Super Marquee Tool

As the Super Marquee tool has numerous keypresses which can add or change its functionality, we strongly suggest installing the free Astute Graphics plugin Astute Buddy, which creates a panel that dynamically updates to inform you of the various keys which can be pressed in the tool’s current context.

Clicking

The Super Marquee tool can be used to select an art object by simply clicking on it. This functions just like the native Selection tool except when the tool is in Boolean Mode (see below). In that case, Shift-clicking will not toggle the selection state of the clicked object; to remove an object from the current selection you must Option/Alt-click. Clicking on an empty area of the canvas will deselect everything.

Dragging

Dragging the Super Marquee tool across the artboard creates a marquee, similar to the native Selection tool, which, after the mouse button is released, will select art objects. But by default, the Super Marquee tool starts in Enclosing Mode, in which art objects must be completely enclosed by (and not just touching) the marquee. When objects are close together, this makes selection much easier in many cases. However, the tool can easily be switched to Traditional Mode (by pressing the E key while dragging) in which the art objects need only touch the marquee to be selected. In addition to the tool’s cursor, the marquee will change appearance depending on the mode, being rendered with either a dotted line (for Enclosing) or a solid line (for Traditional):

Super Marquee Tool Marquees

Like the native Lasso tool, the Super Marquee tool will only select (or deselect) objects, never move them. So when starting to marquee, you don’t need to take any special care to avoid starting on top of an object and thereby accidentally moving it. Also, note that the Super Marquee tool only selects paths or subpaths in their entirety (i.e., you can’t select some anchor points and not others).

By default, the Super Marquee tool dynamically highlights the objects that are currently being selected by the marquee, allowing you to easily visualize the final result before the mouse button is released. The color (default of red) is customizable and can be changed on the fly with the C key. Also, by default, is the annotation text by the cursor displaying the current selected object count.

Pressing one or more modifier keys while dragging out a marquee changes or adds functionality:

Shift: When Boolean Mode is off (the default), the Shift key works in the same way as the native selection tools: objects which are Shift-marqueed have their selection state inverted. When Boolean Mode is on, Shift-marqueeing adds the marqueed objects to the selection (a “plus” sign badge is added to the cursor).

Option/Alt: When Boolean Mode is off (the default), the Option/Alt key enables center out marqueeing (the starting point of the marquee becomes the center point of the marquee rather than one of its corners). When Boolean Mode is on, Option/Alt-marqueeing subtracts the marqueed objects from the selection (a “minus” sign badge is added to the cursor).

Shift+Option/Alt: When Boolean Mode is off (the default), holding both Shift and Option/Alt simply combines the effects of those keys held individually (see above). When Boolean Mode is on, Shift+Option/Alt-marqueeing intersects the marqueed objects with the selection (i.e., only objects that were marqueed and were already in the selection will be left selected; this is identical to how Photoshop’s Intersect mode works on pixels). An “×” badge is added to the cursor.

Super Marquee Tool Modifiers

Command/Ctrl: Temporarily hides live highlighting.

The following non-modifier keys can also be pressed while dragging to toggle or change various tool preferences on the fly (i.e. without having to go to the Super Marquee Preferences dialog):

Space: Allows repositioning of the entire marquee when the cursor is moved (rather than resizing it).

Up Arrow/Down Arrow: When Alternating Mode is active, increases or decreases the Select chunk size (see Super Marquee: Alternating Modes). When Random Mode is active, increases or decreases the random selection value (see Super Marquee: Random Mode).

Left Arrow/Right Arrow: When Alternating Mode is active, increases or decreases the Skip chunk size.

A: Steps through the two Alternating Modes and back to Non-Alternating Mode.

B: Toggles Boolean Mode off and on. When off, the default, the Shift key works as with the native selection tools, to invert the selection status of any marqueed objects. When on, separate modifier keypresses can add to, subtract from, or intersect the marqueed objects with the current selection (see above).

C: Changes the live highlighting color among the following choices: red, blue, magenta, green, black, and grey.

D: Toggles the Selected Object count annotation that appears next to the cursor. The count refers to the number of objects currently being selected by the marquee (taking into account Alternating or Random Modes), not any existing selection.

E: Toggles between Enclosing Mode and Traditional Mode. In Enclosing Mode, objects are only selected if their bounds are entirely within the marquee, rather than simply needing to touch it.

