Surfaces can now be selected by clicking inside the wireframe. This is referred to as “face selection” and is available from the Preferences > Selection Options window.

By default, Face selection is turned off. When Face selection is on, you can choose one of the following two options:

Closest

On mouse down, the object under the cursor that is closest to the camera is selected. This is the default.

If any edge or curve is under the cursor, that edge selection takes priority over the selection of a surface’s interior. When multiple edges are selected, the pick chooser appears.

Select Through

On mouse down the objects under the cursor selection are evaluated for location relative to the camera. If there are multiple surfaces selected, the pick chooser appears and lists the objects in order from the camera.

If any edge or curve is under the cursor, that edge selection takes priority over the selection of a surface’s interior. When multiple edges are selected, the pick chooser appears.

The behavior is the same for shaded geometry. If the edge of an obscured surface is selected, x-ray highlighting is turned on for that surface to show that it is picked.

If Face selection is turned on, and you are using the Transform > Move tool, you need to hold down the key to select a surface by clicking inside the wireframe. This is to avoid inadvertently selecting a surface while moving.