As an
artist working on a scene, you must choose the workflow that works best
for you. The following are a few tips for common workflow related issues.
It
is possible to assemble all the components of an asset before adding them
all to a container and publishing the appropriate attributes. However,
you can also create a container first and use the Set
Current Container option to ensure that all the objects
created thereafter are automatically placed in the container. Building
an asset container by container helps reduce the risk of missing
objects as you add them to a container manually.
When
creating a container from existing components, you may want to include
some nodes related to the selected nodes, but not all of them. You can
do this using the Preview contents option in
the Create Container Options window.
For more information, see
Create containers.
One
of the primary benefits of using assets and containers is to limit
visual complexity and streamline your working interface. Here is
a list of options to think about in order to maximize this benefit:
Once
you have published all your attributes and nodes for a container,
set that container to Black Box mode.
If
you choose to show attributes in the Outliner, Channel
Box or Asset Editor, set the Show
> Attributes menu to display Published only.
Set
the Outliner to Display
> Container Contents > Under Container to avoid
displaying the DAG hierarchy. Conversely, you can also set the Outliner to Display
> Container Contents > Under Parent to reduce the
container to a single container node representation in the DAG hierarchy.
Use
template views to show published attributes in a meaningful way
to each artist that works on an asset.
In
the Hypergraph, use Options
> Merge Connections to reduce the number of connection
lines. If Black Box mode is off, you
can also turn off Options > Show Relationship Connections to
hide Published Attribute connections.
When
setting up a file with containers to be referenced by a parent file,
it is usually a good idea to lock containers so that other artists
cannot modify them from the parent file. You can do this either
by manually locking unpublished attributes, or by setting the Container
Unpublished option to Lock in the Save
As Options window. For more information on locking, see
Lock a container.
Sometimes
you may want to publish attributes that don’t appear in the Channel
Box. You can do this by opening the Attribute
Editor, right-clicking the attribute’s name and selecting
the container name from the marking menu. You can also use the Asset
Editor. For more information on publishing attributes,
see
Publish or unpublish attributes.
You
can connect multiple published attributes to a single Dynamic Attribute.
For more information on publishing attributes, see
Publish or unpublish attributes.
In
scenes representing landscapes or large objects, you can publish
the Level Of Detail information
of various nodes to control the detail of related objects when the
camera moves closer and farther from them. For more information
on LOD, see
Edit > Level of Detail.
