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An imported USD object is often made of many parts, such as a character, a prop it holds, or one mesh of a vehicle. You can select one part, or several parts, and hide, move, rotate, or resize them without changing the rest of the object. You can also parent a camera to one part, so the camera follows a single character or vehicle inside a larger file. See parenting a camera to a part.

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Selecting a part

  1. Click the object in the 3D canvas. A hint at the bottom of the canvas shows the object’s name and reads Double-click a part to select it.
  2. Move the pointer over the object. The part under the pointer fills light orange shortly after the pointer stops.
  3. Double-click the part. The part fills orange, and a path appears at the bottom of the canvas, such as dinofight ▸ root ▸ Game_engine. The path shows the object first and the part you selected last. In this example the object is dinofight and the part is the knight, which the file names Game_engine.
  4. To reach a smaller piece, double-click again on the selected part. This selects the exact mesh under the pointer, such as the knight’s sword.
Before the double-click, the part under the pointer is filled light orange (marked 1): An imported object in the 3D canvas. The pointer rests on a knight standing between the legs of a dinosaur, and the knight is filled light orange. After the double-click, the part fills orange. The path at the bottom of the canvas has an eye that hides the part, and two key hints: Shift-click add part, and Esc deselect. In the Outliner, the part gets a row under Parts. The 3D scene with one dinosaur of an imported object selected and filled orange. A path at the bottom of the canvas names the object and the part. The Outliner shows the part's row under Parts, highlighted.
  1. The selected part, filled orange.
  2. The path to the part, with the eye that hides it and the two key hints.
  3. Find a part, the one button on the Parts row.
  4. The selected part’s row under Parts.
The first double-click on a rigged character selects the whole character, not one piece of it.

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Moving between levels

A part can sit inside a larger part. Use the keyboard to move between these levels while a part is selected. These keys move between levels only while one part is selected. With two or more parts selected, Alt+Up and Alt+Down zoom the timeline in and out.

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The Parts row

In the Outliner, each imported object has a Parts row. The number on the row is how many parts the object contains. The row starts with nothing under it. A part gets its own row there once you select it. The Parts row has one button, Find a part (the magnifier). It opens a search box that lists every part in the object. Type to filter the list, then click a result to select that part. The Outliner with the Find a part search box open under the Parts row. The box reads Search 7 parts and lists seven part names, each marked moves.
  1. The search box. Its placeholder shows how many parts the object contains.
  2. The parts in the object. A part marked moves has its own movement in the file.
The rows under Parts show what you changed:
  • A dim row with a crossed-out eye is a part that is hidden in the active setup.
  • A row marked moved is a part that is moved, rotated, or resized in the active setup.

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Hiding a part

  1. Select the part.
  2. Click the eye beside the path at the bottom of the canvas. Its tooltip is Hide this mesh.
The part disappears from the canvas, and its row under Parts turns dim. To show it again, click the same eye, which now reads Show this mesh, or press Ctrl+Z. The part’s row under Parts has an eye too. It does the same thing, and it is the way to show a hidden part that you can no longer click in the canvas. The 3D scene after hiding the knight. The knight is gone from the canvas, the eye beside the path is crossed out, and the Game_engine row under Parts is dim with a crossed-out eye.
  1. The eye beside the path, now crossed out. Click it to show the part again.
  2. The part’s row, dim, with a crossed-out eye.

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Selecting several parts

  1. Select one part.
  2. Hold Shift and click another part in the 3D canvas. Both parts fill orange.
  3. To take a part out of the selection, hold Shift and click it again.
Shift-click also works on a part’s row under Parts, and on a result in Find a part. While two or more parts are selected:
  • The path at the bottom of the canvas is hidden.
  • The properties panel has the heading Parts and a count, such as 2 parts selected. Each selected part has one line there, with the part’s name, then the object’s name. The line ends with moved or hidden when the part is changed in the active setup.
  • Esc selects the object the parts belong to. Press Esc again to select nothing.
The 3D scene with two dinosaurs of one imported object selected and filled orange, and one gizmo between them. The properties panel reads Parts, 2 parts selected, with the buttons Hide all, Reset transforms, and Remove, and one line for each part.
  1. The two selected parts, filled orange, with one gizmo between them.
  2. The Move, Rotate, and Scale buttons.
  3. The count, and the buttons that act on every selected part.
  4. One line for each selected part.

