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Selection Operator

Fig. 1 Selection Operator (version 1.0)

Like other modeling softwares, Curved Poly allows you to select more elements (vertices, edges or polygons) to work on them at the same time. The Selection Operator can be used to select a group of elements and transform them with Unity Selection Tools.

Visibility

While working with selections, it's of utmost importance to keep control other what is visible and what is not. Selected vertices, edges or polygons will have a different appearance from non selected elements. To improve or customize your the appearance of your selected or unselected contents you can:

Disable the Mesh Renderer on your Game Object: polygons will disappear, but polygons controls will still be visible and polygons will be selectable even if you can't see them. Of course, this will also affect performance.
Activate/Deactive the Controls Behind Objects Button : when active this will remove Z-Test on curves and vertices controls, making them visible through the object.
Activate/Deactive the Vertices, Edges or Polygons options : they affect the visibility of both selected or unselected elements.

Note : if you have a complex model (like the ChamferBox4x Primitive for instance) and you need a precise selection, you may disable Edges and Polygons and either disable the Mesh Renderer or activate the Controls Behind Objects option. In this way you will find it easier to target the exact vertices you want to be selected, especially while using the instruments specific to the Selection Operators. Generally speaking, you should practice with visibility options, or follow the available tutorials, to learn how and when you can exploit any visibility combination to easily select what you need.

Select Operator Specific Instruments

In the User Interface and Settings section I have covered the selection tools available on all the operators.

When the Selection Operator is active you can also drag freely the mouse on the screen to add elements to your selection:

When the Circular Selector: is active, a circle will be drawn and you will be able to select elements by dragging it on the Scene View. You can also change the size of the circle with the buttons O and P on the keyboard.
When the Rectangular Selector: is active, you can drag on the Scene View a rectangle to change the area of selection.

For both the two selector, you will be able to choose between this two options:

Part: elements will be selected when the circle/rectangle cover even a little part of them.
Full: elements will be selected only when the circle/rectangle cover them entirely. The algorithm here takes into account only the visible part of edges and polygons, so it’s more correct to say that the element is selected when its visible part is covered by the tool.

Very Important!!: the Circular and Rectangular Selectors always extends from polygons to edges and from edges to vertices. So, when a polygon is selected, also its edges and vertices are selected. If an edge is selected, also its two vertices are selected.

After you have selected some elements with one of the selector or with the common buttons, you will be shown a Transform Tool to Move, Rotate or Scale all the elements in the selection at once. In order to switch between Translate, Rotate and Scale you can use the standard buttons in the main Unity Toolbar:

Fig. 2 Unity Tools Toolbar.

Translate, Rotate, Scale and the combo Translate+Rotate+Scale are supported. The tool will answer correctly also to your choice about Global or Local transform. The Pivot/Center option is instead ignored.

Very Important!!: The tools will progressively keep any amount of translation, rotation or scaling you apply to a selection. Adding new elements to the selection will reset the transform. You can also reset the transform on the group (without adding new elements) by pressing Space on your keyboard.

Pivot Control (new!)

The Pivot is the center of a selection, and it's used as a reference point to perform rotations and to scale. By default, it's evaluated as the average position between all vertices in the selection. You can change this by entering pivot mode: in this mode you can use the Move Tool to change the position of the pivot. This will be affected by any existent rotation or scale applied to the object (you will see the object move around to fit the new pivot).

Select Operator Menu

Furthermore, the Dynamic Menus section will also contain:

Center Position: allows you to edit the coordinates of the center of the selection.
Group Rotation: allows you to edit the rotation of the selection.
Group Scaling: allows you to edit the scaling of the selection.
Group Pivot (new!): coordinates of the Pivot.
Edge Elasticities Controls: control the way in which other (not selected) edges answers to the movements of selected elements; all unselected edges having only one selected vertex will be affected; there are four different elastic behavior, and they are explained in one of the next sections.
Edge Auto-Normal Controls: control the way in which other edges normals are updated after the selection is moved; all unselected edges having only one selected vertex will be affected; there are two different auto normal behavior, and they are explained in one of the next sections.