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 You can do this either by manually locking unpublished
attributes, or by setting the Container Unpublished option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.
