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This is maybe more a workflow question, but I find myself consistently frustrated with Blender with the following workflow. Please follow these instruction precisely to encounter what I'm talking about or skip to section 2 for an attempt at a written explanation.

Section 1:

  1. Select any object (I have the default cube on screen)
  2. The object now has an "Orange" selection highlight.
  3. CTRL C / CTRL V to copy and paste
  4. The selection highlight now turns "Dark Orange."
  5. Select the MOVE tool and drag / move the object away from the cloned / original one.
  6. The moved object remains with the "Dark orange" highlight.
  7. The cloned / original object is no longer highlighted at all.
  8. This is the part that gets me every time; I believe the moved / highlighted object is STILL the one selected for all subsequent changes. i.e. If I scale or change dimensions or something, the un-highlighted object is still the one selected? Why is that?

Is there some rhyme or reason to this and/ or can I change it?

SECTION 2:

Why are there two highlight colors and why does an object remain "selected" even with no highlight and the currently highlighted object is not actually highlighted for all operations?

jackwarner
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  • You seem to be missing the concept of Active Object https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/scene_layout/object/selecting.html – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Feb 10 '24 at 18:22
  • Also see https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/223995/19307 – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Feb 10 '24 at 18:23
  • Yes, I understand, but do you care to express your understanding of the rationale? Why on Earth would the still selected, or otherwise modifiable object, still be "selected" with ZERO highlight, while the visually selected object, albeit with a darker color, not be??? – jackwarner Feb 12 '24 at 16:42
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    As explained in the link, because it original object remains the active one, despite not being selected. Pasting objects selects the newly pasted objects, but since there can be any number of them, it doesn't set any new one as active, because the active object would then be seemingly arbitrary. As such the devs made the intentional decision to not change the active object, so as not to create false expectations – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Feb 12 '24 at 17:05
  • Ah, this helps, but the issue still remains, yes? The issue is the still "active" object is no longer highlighted. Why turn off the active highlight? – jackwarner Feb 12 '24 at 17:32
  • This seems to be more of a critique of Blender's behavior than a question now. – TheLabCat Feb 14 '24 at 22:58
  • "8. This is the part that gets me every time; I believe the moved / highlighted object is STILL the one selected for all subsequent changes. i.e. If I scale or change dimensions or something, the un-highlighted object is still the one selected? Why is that? Is there some rhyme or reason to this and/ or can I change it?" – jackwarner Feb 19 '24 at 01:15

0 Answers0