Selecting objects in a complex scene

Selecting items can be difficult in a complex scene due to overlapping geometry that can obstruct your view. In Maya there are a number of ways to simplify this process.

• The Outliner shows the hierarchy of all objects in the scene as an indented list where child nodes are indented under their parent node. Useful for quickly navigating through the objects in the scene given that you know the objects’ hierarchy and names.

  Show > Objects lets you filter the nodes shown in the Outliner by various classifications such as Polygons, NURBS, and Lights. You can show different combinations of classifications. You can use the Create Entry option to store your filter in case you need to sort by the same criteria again.

• When viewing the scene from certain angles, objects may obscure each other making it difficult to select the object you want. Maya offers a number of different options to deal with this scenario.
  • Isolate Select – Lets you display only the selected items in the scene view. Useful to temporarily remove objects which may obstruct your view of the specific components you want to work with.

    You can use Isolate Select by selecting a set of components and selecting Show > Isolate Select > View Select.

  • Pick Chooser – When you click a space in the scene view that corresponds to overlapping objects a marking menu will appear listing these objects. You can then select the appropriate object from the marking menu. Useful as an alternative to modifying the scene when trying to select obscured objects.

    You can turn on the Pick Chooser by selecting the Pick Chooser option in Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences in the Settings > Selection section.

  • Selection Priority – When performing a marquee select over a model that contains multiple component types, Maya will select all the components of a single type within the marquee. You can modify the order that these components are chosen by modifying their order in the Selection Priority. Useful when you want to select all the components of a single type within a marquee.

    You can modify the Selection Priority by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences in the Settings > Selection section.

• Templating – Lets you make a group of objects unselectable while retaining a wireframe reference of them in the scene. Useful when you do not want to accidentally modify an object, but still need to see it for reference purposes.

Related Topics

• The Outliner
• Show > Isolate Select
• Selection preferences
• Make an object unselectable (template)

Organizing objects

In a scene you may want to associate related objects together. You can accomplish this in a number of ways.

• Groups – Lets you perform basic selection and transformations on a collection of objects as if they were one without actually combining the meshes. For more information see Group objects together.
• Sets and Partitions – A set is collection of objects which can be transformed and selected as one without altering the hierarchy of the scene. A partition is a collection of exclusive sets such that no object can be contained in multiple sets within the same partition. For more information see Sets and partitions.
• Display layers – A collection of objects which are transformed and selected individually. You can make layers invisible which reduces the amount of objects in your scene that may obscure your view. You can also template or reference a layer making all the objects within it unselectable but still present in the scene. For more information see Organize objects on display layers.
• Render layers - You can assign any object to multiple layers with a different material on each layer. This lets you create multiple images for each frame, from any combination of Maya's renderers. For more information see Render layer overview.
• Containers - A collection of nodes represented by a single container node. You can publish a subset of attributes from the internal nodes to the container node.

Related Topics

• Group objects together
• Sets and partitions
• Organize objects on display layers
• Render layer overview

Increasing Performance

When working with complex scenes interactive performance can slow down. There are a number of ways to remedy this problem.

• Default Material – Shades your entire scene with a default shader regardless of what materials and textures are applied to each object. This reduces the complexity of the scene view display without actually affecting the render.

  You can turn on the Default Material by selecting Shading > Use default material.

• Interactive Shading – Lets you display the scene with less complexity when performing a variety of interactive operations such as camera tumbles and dollies. This is useful for increasing performance in scenes that slow down when modified.

  You can turn on Interactive Shading by selecting Shading > Interactive Shading.

Related Topics

• Shading > Use default material
• Shading > Interactive Shading

Reducing File Size

Scenes containing a lot of geometry require a lot of hard disk space. Maya provides options for replicating existing objects or dividing up your scene that can help keep your file sizes small.

• Instancing – Lets you create multiple copies of a single object with individual transform nodes. Since they are copies and not considered actual geometry, the memory and computing power required to render the scene is close to that of rendering only the original object.
• File Referencing – Lets you assemble objects from multiple files into a single scene without actually importing them. Instead, these objects are referenced from their native files. This is useful when you want multiple people to collaborate on a single scene.

Related topics

• Copies vs. instances
• About file referencing
• File referencing workflows