Selecting and transforming

A selection names voxels. It shows orange and survives tool switches, except that switching to a brush (Attach, Erase, Paint) clears it.

Everything on this page is also a button in Voxel Mode ▸ Selection:

1. How many voxels are selected, and All, None, Invert.
2. Grow to Connected, Grow and Shrink.
3. Select Same Color and Add Same Color.
4. Select Through, Lift While Moving, Match Colour, Include Diagonals.
5. Move, move by offset, duplicate, rotate, scale, mirror, fill and delete.

The three select tools

They share one toolbar slot. Q (also W or K) activates the slot, and pressing it again cycles through the three.

Tool	Straight there	A click takes
Select Voxels	Q	The box you drag (a click alone is one voxel)
Select Same Colour	Shift + Q	Every voxel of that colour, anywhere in the model
Select Group	Alt + Q	Every voxel in that group

The modifiers mean the same on all three:

Chord	Does
click / drag	Set the selection
Shift	Add to it
Alt + Shift	Subtract
Ctrl	The connected piece under the cursor (magic wand)
Ctrl + Shift	Add the connected piece

Box select from any tool

B starts a box select from any tool, Blender’s own Select Box included. Tap X, Y or Z during the drag and the far corner locks to that axis. Drag a rectangle on the floor, tap Z, and the mouse now pulls the box up through the model. That’s how you select a volume rather than a face.

Select Through (Selection panel, on by default) takes everything behind the rectangle, all the way through the model. Turn it off to take only the surface facing you, which is useful for repainting one face.

Connected pieces

Key	Does
L	Select the connected piece under the cursor
Shift + L	Add it
Ctrl + L	Remove it
Grow to Connected	Spread from what is already selected (panel button)

With Match Colour on, the spread stops where the colour changes, so a red arm comes away from a blue body. Include Diagonals counts voxels touching only at an edge or corner. Turn it on for thin curved shells, whose voxels step diagonally and otherwise fall apart into scraps.

Grow, shrink, all, none

Key	Does
Ctrl + Numpad +	Grow one layer (hold to keep growing)
Ctrl + Numpad −	Shrink one layer
A	Select every voxel
Alt + A	Select none
Esc	Select none (clears the active group highlight first, if one is shown)
Ctrl + I	Invert

Growing only reaches into filled voxels, and obeys Match Colour. Shrinking is its exact reverse: grow four times, shrink four times, and you are back where you started.

Shrinking a solid selection

Shrink a selection that covers a solid model and the outer layer goes first, so what is left is buried inside, with no orange visible. It isn’t a wipe; the header still shows the selected count.

Select Same Color and Add Same Color in the panel take the colours of what is already selected. Select one voxel, press the button, and everything painted like it is selected.

Moving

Key	Does
G	Move the selection with the mouse
Shift + D	Duplicate, then move the copy
Shift + G	Move by a typed offset
Arrow keys	Nudge one voxel, in screen directions
Page Up / Page Down	Nudge away from / towards you

During a move:

• X / Y / Z lock to an axis (press again to unlock).
• The arrows nudge a voxel at a time.
• End drops the piece straight down onto whatever is under it.
• R or S switches to rotate or scale without cancelling.
• Click or Enter confirms; Esc or right-click puts everything back.

A move cuts: the source is emptied. The destination shows as a white ghost, and nothing is written until you confirm. With Lift While Moving on (the default), the moving voxels leave the model for the length of the drag, so only the piece you are aiming is on screen.

A duplicate joins the same group as its original, so “build one leg, duplicate it three times” gives you four legs.

Rotating

Shift + R. (Plain R is the Paint tool.) Move the mouse around the selection’s centre to turn it in quarter turns. X/Y/Z pick the axis, and ←/→ turn a quarter at a time. Rotations are exact: four quarter turns always give back the original.

Scaling

S with a selection. Drag away to grow, towards the centre to shrink; ↑/↓ step one voxel. Scaling is always uniform.

• Growing repeats voxels, so blocky stays blocky.
• Shrinking keeps any block that had something in it, so a one-voxel-thick wall survives being halved instead of vanishing.
• At a wall, a growing selection slides away from it instead of stopping halfway.

To resize the whole model instead, press S in Object Mode (see Models).

Mirror, fill, delete

Key	Does
M	Mirror the selection (Select tool)
Ctrl + F	Fill the selection with the active colour (Select tool)
X or Delete	Delete the selected voxels

The pivot gizmo

While a rotate or scale runs, three rings and a cross mark the selection’s centre, with the active axis lit. It’s a readout, not a handle. Turn it off with Display ▸ Show Pivot Gizmo.