The Spreadsheet allows you to find and edit a total of approximately 500 animatable and non-animatable parameters. For more information about the parameters available in the Spreadsheet, refer to the List of Attributes and Relations.

Using the Spreadsheet allows you to display only the elements that match the criteria of a query. This reduces the number of elements you must wade through, and increases your productivity by simplifying the task of locating elements in a complex scene.

You can also edit multiple elements from within the Spreadsheet window. Rather than selecting each element individually, you can run a query and edit many elements at once. For example, you can use the spreadsheet to hide all the lights in your scene at once. For an example of how to do this, see Using the Spreadsheet Window in the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide.

The Spreadsheet is also very useful for selecting and deselecting elements in your scene. The Schematic window may also be used for this purpose, but you may not be able to read the text boxes in a large and complex scene.

The Spreadsheet window has rows and columns that alternate between light and dark grey to help distinguish elements. The wireframe colours of elements are displayed as the background colour of the line number to help you easily recognize your objects. The selection state of an element is shown in the same manner as in other windows: all selected elements are white.

To highlight and subsequently edit items in the Spreadsheet, you have a variety of options:

• Select an entire column by clicking on the column name.
• Select specific cells using the left mouse button.
• Multi-selection by dragging your mouse, either vertically or horizontally (if the values are the same type, for example, translation information). If many cells are selected and you change the value in the first cell by using the middle mouse button, the changes are propagated to all the selected cells.
• Automatically scroll while dragging your mouse.
• Double-click the cell brings up the Info->Selection dialogue box.
• Press Enter to open up the Info->Elements dialogue box.
• Toggle Boolean fields (either activated or deactivated).

For more information about what action each mouse button performs, see the next section.

Once you have run a query to filter the elements in your scene, you can edit the attributes of the elements displayed in the Spreadsheet.

There are many animatable and non-animatable parameters that are available for editing from the Spreadsheet window. All editing must be done by selecting one or many cells in the Spreadsheet and changing the values manually. The Spreadsheet does not have a search and replace function.

What the Mouse Buttons Do

Left Mouse Button

• Click and drag your mouse to scroll. This selects all the cells that are of the same value (Boolean, numeric, or text). If many cells are selected and you change the value in the any cell by using the middle mouse button, the changes are propagated to all the selected cells.
• Press Enter to open the Info->Elements browser. From here, you can scroll the lists to view information about any element in your scene.
• When you double-click on any cell, the Info->Selection dialogue box is displayed.
• When you double-click on cells containing information such as textures and materials, Texture or Material dialogue boxes appear. You can then edit the values in these dialogue boxes. For information about editing textures and materials, see the Defining Materials and Textures User's Guide.

Middle Mouse Button

• Middle-click to open the text edit dialogue box. This allows you to change the name or the value of the cell. Click again to highlight the contents of the cell.
• When you middle-click on a cell containing scaling, translation or rotation values, the SRT editing dialogue box is displayed.
• Middle-click once on cells containing Boolean values to activate or deactivate the properties of the cell. For example, to turn off all the lights in the scene at the same time, left-click in the column title and then middle-click anywhere on the cells of the column.

See Spreadsheet Examples in the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide for examples of what you can edit with the spreadsheet.

QUERY

This opens a dialogue box in which you can define the query that you wish to execute. See Query Dialogue Box Parameters for more information.

COLUMN

This opens a dialogue box that allows you to select the attributes (information) you wish to see in the Spreadsheet. Click on this title bar option and the Set Displayed Columns dialogue box is displayed, as shown on Columns.

See Displaying the Query Results of the Working with 3D User's Guide for more information about using the Columns dialogue box.

SORT

Once you have performed a query on your scene, you may want to sort the rows of information that you have retrieved. You may choose to sort the data in ascending or descending order. Click on this title bar option and the Set Sort Criteria dialogue box is displayed as shown on Sort.

Note:

You can sort the elements in the Spreadsheet based on an attribute that is not displayed in the window.

See Sorting the Contents of the Spreadsheet of the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide for more information about using the Sort dialogue box.

