Level Editor/Selecting and hiding
Most editing starts by selecting something. This page covers how selection works in the viewport and the scene tree, how to hide things you are not working on, and how to pick something up and put it down elsewhere with the ghost (G).
Selecting in the viewport
With the Move, Rotate or Scale tool:
| Do this | Result |
|---|---|
| Click an object | Select it alone. |
| Shift+click | Add it to the selection (never removes). |
| Ctrl+click | Toggle it: add it, or remove it if already selected. |
| Ctrl+Shift+click | Remove it from the selection. |
| Drag on empty space | Drag a rectangle; everything inside is selected. The same modifier keys apply. |
| Alt+Q | Select the brush under the mouse (Pick Under Cursor). |
| Esc | Clear the selection (status line: Selection cleared). |
The same modifiers work for vertices, edges and faces in the Edit Vertex, Edit Edge and Edit Face tools, where Ctrl+A selects all of them on the selected brushes and Alt+Q switches to editing the brush under the mouse.
Groups
A click on something inside a group selects that thing, unless the group has Select As Group ticked, in which case the whole group is selected. Tools > Ignore Groups makes every click pick the object inside, even in a Select As Group group, for this session.
Volumes that get in the way
Zones, collision-only brushes and sound volumes are often big boxes over the geometry you want to click. Turn on Edit > Click Through Collision Brushes, Click Through Zone Brushes or Click Through Sound Volumes and clicks pass through that kind. All three are off by default (so a new zone can be selected). Placing and dragging always see every volume.
More ways to select
- In the scene tree: click a row, Shift+click for a range, Ctrl+click to toggle.
- Tools > Select Touching (Ctrl+T) adds everything touching the selection.
- Tools > Select by Material selects every brush (or face, in the Edit Face tool) wearing the selected faces' material.
- Ctrl+A in the vertex, edge and face tools selects all.
Whatever is selected shows in Selection Properties (the inspector). With several things selected, the inspector shows the first one and a change applies to all of them.
Hiding
Hiding is for your view only: the map still saves, exports, bakes and plays with everything in it, and opening a map shows everything again.
- H hides the selection. The status line says Hid N from view (Alt+H shows all).
- Alt+H shows everything again. So does the N hidden button above the scene tree.
- The eye beside a row in the scene tree hides or shows that object.
- Right-click a row > Toggle Visibility Recursive hides the object and everything in it one by one (or, on a hidden object, shows them all). Clicking one of their eyes afterwards shows that one alone.
A hidden object hides everything inside it, cannot be clicked or box-selected, and placement goes through it, so you can work behind a wall or inside a room.
For a bigger area, use the Cordon: it hides everything outside a box. The View menu also hides whole kinds of things (collision brushes, zones, volumes).
Repositioning with the ghost (G)
Select anything that can move (props, brushes, groups, spawns, lights, sounds, water, nav regions, platforms, or a mix) and press G.
- A see-through ghost of the selection follows the mouse and sits on the surface under it.
- Scroll wheel turns it about the vertical axis, 15 degrees a step.
- Click to put it down (one undo step), or press Esc to cancel.
Several things move together and keep their places relative to each other; a group moves with everything in it. Props and points stand on their origin; brushes, groups and volumes rest on the bottom of their box. The ghost snaps to the grid unless everything in it is a prop.
A selection that includes terrain is not ghosted: G grabs it instead and moves it with the mouse. In the vertex, edge and face tools, G grabs the selected vertices, edges or faces.
Placing new things
Shapes, props, lights and points go into the row you picked in the scene tree (it is tinted). Click the level row, a group or a moving platform to choose where new things go; selecting things does not change it. With Parent placements to the surface they start on turned on in Settings, each placement goes into the group of whatever you started it on instead.