Select multiple objects.. How?

Discussion in 'How Can I...?' started by defonten, Dec 5, 2015.

  1. defonten

    defonten Avid Boxer

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    Hi guys,
    Is there a way I can select multiple objects at once? Like in Photoshop or illustrator. A simple shift+click objects. It's really annoying to select each object out of a bunch and move/copy them one by one!

    P.S. Really really annoying :)
     
  2. Taimoor Javaid

    Taimoor Javaid Avid Boxer

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    No you can't select multiple object at once :(
     
  3. defonten

    defonten Avid Boxer

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    Aaarrr :)
     
  4. Phill Mason

    Phill Mason Serious Boxer

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    @defonten I agree, it is annoying to not be able to select multiple object, especially when you have lots of small objects in a scene you want to shift just a small amount.
    I found activating "connection mode" and linking several small pieces together the best way to move lots of object around. I made an object called a 'move handle' and used that as the master 'Parent' object and connected lots of smaller 'Child' objects from it. The reason was, I had a space pod that was made up of around 15 objects and trying to get my mouse into the part of the pod to move it was tricky, so I used my 'move handle way above the scene to make it easier to move. This way I didn't accidentally move parts that were stacked on top of each other in the space pod. Plus, when you want to disconnect all your parts, you simply delete the 'move handle' from the scene and all other connections are gone with just one delete, otherwise you have to delete around 15 connections.
     
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  5. Tam Pham

    Tam Pham Boxer

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    @Phill Mason I also use the trick like you, and I don't need an extra object 'move handle'. Just choose any object to be a parent and move them all, then remove the temporary parent object and undo to put back, all objects in 'group' will be in normal state :)
     
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  6. defonten

    defonten Avid Boxer

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    Woa.. that's a useful and cool trick! Thanks Phill and Tam! Still I hope there will be some sort of grouping and multiselection possibility in BB2.
     
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  7. Phill Mason

    Phill Mason Serious Boxer

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    Top man @Tam Pham, great minds hey :)

    I understand you can just select any of the objects you're using as the parent object, but the reason I don't do that on larger complex parts that I want to move, is because I like to delete all the links prior to previewing, because if you have a large group of objects linked, they start to disappear off the screen in preview, because when the left most linked object is set to disappear based on your 'Back Del Threshold' setting in Advanced Game Settings, it will also take the right-most object connected to it as well. I noticed this in my recent app Mr Buzz, were I have lots of metal wire objects connected in a long line from left to right and if they were all connected, when the left one disappeared, all connected ones disappeared too.

    As I mentioned above, it also makes deleting many connections in one go by deleting the parent move handle. Hopefully that explains why I do it this way for larger objects? For smaller links of 3 or 4 objects, it's much easier to do it as you mentioned, as long as you can get to each of the orange connection parts okay.

    Yes @defonten, let's hope that shows up in BB2.
     
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  8. Tam Pham

    Tam Pham Boxer

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  9. trudnai

    trudnai Miniboss Boxer

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    One trick to delete all same objects is to select one, do the "Convert to Clones" from Tools menu, then delete the object. The are couple of disadvantages doing this so:
    1. You delete all same type of objects from the scene that has the basic parameter set the same
    2. You cannot easily undo the Cloning...
    3. There is a bug in the Undo, so if you Undo the deletion, it will only bring back the parent object...
    I really hope multiple object selection and object groups, object save / load / export etc will be in BB2
     

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