Reference editor menus
 
 
 

This section describes the menu items and options for the Reference Editor.

File menu

Create Reference
Import Objects from Reference

Imports the selected reference’s objects directly into the current scene.

Export Selection

Exports the selected objects as a reference and links that reference into the current scene. You can set options here (see File > Export Selection). A file browser opens to save the file with the name and location you specify.

Save Reference Edits

Saves edits that were made within the parent scene for a selected file reference to the corresponding referenced file on disk. The edits get transferred so they no longer reside within the parent scene.

Notes on Save Reference Edits

Saving the edits to the referenced file is useful if you want the edits to permanently exist in the referenced file. In this way, the edits are propagated to all users of the reference. Some additional items to consider when saving reference edits:

Reference Menu

Reload Reference/Unload Reference

Loads or unloads the selected reference. If the current reference is already loaded, reload updates the loaded reference. This is useful when the reference file is being edited simultaneously.

Load Related Reference/Unload Related Reference

Loads or unloads references related to selected objects.

For example, if you want to unload an object and the reference to which it belongs without having to open the Reference Editor and figure out which reference should be unloaded, you can simply -click the object and choose Unload Related Reference. As well, you can select a locator or annotation, and then load its related references (you must select both the locator/annotation and the foster parent node for this to work).

Duplicate Reference

Duplicates the file associated with the selected reference.

Replace Reference

Opens a file browser to replace the current reference with the one you select. The group node and/or locator remains the same.

Recently Replaced Files

Lists recently-replaced reference files.

Remove Reference

Removes the selected reference and associated reference nodes from the scene file. This is the preferred method for removing a reference and its associated nodes.

Lock Reference/Unlock Reference

Locks or unlocks all of the nodes and attributes for a selected file reference. A lock icon appears beside the listed file reference within the Reference Editor to indicate the locked status.

Proxy Menu

Add Proxy >

Adds a proxy reference to the currently selected file reference. When you select Proxy > Add Proxy > you can specify the file type to add and set the Proxy Tag Options within the Proxy Options window that appears.

NoteThe Proxy Options menu items are also available from the context sensitive menu in the Reference Editor. To display this menu, select a file reference and -click the item.

If a proxy reference does not exist for the file reference, a proxy set is created for the proxy references for that file reference. If a proxy reference exists, the new proxy becomes a member of the existing proxy set for that reference.

When a proxy reference is created, the listed file reference updates to display a icon to indicate that one or more proxy references exist for that reference.

For information on how proxy references are tagged, see Proxy Tag options below.

The Proxy Options () window is used to set the following options:

General Options

Select the file format you want to use as a default for the next time you add a proxy reference. If you have a project set up, when you open a scene, the browser points to the directory containing files of that type. On Windows and Mac OS X, it also sets the filter to display only files of the selected type.

Proxy Tag Options

Type the text string for the proxy tag you want applied to the proxy reference or select an existing tag from the list in the drop-down menu. When a proxy tag appears in gray in this list, it indicates that the tag is already in use for this specific file reference. The proxy tag appears in the Reference Editor.

Maya keeps track of, and can distinguish between, the last proxy tag used for a file reference, and the last proxy tag used for a proxy reference. This ability streamlines the tagging process regardless of your preferred workflow.

For example, you may want to tag multiple file references in succession with a tag named hiRes when you first create each one. In this case, you need only type the tag name once and it is automatically assigned to successive file reference tags. If you want to tag multiple proxies for those same references, you only need type in the proxy tag name for the proxy once, and the proxy tag will be remembered for successive proxies.

Alternatively, you may want to create and tag one file reference named hiRes and then immediately create and tag its corresponding proxy reference named loRes. You can then create the next file reference and it will automatically be assigned the tag hiRes, then create its proxy reference, and it will automatically be assigned the tag loRes.

Because Maya can distinguish between the most recent file reference and proxy reference tags specified, this alternating tagging workflow is possible.

If a file reference has not been assigned a unique proxy tag prior to the creation of the first proxy in the scene, the file reference will be assigned a proxy tag named original to differentiate the original file reference from the first proxy. Once a tag has been specified for a file reference, it will continue to be used as the default file reference tag until another is specified. That is, Maya only uses the default original tag if the user has not previously explicitly specified a tag for a file reference.

