• Basic Selections
• Basic Morphing
• Basic Painting
• Basic Modeling

Basic Selection Tutorial

The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate workflow of selections. In Blacksmith3D-Suite, you can select either vertices or polygons. In this tutorial, it makes no difference if you are selecting vertices or polygons, however as you will see in other tutorials, in some cases, there is a significant difference between the two.

• Please note since the making of this tutorial, the coloring scheme for hot selections has changed
• Hot Selections are now illustrated via the "Hot Selection View" with solid shading to represent the various intensities
• This was done to make the software faster and more efficient for high polygon models.

• Start by importing the object of your choice

• To better visualize the selection, choose the Viewports->Display Mode..->Hot Selection View option
• Alternatively, use the SHIFT-SPACE hotkey to toggle it on/off.

• Choose the Lasso selection tool
• Click and drag out a loop in the viewport to select a portion of the surface

• Hold the ALT key and drag out a loop to deselect
• Hold the SHIFT key and drag out a loop to add to the current selection. Notice how the existing selection did not clear when holding the SHIFT key and selecting.
• Most selection tools subtract from the current selection when ALT is held
• Most selection tools add to the current selection when SHIFT is held
• The SHIFT and ALT key actions for selections have been designed to be consistent with popular 2D paint applications.

• If you choose tool that is not for selecting, you may notice that the hot wireframe disappears
• To make it visible all of the time, choose the Viewports->General->Always Display Hot Selection option, or better yet, press SHIFT-SPACE.
• To clear the current selection, choose Edit->Select->Clear All, or better yet, press CTRL-U
• To select everything in the viewport (except locked or hidden geometry) Edit->Select->Select All, or better yet, press CTRL-A

• Choose the Picker selection tool
• Select the type Group
• Click on the object in the viewport to select the group at that location
• Notice how the group is selected in the viewport and highlighted in the Manager as well.
• Holding the ALT key while clicking will deselect it in the viewport and unhighlight it in the Manager.
• Please note that you can add a group to the current selection by double clicking it in the Manager. The current selection will not clear automatically, so if you want to exclusively select the group, press CTRL-U first to clear the current selection.

• Select the type Element in the Picker tool
• Click on a potion of the object that is not attached to the rest of the object (in this case, an eyeball)
• Notice how the entire surface attached to the 'picked' polygon has been selected.
• Holding the ALT key while clicking will deselect it in the viewport.

• Select the type Material in the Picker tool
• Click on the object in the viewport to select the material at that location
• Notice how the material is selected in the viewport and highlighted in the Manager as well.
• Holding the ALT key while clicking will deselect it in the viewport and unhighlight it in the Manager.
• Like groups, you can also select materials by double clicking on them in the Manager

• Choose Per Vertex in the Culling section of the Control panel.
• Select the Box selection tool
• Drag out a box around a portion of the surface.

• Notice how the hidden geometry was not selected.
• As the name implies, the culling occurs on a Per Vertex basis
• A whole polygon is said to be culled if all of it's vertices are culled
• In many cases, polygons will only be partially culled
• It is also important to note that every vertex in a polygon can be culled, while portions of the polygon are still visible (e.g. the middle of the polygon), so please be aware of this fact
• Per Polygon culling is the same as Per Vertex, except that if any vertices in a polygon are culled, then the whole polygon is culled. This is especially useful for painting surfaces, when you do not want any color to bleed into hidden regions.

• Choose None in the Culling section of the Control panel.
• Again, drag out a box around a portion of the surface.
• Notice how the selection went through the model to the other side.
• Again, choose Per Vertex in the Culling section of the Control panel.

• Choose the Selection Brush tool
• Select a portion of the surface by clicking and dragging the brush across the surface.
• Holding the ALT key while clicking will deselect the surface in the viewport as to be expected.

• Press the S key a few times to soften the entire selection
• Notice the soft transition between the 'most' selected vertices and the 'least'.
• Press the N key to harden the selection. (press ALT-N to partially harden the selection)
• We deliberately called this process softening instead of smoothing to avoid confusion with the smoothing of vertices via deformations, subdivision, etc.

• Choose the Selection Touch-up tool
• Choose the Soften type
• Click and drag around the selected portion of the object to soften the values