Viz Artist User Guide
Version 3.13 | Published March 28, 2019 ©
Scene Tree Menu
At the top of the Scene Tree area is a control menu:
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Tree
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Tree: Shows an overview of all the Containers in the Scene (see Tree Button).
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Sort: Sorts the items in the Scene Tree based upon criteria that are set in the Display area (see Sort Button).
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Search: Searches items in the Scene Tree (see Search Button).
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Media Assets Manager: In the Media Asset Manager, add Media Assets to a Scene as:
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DVE
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Texture
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Scene Log: Shows if an error occurs. Opens the Log window, which gives information about the loading process of the Scene, such as errors, for example if a plug-in is not found. Click on it to open the Scene Log. If the log window is closed, but not cleared, the exclamation mark icon shows in gray. It shows red again if another fault occurs. -
Media Asset Properties Editor: Opens the Media Asset Panel Editor panel of the Scene Settings. -
Scene plug-in: Opens the Plug-in panel panel of the Scene Settings. In the plug-in panel, Scene plug-ins can be added to the current Scene. This icon turns orange when a Scene contains a Scene plug-in. Click on the icon to view the Scene plug-in properties panel. -
Scene Info: Opens the Scene Information window, which gives information about the Scene entered by the designer. Shows orange if information is available.
This section contains information on the following topics:
Tree Button
If the Tree button is clicked, all Containers are shown in the hierarchical Scene Tree View.
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Show/Hide Favorites: Shows or hides the Favorites Bar. -
Lock/Unlock: Locks or unlocks the ability to modify the transformation of selected Containers in the Scene Editor. Middle mouse click to lock or unlock all Containers. -
Show/Hide: Shows or hides selected Containers in the Scene Editor, and eventually in the final rendered output. Middle mouse click to show or hide all Containers. -
Expand/Collapse: Expands or collapses the Scene Tree. -
Start/Stop: Starts (compiles) or stops all Container scripts. -
Zoom In/Zoom Out: Zooms in (larger Containers) or Zooms out (smaller Containers) on the Container tree. Zoom out applies smaller icons to the Containers. This gives a better overview, especially in complex Scenes. -
Group/Ungroup: Creates a new container group, and places the selected Containers as Sub-Containers. The Ungroup button moves the Sub-Containers up one level. -
Merge/Split: Merges the selected Containers to one compound object, or splits an existing compound object. -
Create Group: Creates a new empty group at the top of the Scene Tree. Drag the icon to place a new group at a specific place in the Scene Tree. -
Color: Applies a color to selected Containers. You can define text labels for the colors in the Global Settings Panel to make them more descriptive. -
Refresh: Refreshes the Scene Tree. Use this button if scripts have been deployed to change the Scene Tree.
Scene Tree View
Sort Button
Click the Sort button to enable the Scene Tree Sort View, where the items in the Scene Tree can be sorted based on various criteria. A sorted Scene Tree makes it possible to analyze the Scene and optimize the performance.
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Show/Hide Favorites: Shows or hides the Favorites Bar .
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Vector: Sorts the Scene Tree by the number of vectors the Containers (which have Geometries) have. The Container with most vectors is shown on top. -
Render Time: Sorts the Scene Tree by the time it takes to render the Containers. Each Container is shown with the percentage of total time the Scene takes to be rendered. The Container with the highest percentage is shown on top. -
Sort by Colors: Filters Containers by color. Click on the icon, and click on each required color to filter.
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Texture Size: Sorts the Scene Tree by the size of the Container texture. The Container with the largest texture size is shown on top. -
Unique: Shows unique group objects with the same Texture only once. This option is only available if the Containers are sorted by Texture size (click the Texture Size button). -
Refresh: Refreshes the Scene Tree.
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The input box defines the number of search results displayed. Click R to set to default number of search results (20).
Scene Tree Sort View
Search Button
Click Search button to access the search controls. Here you can search for items in the scene tree, and inside containers scripts and scene scripts.
Use the different buttons to search for specific properties of the Scene (see Search Options) or highlight the search results. Search results are highlighted in the Scene Tree, and the number of search results are displayed.
Example: If a plug-in (for example Extrude) is dragged to Properties, clicking the Show all button highlights all occurrences of that plug-in within the Scene Tree.
Search Options
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Name: Search for Containers with a specified name. Type the search string in the Name field (1). Wildcards, for example *, ? and [ ], may be used in the search.
Tip: By default, the text wildcard character, *, is added to the start and at the end of the search string. This means that searching for player finds any node named player in the scene tree, and also nodes named for instance player-name or secondplayername.
Click on the drop arrow (2) to show extended search parameters. Options are to search for Parameter, Values and plug-in names within the Scene. When the extended parameters option is active, all other search options than Name are inactive.
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Search for Containers: Searches in the tree for container properties. -
Search in Script: Searches all scripts in your scene, container scripts and scene scripts. -
Show in Script: Shows the search results inside the script editor. -
Drop area for Properties: Drag an item from the Server Panel, from a Container in the Scene Tree or from the Favorites Bar to search for its occurrence within the Scene.
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Hidden: Searches for all hidden Containers. -
Locked: Searches for all locked Containers. -
Inactive Properties: Searches for Containers that contain properties that are set to inactive. -
Color: Searches for all Containers with the assigned color tile.
Show Search Results
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Show Next: Shows the next result. -
Show Previous: Shows the previous result. -
Show First: Shows the first result. -
Show Last: Shows the last result. -
Show All: Shows all results. -
Search Results: Shows how many results were found. Tip: If a specific plug-in is no longer to be used in a Scene, make a search for the plug-in and select Show All to highlight all the results. Drag one of the highlighted plug-ins to the trash can, and all the highlighted plug-ins are deleted from the Scene.
Tip: If Show all search results is selected, the transformation properties can be changed for all highlighted Containers.
Tip: If Show all search results is selected, a plug-in or an item (except a Scene) can be added to all the highlighted Containers (drag a plug-in or an item to one of the highlighted Containers).
To Do an Extended Search
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Go to the Scene Tree and click Search.
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Click drop arrow to show the extended search options (1).
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Enter a search criteria. The search criteria can be a combination of Parameter, Value and plug-in name. Below are some examples:
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Parameter:tesselation, width, *show*
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Value:20, *10.0*
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Plugin:*rect*
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Press Enter.
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Use the Show Search Results buttons to navigate the Scene Tree.
Tip: Use the label names in the plug-in editors as a search criteria. If there is no hit, use the asterisk ( * ) symbol.
To Do a Script Search
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Load a scene that contains scripts, either scene scripts, container scripts, or both script types.
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Go to the Scene Tree and click Search to open the search fields.
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Enter your search term, then click the Search Script icon.
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The search result contains all container scripts and scene scripts that contain the search term within the script code.
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Clicking the Show in Script button to open the selected script and highlight the search result inside the script window:
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You can also click Scene Script to open the scene Script Editor, highlighting the search result inside the script window:
Tip: You can also perform an advanced search inside the script editor, to search not just within a single script but in all scripts used in the scene.