LenseOnLife Posted March 6, 2016 Posted March 6, 2016 Hi, Just wondering. Is it possible to group 'groups' into another group as a hierarchy? Or is the group structure flat? I've made up a very simple patch as an example. Sp-Top are the 2 CPs along the top of the patch Sp-Bottom are the 2 CPs along the bottom Sp-Left are the 4 CPs on the left hand side Sp-Right are the 4 CPs on the right hand side. Holding Ctrl I can select each group and then make a new group included everything within each of the individual groups which is Sp-All. I'm wondering if it is possible to have a group that includes sub-groups but as a hierarchy - i.e. with a '+' so that it can be 'opened' / 'closed' in the Project Work Space. In the group I'd like to have Sp-All and underneath that the 4 groups that make it up. Is this possible? Reason I'm asking is because I'm making a model from individual parts and the group structure is becoming cumbersome. Thanks, Oliver Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 6, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 6, 2016 Hold down the CTRL key as you select each of the groups you want to be in the new group. A new "Untitled" group will be created. Without de-selecting anything, on the "Untitled" Group and Rename it to your "all" name. Now de-select everything. (When I do this I need to click on the group in the Model window, hit Return, click again on the group in the Model window, and hit Return again to fully de-select everything) The new "All" group should select all the CPs that were in the partial groups. Quote
Fuchur Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 You can create a group-folder. To do that, right-click on the "Groups"-element and choose "New > Folder". This should get you the possibility to reselect them very fast... but I would not use that feature at the moment... it crash A:M for me when I tried it. Just go with the option Robert gave you. It is not hierachically but I am not sure why that would help... what are you trying to do? See you *Fuchur* Quote
LenseOnLife Posted March 7, 2016 Author Posted March 7, 2016 Hi, I had worked out Robert's solution but had hoped for the hierarchy / tree structure. Agree regarding the folder possibility and the way that it crashes. In fact, when moving groups up/down I found that A:M crashed (mostly when moving a group to the top or the bottom). So why do I want to do this? This is my second time to try and come to grips with A:M and I read in a post recently something that resonated. The first time around, i got frustrated with the aesthetics, surfaces etc and never really got around to doing animation, rigging .... the things that interest me. So have decided to go back to basic shapes and manipulate them - each one to his own . I made a 'universal coupling' which was made up of 2 parts - a tilting object and another object that swivels. No I will be using this combined part in quite a number of places but every time I bring it in there will be a number of groups and the group 'directory' will get very cluttered. Moving them around to keep everything logical brings with it the possibility of A:M crashing. Also, coming from an engineering background it is nice to keep things neat and tidy - some call it OCD Anyway - no sense in crying over spilt milk - so onwards and upwards. Thanks all for your feedback Oliver Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 7, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 7, 2016 Oliver, if you could send me a PRJ that will crash when a Group is moved or when a Folder is created I can make a bug report out of that. I haven't been able to duplicate the crashes with simple test cases. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 7, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 7, 2016 I have been able to get a crash by dragging groups around but I haven't been able to get it to happen while I had the screencam running. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 7, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 7, 2016 I have captured a group dragging crash (in v19) and made a report of it. You can look at the screencam in this thread to see if it resembles what you are experiencing. I haven't been able to get a crash from just creating a folder, however. In the meantime, I suggest doing incremental saves and saving just before you embark on lots of group dragging and immediately after so you have recent states of your project to return to if you do get a crash. Quote
LenseOnLife Posted March 7, 2016 Author Posted March 7, 2016 Hi, Yes, it is basically the same problem. This morning, it crashed almost every time I tried to move a group into a folder - now it is less sensitive. Not an easy one to reproduce. It has happened me on very simple projects so I don't think that project size is the problem. It seems to happen most either at the top or end of a folder - maybe a heap leaking? Here is a video (only 1.5MB) CrashMovingGroup2.mp4 As you say - in the meantime - just keep on saving. For what it is worth - this is the only process that crashes A:M for me - otherwise it is very stable indeed. Oliver Quote
Fuchur Posted March 7, 2016 Posted March 7, 2016 Hi Robert, it happened when I tried to add a group to the newly created folder... See you *Fuchur* Quote
LenseOnLife Posted March 8, 2016 Author Posted March 8, 2016 Hello Again, Just a final update on the crash problem. 1. Can be hard to duplicate, but when it starts to happen it is very consistent. Yesterday hardly happened at all, then this morning happens every time (just about). 2. If there is an A:M crash even after a save has been made, the newly created folders in the groups are lost. This is a video of it happening very early in an A:M session. As advised earlier in this thread - I think it is safer simply not to use the folder option because, when it does start to fail, all work in relations to the folders is lost. AM Crash and Folders Not Being Saved.mp4 As an FYI - here is the simple project that I was using Joint - TiltLink.mdl Thats it Cheers, Oliver Quote
Admin Rodney Posted March 8, 2016 Admin Posted March 8, 2016 I believe this was mentioned but the crash usually occurs when a named group is drag/dropped upwards and very rarely downwards. So the interim workaround would be to avoid drag/dropping upward. As a result this might require two drag/drops rather than one to get named groups placed appropriately. Also, this bug doesn't require folders to be present. It's interesting to note that there are related issues with folders. As for being able to duplicate... if I drag/drop upward the chances of running into the bug increase considerably. Edit: Of course when I just tried to duplicate the problem in v18p I couldn't get the problem to appear at all. Go figure. Edit 2: Of note, I just got the crash to occur when drag/dropping named groups downward in an Action. I don't know if I've ever tried to reorder named Groups in an Action before. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 8, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 8, 2016 Oliver, could you post the exact same file you used in the video? The one posted above doesn't have the same groups and I don't get the crash. Quote
LenseOnLife Posted March 8, 2016 Author Posted March 8, 2016 Hi, Mea Culpa - I'll put it down to 'old age' Here is the correct model file JointTiltSwivel R01.mdl Regards, Oliver P.S. I'm using 64bit on a Windows10 Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 8, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 8, 2016 I do get the problem with the new folders not being saved (with either a Save or a Save As) but i don't get the crash yet. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 8, 2016 Hash Fellow Posted March 8, 2016 I've made a bug report for v19 about the folder non-save. Quote
LenseOnLife Posted March 8, 2016 Author Posted March 8, 2016 Hi Robert, Thanks - that's this thread completed Oliver Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.