Scene Explorer Sort By Layer Missing Objects

[dbhinnant]

I have a file in which most objects are missing from Scene Explorer when sorted by layer.  Has anyone seen this?

[jon.bell]

Hello,

I understand that you're having an issue in which most objects are missing from your 3ds max Scene Explorer when you Sort by Layer. Could you please try the following:

1. Go to the bottom of the Scene Explorer - Layer Explorer window.
2. Toggle On and Off the icons for Sort by Layer and Sort by Hierarchy

Does this refresh the objects in your layers in Scene/Layer Explorer?

Please let us know if this suggestion works for you. 

Best regards,

Jon A. Bell,
Autodesk Support Team

[dbhinnant]

Switching between sort modes had no effect.  I ended up selecting the objects and moving them back to their respective layers which seemed to work.  Switching between Layer Explorer and Workspace Default in the drop down next to those buttons has also fixed the issue in another file.  That is only a per session fix though.

[jon.bell]

Hello,

Thank you for your update.

If your workaround addresses your issue, please let me know. Below are additional resources that some customers may find useful when navigating in the Layer Explorer and moving objects between layers:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/3DSMa...

Please let me know if you need any further assistance, and I'll be happy to help.

Best regards,

Jon A. Bell

Autodesk Support Team

[dbhinnant]

Moving all the objects back to their respective layers did fix the file.  It was like none of the objects were contained on a layer.  All layers showed up without any objects in layer mode but all objects were visible in hierarchy mode.  I would like to know how this happened.

[grue1970]

i have similar problem.  however if i click the sort by heirarchy, then i can see objects which turn bold when i select them.  these objects are not visible when i use sort by layer.  how can i get these objects to be regular meshes that show up in a layer?

thanks!

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @grue1970,

Can you please try the script in the solution on this thread.  Does that put them in a layer?  Just want to identify if I understand the problem correctly, and thanks.

Best Regards,

[grue1970]

i don't remembe rwhat i did to fix the problem.  i tried rescale tool, i tried reset xforms, converting to edit mesh, collapse objects etc... then suddenly i could see the objects in "sort by layer".

just now, i tried opening the original downloaded file (from turbosquid), at first open, same issue - sort by layer had no objects listed.  then i switched from sort by layer to sort by hierarchy and back to sort by layer, and the objects were visible.

every subsequent re-opening of the file now shows sort by layer objects.  i have even closed 3ds max 2017 completely and re-opened it, then re-opened the scene and it continues to display the objects in sort by layer (which is my default view).

gremlins!  thanks though. i'll keep that other thread in mind for later!

[grue1970]

ha!  so here's what i did originally... downloaded the turbosquid model, opened the max scene, saved as a new file with new name.  then started grabbing materials and changing to my render engine materials.  ok, so this new file is where i suddenly noticed that there were no objects visible in sort by layer view.  ok, this is still the file where somehow i figured it out and was able to get copies of the objects on a new layer - without using the script.

ok, my post still stands above - i was working in the original file this morning and could not see the objects, but then suddenly could...

ok now, i opened up my new file (from the 1st paragraph above) and sure enough, the new "layer 1" had my objects all with the new names i gave them from several days ago.  HOWEVER, the layer 0 (default) did not show any objects - remember, this file was created via save as from the original.  so, now i just tried that script in the other thread - i had to open maxscript listener > select my objects > paste the text > select the text so that it was highlighted > move cursor to the end and then hit enter on the keypad and it worked! created a Layer002 and moved the original objects into that layer.

layer = LayerManager.newLayer()
for n in (selection as array) do layer.addnode n

 before this, i kept getting errors, but alfred it was your description of highlighting/selecting the text in maxscript listener and using the enter key on the keypad that prevented the errors and solved the issue.

thanks!

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @grue1970,

I've seen this a number of times over the past year and a half since I started.  It seems to happen when a model was created with a much older version of 3ds Max and possibly if the creator was using a 3rd party layer manager.  When the scene is opened with a copy of Max that didn't have that layer manager Max gets a bit confused.  I have been trying without success to replicate this problem, but I am unable to do so.  I've had scenes which show the problem in my possession, but I haven't been able to cause the problem with new scenes.  

Thank you for the update and I'm glad it's working!  If you happen to ever see this happen with a new scene please let me know, I'd like to put this to bed if possible.  Thanks so much for your descriptive posts. 

Best Regards,

[sheepsay]

I had the same problem as you.
I solved the problem with the script you wrote me. Thank you.

[rambhabarcelona19]

Thanks!