select edge loop trick?

# 1 10-10-2012 , 12:51 PM

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Join Date: Feb 2012

Posts: 53

Hey
I use select edge loop tool a lot - it is great to just double click on an edge and Maya selects the whole loop.

But sometimes I'd like to just select just a portion of that edge loop?

I select one edge then select other edge and I want to quickly include all of the inbetween edges only, not the entire loop.

Any suggestions?
thnx
Dan

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# 2 10-10-2012 , 01:19 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

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Select one end of the edge hold shift down then double click the other end............dave

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# 3 10-10-2012 , 02:20 PM

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great

this little trick should be in some of the great poly modeling tuts out there, but I've never ran across it.

dave any chance you know of a good link for poly model tips?

really helped my work flow with this tip - I used to model in Nurbs exclusively - but slowly converting to poly modeling and still learning....

dan

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# 4 10-10-2012 , 03:58 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

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Dan this is stuff I have picked up as I go along if I where you I would check out Ricks (ctbram) free friday tutorials and there is a tips and trick section in the newbie form................dave

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# 5 12-10-2012 , 06:10 PM

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great link

dave that is a great link to Fri Free - thanks so much -dan

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# 6 12-10-2012 , 08:45 PM

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Sometimes you cannot get a complete loop if you run into any vertex that has a valence of less then or greater then 4. valence is the number of edges flowing from a vert. If it's less then or greater then four the loop algorithm does not know which edge to follow out of the vertex.

This happens when you hit a tri or an ngon and is one of the reasons tri's and ngons are frowned upon.

In a sphere for instance trying to select along a line a longitude the loop will stop at the pole.

As for partial selection you can select the starting edge and double click the ending edge. Sometimes this picks the opposite section of the section. So try this trick - single click the start edge, single click the end edge, and then double click the edge just inside the ending edge. This will usually pick the section you want.

-rick

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 12-10-2012 at 08:51 PM.

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