Outliner panel
The Outliner shows every object in the document as a tree. Use it to select objects, control visibility and locking, and reorganise the assembly hierarchy.
Open: View ▸ Outliner or drag the panel tab into a dock slot. In the minimal-chrome (first-launch) layout, all panel toggles are disabled until View ▸ Unlock Advanced UI.
Toolbar
A compact bar above the tree provides filtering and bulk visibility controls:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search… | Filter the tree by name. Shortcut Ctrl+F; Esc clears the filter and returns focus to the tree. |
| Type filter | Narrow the list to one kind: All, Parts, Groups, Cameras, Lights, Rigs, or Compositions. |
| Hide everything under selected folder | Hide every object inside the selected folder. |
| Show everything under selected folder | Make every object inside the selected folder visible. |
Columns
| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Object name with a type icon. Click to select. F2 starts an inline rename. |
| Visible Hidden | Visibility. Click to toggle. Hiding a group hides everything in it. Camera rows: hides or shows the camera frustum in the viewport only (does not affect which camera renders). Light rows: turns the light on or off. Rig rows: no eye control. |
| Locked Unlocked | Lock. Ctrl+click applies the lock to the entire subtree. Locked objects cannot be picked in the viewport, dragged, keyed, or aligned. The Object panel greys out for a locked selection. |
| Immovable | Immovable (pin). Click to freeze the object's position — drag, the gizmo and Align commands leave it alone. Tooltips: "Immovable — click to unpin" / "Movable — click to make immovable" / "Movement restricted by parent or lock — click to pin this item". |
An optional Prim Path column is available. Right-click any row and choose Show Prim Path Column to enable it (the setting persists between sessions).
Tree sections
Imported geometry appears directly at the top of the tree — there is no separate "Assembly" header. The three fixed type sections (Cameras, Lights, Rigs) appear only when the document contains at least one object of that kind; they cannot be reordered. A Compositions section also appears whenever a document is open.
| Section | What it contains |
|---|---|
| (top of tree) | Imported groups and parts from STEP and OBJ files, nested as they were in the source |
| Cameras | All cameras — only shown when at least one exists |
| Lights | All lights — only shown when at least one exists |
| Rigs | All lighting rigs — only shown when at least one exists |
| Compositions | All compositions. Clicking a row switches the active comp. Shown whenever a document is open. No eye, lock or context menu on Compositions rows. |
Row markers
| Marker | Meaning |
|---|---|
● after a camera name | This camera is the active (look-through) camera |
● after a light name | This light is currently selected in the viewport |
[solo] after a light name | The light is soloed |
[mute] after a light name | The light is muted |
* after a rig name | This rig has unsaved changes |
(active) after a comp name | This is the active composition |
Hover a row for a tooltip showing the full prim path and any placement status.
Selecting from the Outliner
Click a row to select the object and sync the viewport and inspector panels (Object, Material, Camera). The viewport selection and Outliner selection are always in sync.
Shift-click a second row to extend the selection to every row between the two. Ctrl-click in the viewport selects the parent group; Ctrl+Shift-click selects the top-level group.
Arrow keys walk the tree when the Outliner has focus:
- Down / Up — move to the next or previous visible row.
- Right — expand a collapsed group, or move into its first child.
- Left — collapse an expanded group; on a leaf or already-collapsed group, move to the parent and collapse it.
Drag-and-drop reparenting
Drag an imported row (one that is not locked directly or by a parent) to a new position:
- Drop on a group row to move it into that group.
- Drop between rows to place it before that sibling (same-parent reorders are a reorder only).
The Outliner rejects drops that would create a cycle (a group dropped onto its own descendant) or that would cross into the Cameras, Lights or Rigs sections. Each successful reparent creates one undo entry.
Locked objects
A locked object is skipped by viewport picking (clicks pass through to whatever is behind), excluded from Select All, and cannot be dragged, keyed, or aligned. Locking does not affect rendering. To lock, click the Lock column or use the right-click menu.
Context menu
Right-click a row:
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Rename | Only available with a single row selected; starts inline edit |
| Keyframe ▸ | Transform channel sub-menu; greyed for locked rows |
| Add Motion Effect ▸ | Adds a motion effect to the selection |
| Select Contents | Only for a selected group; selects everything inside |
| Normals ▸ | Flip Normals (checkable); then Auto (the file decides) / Align Normals / Smooth / Flat / As Authored |
| Align ▸ | To Floor / To Home / To Object Below / To Ground (orient) / Reset to CAD Position / Restore CAD Parent and Placement / Restore Initial Import Placement / Restore Initial Parent and Placement. Flag-dependent entries appear when CAD follow features are on. Disabled for locked rows ("Locked — unlock the row to move it"). |
| Caustics ▸ | Auto (material decides) / Always cast / Never cast. Disabled when caustics are off for all render scopes (tooltip explains). |
| Group Selection (Ctrl+G) | Wrap the selection in a new group |
| Ungroup (Ctrl+Alt+G) | Only available with a single group selected |
| Duplicate | Copy the selection |
| Delete | Non-destructive deactivation — survives save; use Edit ▸ Purge Deleted Parts to remove permanently (purge clears the undo history) |
| Isolate | Hide all other objects. Restoring via Edit ▸ Show All Parts also un-hides parts you had manually hidden before isolating. |
| Hide | Hide the selection |
| Show | Show the selection |
| Lock Subtree | Lock the selection and all its descendants |
| Unlock Subtree | Unlock the selection and all its descendants |
| Immovable | Checkable. Freezes position: drag, gizmo and align leave it alone. The object stays selectable and its material can be edited. |
| Frame | Frame the selected object in the viewport |
| Assign Material… | Open the material picker for the selection |
| Show Prim Path Column | Checkable; toggles the optional Prim Path column |
There is no context menu on Compositions rows.
Asset drops
Drag a primitive from the Library onto the Outliner to add it to the scene. It is added at the centre of the scene, on the ground, at a quarter of the scene's size, with the Scale gizmo ready: drag the handles to size it. To choose where a primitive or model goes, drop it in the viewport instead.
Related topics
- Selecting objects — pick, multi-select and expand
- Object panel — properties of the selected object
- Placing objects — move, rotate and scale