If a proxy tag is not specified when the first proxy reference is created in the scene, Maya will automatically apply a unique proxy tag based on the name of the reference node. Once a proxy tag has been specified for a proxy reference, it will continue to be the default tag for proxy references until another is specified. That is, Maya only uses a default proxy tag name when the user has not previously specified an explicit tag name for a proxy reference.

Once you create a proxy tag, it will become available for selection within the Proxy Tag Options drop-down menu in both the Proxy Options and Reference Options windows.

Proxy tags must be unique within a given proxy set. That is, a proxy tag will be available for a proxy set provided it is not already in use within the same proxy set. You can create your own tags and reuse them in different proxy sets.

File Type Specific Options

Depending on the File Type you select, various File Type Specific Options are displayed here. See File > Open Scene for more information.

Remove Proxy

Removes the proxy reference that is selected from the list of proxy tags that appears within the Remove Proxy submenu. The proxy reference is deleted from the proxy set.

The list of available proxy references is displayed in the menu based on their proxy tags. The list of proxy tags is generated from all of the proxy tags currently in use within the proxy sets selected. When a proxy tag appears in gray, it indicates that it is currently loaded.

When a proxy reference is removed from a proxy set, and only a single file reference remains, the proxy set is removed and the reference returns to a normal reference state. In the Reference Editor, the icon is removed from the listed file reference, and the listed name of the file reference is updated.

NoteIt is not possible to remove a loaded proxy. To remove the currently loaded proxy you must first reload any other proxy reference from the list so that the proxy you want to remove becomes available within the list for removal.
Reload Proxy As

Loads the proxy reference that is selected from the list of proxy tags that appears within the Reload Proxy As submenu. The list of proxy tags is generated from all of the proxy tags currently in use for the proxy sets selected. When a proxy tag appears in gray, it indicates that it is currently loaded.

Reload Proxy As is used to switch between proxy references for a given file reference. The list of available proxy references is displayed in the menu based on their proxy tags. When a proxy tag appears in gray, it indicates that it is currently loaded.

NoteA proxy for a specific proxy set is only reloaded when the selected proxy tag matches one of the available tags for that set. For example, if multiple proxy sets are selected and the high proxy tag is chosen for reload, only those proxy references that have the high tag will be reloaded. Any proxy set that does not include the high tag will remain unchanged.
Switch tag for Active Proxy to

Allows you to change the Proxy Tag of the active Proxy. You can either select from a list of all Proxy Tags in the scene, or define a new one (Define New). When selecting from the list of pre-existing Proxy Tags those tags that are used in the currently active proxy set are grayed out.

Switch Tag for Proxy

Allows you to change the Proxy Tag of any proxy in the currently selected proxy set.

View menu

View Selected References

Displays only the selected references.

Selecting this option also creates a new Reference View Set, which can be found in the View menu. This Reference View Set acts as a bookmark; selecting the created Reference View Set in the future filters the references in the Reference Editor and only displays the references that were selected when the Reference View Set was created.

See Reference View Sets.

View All Reference

Displays all of the references in the current scene.

File Particulars

The following file information displays when a referenced file is selected in the Reference Editor. You can select to show or hide this information by clicking on the disclosure triangle.

Unresolved Name

Displays a relative or absolute path including name of the referenced file, without locations where Maya searches for the file.

Resolved Name

Displays the filename and path where Maya found the file.

Namespace

Displays the current namespace for the selected file reference. The namespace for a file reference can be edited within the text field. (This field appears when namespaces are the selected name clash option.)

Note
  • The file reference must have been created using the namespaces option for its namespace to be editable. That is, you cannot edit references that were created using the older file renaming prefix convention.
  • A namespace cannot be edited if the file reference is unloaded.
  • The new namespace you enter cannot already exist.
  • The namespace for a reference can only be edited for references that are made from the currently open scene. That is, you cannot edit namespaces for references that are nested within other file references.
Rename Prefix

Displays a prefix that can be applied to object names in the event of name clashes. (This field appears when namespaces are not the selected name clash option.)