The most direct way to select every object in your Maya scene is by using the main menu. This action includes all visible objects, such as geometry, cameras, lights, locators, and other scene elements.
The Primary Method: Using the Select Menu
To select everything currently present and visible in your scene, navigate through the main menu:
- Go to the Select menu.
- Choose the All command.
Executing the Select > All command will highlight every selectable item in your scene, making them active for transformations or other operations.
Understanding Other Selection Controls (Referencing Provided Information)
Maya offers several ways to manage selections, including clearing selections and selecting specific categories of objects. The provided reference highlights related functionalities:
Canceling Your Selection
If you have objects selected and wish to quickly clear your selection, Maya provides a simple hotkey.
- Using the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+A. As noted in the reference, this action "Cancels your selection and unhighlights all the selected objects in one operation." This is the quickest way to deselect everything and return to a state with no active selection.
Selecting Specific Object Types
While Select > All selects everything, you might often need to select only certain kinds of objects (like just the cameras, or just the geometry).
- The reference mentions a capability via a "submenu" where "items in this submenu select every object of a certain type in the scene." This describes a standard Maya feature, typically accessed through menus like
Select > All Objects of Type >. This allows for powerful scene management by filtering selection based on object category rather than selecting every single item.
| Action | Method | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Select Everything | Select > All (Menu Command) |
Selects all visible objects in the scene. |
| Cancel Selection | Ctrl+Shift+A (Hotkey) | Deselects all currently selected objects. |
| Select Objects by Type | Select > All Objects of Type (Menu) |
Selects only specific types of objects (e.g., cameras, lights, geometry). |
In summary, while Ctrl+Shift+A is a crucial hotkey for canceling selection, and Maya offers submenus to select items by type, the command to select everything in the scene is found under the Select > All menu.