F: Toggles Full Selection Mode off and on. In Full Selection Mode, groups and compound paths can only be selected in their entirety (like the native Selection tool). Turning it off allows the selection of individual group members and subpaths of compound paths (like the native Direct Selection tool).

Super Marquee Tool Full Partial Selection

N: When an Alternating Mode is active, resets the Select and Skip chunk sizes to their default values of 1.

Q: When Boolean Mode is on, allows you to marquee from the center out (as the Option/Alt modifier, which normally handles this function, is instead used to subtract from the selection).

R: Toggles Random Mode on and off.

S: When Random Mode is on, shuffles the random seed.

X: Changes the marquee shape. The default is rectangular, but you can also choose elliptical, square, or round.

Normally, all objects within the marquee (or touching it, in Traditional Mode) are selected. In one of the two Alternating Modes, only some of the objects are selected, using a pattern which specifies both the consecutive number of objects which will be selected (the “Select” chunk) and the number that will then be skipped (the “Skip” chunk), in alternating fashion. The order of the objects is the same as their stacking order on the artboard, moving from the bottom to the top.

The difference between the two Alternating Modes (A and B) is that mode A starts with one or more selected objects, while mode B starts with one or more skipped objects:

Super Marquee Tool Alternating Modes

If the Super Marquee tool is not already in Alternating Mode, pressing the A key while dragging will enter Alternating Mode A, and a second press will enter Mode B. A third press will then exit Alternating Mode. While in either Alternating Mode, the Select chunk value can be changed by pressing the Up/Down Arrow keys; the Skip chunk value can be changed by pressing the Left/Right Arrow keys. The cursor annotation shows the current chunk values in parentheses, Select chunk first (unless the values are at their default settings of 1, which can be quickly achieved by pressing the N key).

It is often useful to select a random subset of a number of objects. The Super Marquee tool can do this by using Random Mode (press the R key while dragging if the tool is not already in Random Mode). The cursor annotation shows the value which is used to decide whether each selected object should instead be ignored, from 1% to 99%. For example, if the value is set to 40%, then each selected object has a 40% chance of staying selected and a 60% chance of being ignored instead. The value can be changed using the Up/Down Arrow keys while dragging.

Because the results are probabilistic, some random selections may be less desirable than others (just as flipping a coin ten times can still occasionally produce 9 heads). Pressing the S key will shuffle the random seed, leading to a different subset of objects being selected.

Super Marquee Tool Random Mode

Doubleclicking the Super Marquee tool in the toolbox (or pressing the Enter key when the tool is selected) will bring up its preferences dialog. Many of the preference can be changed on the fly when dragging out a marquee, by pressing various keys (see Super Marquee: Tool Operation).

Super Marquee Tool Preferences Dialog

1. Marquee Shape

Choices of Rectangular, Elliptical, Square, and Round; can be cycled through on the fly by pressing the X key.

2. Live Highlighting

Highlights each art object that is being affected by the marquee in real time during the marquee drag. If set to on, can be temporarily turned off while dragging by pressing Command/Ctrl.

3. Live Highlighting Color

Allows a choice of colors in which to draw live highlighting, from among red, blue, magenta, green, black, and grey. The colors can be cycled through on the fly by pressing the C key.

4. Display Selected Object Count

When enabled, a count of the objects that are being selected by the marquee is displayed next to the cursor; can be toggled on the fly by pressing the D key.

5. Retain Alternating/Random Modes

When enabled, and the tool was last used with Alternating or Random Mode active, the next use of the tool will continue to use that mode.

6. Get Bounds of Text Objects Using Text Outlines

The bounds of a text object normally includes the areas reserved for ascenders and descenders, even if has none. For text-on-a-path or text-in-a-path, the bounds include the associated path, even if the path is unpainted and invisible. This can sometimes make selecting text harder than it should be, or lead to unwanted selection (although with Super Marquee’s live highlighting, this is less of an issue). When this preference is enabled, the bounds of any text object will be calculated as if the text were outlined. This may cause small delays when used with very large text blocks.

Super Marquee Tool Text by Outline

7. Boolean Operation

When enabled, Super Marquee allows independent operations for adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting with the selection using various modifier keys (see Super Marquee: Tool Operation). Boolean Mode can be toggled on the fly by pressing the B key.

8. Contextual Highlighting

Available when Boolean Mode is on. When enabled and the tool is being used to subtract or intersect, only objects within the marquee which are already in the existing selection (and therefore can be affected) are highlighted.

9. Informational area

Shows a brief description of each preference control when the cursor is being hovered over it.