Named Structure Tools

Example

For an example, open the demo scene named_structures.c4d. This scene is not very interesting - it just shows a lot of geometric forms that can be grouped by form, color, or position. Although the initial perspective seems a bit chaotic at first, it's pretty regular when shown from the side or top: 2 layers with 3 x 3 objects each.

Basic scene

Have a look at the Named Structure tags in the object manager. (Don't worry, your scene will normally not look that cluttered, I just added a separate NS tag for each Named Structure here.) The scene's commentary tag tells you what Named Structures there are (this is not automatic, I typed them!): NS groups for color, form, shape, row, column, and hypernurbs: from "red" over "blocky" to "col3". Note that the Collie Tools have no built-in mechanism for grouped Named Structures; I just decided on them, and named the NS appropriately. You are free to choose another system, or include group names with the NS names like "color_red", or not group Named Structures at all.

You can now go and play with these predefined names. Type the NS name in the control dialog's edit field and press "Set Visibility" to execute.

After applying "green"

Here's the same scene after setting the visibility to the Named Structure "green".

The dialog offers a bit more than just the presets, though. Let's have a look at the options.

Visibility Control

The original intent of the Named Structures was to control visibility of elements. The dialog offers six basic methods to set visibility:

Actually, you may not only enter a single name in the edit field, but you can use a term with several Named Structures; we will cover that functionality on the next page.

Four checkboxes allow fine-tuning these options:

Note that the visibility flag will be set on all objects that are in the Named Structure, directly (with the NS tag) or indirectly (as child of an object that bears the NS tag). Also, even objects that are not in a Named Structure may indirectly change their visibility if they inherit it from parents with a NS tag.

Selection Control

The third section of the dialog allows changing the selection through Named Structures. This has become possible due to the multi-selection ability of V8. The following basic methods are available:

Again, there are four checkboxes for better control:

Press "Set Selection" to execute.

On the next page, we will advance to the more complex concepts of Named Structures.

(next page)


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