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Item List part 01
Item List part 02
Item List part 03
Item List part 04
Item List part 05
Item List part 06
Item List
The Item List has a number of functions. First, and most obviously, it lists all of the locator type items in your project (For more info about Locators and lists see Item List versus Shader Tree section below). In the Item list you can create and edit the following Items: Mesh, Group, Camera, Directional Light, Spot Light, Point Light, Area Light, Dome Light, Cylinder Light, Texture Locator and Backdrop Item.
The functionality of the Item List includes, simple selection of the Items in the list, creation and deletion of Items and entire scene files, re-ordering items in the list, creating parent/child hierarchies, setting visibility, edit item properties and creating item groups for general organization.
Auto Visibility
There are two very different workflows between modeling and layout/rendering processes. When modeling you often want to focus on a single mesh item whereas the layout process demands a complete view of the project. modo offers a solution for both via Auto Visibility. By default this option is off. The Auto Visibility mode will automatically turn visibility on for the currently selected item and hide all deselected items. In this way you can easily set the focus to a specific mesh item. Once the item is visibly isolated you can use the Shift or Control key to add to the selection. If you want to have one layer active but another layer visible and inactive you can Control click on that Items visibility column to override the Auto Visibility setting at that time.
To access the Auto Visibility option you can either RMB click on the viewport tab or header or you can use the Viewport Widget and navigate to the Viewport Settings.
Creating Groups in Item List
As your projects become more complex you may find your flat list of Items becoming unwieldy. modo provides Item Groups to help organize your project. To create a group you can choose new item>Group. With the new Group item created you can begin to drag and drop items into the group to clean up your list. If you have several items that you want to add to a group quickly you can select them all and press Control-G. This will create a group and move all selected items into that group in one step.
Lets collapse the Chair mesh items into a single group container.
Select the first item in the list.
Holding Shift click the last mesh item you wish to add to the group. Holding Shift while clicking will select all items in between. If you wish to select only certain items use the Control key and click on each item independently.
Press Control-G to create the group item and all of the selected items are automatically swept into the group. Poof!
To keep the project usable, give the group a reasonable name. You can RMB click on the group item and choose Rename, or Click-pause-click to invoke an inline edit.
Now the long list of items composing the chair is nicely tucked into a group logically named All Chair Items. The long list of mesh items is out of the way, but easy to get to by simply unfolding the group with the arrow widget to the left of the group items name.
Groups can be comprise of any item type. In other words, you could include texture locators, lights and meshes in a single group.
Creating Parent/Child Hierarchies with the Item List
Parent/Child relationships amongst items have several benefits. First, if you are exporting to an animation system you already know the power of these hierarchies for animation. Since setting them up in modo is so simple this is a first step at rigging your project for animation. However, even within the modo-sphere there are advantages to creating these hierarchies. The two main areas of advantage are gang-manipulations and organization.
Creating hierarchies in modo is a simple drag and drop operation. In the Item list, drag and drop one item onto another and that item becomes the child item. Thats it really. Well there are some nuances.
Manipulating Items in a Hierarchy
It is important to note that there are some ramifications to editing items in Item mode when you have a hierarchy established. (The following section is only relevant when the selection mode is set to Item.) For instance, when you translate the Parent item the children will receive the same amount of translation. However, if you select the parent AND child items the effect of the transform will be doubled on the child. Additionally, if there are Item level transforms applied to the Parent item before the relationship is set up the Child will move to match the Parents transforms. If the Item Transform is changed prior to the child relationship being severed the child item will also move. There is a simple solution to maintaining the childs current position during parenting or un-parenting the item. Simply hold the Control key down when you drag and drop the child to or from the parent item. This will adjust the child items Transform values such that the item does not move from its original world location.
Tip: Often when you have created hierarchies it may be arduous to expand the various parent items to dig down to the level where you can see the item you are looking for. If you change to Item selection mode and click on the item in 3D view (where it is most likely in plain site) you can press the F key to Find the item in the list. The list will auto-expand to reveal your item. Fancy.
Hierarchy Navigation Quick Tips
Often when you have created hierarchies it may be arduous to expand the various parent items to dig down to the level where you can see the item you are looking for. If you change to Item selection mode and click on the item in 3D view (where it is most likely in plain site) you can press the F key to Find the item in the list. The list will auto-expand to reveal your item. Fancy.
