Object Management

[Geta-Ve]

One of the most irksome aspects of Wings, for me personally, is object management. I will cut right to the chase by saying that it is currently very difficult to manipulate multiple objects, as a whole, without combining them.

Granted, maybe there is functionality that has been implemented in recent years?

Instead of me explaining how I would like it to work, I would just point you to a pretty good solution that has already been in place in Maya since ... forever.

Maya has Wings style object combining, but it also has object grouping. I mean, it sounds incredibly stupid for me to state that outright, because I doubt there is anyone that doesn't already know this, but for clarity's sake I figured I would state it anyway.

My point is though, I really, *REALLY* wish Wings had some sort of object grouping, or handling operations on objects as a whole instead of having to combine them and the separate after the operation is complete.

This is especially true when all your objects are properly named and organized. Combining them obliterates all that hard work.

Again, I want to reiterate that there may in fact be such a component in Wings nowadays, but I have yet to find it.

So I suppose this thread is both a gripe/want and a usability question.

I *am* curious however, when selecting folders, what is the checkmark supposed to denote? It doesn't seem to actually serve a purpose, as far as I could tell?

As an aside, it would also be nice if, when creating folders whilst objects are selected, said objects would be automatically put in the newly created folder.

Cheers!

[Nova]

I agree with all of this, and have also yet to find something like it! Perhaps if we were able to perform (certain) actions on the folders as a whole, they could double as groups?

Also, the checkmark next to the folders denote which folder any new object will be put into, when created.

[Geta-Ve]

Ah, didn't know about the checkmark, thanks for letting me know!

I too was hoping that I could perform actions on folders as a whole, but that didn't seem to be possible. Would make the most sense though, since they already serve the same function as groups do in Maya (to the extent that they keep like objects together).

[Radi]

"My point is though, I really, *REALLY* wish Wings had some sort of object grouping, or handling operations on objects as a whole instead of having to combine them and the separate after the operation is complete.

This is especially true when all your objects are properly named and organized. Combining them obliterates all that hard work."

exactly, this is one of the most annoying things in Wings by now

[micheus]

I agree with you about the Combine/Separate operations and I also don't like the way it works. By now, the way things are structured I was not still able to find a way to workaround that (in the times I tried to figured it out).

As an aside, it would also be nice if, when creating folders whilst objects are selected, said objects would be automatically put in the newly created folder.

Nova already explained about the Folders use. So, about this I have to argue that creating a new folder the select objects still remains selected and you can just right-click over the folder and use the option to move those items to it. I don't think that is a big deal.
The automatic move you want would not be what other uses want - I wouldn't. Sometimes we are with some selections and to organize things we decide to create a new folder for that selection as well for other groups we discovered would be useful.

I too was hoping that I could perform actions on folders as a whole, but that didn't seem to be possible.

Yes, it is (at least the basic ones).
We just don't do that "over" the folder name. We need to use the MMB over the icone we want to play with (hide/show,lock/unlock,...). There is only a small issue with this: the object under the mouse will not change the state and you need to use LMB on it again. Check this old gif I did a couple of years (link - that time I didn't pay attention to Information line ):

[Nova]

I don't think Geta-Ve means actions such as hiding/locking, but more like commands, like scaling (Correct me if I'm wrong).

[micheus]

Again, I don't think it would be a problem run commands like scale and move.
Just use the way I pointed before to select the objects in a folder and move them in the Geometry window; for scale operation you need to change to vertex mode [V] before use Scale Uniform for example.

[Nova]

I didn't know you could use vertex mode, to scale as a group, that's cool!

But yeah. Another thing where you kinda have to use combine, is if you want to UV something. If you have 20 objects separately, and try to UV, you'll end up doing the same things 20 times. So this is another case where being able to do something on a selection of objects would be better than combining.

Although, I suppose the issue with my example is still only the fact that your structure and naming conventions go out the window when combining. If that didn't happen (like say the individual objects in some way were able to retain their names), then there'd (once again) be less need for group actions. I feel like I'm rambling, but I hope I'm making sense.

[ggaliens]

There are TWO Easy ways GetaVE ...

1) Selection

2) Semi-Persistent SELECTION GROUP. This can be done for bodies.

Enough said.

[Geta-Ve]

Alot of great information in this thread!

With regards to hiding / wireframe / etc. I knew all that already. I was indeed referring to transformation commands and the like. I will have to test out GG's methods (thanks man!). Also going to have to test out using vertex mode for the transformations of multiple objects. Can't comment much further on this till I test it out.

And in regards to folder use, I suppose it might simply be personal preference, and what I am used to. Though I didn't quite understand your reasoning behind your position. It's definitely not a big deal, I agree, more just a quality of life improvement and those middling wants that sneak up over the years.