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Old 13th May 2006, 02:20 PM   #1
griff
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Default First Look At v6.0

Took a test drive of v6 last night for a hour. And first impression is the *Hierarchy Function* is great

In the past I have always been hiding things. Then if I want to work with a hidden piece unhiding eveything and then rehiding all stuff i don't need.

The ability to hide/show/lock stuff in the heirarchy .... looks like a great time saver. Show/hide exactly what you want.

The only reason now for buttons on *left toolbar* seem to be for hiding blocks of seleleted objects all at once or showing everything with one click.

Have a question though. Dennis has a "layer* plugin which I have never tried. Has it become redundant with this new hierarchy functionality .... or does it have some extra stuff ??

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Old 13th May 2006, 04:17 PM   #2
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The hierarchy tool is definitely a valuable tool.

As far as I can see, this easily surpasses my Layers plugin --- it does all the layers plugin does and more (allows locking, allows better grouping/selecting, probably other stuff...).

For working with entire collections of groups/objects at once in the way Layers does with one-click, you'd simply have to group together all of those groups/objects into a single group. This works very well, and it's nice that you can collapse/expand in the hierarchy view as needed.

A "foldable hierarchy" walkthrough to show the power of this utility would be nice --- it's an easily overlooked tool and a life-saver for large/complex projects.

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Old 13th May 2006, 09:11 PM   #3
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Agree Dennis ... for large projects a time saver .... and probably saves your mental health too

I have used Lightwave on occasions which allows for layers, selecting surfaces and hiding surfaces ... but the controls are scattered all over the place. This has it neatly all in one spot.

A couple of possible improvements for the future (I know this is a brand new version!)

1. Somehow remember the position, shape and size of the hierarchy window. If you close it, then reopen it ... it defaults back to the small square window in the centre of the screen.

2. Make it a rollup window. Not sure how difficult that is ... but an example of what I mean below (the objects window from from Corel Photopaint)




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Old 13th May 2006, 10:35 PM   #4
nightoftheroundtable
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what does the hierarchy tool do?
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Old 13th May 2006, 11:09 PM   #5
Dennis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nightoftheroundtable
what does the hierarchy tool do?
It's basically an object/group manager. Cllick "Tools -> Object Hierarchy" in the left contents pane of the AC3D Manual (Help -> Manual...) --- that gives you a good description.

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Old 14th May 2006, 03:25 AM   #6
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I've always used Heirachy to unhide bits etc but its certainly more powerfull now.
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Old 14th May 2006, 07:34 AM   #7
griff
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If you are box modeling a humanoid character, the heirarchy tool is probably not a big deal ... perhaps only one object.

But if you are modeling something like Dennis's Haunted House ..

http://www.ac3d.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1346

with walls, roofs, pillars, posts, rails, doors, windows and a whole load of ornamentation of one sort or another, then the heirarchy tool becomes a huge factor. That's why the innovations introduced for this tool in AC3D V6 are such a *huge* improvement. It does not create any geometry, but can stop you screwing up something that is finished.

As an aside ... turning off the *Select Through* option should be useful too

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Old 14th May 2006, 01:16 PM   #8
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Funny you should bring up the house. That's the project that caused me to create the old Layers plugin in the first place
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