Left click select keymap

Feature & Design Feedback
243

I don’t think that’s far more important as you say, is just one way to do things… If it can’t be or is never implemented then I’d personally use another button to perform the tool action (I believe Maya does this with MMB, not sure, haven’t used it in years) instead of relegating box selection to RMB… first, because having a context menu on RMB is very useful, and second because is basically going back to the RMB select thingy but with the buttons swapped hehe.

I did such suggestion under the assumption that the goal of this new LMB selection keymap was to make Blender behave more like other programs, and if that’s the case then the selection shouldn’t be a separate tool, or, if used as a separate tool it should at least have selection and box selection as one.

1 Like
244

Nothing changes in the way I set things up, the useful context menu is still there on my RMB. That’s the most optimal workflow at moment.

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245

I’ll give it a try then, thanks. :slight_smile:

Anyway, I think selection is something that still has to be polished, for new users that will surely use the toolbar before they learn the shortcuts it will get very annoying to have to constantly change between tools and selection for some stuff.

2 Likes
246

It’s worth it, and should be default imo. :slight_smile:

247

In 3ds max and Maya, q is the select tool. Q is already taken by the quick menu in blender, but the w key being right next to q makes this feel kind of natural to me. Also, to hit esc is a bigger reach. I dunno it just feels good to me.

248

Hi @billrey and @brecht
Left click on empty space while in Shader Editor or Compositing Editor doesn’t work like in 3d view, is this intended or just hasn’t implemented yet ? it should just deselect every node, shouldn’t it ?

249

Its quite sad that now choosing “select with left” automatically bring the context menu , because we lose all the utility and efficiency of the active tool system

we should have an option to choose if we want right click to be the context menu or not , right now the left clickers have a disavantages over workflow speed and lose the active tool system …

1 Like
250

Funny. The tools system is working better than never.

251

before LMB select :
you could do normal action with left click and select with left click
while the RMB was dedicated to the active tool , so you could do two things at the same time

exemple : you want to use the active tool two time with two different selection:

  1. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  2. LMB select your first target
  3. RMB use tool
  4. LMB select your second target
  5. RMB use tool
  6. LMB select your third target
  7. RMB use tool

Done, 7 click needed
the cursor was moved back and forth to the toolshelf one time only

OLD WAY OF DOING IT IS REALLY FAST BECAUSE RIGHT CLICK IS ACTIVE TOOL :

BEFORE

you can also use every other shortcut from your keyboard and still have this right click reserved for this special tool , its amazing

New LMB select:
everything is with left click , if you want to use an active tool, you need to go back to the selection mode eveytime to make a selection , the possibility to use both left for selection and right for active tool is missing
because now right click is the context menu at anytime

exemple : same situation

  1. LMB Select your first target
  2. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  3. LMB use the active tool
  4. LMB click on the selection tool in the toolshelf
  5. LMB Select your second target
  6. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  7. LMB use the active tool
  8. LMB click on the selection tool in the toolshelf
  9. LMB Select your third target
  10. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  11. LMB use the active tool

Done , 11 click needed
the mouse cursor was moved back and forth to the toolshelf 5 time !
this need to be taken in consideration, because a lot of time is lost here !

NEW WAY IS SLOW BECAUSE RIGHT CLICK IS FORCED TO BE THE CONTEXT MENU :

NOW

Proposed Workflow with the ESC key = go out of the active tool and go back to selection like i told before
ther’s this solution in many other software

  1. LMB Select your first target
  2. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  3. LMB use the active tool
  4. ESCAPE KEY , escape tool and go back to selection
  5. LMB Select your second target
  6. LMB click on the desired active tool in the toolshelf
  7. LMB use the active tool

Done , 7 click needed
the mouse cursor was moved back and forth to the toolshelf 3 time !

im a left click selector , i feel in disavantage to not use the RMB for the active tool because of this forced RMB context menu …

my gif made quite some point
the solution is that in the input pref menu ,give us the choice for left click selector to have right click still avaible for the active tool like before
this workflow need to be more obvious to left click people, i mean its so powerful …

am i missing something ???a macro dedicated to the active tool ???
im really really sorry if i did

edit
i know that there is this drag=active tool function
its a bad idea because some tools like extrude to cursor, loopcuts, and other just cannot be used with this, some tools will need a simple click thats it, this idea is not future proof

6 Likes
252

Not yet implemented. Follow progress here: https://developer.blender.org/T57918

1 Like
253

Another solution would be to have a way to select components without having to change the active tool, so it would be something like:

  1. LMB on the toolbar to select the tool
  2. LMB on the model to select the component or LMB+Drag on empty space to activate box select and select several components.
  3. LMB+Drag on the selected component(s) to perform the action
    Rinse and repeat.

RMB for context menu is not the problem, is the way selection is working right now what causes the problem.

Note: In your last gif you’re using box select, with simple select you can still have the same behaviour as in 2.79, is box select the tool I think is problematic.
As I mentioned before, simple selection and box selection should be the same tool, there must be a way to have both behaviours in one tool and change them based on context… right?

EDIT:
I just want to clarify something, the simple select tool works great with LMB selection, I can activate any tool on the toolbar and just click to select and then click+drag to perform the action, no problem there. Add shortcuts to that and everything’s fine, using simple select for everything and invoking box selection with B allows the exact same workflow of LMB selection of 2.79.

What I found odd and think could be a problem for people trying to work like in other programs with LMB is that box selection only works when the box selection tool is active (and it does only that). Anyone coming from another software (2D or 3D) will surely expect to do box selection right away without having to change tools.

254

That’s how I always have been using Blender, and via keymap edits in 2.7. Would be great to have this as a default

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255

This is from RightClickSelect:

imagen
imagen.png944×642 32.6 KB

This is what I’ve been talking about…

8 Likes
256

Why cant the box select tool be active all the time? at least in the edit mode. It makes no sense to have it as a separate tool because if you want to use any of the other tools from the toolbar you have to go back and forth with the box select tool as its a very basic function that is needed almost all the time.

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257

This would be an awesome feature. Super intuitive.

2 Likes
258

Me too. I can’t believe it’s not added yet. No words.

1 Like
259

No because some tools relies on one click only to be activated , thats why i made the gif with extrude to cursor.
so it will not work with tools like loopcut , knife , extrude to cursor and maybe other tool, or future tools that relies on one click only , its quite common for a tool to be one click only so we need to be careful with this “stay clicked” idea, it need to be consistent otherwise users will get frustrated

it work really well on other tools by the way !

but well my point was that i dont see why the context menu is forced to left click users , we should have the choice to have it or not for both left click and right clickers in the input pref menu … exclusive button for the active tool is quite a big loss

1 Like
260

This might work

  1. Go back to the Box select automatically after the operation is finished
  2. Right click menu has an “Repeat the last operation”

Won’t it?

261

I’m not sure if this is a bug or just not fully implemented yet, but in LMB select mode, shift+LMB does not add to selection in any of the node editors. It works as intended in RMB select mode.

EDIT: Also, just as a note, with LMB select changing the RMB function to a context menu, you can no longer move reroute nodes without activating grab mode. A very minor thing, and perhaps best left for 2.90+, but having a little box next to the reroute that you can grab and move could be handy (similar to UE4’s node system).

262

Are some of these keymap changes hardcoded? I’m finding it very difficult to change simple behavior of some mouse button clicks…

The keymap editor needs an overhaul.