PDA

View Full Version : Object management and Layout?


Consty
09-12-2009, 11:59 PM
I started making the model I'm working on about 3 years ago (in LW8), then stopped working on it (and on anything LW-related) until a couple of months ago, when I picked it up again in LW9. The model in question is a spaceship, done as multiple objects separated into about 11 layers so far.

When I was first working on this, I made a Layout scene that is a lightdome in which I render my objects. When I'm looking at the ship in Layout (in Scene Editor, under the items tab), I see four main objects that are part of the spaceship, but the fourth one is subdivided into nine other objects. And I have no idea why it's like that. (if I click the little heirarchy button above the vertical scroll bar, those sub-objects suddenly become full objects themselves).

I tried to rename the objects to something more meaningful but it says that to rename objects I have to save them as a different filename. This seems odd to me, because they're not really separate objects - they're just different layers in the same object.

Another issue is that I can't just select all the spaceship parts in Layout and move or rotate it without it all breaking up and going skewy. I dimly remember something about pivot points, but I have no idea how to make everything move in the same way in layout.

I think I'm missing something big (and pretty basic) conceptually here... what I want is to (a) name the objects appropriately, and (b) unify the separate objects in Layout so that the spaceship is treated as a single object (but I don't want everything to be in a single layer in Modeller).

Can anyone give me any pointers here for how I can fix this? (preferably without saying "start again" :) ).

I've attached a screenie so you can see what I'm talking about.

Castius
09-13-2009, 02:05 AM
For the names. You need to rename them in the layers window.

For all object as one object. Make a Null and parent everything under the null. Then just move the null to move the ship around.

Consty
09-13-2009, 02:35 AM
For the names. You need to rename them in the layers window.

EDIT: Found it, it's in Layout. View > Layer Settings, right?

For all object as one object. Make a Null and parent everything under the null. Then just move the null to move the ship around.

Ah, that sounds familiar :). I'll give that a go.

As for the names, do I need to do anything in Modeller as well? IIRC I can name Surfaces there, right?

Weetos
09-13-2009, 06:04 AM
Actually you can rename layers in Modeler, in the layers panel

Consty
09-13-2009, 04:25 PM
Actually you can rename layers in Modeler, in the layers panel

Agh, sorry, I meant Modeller :). Yeah, I found it. Got everything sorted now, much easier to deal with!