Learning Resources > Tutorials > Getting Started with Maya > Maya Basics > Lesson 3: Viewing the Maya
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Selection modes and masks
It isn’t always efficient to have the Hypergraph window open when you want to select an object at a particular level within its hierarchy. Maya allows you to select items in different selection modes depending upon your specific needs.
There are three main types of selection modes: Hierarchy, Object and Component. You use these modes in order to mask or limit the selection of other objects in order to select only the types of items you want. When you use a selection mask you are filtering out or masking items you don’t want to be chosen as part of the selection.
The icons for the three modes appear on the Status Line.
When you first start Maya, the default selection mode is set to Objects. This is useful for much of your selection work with Maya, with a few exceptions. When you want to select items that have been grouped, set the selection mode to Hierarchy.
To use the Hierarchy and Combinations selection mask
The Selection Mask icons update to display the three selection choices.
Select by hierarchy ensures that when you select items they are selected at their parent or root node.