UPDATE

Selecting UPDATE executes the query to update the contents of the Spreadsheet. See SETUP for more information about setting the update of the Spreadsheet window.

QUERIES

You can select one of the predefined queries from this list. There are several predefined queries available:

SETUP

You can specify when you want to update the contents of the Spreadsheet window. This is useful when you have a large scene that may take a long time to update, and you are making many changes.

You can choose to update the scene automatically each time you edit the values in the Spreadsheet, or you can select No automatic update, and use UPDATE or the r Supra key to update the scene.

You can also specify that the Spreadsheet updates automatically when the scene data changes, to update for selected cells only when the scene changes, or to update the Spreadsheet yourself by pressing the r Supra key.

SEL/DESEL

You can select objects for manipulation from the Spreadsheet. This should not be confused, however, with selecting cells for editing in the Spreadsheet. Cells that are selected for editing are highlighted in grey. When you select objects for manipulation (traditional selection), the text in the cells is drawn in white. This provides visual feedback that the selected objects in the Spreadsheet correspond to the selections in the wireframe views.

You can select or deselect objects using the window title bar options SEL and DESEL. Both these options work the same way, except one selects objects and the other deselects them. You can also select objects using the space bar as you do in a scene.

Note:

You can select elements in the Spreadsheet window using either the Single or Multi menu cells.

For more information about how to select and deselect elements, see Selecting and Deselecting Elements of the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide.

Query Dialogue Box Parameters

In the Set Query dialogue box, you create or edit subqueries and query clauses.

For more information about creating your own query, see the Creating Your Own Query section of the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide.

 

Select

Opens up the Database browser which allows you to choose an existing query to apply.

Save

Saves the current query.

Columns

Allows you to choose the columns displayed in the Spreadsheet. Click on this option and the Set Displayed Columns dialogue box appears.

Sort

Allows you to set the options for sorting the information obtained in the query. Click on this option and the Set Sort Criteria dialogue box is displayed.

Subquery

Inserts a new subquery under the main query or the selected subquery. Click this option to open the Subquery dialogue box, in which you can select relations from a scroll box.

Remove

Removes a subquery. If you remove the main query, it is replaced by a default query for all the objects in your scene.

Edit Expr.

Allows you to create more advanced queries using the Expressions dialogue box. For more information, see the Creating a Query Using Expressions section of the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide.

Insert

Inserts a new clause in the selected query. The new clause is placed below the currently highlighted clause. By default, the inserted clause is this.chptyp == ALL. You may modify it and click Accept to approve the new clause.

Swap And/Or

Allows you to change the Boolean operator between two clauses to either "And" (&&) or "Or" (||).

Cut

Removes the highlighted clause(s) in the selected query.

Copy

Copies the selected clause(s) to the memory buffer. You can copy only one clause at a time.

Paste

Pastes the clause(s) that was copied to the memory buffer. The clause is pasted below the highlighted clause in the Selected Query Clauses section. You can paste only one clause at a time.

Group

Places parentheses around the selected clauses. This sets the evaluation procedure of the clauses that are in your query to force a specific evaluation order of the clauses.

See Changing the RGB Values of Lights (Advanced) section of the Working with SOFTIMAGE 3D User's Guide for an example of how to group clauses.

Ungroup

Removes parentheses from around the selected clauses.

Edit Clause Section of the Set Query Dialogue Box

Field

Click in the Field scroll box to choose the attribute you wish to use to run the query. The attributes in this scroll box are listed by chapter.

Operator

Operator Description = = equals ! = not equal to < less than < = less than or equal to > greater than > = greater than or equal to LIKE contains

Selects an operator to use in your query clause. The following table outlines all the operators available in the Edit Clause section of the Set Query dialogue box:

Value

Enter a value, either text, Boolean or numeric. This completes the clause that you want to use to run your query.

Accept

When you create or edit a query clause, you must click Accept to apply the clause to the query.

Ok

Runs your query with whatever settings are in the Set Query dialogue box.

Cancel

Exits the Set Query dialogue without running a new query or accepting changes.

Last updated 03-apr-1998