Select multiple objects in a group with a single click

Hi there,

It’s been a while, but for a new project I’m starting to work with Blender again.
It strikes me how hard it is to select multiple parented or grouped objects in a simple and intuitive way.
I’m sure this question has been around, but after a bit of searching, I couldn’t find any satisfying answers.

So, here is my question:
Is it possible to have all objects in a group selected with a single click on any of the members of that group?

As far as I know I can only select all items in a group by

- selecting one of the objects (mouse-click)
- pressing shift+G (select Grouped)
- pressing G (Grouped)

I find that one click and two keystrokes makes selecting a slow process.

Similarly, as far as I know, I can only select all children of a parent by

- selecting the parent (mouse-click)
- pressing shift+G (select Grouped)
- pressing C (Children)

I find that one click and two keystrokes makes selecting a slow process.
It’s not always easy to select the parent object.

I know it’s possible to select a parent and all it’s children by clicking ctrl+Left mouse button on an item in the outliner. This is certainly nice, but it’s a little less intuitive than I would like. I wish a similar selection method would exist in the 3D view.

By joining meshes together, it’s possible to manipulate them as one, but then you’re quite limited to what you can do to the members of that “group”. I don’t think this is how one should generally group objects.

I found out that the free add on ‘Sensei Format’ has a one click to enable a group-select functionality, but I’m a bit reluctant to install a plugin that changes the user interface quite dramatically.

Is there any way of working with groups in a similar way to other programs as sketchUp, or Illustrator, (or so many others) where you can easily select and manipulate the whole group as if it were a single object, yet being able to dig into it to access it’s members…

I’m really curious, how are you currently selecting grouped objects?

Best,
Elias

Select multiple objects in a group with a single click

Outliner set to view groups

Selection sets addon https://cgcookiemarkets.com/all-products/selection-sets-addon/

Set up a custom shortcut to select grouped objects
Example: Double RMB click to select grouped objects


1 Like

Thank you Richard!

I’m going to try this out!
Is there any built-into-Blender way to achieve an easier selection-workflow?

There is another thing you can try.

Use an empty, and make it a duplication group. If you don’t know what that is, look in the properties tab to the right,… the orange cube icon. Go down to duplication and set it to group and then choose your group. Now your group acts like a single clickable object and you can’t move individual pieces accidentally.

I like to move the group objects into a new scene. (still in the same .blend file) then it is easy to pop over to that and tweak objects if you need, but everything is held together as one object in the main scene.

Edit: there is also an add-on that is in trunk called “Edit Linked Library”. If you use that, you can have your groups in a completely different scene, and link them in to your main scene. Then with a simple click you can edit the group, and return when you are done back to the main scene.

I just bound ‘object.select_grouped’ to “Ctrl+Right Click”. Works like a charm. My love with blender has deepened.

Thank you!

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TeaCrab, that is a beautiful way to make selecting groups a breeze!
Thank you!!