You can also quickly expand/contract an entire hierarchy branch with a single action. Holding Shift when you click to expand or contract a hierarchy will expand/contract the current item and all items down the branch.
The Item Context Menu
There are several options available via the Item List context menu. Simly RMB click on any item to open the menu.
Properties
Mesh items have options for renaming, setting the subdivision and spline patch levels, adjusting the curve refinement angle, visibility and toggling between smooth SDS UVs or linear UVs. All other items only have the option to set their name as the other options are irrelevant to non-mesh items.
Add to group
This creates a group item and tucks all currently selected items into said group. The same can be achieved with Contrl-G shortcut.
Rename
Allows you to rename the item.
Duplicate
This command will create a duplicate of the current item.
Instance
The Instance command is only relevant for Mesh items. The result is a duplicate of the current mesh that is simply a reference to the mesh. Instances can be transformed at the item level and can have their own materials and textures applied to them via Item level masks. However, they can not be edited at the mesh level as they derive all mesh information from the original mesh item. The advantage is that all mesh changes made to the original mesh item will propagate to its instances.
Delete
This will delete the currently selected item(s).
Load Preset
This will load an item preset into the project.
Apply Preset
The Apply preset command will apply values from a compatible item preset to the currently selected item. (Note: Mesh items cannot be saved as presets. Nor can preset values be applied to meshes.)
Preset Browser
This option will open the preset browser so that you can quickly choose a preset to load or apply.
Save Preset
For non-mesh items you can save Presets that can be reloaded or applied to existing items.
Create Item Mask
This option will create a mask group in the Shader Tree with the current Item as the filter. This allows you to quickly add a material/texture mask at the mesh item level so that you can isolate material changes to that specific item.
Change Item Type
With this option you can quickly convert an item into another item type. For instance, you can convert an Instance mesh into a real mesh so that you can edit the item at the component level. Another example is to convert a Directional Light into an Area Light. It should be noted that certain parameters would be lost if you were to switch back to the original item type. Common parameters should be preserved.
Project Item Context Menu
RMB clicking on the file name in the Item list will open the file context menu. This is a very convenient place to perform routine tasks such as Save, Save As, Export, Close and Revert.
Item List modes
The Item List has three UI modes depending on the size of the viewport. When the Item List is fully expanded it shows all Items and acts as a complete project manager. When the viewport gets collapsed it morphs into a Mesh List allowing a very compact user interface for quickly selecting the various meshes in your project. The Mesh List mode has two sizes, Medium and Small depending on the amount of screen space available to the viewport. This allows you to compress the list into a very small space on your screen to make room for other UI elements.
The Medium view shows the current project in a popup at the top of the viewport and has large check boxes for each mesh. In this particular project there are 6 mesh items. Currently the first item in the list is selected and the other meshes are visible but inactive (this is also known as a Background mesh). In both the medium and small versions of the viewport there are two rows. The top row (as labeled in the medium view) is the Active (aka Foreground) mesh and the bottom row (aka Background) is inactive but visible. To toggle visibility of an inactive layer simply Control click on the bottom cell of the mesh item.
The Small view shows the current project popup to the left of the mesh selection list and the avalaible mesh items in small cells on the right. The top row is for Active mesh items and the bottom cell indicates an inactive (but visible) mesh item. Ghosted dots in the top row indicate the mesh item contains geometry. White dots indicate that a mesh item exists but contains no geometry (an empty layer).
Item List versus Shader Tree
You may have already noticed that some modo items appear in both the Item List and the Shader Tree. The Item List is generally used to select Locator type items. Locator type items are items that can be selected and edited directly in the 3D viewport. There are items that are not Locator type. For instance, materials, masks and texture layers are also items but are not directly editable in the 3D viewport. These items are accessed via the Shader Tree rather than the Item list. There are some crossover items that appear in both the Item List and the Shader Tree. This is because they may share common linked items such as a texture layer and its locator item (texture positions are set by Texture Locators which can be manipulated in 3D), or items that can be modified by textures (Lights have a material and can be textured within the Shader Tree).
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