max 2016: Objects not visible in layer manager...

[jens.diemer]

I have some scene files, with objects that aren't visible in layer manager:

[CRAengineer]

i'll add to that and say mmost of our models are either Turbosquid, 3DCADBrowser, CreativeCrash, or the old 'The 3D Studio'

[Anonymous]

Hmm, the thing is, you carry these leftovers from Outliner with the scene file and when merging objects you get them into a fresh scene too. Even if you never had Outliner installed. Well, it was just a shot in the dark.

[Anonymous]

Oh man, this thing just destroyed my scene tonight. And I also have a bunch of hidden objects and layers that are not showing up any more, so I don't know how useful that script is going to be.
Maybe someone found some fix in the meantime?
I'm on Max 2017 update 1.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

This issue doesn't delete objects, layers, or destroy any scenes.  It just makes it so objects aren't on a layer.  What you are describing sounds like something else...  the script mentioned in the thread is the fix for the meantime.  If you have objects and layers that are getting deleted that's likely happening somewhere in your pipeline but you might want to start a new thread about it.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

I did finally try this. It works- you have to have the lines selected and that was where I went wrong. That's weird, I've never encountered having to have the lines selected before, but whatever works works.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Thank you for the update and confirmation @Anonymous, I'm glad things are sorted out.  If you have any trouble at all, please let me know and I'll do whatever I can to help you.

Best Regards,

[MacArnu]

I have a simple solution that worked for me:

Objects that were not listed in layer manager had in their properties window location set to "0 (Default layer)"

So I opened Scene Explorer and Layer manager simultaneously, and just dragged objects from Scene Explorer to Layer manager 0 Default layer and Voila!

I hope it helps.

[Anonymous]

Hello @Alfred.DeFlaminis

Yes, I know nothing gets deleted, but I have a huge scene that is heavily dependent on layers. So by "destroyed" I meant I had to spend an extra day sorting this thing out. Luckily, posted script does work, for objects that were hidden, or on hidden layers.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @MacArnu,

Thanks for posting that, that's pretty slick.  I didn't realize that could work and I have added that information to the tracker.  

Hello @Anonymous,

I see, thanks for the expanded information there.  It is a pain, I'm with you on that.  MacArnu's method also works quite well.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I encountered the same problem mentioned in this thread.

As many other I had the necessity to mantain the original layer structure, so I prepared this little script.

Verifies the layer.name for every object in scene, than creates the layer and adds the object to the same layer. 

It doesn't recreate nested layers, but I hope that will help.

You need an object selection.

for i in (selection as array) do
	(
		LayerManager.newLayerFromName i.layer.name
		st=LayerManager.getLayerFromName i.layer.name
		st.addnode i
	)

Many thanks to Autodesk support for the "support"...........

Unbelievably well paid support

[Anonymous]

Any news about this?

None of the script solutions work(including the one above this comment which is supposed to retain the layers structure.).
We need to keep the layers structure.
It's almost an impossible task to redo all layers when you have dozens or hundreds of layers.

@Alfred.DeFlaminis, can you post a link to the bug report area?
Thanks.

[bill14]

Hi,

No, I still do it manually.  I basically go thru "scene explorer" to find the objects and right click add "add selected to/crete layer" for the orphaned objects, then rename or move to the correct layer.  It's a pain in the ass, and I'm only using about 50 layers.  I'd love to find a script that works.  None of the scripts you tried worked for you?  

Autodesk really needs to fix this!

Thanks,

Bill

[Anonymous]

If you look 2 messages above yours, you'll see a script (micro) that works and recreates also the layers, with the correct naming.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't work for everyone. Luckily this hasn't happened at our studio for a while, but the above fix wouldn't work for the files it was happening on because the object that were MIA were frozen, so there would no way to select them. It was happening mainly with the frozen geo on rigs for us.

Theoretically you could rewrite it to be "for o in objects do()", but I don't have a current file to test that out on.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, mate.
I have mentioned already that your script works, but only partly and does not fix the actual problem.

On top of that, seems like there's another weird thin because some objects have disappeared as well, not just the layers.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello all,

I've tested all the scripts here and for me they are working, but you have to have an object(s) selected.  I'd love to get my hands on a scene where this isn't working though.  As requested, here is a link to the defect report form for 3ds Max.  

Of the scene files attached to this tracker case, some are using a plugin called Outliner for Max or Nested Layer Manager (before that was possible in Max)  which occasionally can be involved with this problem.  If you are getting assets from stock sites and they have this problem, the author was likely using one of them.   It hasn't been updated in a while and should be considered not compatible with recent versions of 3ds Max.  One workaround that has worked for me is to open it in 2014/2015 (close to the last time this script/plugin was updated) and save, the layers should be resolved when you re-open in 2016/2017/2018.  

This problem is also caused by some of the file formatting in older versions compared to newer versions.  In those cases it's unrelated to layer managers and the script to put things into layers works for those objects ever time I've tested it.  

EDIT: Updated information.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello Jens.

Did you try to open a new scene explorer via X button,

or merging this scene to a new one - reseted?

[johnmichaelminnie]

Thanks you very much! easy solve

[infofml]

This worked for me thanks a lot for writing that script. 

This post should be brought all the way to the start of the forum as a answer to the problem.

Cheers

D

[Anonymous]

So far the best solution that works(minus nested layers) is illusiolab's . THANK YOU !