Alt-click is not selecting edge loops in lInux

Question

Does anybody have an idea why this is not working?

The only time this happened to me was when I was customizing some keyboard shortcuts a while back. Have you tried 'File -> Load Factory Settings' — MarcClintDion, Feb 09 '15 at 11:26
Welcome to SE Toran! It's a little hard to understand what might be wrong from the little information you've provided - could you edit the question and add some info like: Your OS, version of Blender, a screenshot of the whole interface after you try selecting it, etc. You can also double check that your GPU drivers are up to date, and that you downloaded Blender from blender.org and not from one of the linux repositories (these can be unreliable). — Greg Zaal, Feb 09 '15 at 12:22
Sorry I am running linux mint 17.1 version of blender is the latest version DL off blender.org. And the load factory setting has been done now but would have been nice if you had said save you work first, it wiped 3.5hours worth of work. lol — Toran, Feb 09 '15 at 13:24
@Toran sorry you lost 3.5 hours of work, but what were you thinking not saving for 3.5 hours? — David, Feb 09 '15 at 16:20
@david just in the zone man, in the zone. will add saving to the zone in the future. I have my select to the left mouse button. it doesn't work — Toran, Feb 09 '15 at 16:22
blender has auto save functionnalities. Is your problem the same with another file? Did factory settings solve the problem? — Bithur, Feb 09 '15 at 17:48
no factory setting did not solve the problem it is still not working. I can go into select and select the edge loops from there but just not as a hot key. — Toran, Feb 10 '15 at 09:37
Maybe it's not edge loops (duplicate topology, E or T poles, NGons...). try creating a UV sphere and loop selection. — Bithur, Feb 10 '15 at 12:30
Related: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8160/are-there-any-special-considerations-for-using-blender-on-linux/24198#24198 — , Aug 08 '17 at 16:31

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 18 '15 at 20:33

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Alt key in most Linux window managers doesn't work properly with blender. You can configure it in various window managers, but the easiest solution for me is to shift+alt click. It will select an edge loop, but its in a "additive mode" so it works for selecting 1 edge loop, and continues selecting edge loops as if you are shift selecting multiple items.

Sorry if this text description is confusing, but try shift+alt click on the edge loop and it should achieve what you want.

answered Feb 18 '15 at 20:33

beiller

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In Cinnamon you can go to System Settings > Windows > Behavior. It's the entry called "Special key to move and resize windows". – Clox Jan 18 '18 at 09:57
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Neither ALT-click or SHIFT-alt click works (Ubuntu 18.04). – Kris Aug 09 '20 at 03:54
Shift+Alt+Click works for me on Ubuntu Mate/XFCE 20.04 without any modifications :) – Subhamoy S. Nov 24 '20 at 09:45

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 19 '15 at 03:48

In most Linux OS's, the window action key is alt which conflics with many Blender shortcuts the most noticable of which is the alt->click edge loop short cut.

It can be harder to fix this problem than some of the other conflicting hotkeys because it isn't actually in the keyboard hotkeys menu.

In most OS's it's in the window resizing settings panel. In the cinnamon and xfce window managers, this is found in the normal settings manager or can also be found by searching for it. In the GNOME window manager, it can be found in the GNOME Tweak Tool under windows.

All you have to do is locate the window action key, or basically a drop down menu that by default has alt in it. Just change this to something like super, or in GNOME, you can change it to disable like I have it.

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 23 '16 at 16:11

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I just found out (after reading about resetting to defaults) that(in my) Blenderversion 2.76b the edgeloop- selection command does not work when 3- button mouse emulation is enabled. I hope that helps, I was searching like hell! ;)

answered Jan 23 '16 at 16:11

Taffi

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score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 04 '17 at 01:01

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Blender 2.78c but I'm sure it would be a general thing:

User Preferences > Input > Shortcut list > 3D View > Mesh

Loop Select (1) Change Mouse to Keyboard
Change shortcut to Alt+A
Loop Select (2) Change Mouse to Keyboard
Change shortcut to Shift+Alt+A

edited Jun 04 '17 at 01:01

Duarte Farrajota Ramos

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answered Jun 03 '17 at 23:14

Garrett Keane

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Even though this is not the correct solution, in the end I found it to be the most useful. – Tiagojdferreira Nov 13 '17 at 23:08

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 08 '17 at 15:07

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This has been up for awhile, but when looking for a correct answer, for me, I found that Tom's answer is correct. In my case, I am using Arch Linux with a xfce desktop. So to extend on Tom's answer, I found the fix by going to Settings > Window Manager Tweaks > Accessibility (tab): Here there is a drop down "Key used to grab and move windows". I switched it from Alt to Super and the problem was fixed.

answered Aug 08 '17 at 15:07

jremydeaton

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In Linux Mint it's similar: System Settings > Windows > Behavior Then disable Alt key from the "special key to move and resize windows" field. – PoxBox Apr 10 '18 at 19:23
Above did the trick for me too in Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa. – Marek Podyma May 04 '20 at 23:46
As I came here with the same problem but KDE - I eventually found the setting for Plasma 5.20 in: Windows Management->Window Behavior->Window Actions and not in shortcuts as I first tought. – Eike Jan 02 '21 at 20:24

Alt-click is not selecting edge loops in lInux

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