We added substantial functionality to the Object Lister in this release, including new ways to display and sort objects. We also added icons to provide additional information, and ability to toggle between states, for each layer. Previously, much of this functionality and information was only available through the Modeling Layers Editor (Windows > Information > Layer Stats)..
New icons
The space to the right of the layer name can now contain up to five icons. You control which ones are displayed through the choices at the bottom of the new Filter menu. (Most of these choices are disabled when Show is set to By Object.) Roll over the icons to see a tool tip description.
The icons are, from left to right:
- Layer Number Icon
- Box that contains the layer number (for information purpose only).
- Layer Pick State Icon
- Box that contains the letter P (Picked), R (Reference), or I (Inactive). The color of the box also corresponds to that pick state. Clicking the icon cycles between the three states of the layer.
- Layer Symmetry Icon
- Box that shows both the color and symmetry state of the layer. A vertical dashed line means that Symmetry is on. You can turn symmetry on or off by clicking the icon. Note: This icon is the only one that appears when using Show > By Object mode.
- Layer Bar Icon
- Box that displays either Y (Yes) or N (No) depending on whether the layer appears in the Layer Bar. Clicking this icon toggles between the two. Note: If Show > By Layer (Layer Bar) is selected, the layer disappears from the Object Lister when you set this icon to N. Select Show > By Layer (All) to make it reappear.
- Layer Playback Icon
- Box that displays either Y (Yes) or N (No) depending on whether animation on this layer plays when you hit Play on the Animation Time Slider Bar. Clicking this icon toggles between the two.
Addition to Show menu
The Show menu contains a new choice: By Layer (All) which lists all layers, including those layers not displayed in the Layer Bar. The previous By Layer mode has been renamed By Layer (Layer Bar) since it only lists the layers shown in the Layer Bar.
New Filter Menu
This menu controls what is displayed in the Object Lister. A check mark indicates that those items are shown.
- Choose a type of object (Surfaces, Curves, and so on) in the top section, to show or hide those objects in the Object Lister.
- Choose which icons you want to display from the bottom section. (See New Icons.)
- Choose All to turn on all the filters, or None to turn off all the filters.
New Sort menu
The Sort menu offers several sorting modes for the layers. When showing By Object, only the first three are available.
- Sort by Hierarchy (SBD)
- Lists the objects in the same order as they appear in the SBD window (Utilities > SBD > SBD Window).
- Sort Alphabetical (by level)
- Lists the objects in alphabetical order. When showing By Layer (Layer Bar) or By Layer (All), the layers are also listed alphabetically.
- Sort by Object Type
- Lists the objects in the following order: canvasses, construction entities, cameras, DAG nodes (groups of objects), curves, surfaces, meshes, and text objects.
When showing By Layer (Layer Bar) or By Layer (All), five additional sorting modes are available, based on different layer attributes:
- Sort by Layer Visibility
- Lists the visible layers first, followed by the invisible layers.
- Sort by Layer Symmetry
- Lists the layers that have symmetry turned on first, followed by the layers that have symmetry turned off.
- Sort by Layer Number
- Lists the layers in ascending layer number.
- Sort by Layer Pick State
- Lists the Pickable layers, followed by the Reference layers, and then the Inactive layers.
- Sort by Layer Playback
- Lists the layers with Layer Playback turned off first, followed by layers with Layer Playback turned on.
Additional functionality in context-sensitive menu
When right-mouse clicking on an object (or group of objects), you can now select Copy, Paste, Delete or Delete Null Node. The function applies to the object and all its descendants. Paste pastes onto the layer that contains the object.
When right-mouse clicking on a layer, new choice Paste to Layer lets you paste whatever is on the clipboard, onto that layer.
Other functionality
We have also added the following capabilities:
- Select an object with construction history from within the Object Lister when using the Query Edit tool.
- Drag and drop an object (a simple DAG node or a group) on top of another group with the middle-mouse button to place the object into that group.