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This node defines a logical collection of objects, object components, and node attributes. ObjectSets (sets) are very useful and are used heavily in the application. Sets are used to define which parts of an object to deform. Sets are used to define which objects should be have the same shading properties and are called shading groups or renderable sets. Anything that can be selected using the 'select' command can be added to an objectSet. An objectSet is created and edited using the "sets" command.

ObjectSets may be connected to a partition. Partitions define a collection of mutually exclusive sets. If a set is connected to a partition, a member of the set cannot also be a member of another set which is also connected to that same partition. Mutual exclusivity is maintained by the "sets" and "partition" commands. The shading groups mentioned above are connected to the renderPartition.

Membership in a set is defined by establishing connections between another node's attribute and one of two attributes of the objectSet. Connections to an objectSet's "dagSetMembers" attribute should be made if the object is a dagNode and the attribute is the "instObjGroups" or "objectGroups" attribute. Connecting to the "instObjGroups" attribute means the whole object is in the set. Connecting to the "objectGroups" attribute means that a part (component) of the object is in the set. Otherwise, connections to any other attribute of any node should be made to the objectSet's "dnSetMembers" attribute. Connections to this attribute simply mean that the attribute is a member of the set.

An objectSet can have associated with it an index (0-7) to one of the user defined display colors. If the memberWireframeColor attribute has a value of 0-7, any components of objects (such as surface CVs) which are a member of the set will be displayed in the user defined color identified by that index. If the value is -1, the components will be drawn in their normal color. This is useful for visually identifying which parts of an object are in which set.

An objectSet can also have an annotation which is a text string associated with the set and can be used to describe the purpose or contents of the set.

Sets are special when it comes to selection. The MEL command "select set1;" causes the members of set1 to be put on the active list instead of set1 itself. To put set1 on the active list, you need to use "select -noExpand set1;".

Node nameParentsMFn typeCompatible function sets
objectSetentitykSetkBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kSet

Related nodes

groupParts, groupId

Attributes (13)

annotation, dagSetMembers, dnSetMembers, edgesOnlySet, editPointsOnlySet, facetsOnlySet, groupNodes, isLayer, memberWireframeColor, partition, renderableOnlySet, usedBy, verticesOnlySet

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
dagSetMembers (dsm) generic typed dataNULLarrayinputconnectable
Connections to this attribute specify the DAG nodes or parts (components) of the same that are members of this set.
dnSetMembers (dnsm) generic typed dataNULLarrayinputconnectable
References to dependency node attributes which define set membership.
memberWireframeColor (mwc) short-1outputinputconnectablestorable
The index of a user defined color in which the DAG object component members should appear. A value of -1 disables use of the color. Values outside the range [-1,7] may give unpredictable results.
annotation (an) stringNULLoutputinputstorable
A text string to annotate the set.
The Maya UI uses the annotation attribute to locate various sets which are used to hold onto "interesting" objects. Below is a list of current annotations.
    gCharacterSet: Used by the main window's Quick Select Set
    bookmarkAnimCurves: Used by the Graph Editor and Dope Sheet bookmarks
    clipSelectSet: Used by Trax's Quick Select Set
    clipSummarySet: Used by Trax to group clips
    bookmarkClips: Used by Trax bookmarks
    bookmarkModelView: Used by the Model View's isolate select bookmarks
isLayer (il) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
This attribute is obsolete and should no longer be used
verticesOnlySet (vo) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
Is set membership restricted to objects with vertices? This attribute should not be explicitly changed by the user.
edgesOnlySet (eo) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
Is set membership restricted to objects with edges? This attribute should not be explicitly changed by the user.
facetsOnlySet (fo) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
Is set membership restricted to objects with faces? This attribute should not be explicitly changed by the user.
editPointsOnlySet (epo) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
Is set membership restricted to objects with edit points? This attribute should not be explicitly changed by the user.
renderableOnlySet (ro) boolfalseoutputinputstorable
Is set membership restricted to renderable objects only? This attribute should not be explicitly changed by the user.
partition (pa) Messagen/aoutputinputconnectable
References to the partition nodes this set is a member of.
groupNodes (gn) Messagen/aarrayinputconnectable
When parts (components) of DAG nodes are in the set, connections are made to this attribute to hold references to groupId nodes, with the id uniquely identifying the group in the DAG node.
usedBy (ub) Messagen/aarrayoutputinputconnectable
References to nodes that operate upon this set, such as deformers.