How do I select surfaces in Blender?

In Blender, you typically select and manipulate surfaces by interacting with their underlying control points or other components while in Edit Mode.

Accessing Surface Selection

Surface selection, particularly for surface objects like NURBS surfaces, is performed within Blender's Edit Mode.

Select the surface object in the 3D Viewport while in Object Mode.
Press the Tab key or select Edit Mode from the mode dropdown menu in the header.

Once in Edit Mode, you will see the control points or other editable components that define the surface.

Basic Surface Selection Methods

Based on the provided reference, surface selection in Edit Mode for objects like NURBS surfaces is very similar to how you select elements on NURBS curves or meshes. The fundamental tools for selecting control points (which in turn affect the surface) are the same:

Simple Control Point Selection: You can select a single control point by using the Left Mouse Button (LMB) click.
Adding to Selection: To add more control points to your current selection without deselecting others, hold down the Shift key while performing an LMB click on additional points. Clicking a selected point with Shift + LMB will deselect it.
Border Select: Utilize the Border Select tool (often activated by pressing B or via a menu) to draw a rectangular box around multiple control points to select them simultaneously.

These methods allow you to pick specific control points, rows of points, or entire sections defined by points, giving you control over the surface's shape and structure.

Understanding the Selection Logic

When working with surfaces defined by control points (like NURBS surfaces), you aren't clicking directly on the shaded surface area itself to select it. Instead, you are selecting the editable vertices or control points that the surface interpolates between. Selecting these points allows you to move, scale, or manipulate them, which directly influences the form of the surface.

Think of it like selecting vertices on a mesh; you're selecting the defining components, not the polygon face itself (unless you are in a specific selection mode for different component types, but for basic surface objects defined by control points, the points are the primary selection target).

By mastering these basic selection techniques in Edit Mode, you can effectively modify and sculpt surfaces in Blender.