Select > Select Using Constraints

Lets you select polygons based on a user-configured constraint filter.

Related topics

Select components based on criteria

These are the options for the Select Using Constraints feature.

Note

The options that display in the Select Using Constraints option window are dependent on the selection of components in the scene view. That is, you must first select an example of the component type you wish to filter in order to display the related options within the Select Using Constraints option window before you can set the filter options.

At the very top of the window in the Constrain list, you specify conditions to filter your selection actions in different ways. These options apply to all component modes. Click the option to make your selection. Which constraints are applied, and to what settings, is determined by the options you set. There are four different modes:

Nothing: When on, no selection constraints are used. This is the default setting.
Next Selection: When on, the constraints affect only the next selection mode with a technique such as holding the Shift key and clicking the left mouse button.
Current and Next: When on, Maya applies the constraint to whatever has already been selected, plus whatever selection you make next.
All and Next: When on, Maya applies the constraints to the entire object automatically, plus whatever group you select next.

Constraint Properties options

The following section describes the options you can set for selected components in the properties section of the window.

Location properties

The following options are applicable to all component types.

Location

Select where the items are constrained.

Off: If selected, this constraint is not taken into account. The Off option means the same for every option in the Properties section.
On Border: If on, the selection constrains to only the items on the perimeter of the current objects.
Inside: This is the default setting for Location properties. Maya selects only the items on the inside of the current objects. It has the reverse effect of On Border.

Smoothing properties (for edges only)

If you select edges, Smoothing options are made available. These Properties options do not display for any other component type.

Smoothing

Select the type of edges.

Hard/Smooth: Click one of these options to constrain the selection to either hard or soft edges.

Constraint Properties for faces

In addition to the properties that all component modes share, when you are in the face component mode, Maya provides numerous face-specific properties. For example, you can set options to select faces according to order, planarity, and shape— if a polygon is concave instead of convex—as well as mapping and topology.

These are described next.

Order

Order options are used to set a valid range for the shape of the faces. If the following options are on, Maya constrains the selection to what you specify.

Triangles: Maya only selects faces with three edges.
Quads: Maya only selects faces with four edges.
N sided: Maya only selects faces other than triangles or quads (faces that have more than four edges).

Planarity

Select eitehr Planar or Non-planar faces.

Planar/Non-planar: Planar selects only planar faces. Non-planar selects only non-planar faces.

Convexity

Select polygons based on the angle of their sides.

Concave/Convex: Concave selects polygons that have at least one interior angle greater than 180 degrees. Convex selects polygons whose interior angles are all less than or equal to 180 degrees.

Domains

Select faces based on whethe they have a hole or not.

Holed/Non-holed: If you select non-holed, only faces that do not have holes are selected. If you select Holed, only faces in which holes have been created (using the Mesh > Make Hole Tool) are selected.

Note
Maya considers faces with holes to be concave.

Mapping: Depending on what you choose, only mapped or unmapped faces are selected. Mapped faces are faces with texture (UV) coordinates—unmapped faces do not have texture (UV) coordinates.

Topology

Select from various types of problematic faces.

Lamina: A group of faces glued on top of each other are selected. For example, two faces whose normals face each other.
Non-triangulable: Lets you select faces that cannot be triangulated. Use this constraint option to select these problem faces, then repair them using the Split Polygon Tool (Edit Mesh > Split Polygon Tool). See Split polygon faces for details.

Geometry options

Min and Max values

The Min and Max values for most of the Geometry options correspond to the units of a polygonal face. The values you set constrain the selection to the size of the face that corresponds to those units. The default unit size is in centimeters by default. You can change this in the Preferences window (Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, then click the Settings category).

In this example, each face of a polygonal primitive plane is four units. You can determine this by looking at the squares of the grid within each face.

When you scale some of the faces and subdivide others, the topology changes as do the Min and Max values you can enter to constrain the selection area.

Try setting different Min and Max values for the Area option for faces, for example, to determine which faces fall within the Min/Max criteria determined by the unit size.

If you set the Area criteria to a Min value of 0 and a Max value of 7, all faces are selected because there are no faces with a unit area less than 0 or greater than 7.

Tip

If you want to constrain the selection for a unit area that is very small, such as the area under the eyes on a polygonal modeled face, set the Min and Max values to a small value. The opposite is true if you want to set the constraint area to the cheeks of the face where the faces cover more unit space.

