Toolbar

Controls on the toolbar manage node selection, interact with the current 3ds Max selection set, and let you create new nodes.

Refresh

This button is active only after you have made a change to the 3ds Max scene. Any change to the scene invalidates the scene graph in the Hierarchy window, and scene graph navigation and editing is disabled until you click Refresh.

Up Arrow

Click to move a selected node in the hierarchy up, relative to its siblings.

Down Arrow

Click to move a selected node in the hierarchy down, relative to its siblings.

Expand

Click to expand the selected node’s hierarchy.

Collapse

Click to collapse the selected node’s hierarchy.

Select Get

After selecting objects in a 3ds Max viewport, click Select Get to replicate that selection group in the hierarchy list. Nodes in the Hierarchy view will now also be selected and expanded.

Select Set

After selecting objects in the Hierarchy view, click Select Set. The selection in 3ds Max viewports will now match those selected in the Hierarchy view.

Search

Click Search to search for common node attributes. To begin, select a node in the Hierarchy view. Then select an attribute by clicking the name of that attribute. Next, click Search. All of the nodes that have the same attribute name will now be highlighted and selected in the Hierarchy view.

Switch

This button is active while you have selected a Switch node in the Hierarchy view. Click to open the Switch Attributes dialog, which lets you edit the Switch node mask data.

Global check box

When on, changes made in the Attribute window affect all selected nodes.

Subtree check box

When on, any node selection in the hierarchy browser window will cause all children to be selected. When off, clicking selects only the parent node.

Create button and Node Type list

Click to create a node of the type you have chosen from the associated drop-down list.

To create a new node, follow these steps:

1. Use the drop-down list to choose the type of node you want to create.
2. In the Hierarchy window, click to select the node that will become the parent of the new node.
3. Click Create.

Hierarchy window

On the left side of the Hierarchy Browser dialog, the Hierarchy window displays a list of the nodes in your scene. You can click the plus and minus icons to expand or collapse the list of nodes that have children.

Node names in the Hierarchy window are also their 3ds Max object names.

Node types are visually represented in the hierarchy using the following icons:

• Scene Root

  The Scene Root has no attributes, and does not respond to drag and drop. It is simply a placeholder to represent the entire scene graph.

• Header
• External Reference
• Group
• Face
• Object
• Level of Detail (LOD)
• Switch
• Degree of Freedom (DOF)
• Binary Space Partition (BSP)
• Clip Region
• Direct Light
• Point Light
• Omni Light
• Spot Light
• Non-OpenFlight object

The Hierarchy list shows the entire node structure as it was imported from the OpenFlight file.

For details about these OpenFlight node types, see http://www.multigen.com/products/standards/openflight/index.shtml. Also see OpenFlight (FLT) Files for information on how nodes are imported into 3ds Max.

The scene graph list is formatted to show the parent-child node relationships. Child nodes are always positioned below and indented to the right of their parents. Nodes that are on the same indentation level are considered siblings. If a node contains a small plus or minus (+/-) icon to the left of the node icon, this indicates the presence of children nodes. Clicking on the + or - will cause the list of the node’s children to be expanded or collapsed.

If the Hierarchy list is too long for the window size, then scroll bars will appear on the left or bottom of the Hierarchy window, to let you scroll and view the entire scene graph.

To select a node, click its name. To select more than one node, use Ctrl+click. Clicking a node that is already highlighted deselects it.

You can use drag and drop to change a node’s position in the hierarchy. Select a single node (drag and drop is supported only for a single node), drag its icon to another place in the hierarchy, then release the mouse to drop the node on top of its intended new parent. The node will then be placed at the bottom of the list of the parent’s children.

To change a node name, select a node by clicking its icon, and then click the node name text. This opens an edit box that lets you change the text. When you are done, press Enter or click outside the edit box to confirm the change.

You can use the keyboard arrow keys to change the node selection. First, select a node in the hierarchy. Then press up-arrow or down-arrow to move the selection either up or down.

Node Attributes window

This group, on the right of the Hierarchy Browser dialog displays information about a node, including the node name, Comments field, and node attributes. You can edit some of this information.

Name

Displays the type of the selected node, and its name. Node names in the Hierarchy Browser are also their 3ds Max object names.

If you have selected multiple nodes, you can use the arrows to the right of this field to scroll among them.

This field is for informational purposes only, and is not editable. You can change a node name by using the Hierarchy window, as described in the previous section.

Comment

After you have selected a node, this field displays the text in the node's Comment. You can edit the contents of the Comment: simply type in the changes and then press Enter to confirm the changes.

Attribute/Value columns

These columns display each node attribute, on the left, and the attribute’s value, on the right. You can edit attribute values here: click the value itself to open the field for editing.

There are different types of value fields. Some are text-entry fields that require you to tpe in an explicit numeric value or string. Others have a drop-down list so you can choose from a set of predefined values.

Whether the attribute requires you to type in an entry or choose from a list, after you have changed the value, press Enter to confirm the change.