Schematic View

Menu bar > Graph Editors > Schematic View

Main toolbar > Schematic View

Schematic View is a window that displays subsets of the objects in your scene in a graph. It gives you an alternative way to name, and select the objects in your scene and navigate to them. Selection of an object’s modifiers will navigate the modifier stack to that modifer for quick access to the parameters. You can use Schematic View to copy and past modifiers between objects, or to reorder an object’s modifier stack.

Use Schematic View to see and select all the objects that share instances of modifiers, materials, or controllers. Use Schematic View to link objects into hierarchies, or add materials to objects.

Objects in Schematic View are displayed as rectangular "nodes." Each node contains an icon which represents the class of the object, a label which describes the object and a color swatch which shows, depending on the class of object, the wireframe color or material color of the object. If the node shares instances with other nodes, an arrow appears to the right of the node. Click this arrow to select all instances immediately.

References between the nodes are displayed as lines with arrowheads. These describe hierarchical relationships, as well as modifiers and materials applied to objects.

Schematic View has tools that allow you to hide or show upstream or downstream from the object. A red arrow above or below the node indicates there are more nodes hidden.

Schematic View allows you to rearrange the nodes into any placement you like. You can rearrange them to resemble the actual objects in the scene. Then it is easy to select what you want at a glance without reading.

Schematic View nodes rearranged to match bone structure.

NURBS in Schematic View

Schematic View displays NURBS sub-objects as well as NURBS objects. In Schematic View, you can perform the following NURBS operations:

Selection: To select a NURBS sub-object, double-click its name.
When you select a sub-object using Schematic View, the Modify panel changes to the appropriate sub-object level.
Changing names: To change the name of a NURBS sub-object, click to select it, then click its name a second time (not so rapidly as to be a double-click). An edit box pops up. Edit the name of the sub-object, and then press ENTER.

Procedures

To create a hierarchy in Schematic View:

If necessary, rearrange your display so the objects to be linked together are all visible.
Choose Link from the Schematic View toolbar.
Click the child object and then drag to the parent object.
Repeat the process to create the hierarchy. It is not necessary to unlink objects to change a hierarchy. Just link from child to parent.
A Hierarchy in Schematic View

To copy and paste modifiers between objects:

Select the modifiers you want to copy by clicking or windowing them.
Choose Link and drag from the selected modifiers to the destination object.
In the Attach Modifier dialog, choose Copy or Move or Instance.

To rename an object or modifier:

Select the node.
Press the mouse button down on the node a second time, releasing it after a second (this is a kind of a slow click). The node label will change to white text on blue background. You can now rename the node.

To reorder the modifiers in a stack:

Be sure tha Base Objects and Modifiers are turned on in the Show group in the Schematic View Settings dialog, accessed by clicking the Filters button.
Choose Link.
Click the modifier you wish to move. Use Select And Link to drag a line to the node you want it to appear beneath.
Choose Copy, Move, or Instance. The modifier is repositioned, reordering the stack.

To copy a material to an object:

Arrange your schematic view so the object with the material and the other object are visible in your display.
Click Filters. In the Schematic View Settings dialog, turn on Show Materials.
Choose Link.
Click the Material and link it to the new object.
You cannot apply materials to objects in Schematic view if the material is not already applied to an object in the scene. You may want to make a box or other temporary holding object to hold materials, like an artist’s palette that holds paint. Then you can copy from the palette object to other objects in Schematic View.

To see and select all the objects that share a material or modifier:

Any object that contains a shared reference will display an arrow pointing to the right. Click that right arrow and all the objects sharing that material or modifier will highlight in Yellow. If Synchronize Selection is on, they will all be selected in the viewport.

To navigate a complex object with many Boolean components:

On the Schematic View toolbar, turn on Synchronize Selection.
Select the Boolean object.
Activate the Modify panel.
The display in Schematic View will show all the components of the complex boolean. You can easily click any one you need to modify.

To use keyboard shortcuts in Schematic View:

Choose Customize menu > Preferences.
On the Keyboard tab, turn off Use Only Main UI.
Click Schematic View. The list now displays the available commands.
Assign the keyboard alternatives you want to use in the Shortcut group.
Save them to a named set, then press OK.
If you don’t want to memorize them, keep a list on paper displayed near your monitor.

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Schematic View

NURBS in Schematic View

See also

Procedures