References Preferences

In the Menu Bar, click Edit > Preferences, then on the left side of the dialog box, select References.

Reference Editor monitoring

For information on using References and Update Monitoring, see the following:

Reference Update Monitoring

Using the Reference Editor

References Tab

Find Smart Referencing Storage and Smart Reference Open Behavior options in this tab.

Smart Referencing Storage

This section contains the following options:

Show Convert to Smart Warning - Toggles the warning when VRED is converting a smart reference on or off. When off, there is no warning.

Storage Location - Provides the storage location for converted smart references.
- Source file location - Stores newly created smart references in the same location as their source references.
- Custom - Displays a separate custom storage location for smart reference source references.
- - Click this icon, then browse to set a custom storage location for smart reference source references.

Smart Reference Open Behavior

Determines the load behavior of smart references when a VPB file is opened.

On VPB Open - Whenever a VPB file is opened, select the smart reference load behavior:
- Load scene references - Loads all scene references in the state they were saved. For example, if some references were loaded and others were not, you would find this when opening the file.
- Always load references - All smart references contained within the VPB file will be loaded upon the opening of the file, independent of their state.
- Never load references - No smart references contained within the VPB file will be loaded upon the opening of the file, independent of their state.
- Avoid leaf references - Loads all references, with the exception of last tier references in the hierarchy.

Update Monitoring (tab)

Find Reference Update Monitoring and Revision Monitoring options in this tab.

Update Monitoring Reference Preferences

Reference Update Monitoring

Use the reference update monitoring preferences to set if popup notifications appear and their frequency. When enabled, get notifications to indicate whether files are out-of-date or missing.

Enable - Toggles Reference Update Monitoring on or off. Enable to turn monitoring on in the Reference Editor and Scenegraph. When a file is up-to-date, out-of-date, or missing, this will be displayed.

Use the Change Notification option to set how frequent change notifications appear.

Check for Updates - Sets the frequency for how often VRED checks for updates.

Change Notification - Select the frequency of change notifications in the viewport, when the Enable option is toggled on. Choose from:
- Always - Notifications will appear whenever there is an issue with a reference node.
- At session start only - Notifications will appear only upon the start of a session or when a new file is opened.
- Off - Notifications will not appear when there are issues with a reference node.

Revision Monitoring

Revision Monitoring Video Captions: In VRED 2020.3, we have implemented a revision monitoring system into the Reference Editor. This can be enabled in the Preferences, under References. Here, you can import example expressions. In my case, I need the AlphanumericRevisionWithPrefix and customize with _rev. See all characters that can be used for creating an expression by hovering over the expression field. After I set my revision rule, I can immediately see which file is out-of-date. The new option to use filters is very helpful to find the parts. Now, right-click the part and select Replace Source > By Revision. Here you can select the revision you want to load and VRED will import the new part. When reimporting, you can select which attributes to preserve, like materials, transformations, animations, touch sensors, or render layers. This method makes it much easier to keep your scene file up-to-date. Thanks for watching the video.

Use the Revision Monitoring preferences to customize the structure used for numeric, alphanumeric, and date revision number, as well as folder names.

Enable - Toggles Revision Monitoring on or off. Enable to access XML revision configurations.

Importing an XML Revision Configuration File - Imports a revisional monitoring entry file for customizing the structure used for numeric, alphanumeric, and date revision number, as well as folder names.

Click , locate an XML revision configuration file, then Open.

Saving an XML Revision Configuration File - Save customization to numeric, alphanumeric, or date revision number, or folder names to a revisional monitoring entry XML file.

After making changes to the expression, click , then Save.

Name - Check Enable to access the Name revision monitoring options. Check an option to customize the expression used for it. Click the following buttons:
- Add - Adds a new option to the Name list. Double-click the name to change it.
- Remove - Removes the selected option from the Name List.

Changing Revisional Structure

Use these regex examples for changing the numeric, alphanumeric, and date revision numbers, as well as folder name structure used for revision monitoring.

Select Edit > Preferences > References, then tap the Update Monitoring tab.

In the Revision Monitoring section, check Enable, then check the revisional monitoring option you wish to change from the Name list.

Name List

Choose from the following:

NumericRevision


 <?xml version="1.0"?>

 -<revisionconfig enabled="true"> -<setting enabled="true" name="NumericRevision">

 <expression value="(\d+)\.[^.]+$"/>

 <test value="c:\myDir\file-rev12.wire"/>

 <test value="\\drive\data\part-2.fbx"/>

 <test value="d:\folder\wheel-20191201.CATProduct"/>

 </setting>

 </revisionconfig>

AlphanumericRevisionWithPrefix


 <?xml version="1.0"?>

 -<revisionconfig enabled="true">

 -<setting enabled="true" name="AlphanumericRevisionWithPrefix">

 <expression value="rev-([^.]+)\.[^.]+$"/>

 <test value="c:\myDir\file-rev-12.wire"/>

 <test value="\\drive\data\part-rev-ABC1234.fbx"/>

 <test value="d:\folder\wheel-rev-20191201.CATProduct"/>

 </setting>

 </revisionconfig>

RevisionInFolder


 <?xml version="1.0"?>

 -<revisionconfig enabled="true">

 -<setting enabled="true" name="RevisionInFolder">

 <expression value="\\rev-([^\\]+)\\"/>

 <test value="c:\rev-x\myDir\file-rev12.wire"/>

 <test value="\\drive\rev-ABC\part-2.fbx"/>

 <test value="d:\folder\rev-1_2\wheel-20191201.CATProduct"/>

 </setting>

 </revisionconfig>

SortedDD-MM-YYYYDate


 <?xml version="1.0"?>

 -<revisionconfig enabled="true">

 -<setting enabled="true" name="SortedDD-MM-YYYYDate">

 <expression value="(?<G3>\d{2})[-./](?<G2>\d{2})[-./](?<G1>\d{4})\.[^.]+$"/>

 <test value="c:\myDir\file-28-07-2019.wire"/>

 <test value="\\drive\data\part-31/12/2018.fbx"/>

 <test value="d:\folder\wheel-17.03.2001.CATProduct"/>

 </setting>

 </revisionconfig>

Make any changes in the Expression field. Invalid entries are highlighted.
Test the text by entering the test file name.
- Highlights help with writing regexs.
- There is no highlighting when valid regex syntax doesn't pick up matches in Test Text.