Asset Editor

Window > General Editors > Asset Editor

The Asset Editor displays asset information in a two panel window. The left panel shows scene assets in an Outliner view, while the right panel shows published attributes and nodes.

The Asset Editor has two modes of operation. In Select Asset mode, you can quickly traverse from asset to asset and show individual asset’s node contents and attributes.

In Pinned Asset mode, you can publish or unpublish attributes in the left panel and bind and unbind attributes in the right panel. You can also create Views and Binding Sets.

You can switch between these modes by selecting an asset and clicking the Pin Asset icon .

In the left panel, a selected attribute appears highlighted and. In the right panel, a selected attribute appears with an arrow icon.

Related topics

Outline (Select Asset mode)

To...	Do this
Switch to Pinned Asset mode	Select an asset in the left panel, then click the Pin Asset icon .
Expand or collapse the level under a node	Click the plus or minus icon next to the node’s name.
Expand all levels under a node	+ click the plus icon next to the node’s name.
Show or hide the attributes on a node	Click the plus ( ) or minus ( ) icon next to the node’s name. You can further expand multi-value attributes.
Re-order nodes in the hierarchy	-drag the node to a new place in the hierarchy.
Move a node from one asset to another	-drag the node in one asset onto another asset.
Make a node a child of another node	-drag the node onto the node you want to be its parent.
Search for a specific node	Enter the full or partial name of the node you are sourcing for in the text field and press .

Outline (Pinned Asset mode)

To...	Do this
Publish an attribute	In the left panel, select the attribute you want to publish, then click the Publish icon or Publish As icon .
Unpublish an attribute	In the left panel, select the attribute you want to unpublish and click the Unpublish icon .
Assign a template	Select Template > Assign and choose a template from the list that appears or select Assign New Template and select the asset from the file browser.
Save the published names of the pinned asset as a template	Select Template > Save As and enter a template name and location.
Select an attribute	Select the attribute’s name in the left panel, or click the box containing a small arrow next to its name in the right panel.
Bind/Unbind an attribute or node	Click the Bind icon or Unbind icon next to the attribute or node’s name in the right panel.
Rename a published attribute or node	Select the attribute or node in the right panel and click the Rename icon .
Add a view to the current template	With a template currently loaded, select View > Add.
Create a binding set from the current published attributes	With the template currently loaded, select Template > Create Binding Set. Maya adds a binding set called MayaBinding to the template.
Update the current binding set with the current published attributes	With the template currently loaded, select Template > Update Binding Set.
Remove a binding set	With the template currently loaded, select Template > Remove Binding Set. Maya removes the binding set called ‘MayaBinding.’
Refresh the left and right panel	Click the Refresh icon ( ).

NoteYou can select multiple published names or attributes by

+ clicking them.

Asset Editor buttons

Asset Editor buttons control how attributes are published or bound.

Pin/Unpin Asset: Pins a selected asset for editing. The Asset Editor changes to Pinned Asset mode, and only the selected asset displays in the left panel. Its published bound and unbound attributes display for editing in the right panel.

Click the icon again to unpin the currently selected asset and return to Select Asset mode. When in Select Asset mode, all assets display in the left panel while the right panel is empty.
Select: Selects a published name in the right panel. The select icon appears in three colors.

Green indicates the published name comes from the assigned template.

Yellow indicates there is a template assigned to the asset, but the selected published name does not originate from it.

Red indicates there is no template assigned to the asset.
Publish: Publishes the selected attribute to the lowest level asset that encapsulates it. The attribute is bound to a default published name that matches the attribute name.

If an identical published name already exists on the asset, your new published name will have a number appended to it.
Publish As...: Publishes the selected attribute to the lowest level asset encapsulating it. The attribute is bound to a published name of your choice.
Unpublish: Unbinds the selected attribute from its published name and removes the published name from the asset. You can only unpublish attributes whose names are not derived from an assigned template.
Unbind selected: Unbinds all selected published names from their corresponding attributes.
Publish Name: Creates a published name on the asset without binding an attribute to it.
Unpublish Name: Removes a published name from the asset.

You can only remove published names that are unbound and do not originate from an assigned template.
Rename Published Name: Renames a published name.

