The Outliner displays groups by their group names and components by a combination of the definition and specific instance name.
Naming a component definitionAs mentioned in the previous
paragraph, components are identified in the outliner by a combination
of their instance and definition names (the definition name is enclosed
in less-than and greater-than symbols). For example, Jim's Office
The component definition name generally refers to type of component, such as a certain type of cubicle (Cubicle Style 1) or certain type of video camera (VideoX 8mm camera). This name can either be established when the component is first created, or you can accept the default (Component#X, X being some number) and rename the component definition using the outliner. To rename the component definition:
- Context-click on the component in the Outliner. The context menu for the Component entity is displayed. Notice that this is the same context menu as the context menu displayed when you context-click on an entity in the drawing area (except this context menu has a Rename menu item).
- Click on the Entity Info menu item. The Entity Info dialog box is displayed.
- Click on the Definition tab to display information about this component's definition.
- Type a new name in the definition's name field.
- Click outside of the Entity Info dialog box to save your change.
A component instance name is useful when you want to differentiate different component instances from each other in the Outliner (the default name for all component instances is 'Component'). For example, you might want to have different instance names if several chairs are all from the same definition in your model. To rename the component instance:
- Context-click on the component in the Outliner. The context menu for the Component entity is displayed. Notice that this is the same context menu as the context menu displayed when you context-click on an entity in the drawing area (except this context menu has a Rename menu item).
- Select the Rename menu item
- Type the new component instance name in the Outliner.
- Press the Enter (Microsoft Windows) or Return (Mac OS X) key to save your change.
Naming a group
You can also name your groups for easy identification in the Outliner. To rename a group:
- Context-click on the group in the Outliner. The context menu for the Component entity is displayed. Notice that this is the same context menu as the context menu displayed when you context-click on an entity in the drawing area (except this context menu has a Rename menu item).
- Select the Rename menu item
- Type the new component instance name in the Outliner.
- Press the Enter (Microsoft Windows) or Return (Mac OS X) key to save your change.