Options common to all Geometry sections (Activate and Off)

Each section contains an Activate switch or an Off option.

Click Activate (to turn it on) to tell Maya to acknowledge these option settings when making your selections.
Click Off (to turn it on) to tell Maya not to acknowledge these option settings when making your selections.

Area options for faces

Maya selects the faces with an area that is within the range specified in the Min and Max boxes. See Min and Max values for details about using these values.

Neighbors options for vertices and UVs

Maya selects the vertices with no fewer than the Min number of edges connected to them and no more than the Max number of edges connected to them.

Length options for edges

Maya selects the edges whose lengths are within the range specified in the Min and Max boxes.

Tip

Use this selection constraint option after collapsing edges (Edit Mesh > Merge To Center) to remove the extra tiny edges sometimes produced as a result of converting a NURBS object.

Angle options for edges, vertices, and UVs

Maya selects edges based on the angle between the two faces sharing the edge. The possible range of angles is set using the Min and Max values.

Maya selects vertices based on the angle between the edges sharing the vertex. The possible range of angles is set using the Min and Max values.

In the case of UVs, Maya selects them according to the range set for the angle between the edges joining the UVs corresponding to vertices.

Note

This option works only for non-border edges.

Mapped Area options

These options are used to control the area range of components that are flattened out in the UV Texture Editor window.

Unsigned: If on, Maya selects all faces whose flattened areas (whether they are positive or negative) are within the minimum and maximum values you set. Unsigned tells Maya to ignore the direction the face normal is facing.
Signed: If on, Maya selects all faces whose normals are pointing in the same direction and whose flattened areas are within the minimum and maximum values you set.
Min/Max values: You can enter the minimum (Min) and maximum value (Max) for this area which lies in the UV plane. The mapped area of a flattened component can be positive or negative. It is positive if the face is seen from the front and negative if seen from the back.

Distance options

These options are used to set a reference point and a valid range for the distance between the component, (such as the face center) and the point you specify.

Point: The Point option determines whether Maya acknowledges the distance to the origin you specify (the P, or PointX, PointY, or PointZ values).
Axis: The Axis option determines whether Maya acknowledges the distance to the line defined by its origin (P) and its axis (V).
Plane: The Plane option determines whether Maya acknowledges the distance to the plane defined by its origin (P) and its normal (V).
Px, Py, Pz: These values are used to define the location of the point from which you want the selection to extend.
Vx, Vy, and Vz: If Axis is selected, these values define the axis along which the selection is made. If Plane is selected, these values define the normal vector along which the selection is made.

Orientation options for faces, edges, and vertices

Orientation: The Orientation option determines whether Maya uses the orientation of the component for the selection.
Direction: The Direction option determines whether Maya uses the direction of the component or the selection. Using this option, even two faces facing opposite each other can be selected.
Vx, Vy, and Vz: These values define the axis along which the selection is made.

Visibility options for faces, edges, and vertices

These options are used to set a target point and a focal angle for your selections. Maya selects a component if the target point can be viewed from the center of a face with its normal as the viewing axis (the Px, Py, and Pz values) and the angle as the field of vision.

Angle: This value determines a focal angle for selected components.
Px/Py/Pz: The Px value determines the location of the target point in the X axis, the Py value for the Y axis, and the Pz value for the Z axis.

Random option

Ratio: This value determines how many components to randomly select according to the ratio value you set within the face units. For example, 0=no faces, 1=all faces, or 0.5=50% of the faces.

Propagation options

You can extend your selection using the propagation options at the bottom of the window.

Off: This option is on by default. That means that no extensions are performed.
Shell: Select Shell to extend the selection up to the border of the individual piece within which the selection has been made. This option is useful for objects made from a series of individual pieces such as those produced when you use Polygons > Combine.
Border: Choose Border to select the border of the current selection only.

Tip
With Constrain set to All Next, select Inside as the Properties Location and Propagation Shell at the bottom of the Constraints window, then click a single face to selects all the faces that are inside your object.

Grow Selection Region, Shrink Selection Region, Select Selection Boundary buttons

These buttons work the same way as the corresponding Select menu items.

Click Grow Selection Region to increase the number of components you initially selected.
Click Shrink Selection Region to decrease the number of components you have selected. This button can be useful if you want to shave off one face around every face in the current selection.
Click Select Selection Boundary to define the boundary of the current selection region. This is a quick way to select the boundaries of whatever is currently selected (faces, vertices, edges, or UVs).