Hi Burr, try Ctrl+click in the Scene browser - you can use Ctrl+click on an eye to do a Lock/Unlock of a browser item.
Once you have locked the objects that belong to a scene browser entry, you will see a little lock there instead of an eye. A regular click without Ctrl on the little lock will do a hide/show but it will remain locked. Then use Ctrl+click again when you want to unlock it later.
But there's also some additional stuff on the Edit/Lock button in the main side pane:
If you have objects selected, you can left click Edit/Lock to lock them.
If you have no objects selected, a left click on Edit/Lock will unlock all objects.
If you only want to unlock some particular objects and not everything (aside from using the browser), then you can use Ctrl+click on the Edit/Lock button to do an "unlock subset" operation. That will temporarily show all the locked objects as selectable, and wait for you to pick which ones you want to unlock. Then when you hit "Done" (or right-click), just those ones you selected will become unlocked and the ones you did not select will remain locked. But if you are frequently targeting a particular object, it is probably a good idea to give it a name or put it on its own style so that you can use the browser to target it more directly with just one click.
Also if you right-click on the Edit/Lock button it will do an "Isolate lock" operation, where all objects other than the current selection will become locked. The previous state of those objects is remembered, and will be restored when you do another right-click on the button.
Also a Ctrl+right-click on a scene browser item does a kind of similar "Isolate" lock where it locks all other items other than the one you clicked on.
The Edit/Hide button has also been changed to have this same behavior:
Left click on Edit/Hide with objects selected = hide those objects.
Left click on Edit/Hide with nothing selected = show all hidden objects.
Ctrl+Left click on Edit/Hide = show subset - lets you pick a few of the hidden objects to show.
Right click on Edit/Hide = Isolate - everything other than the current selection is hidden, and a second right-click will restore the pre-isolate state later on.
Getting back to lock though - basically locking is another mechanism that can help to organize a busy model, especially if you want to keep some parts around so that you can snap on to them or use them as a visual reference but not have them get in the way during selection.
When an object is locked, it remains visible on the screen (although it still can be hidden if you want with the scene browser) but not selectable. By default you can snap points on to a locked object with object snaps, but you can disable this if you want with a new setting under Options > Snaps > Object snap options > Snap to locked objects.
Also by default locked objects change to a grayed out kind of color. You can disable the color change or adjust the color by the new setting under Options > View > "Locked objects use alternate color". Uncheck that option to have locked objects remain the same color, or click the color swatch to change the color.
So that's a lot of stuff! :) But you don't necessarily have to remember every single bit of it, you can focus on the parts that work best for your particular workflow.
- Michael
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