Selecting odd shapes... How?

[Mtl_Biker]

I've inherited a PDF file that I need to edit.  There are several objects consisting of multiple shapes and I want to select only one object at a time (and then group all the shapes).  Using the standard rectangular selection tool I can't select what I want - I always get a whole bunch of other items.  If I switch to the pixel persona, I can use the freehand selection tool but all that does is draw a selection around the objects without appearing to actually select the objects.  What am I missing?

Thanks for any help.

 (Designer v2.0.0)

[MikeTO]

Hi. You might find it easier if you disable the Preferences > Tools > Select Object When Intersects with Selection Marquee option.

With this on, dragging a marquee selection rectangle will select every object that intersects with that rectangle, even if only by a fraction. With this off you'll get only the objects that are fully contained by the rectangle. Some people prefer it one way and some the other, but for cleaning up your PDF it would be best to disable this option.

Cheers

[Alfred]

You should be able to select (or deselect) additional (or unwanted) objects/layers via the Layers panel.

[MickRose]

Have you tried shift clicking objects rather than dragging? Also, the wire frame & x-ray views might help. 

[Mtl_Biker]

52 minutes ago, Alfred said:

You should be able to select (or deselect) additional (or unwanted) objects/layers via the Layers panel.

The problem is that there are a gazillion objects on this thing, and they're all named... "curve".  There are so many and the file is so large that it's also hard to see which particular line/curve gets selected or deselected.  Would be much easier to just draw a selection around everything I want.  And that's what I haven't been able to do.

[Mtl_Biker]

56 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Hi. You might find it easier if you disable the Preferences > Tools > Select Object When Intersects with Selection Marquee option.

With this on, dragging a marquee selection rectangle will select every object that intersects with that rectangle, even if only by a fraction. With this off you'll get only the objects that are fully contained by the rectangle. Some people prefer it one way and some the other, but for cleaning up your PDF it would be best to disable this option.

Cheers

Unfortunately that option IS deselected.  And whoever made this PDF used a gazillion line and curve segments (all named line and curve) without being closed paths.  When I draw a selection rectangle around some of these odd shaped objects, I end up also selecting about a hundred other small pieces and even then deselecting them through the layers palette is not going to work because some are so small and the file is so large that I can't even see which thing gets selected/deselected.  Being able to draw a lasso around what I want would be the best.  And that I haven't been able to figure out if it's even possible.

 

[Mtl_Biker]

55 minutes ago, MickRose said:

Have you tried shift clicking objects rather than dragging? Also, the wire frame & x-ray views might help. 

There are hundreds of "things" in each object so shift clicking each would take me forever and I might not even end up with all of them.

 Wire frame & x-ray views... Huh?  Going to the help file to see what those are.

Thank you.

[Mtl_Biker]

Is there a way to draw a rectangular selection area and then ADD TO IT by drawing another rectangular selection area?  It doesn't look like that can be done but if it could, it might help a lot in this situation.

I don't know what the person who created this was thinking... No naming of objects (other than the default "curve", etc) and even instead of drawing a dashed line or rectangle, this is just a collection of short dashes.  Each one independent.  No grouping of components.  Total mess.  If the file wasn't so large with so incredibly many small objects, I'd be tempted to try to recreate it.  What a nightmare!

 

[voom]

This may not have been this way in the original document but sth. that happened in the PDF. While I find that Affinity does a good job with PDFs to make them editable, PDF is not an ideal way to migrate a design. Of course, if there is no other format both apps share, at least it can be migrated at all.

[MickRose]

Something which might help is to use the layers panel to apply a "colour" to selected objects. Do this in batches. Then at some point you can use Select Same to select objects. It sounds like a nightmare if a job. Would it help if you uploaded a bit of the file? Obviously that might not be a good idea. 

[MEB]

Hi @Mtl_Biker,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Check if the method I'm demoing in this video/thread helps. In the first seconds I'm just ungrouping stuff but then will all curves/paths in the root i demo how you can select them using a "lasso" selection through their nodes.

[Mtl_Biker]

2 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi @Mtl_Biker,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Check if the method I'm demoing in this video/thread helps. In the first seconds I'm just ungrouping stuff but then will all curves/paths in the root i demo how you can select them using a "lasso" selection through their nodes.

Thank you!  I haven't tried that yet, but it certainly does look like it'll work for me.  My office is closing in a few minutes and if I get a chance to try it tonight on my MacBook I will, otherwise it'll be tomorrow morning back at work on my PC.

Do you have to move the selection onto the canvas?  I was hoping to keep the relative positions of the (newly grouped) objects intact.  But that's a minor issue.

Thanks again!

 

[Mtl_Biker]

19 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi @Mtl_Biker,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Check if the method I'm demoing in this video/thread helps. In the first seconds I'm just ungrouping stuff but then will all curves/paths in the root i demo how you can select them using a "lasso" selection through their nodes.

@MEB - Your suggestion seems like it's going to work but I am having trouble figuring out one part of the steps...  I have the nodes of the object selected (ALT-plus node tool to draw a freehand selection around what I need) but I can't figure out how you move it off to the canvas.  If I click the move tool that removes my selection.  If I try spacebar and move with the node tool, that also doesn't work.  So how are you doing that move with all the nodes selected?

 Thanks again for your kind help.

 

[Old Bruce]

4 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

If I try spacebar and move with the node tool, that also doesn't work.  So how are you doing that move with all the nodes selected?

Don't use 'spacebar'. Use the Node tool and click on one of the several solid blue nodes (solid blue means they are selected) and drag.

[Mtl_Biker]

36 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Don't use 'spacebar'. Use the Node tool and click on one of the several solid blue nodes (solid blue means they are selected) and drag.