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Changing several parts together

With two or more parts selected, one gizmo sits between them.
  1. Choose Move, Rotate, or Scale with the buttons at the upper right of the 3D canvas.
  2. Drag the gizmo.
A message says how many parts changed, such as 2 parts moved. The parts stay selected after the drag. One Ctrl+Z undoes the whole drag for every part. The properties panel has three buttons for the selected parts:
  • Hide all hides every selected part. The button then reads Show all.
  • Reset transforms puts every selected part back where the file has it. The button is greyed out when no selected part is moved.
  • Remove clears every change on the selected parts, without asking you to confirm. The parts’ rows leave the Parts list, and the object becomes selected. Press Ctrl+Z to bring the changes back.

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Transforming a part

You can move, rotate, and resize a part with the same transform gizmo you use for a whole object.
  1. Select the part.
  2. Choose Move, Rotate, or Scale with the buttons at the upper right of the 3D canvas. See arranging objects for the shortcuts.
  3. Drag the gizmo.
The gizmo is the only way to transform a part. While a part is selected, the properties panel still shows the Position, Rotation, and Scale of the whole object, not of the part. Only that part changes. A message names the part and says it moved, and its row under Parts shows moved. The message and the row say moved for a rotation or a resize too. To put the part back, click Reset transform on its row. The 3D scene after moving the knight with the gizmo in Move mode. The knight stands to the left of the dinosaur with the transform gizmo on it, and the Game_engine row under Parts is marked moved.
  1. The part in its new place, with the gizmo on it. The rest of the object has not moved.
  2. The part’s row, marked moved.
One mesh of a rigged character cannot be transformed by itself, because a skeleton drives its shape. The gizmo does not appear. The path at the bottom of the canvas reads Follows a skeleton — can’t be moved, with a Select button that names the nearest level you can transform, such as Select Game_engine. Click that button, then transform that level.When such a mesh is selected together with other parts, a message says it follows a skeleton and won’t move with the others. The gizmo then changes only the other parts.

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Putting a part back

To undo every change to a part at once, click the red trash button on its row under Parts. The button shows when the part is selected and the pointer is on its row. A window named Remove Overrides asks you to confirm. Click Remove. The Remove Overrides window. It asks whether to remove overrides on Game_engine, says the mesh stays in the scene and returns to its original position and visibility, and has the buttons Cancel and Remove. The part stays in the object. It returns to the position and visibility it has in the file, and its row leaves the Parts list. Press Ctrl+Z to bring the changes back.
Remove Overrides clears the part’s changes in every setup, not only in the active one. To change one setup only, use the eye or Reset transform in that setup.

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Part changes and setups

Hiding or transforming a part applies to the active setup. A part hidden in Setup A is still visible in Base Setup. See setups and cameras for how the active setup works. A change you make in Base Setup also shows in the other setups, as long as a setup has no change of its own for that part. A part moved in Base Setup is marked moved in Setup A too. Clone this setup copies part changes. A part that is hidden in the setup you clone is also hidden in the new setup. Part changes are saved with the scene. Your teammates see them, and so does the Spark iOS app, within a few seconds. This is different from hiding a whole object with the eye on its Outliner row, which is saved only in your web browser. See hiding an object in one setup.

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Parenting a camera to a part

A camera can follow one moving part instead of the whole object. You set this in the camera’s Parent list, where each object’s moving parts are listed under it. See parenting a camera to a part.