Rename an object

You can set the name of an object to make it easier to identify the object later.

Object names are often used in object lists in the interface. You can also pick an object by typing its name when a pick tool is selected. For objects you work with often you may want to change the automatically generated object name.

Name the picked object

Do one of the following:

• Choose Windows > Information > Information window and set the Name option.
• In the control panel, set the name field.

Organize objects on layers

Layers allow you to organize related objects into groups that you can pick, display, and edit individually or together.

Move objects into a layer

1. Pick the objects you want to assign to a layer.
2. Click on the layer’s button in the Layer Bar and choose Assign from the pop-up menu.

Create a new layer

• Choose Layers > New.
  NoteWhen the number of layers causes the Layer Bar to become longer than the window, a button with two small arrowheads appears on the right end. Click the button and drag left or right to scroll the Layer Bar.

Rename a layer

• Double-click the name of the layer in the Layer Bar.
  NoteIf a layer’s name is too long to fit within the layer tab, moving the mouse over the tab will display the entire name in a tooltip box.

Set the layer in which new objects will be created

• Click the layer’s button in the Layer Bar.

  The creation layer is indicated by a yellow background.

  

Change the wireframe color of a layer

How to assign a wireframe color to a layer.

Change the wireframe color of objects on a layer

1. Click the layer’s color swatch next to its name in the Layer Bar, to open a limited palette of colors.
2. Without releasing the mouse, drag to select a color, or drag to the Edit button to open the Color Editor from which you can choose a custom color.
3. Release the mouse button.

   

Operate on all the objects in a layer

Describes the commands you can apply to all the objects in a particular layer at once.

Pick all the objects in a layer

• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Pick Objects.

Make a layer visible or invisible

Do one of the following:

• In the layer’s pop-up menu, choose Visible to turn the visibility of the layer on or off.
• Click on the layer’s button in the Layer Bar, then choose Layers > Visibility > Invisible or Layers > Visibility > Visible to make the layer invisible or visible.

Make the objects in the layer inactive

• Choose Layers > Set State > Inactive.
  NoteThis is the same as using ObjectDisplay > Template to template the objects on the layer.

Make the objects in the layer unpickable

• Choose Layers > Set State > Reference.

  Reference geometry is similar to templated geometry, but it can be snapped to.

  NoteObjects in reference layers can also be selected from within any Locators > Deviation tool, as well as Evaluate > Deviation map, to measure deviation between regular objects and reference objects. Curve Edit > Fit curve can be used on section data in reference layers.

What if...?

The layer bar is not visible below the prompt line?

Choose Layers > Toggle Layers or Layers > Toggle Layer Bar to display the Layer Bar.

Group and ungroup objects

You can group several objects together to form a group object.

When an object is part of a group, it retains its own transformations (position, rotation, and scale) and can also be affected by any transformations made to the group.

By grouping objects, you can also reduce clutter by reducing the number of individual pickable objects in the scene.

Group several objects into one object

1. Pick the objects you want to group together.
2. Choose Edit > Group.

Break a group into its component objects

1. Pick the group.
2. Choose Edit > Ungroup.

Pick an object from within a group

1. Choose Pick > Component
2. Pick the object