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CHAPTER 1 Working in Autodesk MAyA
Shift+click to Expand the Hierarchy
You can expand an entire hierarchy with one click in the Outliner. Just Shift+click the plus sign for
the hierarchy you want to expand.
14. Select the mount node, and choose Edit Duplicate (hot key = Ctrl+d). This makes a
copy of the entire hierarchy. The duplicated mount node is named mount1.
15. Select the mount1 node, and switch to the Move tool (hot key = w). Pull on the red arrow
of the tool to move the duplicate along the x-axis about two units.
16. Select the mount node, and then Ctrl+click the mount1 node in the Outliner (Cmd+click
on the Mac).
17. Choose Edit Group (hot key = Ctrl+g) to group these two nodes under a single
parent node.
A group node is a transform node that has no shape node. It’s just a location in space used
to organize a hierarchy. Like a parent node, its children inherit its rotation, translation,
scale, and visibility.
18. Select the group1 node, and Shift+click the plus sign next to it in the Outliner to expand
the group and all its children.
19. Double-click the label for the group1 node in the Outliner to rename it; rename the
group guns.
Renaming Nodes
You’ll notice that the duplicate mount node has been renamed mount1 automatically. Nodes on the
same level of the hierarchy can’t have the same name. The child nodes do have the same name, and
this is usually a bad idea. It can confuse Maya when more complex connections are made between
nodes. Whenever you encounter this situation, you should take the time to rename the child nodes
so that everything in the scene has a unique name.
20. Select the mount1 node in the guns hierarchy, and choose Modify Prefix Hierarchy
Names.
21. In the pop-up window, type right_. This renames the top node and all its children so that
“right_” precedes the name. Do the same with the other mount node, but change the pre-
fix to left_.
22. Select the guns group, and choose Modify Center Pivot. This places the pivot at the
center of the group. Try rotating the guns group, and you’ll see both guns rotate together
(see Figure 1.12).
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