Great!  Thanks very much for that tip.  I'd been banging my head against the wall and not getting it.  It looks like it's all working well for me now.  Only two small issues remain:

One of the objects I'm trying to select is very large and very close to another object, so that when using the ALT-Node tool to select all the nodes, I have to zoom in quite a bit to make sure I'm not selecting nodes from an adjacent object.  And then because I'm zoomed in, I cannot continue my selection of the entire object I want.  Is there a way to scroll the screen while trying to select all the nodes of the object?

Second even smaller issue is that on one of the objects I'm trying to select, once I draw my selection around it, it looks like everything is selected, however several small curves and rectangles remain behind when I move the object.  I don't understand why they aren't also being selected first by my using the move tool to make a selection rectangle around the entire thing, and then with the node tool and the ALT key, drawing another selection around ALL the nodes.  It's almost as if the few small things are not being selected, as if they were on some separate layer or group that is somehow not accessible.  I can do without those small things but it's curious that they don't get included in the selection.  And they're right smack in the middle of the object.

If I move the large object off to the canvas, those little things remain behind and the nodes appear.  If I then deselect, and draw a rectangle around the area where the small things remained, they show up in the layers panel simple as curves and rectangles, without being in a group or separate layer.  So I select them and delete.  But I'm finding it strange and I don't understand it.

Thanks again!

 

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, Mtl_Biker said:

they show up in the layers panel simple as curves and rectangles,

The node tool won't select Shapes (like Ellipse and Rectangle, Star etc), only curves. They would need to be converted to curves first.

[Mtl_Biker]

15 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

The node tool won't select Shapes (like Ellipse and Rectangle, Star etc), only curves. They would need to be converted to curves first.

Darn!  That explains it.  Thank you.  This file is a real mess... no groups of any objects, unconnected line and curve segments (a gazillion of them!) and no names to identify things.  Crazy!

Any suggestion about scrolling around while trying to ALT-Node select everything on a large object?

 

[Old Bruce]

5 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

Any suggestion about scrolling around while trying to ALT-Node select everything on a large object?

I use a Wacom tablet with touch enabled so zooming and panning is quite easy for me. I also have an Apple Trackpad so again zooming and scrolling is quite easy. With a mouse.... haven't used one in years so I have no advice.

One thing you could try is making a bunch of copies of the document and delete a bunch of stuff to make it easier for some areas. Then open a different copy and select a bunch of stuff and delete them to make it easier to select a different area. Then copy and paste the various groups into a new file.

[Mtl_Biker]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

I use a Wacom tablet with touch enabled so zooming and panning is quite easy for me. I also have an Apple Trackpad so again zooming and scrolling is quite easy. With a mouse.... haven't used one in years so I have no advice.

One thing you could try is making a bunch of copies of the document and delete a bunch of stuff to make it easier for some areas. Then open a different copy and select a bunch of stuff and delete them to make it easier to select a different area. Then copy and paste the various groups into a new file.

Funny, I also use a Wacom tablet on my PC and a Apple Trackpad on my MacBook.  But I have not found how to scroll WHILE also using that ALT-Node tool technique to select nodes.

Your second suggestion does seem like an option though.  Thank you.

 

[Old Bruce]

With the Wacom I have the Intuos Pro with the Touch feature this means I can select with the pen and zoom and scroll with my fingers. Your Wacom may not have the ability to use Touch. With the Track pad I have the thing set to zoom and scroll with the Scroll & Zoom section, I also have it set to Click with a single tap.

[Mtl_Biker]

@Old Bruce- I also have the Wacom Intuos Pro (on my PC) and my tablet properties dialog looks like this:

Are you saying that you can be using the stylus (like in doing your outline selection) and at the same time use your fingers to scroll the image?  If so, that would be terrific and all I'd need is another hand. 

[Old Bruce]

8 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

Are you saying that you can be using the stylus (like in doing your outline selection) and at the same time use your fingers to scroll the image?  If so, that would be terrific and all I'd need is another hand. 

I use the Left hand to hold the Option/Alt key and or the Shift Key, I use the Right hand with the pen/stylus and then just ... hard to describe it ... I twitch my hand and the pen is now twisted out of the way, I am sort of holding it parallel to the tablet and I can use my thumb and middle finger to pan/scroll move about the canvas and by 'pinching' I can zoom.

(the index finger is twisted up holding the pen out of the way, the pen is wedged in-between my index and middle finger (or as one of my tiny cousins calls them "the pointer and rude" fingers) and the base of thumb).

[Mtl_Biker]

@Old Bruce - You really are patient and most helpful.  Thank you very much.

There seems to be something wrong either with my settings or with the Wacom tablet itself, as I can't get left/right scrolling to work (two fingers).  Up and down works fine.  But in any case, the moment I lift the stylus from the tablet, if I was in the process of selecting all the nodes of an object using that ALT-node tool technique, the selection progress stops.  And if I try to start again, it unselects whatever was already selected and I have to start again.  There doesn't seem to be a way to maintain the initial selected nodes and add to them after scrolling.

I've always used the spacebar / stylus combo to scroll so the two-finger sideways scroll may never have worked.  SHRUG

In any case, I appreciate the kind help from you and others and I will move on and not bother you any longer.

Cheers!

 

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, Mtl_Biker said:

And if I try to start again, it unselects whatever was already selected and I have to start again. 

Hit the shift key as well as the Option/Alt key. The shift will allow you to add to what is already selected.

[Mtl_Biker]

20 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Hit the shift key as well as the Option/Alt key. The shift will allow you to add to what is already selected.

Duh.  You're (of course) right!

Working like a charm now.