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102 Chapter 3: Selecting Objects
Group
Group m enu > Group
The Group command combines a selection set of
objectsorgroupsintoasinglegroup.
Once you group objects, you can treat them as
a single object in your scene. You can click any
object in the group to select the group object. You
cantransformthegroupasasingleobject,andyou
can apply modifiers as if it were a single object.
Groups can contain other groups, up to any level.
Group names are simi lar to object names, except
that they’re carried by the group object. In lists
liketheoneintheSelectbyNamedialog,group
namesappearinsquarebrackets. Forexample:
[Group01].
If a group is selected, its name will appear in
“bolded”textintheNameAndColorrollout.
All members of a group inherit the visibility of
the parent when a visibility controller is assigned
to the parent.
Groups are considered whole objects in the Light
Exclude/Include dialog, so you can exclude (or
include) all objects in a group by selecting the
group in the list. If a group is nested within
another group, only the "outer" group is available
in the list. To exclude only certain objects in
a group, open the group before displaying the
Exclude/Include dialog.
Pr ocedur es
To define a group:
1.
Select two or more objects.
2. Choose Group menu > Group.
A dialog appears requesting a name for the
group.
3. Enter a name for the group and click OK.
To define a nested group:
1.
Selecttwoormoregroupsoranycombination
of groups and objects.
2. Choose Group > Group.
A dialog appears requesting a nam e for the
group.
3. Enter a name for the new group object and click
OK.
Open Gr oup
Select one or more g roups. > Group menu > Open
The Open command lets you ungroup a group
temporar ily, and access objects within a group.
You can transform and modify the objects within
the group independently from the rest of the
group, then restore the original group using the
Close command.
Procedures
To open a group:
1.
Selectoneormoregroups.
2. Cho ose Group > Open. A pink bounding box
appears, and the objects in the group are now
accessible.
To open nest ed grou ps:
1.
Select the group within the opened g roup.
2. Choose Group > Open.
Cl ose G rou p
Select the pink dum my object of an opened group. >
Group menu > Close
The Close command regroups an opened group.
For nested groups, closing the outermost group
object closes al l open inner g roups.