8

Using Assemblies 97
• Named selection sets (page 1–67) :Letyou
reselectthesamepatternofobjects,butthe
positional relationship between those objects
(their transforms) might be different each t ime
you recall the named set.
• Grouped objects: Maintain their positional
relationshipsunlessyouopenthegroupand
rearrange them. A group also keeps its identity
as an individual object.
Each object in a group retains its modifier stack,
including its base parameters. At any time, you
canopenthegrouptoeditanobject,andthen
close the group to restore the group identity.
• Attached objects (see
Editable Mesh (Object)
(page 1–989)
): Attached objects form a
single object. The modifier stacks of the
original objects are lost, including their base
parameters. You can regain the form of the
original objects by detaching them, but they
become plain meshes.
•
Assemblies (page 1–97) are useful for creating
combinations of geometry and light objects
thatactaslightingfixtures.
Using Assemblies
Objec t on the right is an assembly and is treated as a single
entity.
Assemblies are usef ul for creating combinations
of geometr y and light objects that act as lighting
fixtures; you use them to represent the housing of
a lamp and its light source or sources. You can use
assemblies to represent lig hting fixtures such as
simple desk lamps, lighting strips, track systems,
wall sconces with fluorescent or incandescent
lights,chandeliersystems,linevoltagecable
systems, and so on.
When you create light assemblies, first you create
your object s and build a hierarchy, t hen set joint
parameters and assign
inverse kinematics ( IK)
(page 2–417)
. As a final step, you a ssemble the
objecthierarchy.Thelightsyouuseintheassembly
have light-mu ltiplier and f ilter color controls. You
w ire (page 2–393) the Dimmer and Filter C olor
parameters of the Luminaire helper object to the
parameters of the lig ht sources that are members
of the light assembly.
Note: In order to wire the Luminaire controls to
the light para meters, you must first
open (page
1–106)
the assembly; then, after wiring, you close
(page 1–107)
it.
You can use IK to point a lumin aire’s beam by si mply moving
the light’s target object.
Assemblies and Groups
Assembly functionality is a superset of grouping
(page 1–95)
. Like grouping, creating an assembly
lets you combine two or more objects and treat
them as a single object. The assembled object
is given a name, and then treated much like any
other object.