multiple Objects At The Same Time

Not only are you able to select and edit a single object, but you are also able to edit multiple objects at the same time.

When you select a single object, for example, and then hit the TAB key to go into edit mode, you will be able to view the geometry of that object, but you will not be able to edit the geometry of any of the other objects in the viewport.

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However, if you were to select multiple objects in object mode first and then hit the TAB key to enter edit mode, you would then enter edit mode for all of your selected objects.

For example, if we select both a cube and the UV sphere and then hit the TAB key, we will be able to both see and edit the geometry of both objects. There are no limits to the number of objects that we can edit at the same time apart from the impact that it may have on your system memory.

Thanks For Reading The Article

We appreciate you taking the time to read through the article and we hope that you have been able to locate the information that you were looking for. Below we have compiled a list of additional topics that are available for you to view and learn more about Blender.

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FAQs

How do you select vertices behind vertices in Blender? ›

In vertex-select mode, you select a single vertex by clicking on it with RMB , and select more than one by shift-clicking on additional vertices with RMB . Shift-clicking with RMB on an already-selected vertex will deselect it.

How do I select all edges in Blender? ›

Using 'Alt + Right-Click' will select everything in a loop of vertices.

What is the shortcut to select vertices in Blender? ›

In the latest Blender version, in edit mode, use the number row 1, 2, and 3 keys to choose between vertex, edge, and face select modes. Hold shift while pressing multiple numbers to enter multiple selection modes at once.

How do I select only faces in Blender? ›

To select parts of a mesh face-wise, you have to switch to Face Select Mode. Do this by clicking the button shown above, or press Ctrl-Tab to spawn a menu. The selection works as usual with RMB ; to add/remove to an existing selection, additionally press Shift .

How do I select edges by angle in Blender? ›

The select menu in edit mode contains additional tool for selecting components: Sharp Edges. This tool selects all edges between two faces forming an angle greater than the angle value, Where an increasing angle selects sharper edges. Linked Flat Faces Shift-Ctrl-Alt-F.

How do you select all vertices? ›

By holding Shift-LMB when selecting a selection mode, you can enable multiple Selection Modes at once. This allows you to quickly select Vertices/Edges/Faces, without first having to switch modes. Vertex mode example. Edge mode example.

How do I select a lot of objects in Blender? ›

Sometimes, you'll want to select multiple objects but not all of them. Selecting multiple objects in Blender can be done in the following way: Hold Shift on your keyboard. Left-click on the objects you want to select.

How do you select all parts in Blender? ›

L (or Ctrl - L for all) will add to the selection the cursor's nearest control point, and all the linked ones, i.e. all points belonging to the same curve.

What is Ctrl y in Blender? ›

Both CTRL+SHIFT+Z and CTRL+Y are common redo shortcuts.

What is Ctrl Z in Blender? ›

If you want to undo your last action, just press Ctrl - Z .

What is Ctrl I in Blender? ›

I – Insert a keyframe. Alt - I – Clear the keyframe. Shift - Alt - I – Clear all keyframes (removing all F-Curves). Ctrl - D – Assign a driver.

What is soft select in Blender? ›

Proportional editing (sometimes known as soft select) is a mixture between dynamic sculpting and traditional vertex modeling. Once a vertex, edge, or face has been created in Blender, they can be moved, rotated, scaled, and otherwise manipulated with a variety of tools in edit mode.

How do I smooth edit mode in Blender? ›

The Smooth modifier smooths a mesh by flattening the angles between adjacent faces in it, just like the Smooth tool in Edit Mode. It smooths without subdividing the mesh, the number of vertices remains the same. This modifier is not limited to smoothing, though.

How do I edit vertices in Blender? ›

Use Shift-V to activate tool. The nearest selected vertex to the mouse cursor will be the control one. Move the mouse along the direction of the desired edge to specify the vertex position. Then press LMB to confirm the transformation.

Why can't I select edges in Blender? ›

A common reason for not being able to select the object you want is that you are already in edit mode for another object. When you are in edit mode, you can only manipulate and change the geometry and data that belongs to the object that was selected when you entered edit mode.

How do you select all faces on a mesh in Blender? ›

To select all in Blender, press A while your mouse is in the 3D viewport or outliner. You can also go to the select menu and choose "all". To deselect all press Alt+A or go to the select menu and choose None.

How do I select a shape in Blender? ›

Now selecting objects in Blender is very straightforward. All you have to do is left click on the object and it selects. Now you can also go over here to the outliner and select the object simply by left clicking on it.

