Show instances in italic in Outliner
So right now it's really hard to tell which objects / collections are instances in the Outliner.
I propose italic text is used to indicate if an object or collection instance is in fact an instance. We could even have all the visible instances highlight in the outliner when you select one to show clearly you're manipulating multilple references. This way, you could click on each instance of and object to access the settings and it would make sense.
Also, parenting hierarchies would become viable in the same view so we can have a full overview of the scene structure. Right now having separate views that are able to show either one or the other is incredibly frustrating when trying to set up complex structures.
EDIT: Some people have also suggested using colors or icons to highlight the instances, all valid ideas imho. :)
15 Comments
When you select an object all the instances of that object become italic. and change colour slightly. it would be handy in large projects.
Hi! I made a mockup showing sligthly different idea. Italic isn't enough :/
Here's an example of how Modo handles it with an alt coloured version of the mesh icon, matching wireframe colour, and italics.
YES. This looks like a super useful way to highlight more complex dependencies in the outliner
While I agree that there should be a difference between how linked duplicates and normal objects look in the outliner, I disagree on using italics because an italic font isn't a clear visual representation of linked duplicates. What about adding "2" after the cubes' green object data symbol? So then people would know it's a linked duplicate and how many there are.
Btw, the cubes aren't instances, they're linked duplicates. And instances already have a unique yellow collection icon, so they don't need italics to represent that they're instances.
Personally, all these italics and underlines really do a number on my OCD. It just seems unorganized. I like the general idea of your proposal though.
Good idea. I proposed something similar for unlinked groups and objects blender.community/c/rightclickselect/ltcbbc/
It would also be really useful to see which are the instances of a given object in 3D VIEW.
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I agree to the general idea of indicating which items in the outliner are instances, but I would leave the details to the person implementing that - there may be better ways to do that than italics (or not).
@Paweł Łyczkowski: Yeah, I've had suggestions for using icons or colors as well and definitley agree there's room for experimentation. :)
@Paweł Łyczkowski: I think an asterisk before or after the object name would be another option, especially if it's a different color/shade than the rest of the name.
It should be as additional option
Super useful. Upvoting this.
This has been discussed during the GSOC, when the Outliner got some deserved attention. Unfortunately it was rejected by the UI team for whatever reason. I still think it's a good idea to differentiate objects this way.