You can only rename published names for attributes and nodes that do not originate from an assigned template.
Refresh: Updates the right panel.
Bind / Unbind: Binds or unbinds the selected attribute from its corresponding published name.

Asset Editor menu bar

For information on the Display and Show menus, see the Outliner.

For information on the Asset menu, see Assets.

For information on Transfer Attribute Values, see Edit > Transfer Attribute Values.

Template menu

The Template menu in the Asset Editor gives you all of the options for creating and assigning templates to your assets.

NoteThe Template menu is only available when you are in Pinned Asset mode.

The Template menu contains the following options:

Assign

Lets you select and assign a template to the currently pinned asset.

Unassign

Breaks the association between the pinned asset and its assigned template. See Unassign a template from an asset.

Save

Saves the published names from the pinned asset to the template file. See Save an asset template.

NoteTo prevent other users of your template from overwriting the template file using Template > Save, it is recommended that you write protect your template files.

Save As

Lets you create a new template of published names from the pinned asset. See Save an asset template.

Autobind Asset

Automatically publishes and binds published names in the template to attributes in the asset based on a binding set. This option is only available if the current template has a valid binding set.

By default, Autobind Asset only considers unbound published names.

Autobind All: When turned on, the Autobind Asset command considers all published names (both bound and unbound).
Force: When turned on, the Autobind Asset command completely enforces the template’s binding set so that the resulting asset matches it. If a match is not found in the binding set for an existing published name, Maya forcibly unbinds it.

Create Binding Set

Creates binding set entries in the current template based on the asset’s current published attributes.

Update Binding Set

Updates the binding set entries for the currently assigned template with the asset’s current published attributes.

Remove Binding Set

Removes all binding set entries from the current template.

Reload

Reloads the assigned template. See Reload an asset template.

View menu

The View menu in the Asset Editor gives you all of the options for creating customized asset layouts.

Before working with views, you must create a template for your asset. For more information on creating asset templates, see Create an asset template.

After you add a view to the template, you can edit the template file to change the view layout. For more information on customizing views, see Customize a template view.

NoteThe View menu is only available when you are in Pinned Asset mode.

The View menu contains the following options:

Mode

Lets you select from two default layouts, or use a custom view layout of the asset’s attributes. Select from the following options:

Flat: Displays the asset’s published attribute names in a list. This is a default view that does not use the template.
Use Template: Displays the asset’s published attribute names based on its current template. When Use Template is selected, you can select a custom view from the View > Name menu item.
Group by Node: Displays the asset’s published attribute names in groups based on the node to which they are bound. This is a default view that does not use the template.

Name

Lets you select from a list of available template views. This option is only available when the View Mode is set to Use Template.

If the template has no views defined, or if you set the Name to None, the published attributes display in the order they are defined in the template.

Add

Adds a new view to the assigned template based on default options. The new view is named viewName by default. See Add a view to an asset template.

Name: Lets you enter a name for the view. This is the name that will display in the View > Name list in the Asset Editor and in the View Name field in the Attribute Editor.
Sync asset to template: When on, Maya adds to the template any published names from the asset that are not yet saved to the template. Any added names are included in the new view.
Save Template: When on, the template is saved to the template file on disk with the new view included. When off, the new view is added internally, but the template file is not saved.
Switch to new view: When on, the right panel of the Asset Editor will update to display the asset with the newly created custom view organizing the published attribute names.
Expand Compounds: Sets whether compound attributes are included in the view definition as individual entries. This affects how the view will display the attributes in Maya’s windows and editors.

When on, child attributes are included in the view individually, and they display with independent interface controls.

For example, individual sliders and value fields will display for translateX, translateY, and translateZ.

NoteIf you want only the individual child controls to display (without the parent group controls,) you can edit the view definition in the template file, then reload the template. See Customize a template view and Reload an asset template.

When Expand Compounds is off, child attributes are not individually listed in the view. The parent attribute (with its children) is displayed using a group control.
Layout Mode: Lets you select Flat or Group by Node as the original layout of published names in the new view.

After the view is added to your template, you can edit the template to change its layout. See Customize a template view.