Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 Working in Autodesk MAyA
3. Turn off the Attributes display, and turn off the DAG Objects Only option. This allows
you to see all the nodes in the scene in the Outliner list as opposed to just the DAG nodes.
DAG stands for “directed acyclic graph,” and DAG objects are those objects that have
both a shape and a transform node. It’s not crucial to understand exactly what directed
acyclic graph means as long as you understand that it is an arrangement in which a
shape node is parented to a transform node. When you turn off DAG Objects Only in
the Outliner, you’ll see all the nodes in the Maya scene appear. Many of these are default
utility nodes required to make Maya function, such as the layerManager node or the dyn-
Controller1 node. Many other nodes appear when you create a new node or connection.
An example of this is a keyframe or an expression node.
When you turn off DAG Objects Only, the list can get quite long. To find a node quickly,
type the node’s name in the field at the very top of the Outliner. This hides all nodes
except the named node. Clearing the field restores the visibility of all nodes in the
Outliner (see Figure 1.13).
Figure 1.13
The Outliner can
display shape
nodes as well as
other types of
nodes in the scene.
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