3.1 The 3Delight Relationship Editor

The 3Delight Relationship Editor is a central piece of UI in 3Delight For Maya as it connects 3DFM's shaders and attributes to Maya's scene elements. The 3Delight Relationship Editor is meant to work and feel exactly as any Maya relationship editor so that users can rapidly understand the various possible operations. The editor is similar in spirit to the Light Linker as it has two operational modes: object-centric and attribute or shader-centric. Each operational mode is well suited for a set of specific tasks. For example, to assign an attribute to some objects, one could do the following in attribute-centric mode:

• Left-click on the attribute in the left pane of the editor to select it.
• Left-click on the objects in the right pane to perform the connection.

To do the same in object-centric mode:

• Select the objects on the left by Shift-Left-Click.
• Assign the attribute on by Left-Click in the right panel.

Figure 3.1: The 3Delight Relationship Editor in two-pane mode.

As a rule of thumb, attribute and shader-centric mode is better suited to perform various operations on 3DFM's nodes without risking to alter the assignments. Possible operations include: selection, showing node in the AE, renaming, etc.
In general, the editor shows connections in the following manner:

attribute and shader-centric

If an attribute is selected in the left pane, the editor highlights all connected objects in the right pane. Selecting more than one attribute will show connections that are common to all the selected attributes.

object-centric

If an object is selected in the left pane, the right pane will highlight both the shaders and attributes that are directly assigned and the ones that are inherited by these objects. Selecting more than one object will show connections that are common to all selected objects. Note that there are many ways to connect attributes to object (such as by inheritance), this is explained in Attribute Inheritance.

3.1.1 All Available Operations
3.1.2 The Three-Pane Mode
3.1.3 Performance Notes

3.1.1 All Available Operations

This sections lists all the available operations in each pane. The more advanced three-pane mode is described in The Three-Pane Mode. Figure 3.2 lists actions that are common to all panes.

Figure 3.2: List of all operations available to all panes.

Mouse Action Description Double-click on node's name Rename node Double-click on node's icon Shows the node in the AE. Doesn't modify current selection. Also possible through the contextual menu as described in Figure 3.5. Left-click on empty space in pane Clears the highlighted nodes. Doesn't affect current Maya selection.

Object Pane Operations

Figure 3.3 lists all the actions available through the Show menu and Figure 3.4 lists all actions available through the Edit menu.

Figure 3.3: List of all operations in the Show menu.

Check List Item Description Geometry Display Maya geometry nodes if checked. Lights Display Maya light nodes if checked. Cameras Display Maya camera nodes if checked. Sets Display Maya sets if checked.

Figure 3.4: List of all operations in the Edit menu.

Menu Item Description Highlight selected objects This replaces the currently highlighted objects in the pane by the current selection in Maya. This is a very handy feature: selecting an object in Maya and then using this feature will show the connections to the object (although single object view is very conveniently accessible through the Assignment Panel as explained in The Assignment Panel). Select highlighted objects This replaces current Maya selection by highlighted objects in the pane.

Attribute and Shader Pane Operations

Additionally to the actions described in Figure 3.2, a host of actions are available through the contextual menu of the attribute pane. These are described in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5: List of all actions available through the contextual menu of the attribute pane.

Menu Item Description Select This replaces current Maya selection by highlighted nodes in the pane. Show in AE Shows the node in the AE. Doesn't modify current Maya selection. Duplicate Creates a copy of the highlighted node, retaining values, expressions and connections on its attributes. Assignments to scene objects are not duplicated. Hide Shader Attributes Make the various shader parameters of the highlighted nodes invisible in all editors except the AE, which speeds up AE refreshes in some cases. Only active when shaders are highlighted. Refer to Hide Attributes Preferences for details. Reload Shaders The shader node is updated to reflect the current content of the related compiled shader file. Object assignments, attribute values, expressions and connections are preserved when possible. Only active when shaders are highlighted. Replace Shader With File ... Upon selecting this item, the Shader Selector is brought up and the selected file will replace the one that was used by all highlighted shader nodes. The shader node name is not changed. Object assignments are preserved. Attribute values, expressions and connections are preserved when possible. Only active when shaders are highlighted. Preview Shaders Show a preview of the highlighted shaders in i-display. Preview can be customized in the Preferences Window Shaders. It is possible to select a surface shader, a displacement shader and an imager shader; all will be used at once when rendering the preview. Only active when shaders are highlighted. Delete Delete selected attribute or shader and disconnect all connections.

3.1.2 The Three-Pane Mode

The Relationship Editor can show a third pane to display and edit collection assignations. Please refer to Understanding Collections for more information about collections. The third pane can be shown by clicking on the << button on the left side of the editor window. Similarly, clicking on the >> button will collapse the editor back to two panes.

Figure 3.6: The 3Delight Relationship Editor in three-pane mode.

The leftmost pane offers two display modes for its content: Collections and Collection As Passes. The display mode can be selected via the option menu at the top of this pane.

Collections Mode

In this mode, the leftmost pane will list existing collections. New collections can be created through the pane's Create -> Collection menu item. When a collection is highlighted, the other panes will display and edit assignments made for that collection. Object level assignments can be viewed and modified by clearing the highlighted nodes in the leftmost pane. Operations available in this pane are listed in Figure 3.2.

Collections As Passes Mode

In this mode, the leftmost pane will list existing render passes. When one one of these passes is highlighted, the other panes will display and edit assignments made for the selected pass' "Shader collection" (see Shader collection to render). Object level assignments can be edited either by clearing the highlighted passes or by highlighting a pass whose "Shader collection" attribute is set to `<None>'. The left pane's Create menu is identical to the Add Render Pass menu item of the 3Delight Maya menu (see Creating a Render Pass). Additionally to the actions described in Figure 3.2, a few more are available through the contextual menu of this pane. These are described in Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7: List of all actions available through the contextual menu of the collection as passes pane.

Menu Item Description Select This replaces current Maya selection by highlighted render pass in the pane. Show in AE Shows the render pass in the AE. Doesn't modify current selection. Assign Collection Presents the existing collections in a submenu; selecting one will set it as the "Shader collection" of the highlighted render passes. The submenu also offers a New Collection... item which creates a new collection, prompts for a collection name and set it as the "Shader collection" of the highlighted render passes. See Shader collection to render.

3.1.3 Performance Notes

The 3Delight Relationship Editor has been designed to perform very well with extremely large scenes but there are some operations that could take significant time to complete with long object lists. When working with a large scene, the following operations introduce a delay due to Maya's API:

• Modifying the name filter in the objects pane;
• Turning off one of `Geometry', `Lights' or `Cameras' in the Objects pane Show menu.

The delay occurs once after the modification, and can occur again when collapsing part of the tree in the objects pane. Creating shaders or attribute nodes and modifying their assignations does not cause any delay. To avoid any slowness, it is recommended to leave the objects pane's Name Filter empty and to turn on all of `Geometry', `Lights' and `Cameras' options in the Objects pane Show menu.

3Delight for Maya 6.0. Copyright 2000-2011 The 3Delight Team. All Rights Reserved.