Alt+Click to select overlapping bones #85796

New Issue

Demeter Dzadik · 2021-02-19T16:59:15+01:00

Demeter Dzadik commented

2021-02-19 16:59:15 +01:00

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.

Demeter Dzadik commented

2021-02-19 16:59:15 +01:00

Added subscribers: @ZedDB, @Mets

Sebastian Parborg was assigned by Demeter Dzadik

2021-02-19 17:00:35 +01:00

Luciano Muñoz Sessarego commented

2021-02-19 17:04:23 +01:00

Added subscriber: @LucianoMunoz