How do I select and cut in Blender? ›

To use Knife Project, first while in Object Mode, select the “cutting object” then add to that selection with Shift-RMB the “object to be cut”. Now, enter Edit Mode and press Knife Project (found in the Toolbar). 3D View Alignment to adjust the projection axis.

How do you select faces based on materials in Blender? ›

Assign materials to faces in Blender
  1. Select your object and press tab to go into edit mode.
  2. Press 3 on your number row to go to face select mode.
  3. Select the faces you want to assign a different material to.
  4. Go to the material tab in the properties panel.
  5. Select the material you want to assign to the selected faces.

How do you select all edges? ›

Holding Alt while selecting an edge selects a loop of edges that are connected in a line end-to-end, passing through the edge under the mouse pointer. Holding Shift - Alt while clicking adds to the current selection.

What keyboard key do you use to select multiple vertices? ›

Edit vertices
Keyboard shortcutAction
Shift and click verticesSelect multiple vertices.
Shift and click segmentsSelect all vertices between the clicked segments.
Shift+Ctrl and click a selected vertexUnselect a vertex.
A and clickAdd a vertex .
7 more rows

How do you select all vertices in a circle in Blender? ›

Press the C key. Notice the circle around the cursor. Tap the LMB over the vertices to select them. You can also hold down the LMB and move the mouse to select more vertices.

How do you select lots of objects at once? ›

To select multiple objects, press and hold Ctrl while you click or tap the objects that you want. To select text with similar formatting, choose Select All Text with Similar Formatting.

How do you select multiple objects in Outliner? ›

Select multiple objects. Shift + click or Ctrl + click the object node names in the Outliner.

How do I select multiple outliners in Blender? ›

Selecting Multiple Data-Blocks

To select a range without deselecting the previous selection, use Shift - Ctrl - LMB . A click and drag from any location in the Outliner other than a name or icon will begin a box selection.

How do you select all bones in Blender? ›

You can select at once all the bones in the chain which the active (last selected) bone belongs to by using the linked selection tool, L . A single selected bone. Its whole chain selected with L . Flip the selection from one side to another.

How do I select a face set in Blender? ›

How do you use face sets in blender? First change the 3D viewport to sculpt mode or go to the sculpting workspace. You can find the draw face set brush from the left side toolbar. To use it, select it and click and drag across your object.

How do I select all visible faces in Blender? ›

To select all in Blender, press A while your mouse is in the 3D viewport or outliner. You can also go to the select menu and choose "all". To deselect all press Alt+A or go to the select menu and choose None.

How do you select faces by Angles in Blender? ›

This tool selects all edges between two faces forming an angle greater than the angle value, Where an increasing angle selects sharper edges. Linked Flat Faces Shift-Ctrl-Alt-F. Select connected faces based on a threshold of the angle between them.
...
Select Similar.
Mode:Edit Mode
Menu:Select ‣ Similar…
Hotkey:Shift-G

What is a face map in Blender? ›

Face Maps. Face Maps create custom gizmos to deform meshes by assigning faces to Face Maps. They can be used to rig quickly within Object Mode and without making complicated rigging setups. Face Maps are currently not fully implemented in Blender and require add-ons to take full advantage of this feature.

What does shift F12 do in Blender? ›

F12 - begins a single frame render based on the Scene settings in the Buttons Window. SHIFT+F12 — (Blender 2.5) switch to DopeSheet.

How do you work out faces edges and vertices? ›

The theorem states a relation of the number of faces, vertices, and edges of any polyhedron. Euler's formula can be written as F + V = E + 2, where F is equal to the number of faces, V is equal to the number of vertices, and E is equal to the number of edges.

Why can't I select faces in Blender? ›

A common reason for not being able to select the object you want is that you are already in edit mode for another object. When you are in edit mode, you can only manipulate and change the geometry and data that belongs to the object that was selected when you entered edit mode.

Why is Blender not selecting all vertices? ›

Uncheck Limit selection to visible . If it's checked, it won't be possible to select vertices which aren't pointed to the viewer (like in your case). If it isn't checked, when selecting either with Box select or with RMB (doesn't matter how) vertices on the other side of the mesh will be added to selection.

How do I see everything in Blender? ›

Fortunately, you can unhide all hidden objects pretty quickly by pressing Alt+H. You can also look in the restrict columns on the right side of the Outliner. If your object is hidden, the first icon — the eye icon — appears closed. Left-clicking the eye icon unhides it.

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