Viewing and Selecting Hierarchies-Autodesk VIZ-kxcad

Viewing a Hierarchy

You can use these methods to view the relationships between parents and children in a linked hierarchy.

The Select Objects dialog appears whenever you use a by-name selection method, such as choosing Edit menu > Select By > Name, by clicking Select By Name on the main toolbar, or by pressing the H key.

To list objects hierarchically, turn on Display Subtree on the dialog. This indents children below their parent.
The Hierarchy list at the left side of the Track View window displays all objects using indentation to express hierarchy. Child objects are displayed indented and below their parent. An added advantage of Track View is that you can control the view by collapsing and expanding branches of the hierarchy.

Displaying the hierarchy in the Controller list

A square icon with a plus indicates a collapsed branch under that object, while a minus indicates an expanded branch. Click a plus icon to expand a branch, or a minus icon to collapse it.

Tip: In complex scenes, use Curve Editor to navigate quickly through the Track View. Simply select the object in the viewport, then right-click and choose Curve Editor. The Track View — Curve Editor will appear with the selected object at the top of the window.
You can also use Schematic View to view hierarchies. In addition to showing you the structure, Schematic View contains tools for manipulating hierarchies.

Selecting Hierarchy Members: Ancestors and Descendants

Once you have selected one or more objects in a hierarchy, you can select its direct ancestor or descendant with the Page Up and Page Down keys.

Page Up deselects the object and selects the object’s parent.
Page Down deselects the object and selects all its immediate children, but not all descendants down the chain.

Tip: These navigation commands are particularly useful when setting joint parameters for inverse kinematics.

To select an object and all of its descendants, you can:

Double-click the object in a viewport.
Double-click the object icon in the Track View Hierarchy list.

Customizing the Quad Menu

You can customize the quad menu so it displays commands to select children, or ancestors, or both. From the Customize menu, choose Customize User Interface. On the Quads tab, drag Select Ancestor or Select Children from the list of all commands to the quad menu. Then you can easily select children or parents with a right-click and then a click.