Group picker, Match select and Loop select in Vectornation

Selecting with a click or a drag box works well on a simple drawing. On a busy one, with groups inside groups, dozens of similar shapes and pieces tucked behind each other, you need sharper tools. Vectornation by Zaweba has three that sit beside the Pointer: the Group picker, Match select and Loop select. The README also names a magic wand and a lasso among the tools.

Each of them answers a different need. The Group picker is about which level of a group you want. Match select is about which objects look like this one. Loop select is about which objects sit in an awkward area.

Climbing groups with the Group picker

Nested groups are common in imported files and in your own careful work. A flower might be a group of petals, inside a group for the whole plant, inside a group for the border. The Group picker lets you climb that tree one step at a time. Click an object and you get the object. Click the same object again and the next group up is added. Click again and the group above that joins in.

That means you can grab exactly the level you need without opening isolation mode or ungrouping anything. Pick one petal to recolour it, click twice more to move the whole plant, and the structure of the file stays as it was.

Match select for objects that share a style

Match select, key Y, picks objects that share a property with the one you click. It can match on fill, stroke, stroke weight, opacity or blending mode. Each of those has a tolerance, set in the context bar, so you can ask for a close match or allow a little give.

Tolerance is what makes it practical. A file that has been through a few hands often has blues that are nearly but not quite the same. With a small tolerance you catch them all in one click and can set them to the one correct brand colour. Hold Shift and click to add another set to the selection, or hold Alt and click to take a set away.

Typical jobs include recolouring every instance of an old colour, thickening all the thin outlines in a map, or finding everything set to a blending mode you no longer want. It is also a quick way to check a drawing for stray objects that do not match the rest.

Loop select for awkward areas

Loop select, key Q, is a freehand selection loop. A rectangle drag box is fine when the objects sit in a neat block, but artwork rarely does. When the shapes you want curve around a corner, or are mixed in with pieces you want to leave alone, a loop lets you trace round just the right ones.

Choosing the right one

If the objects share a look, use Match select. If they share a place, use Loop select. If they share a group, use the Group picker. When none of those fits alone, combine them: Match select a colour, then Shift-click to add more, or Alt-click with Match select to take away matches you do not want.

Small cautions

Match select can reach right across a drawing, so check that it has not picked up objects you did not expect before you make a change. A tolerance set too wide can sweep in colours you meant to keep, so start small and widen it. With a loop, take your time around tight spots; a hurried loop can clip a neighbour.

With these three close to hand, selection in Vectornation by Zaweba stops being a fiddly chore and becomes a quick, deliberate step.