Quick Selection

Version 1.1

Quick Selection is a handy utility that provides various methods for selecting and managing objects within the scene, including the following:


Category

These operations allow easy selection of all scene objects based on their class type.


Stored Selection

This method allows you to store a selection of objects and quickly retrieve them for later use. The storage is persistent (saved to file) so it lasts between 3ds Max sessions.

Click the Grab Stored Objects button to select the stored objects.

Note that only found objects will be selected, in case some were deleted.


Selection Sets

This method allows you to store a selection of objects as a named selection set as part of a list. This makes it distinct from the built-in selection sets that are saved inside a scene file. 

After selecting some objects, enter a set name in the Name field.

Click the Add button and a new set will be added to the dropdown list. If the set name already exists in the list, a prompt will appear asking if you want to override the existing one with the selected objects.

To delete a set from the list, select it and click the Delete button.

Click the Grab Set Objects button to select the objects in the set.

Use the Rename button on the selected set to update its name.

The Sort button will reorder the list in ASCIIbetical order.

Note that only found objects will be selected, in case some were deleted.


Path Selection

This method allows for populating a text file with Pathname Literals* that define a separate selection query on each line.

Use the Text File Icon Button to open the text file which will automatically be created and stored in C:\Temp.

When one or more path selections have been added to the text file, click the Refresh List button to repopulate the dropdown list.

Use the Grab Path Objects button to select scene objects using the selected path string.

When creating pathnames in the text file the "$" character is not required as part of the string in the text file, as this is handled internally. Also note that names in Maxscript are not case-sensitive.

Examples:

helpers/*

Box_00?

*_twist_*

torso/*

torso/left_upper_arm/*

Note: if any string names have spaces in them you'll need to wrap each of those in single quotes for selection to work.

Examples:

'Dummy 00?'

'spine 01'/'spine 02'/*


(*) See the 3ds Max help documentation and search for "Pathname Literals" for more information and examples on formatting them.


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