How to disable backface culling

[DavidC]

looking for a bit of advice, Im currently studying the complete beginners blender course on udemy and have a question that I’m struggling to get an answer to elsewhere.

TLDR: i want ot be able to select objects like this: https://youtu.be/RQB-JdTuwT8
As in no backface culling and the object remains opaque. Xray with alpha of 1 still shows back face edges or verts.

More detail: Basically, all i want to do is be able to select back-facing verts when i do a drag select over the whole object in edit mode WITHOUT making the object transparent. At the moment, blender seems to have back face culling enabled by default and i cant find anywhere to disable it.
I understand that i can use XRay mode or wireframe, but i want to be able to do it in object or material preview mode as well WITHOUT seeing the wireframe on the back side. even if you pump the alpha to 1 in xray mode, the back facing wireframe are still visable.

In max its the default behaviour (as in video), and im being told that it isnt possible to do in blender. Which i find insane with it being such an absolutely basic feature.

Is there a way of doing this? Appreciate any help.

[NP5]

Is this what you are looking for?

Never had any use for it myself.
Eevee, material preview.

Your video unavailable, private

[FedPete]

Use select and invert the selection Ctrl i.

[DavidC]

Im afraid not. Sorry about the link. I think I’ve fixed it. Hopefully that will clarify. Blender may call it something else. Maybe back face cull selection???

[Dwayne]

Blender since 2.80 no longer has the option for backface occlusion. Your options are to toggle either x-ray mode(Alt+Z) or Wireframe mode(Shift+Z). If you prefer pie menu then just z select option. For faster usage of the pie menu hold z down move mouse towards option until it hits the selection ring(Pie Menu Threshold). The option will highlight. Then let go of z key to make the selection. You can also have blender make the selection as soon as you hit the selection zone(The black ring in the center) to do this goto preferences(ctrl+comma for 4.0+, or F4->Preferences or edit menu->preferences) then click interface->expand menu panel->Pie menu subpanel->set confirm threshold to something other than 0. I recommend setting it to the same as threshold or even a little higher.

[DavidC]

Thats the generaly answer im getting, its a shame, it seems like such a basic function. I appreciate you taking the time.

[Dwayne]

It was removed from blender and replaced with the X-ray mode, because people found it confusing and annoying to have to check the header to see if it was on or off. The X-ray mode allows you to see the faces and the additional effect of seeing objects that are inside. I’ve been told it also improves performance when you are editing multiple multiple meshes at the same time. I mostly edit 1 mesh at a time.

[DavidC]

Im not going to rant here (though I kind of feel like it). But I will say that “why do it in one step when you can do it in three” seems to be the motto behind how blender was built.

[Dwayne]

Actually Blender was designed for speed of production and based off of ergonomic research. As of 2.80, and newer they have moved more towards integration into studio pipeline. A great example is right click select which reduces stress in the hand and allows you to work longer. Since the industry and a lot of users are so use to left click selecting they switched to left click select with 2.80+. There are a lot of discussions and debates on features and changes to blender. If you want to get involved then go to Right-Click Select — Blender Community Upvote the ideas you like. Downvote the ideas you don’t like. Even post your own ideas. Surprisingly the developers actually pay attention to these ideas.