The Orca3D Tree

The Orca3D Tree is a utility that improves upon the default layers utility in Rhino. In addition to the typical layer capabilities of visibility, locking and changing the color, it allows you to:

•	See which objects reside in each layer

•	Renaming objects

•	Move objects from layer to layer

•	Hide all objects or layers except the object(s) or layer(s) selected

Toolbar
Menu	Orca3D > Orca3D Tree
Command	OrcaShowTree (Press Enter Twice)

1.	Start the command with the toolbar icon, menu selection or keyboard command.

2.	The Orca3D Tree Dialog Box will appear docked on the right side of the screen:

3.	Decide which function of the Orca3D Tree you wish to perform and find the instructions below.

Show all Objects in a Layer

Decide which layer you wish to see more details of and click the plus icon to the left of the layer name.

The Orca3D Tree Dialog Box will change to look like this:

For this use the Default layer was expanded. We can now see that there are three objects located in the Default layer, all surfaces.

If you select one of the objects in the Orca3D Tree, the same object will be selected in the viewports you have opened. Conversely, selecting objects in the viewports will also select them in the tree.

Renaming Objects using the Orca3D Tree

Decide which object you wish to rename. Then slow double left-click on the name in the Orca3D Tree. Next type whatever you wish to rename the object to. Finally Press Enter to finish renaming the object.

Moving Objects from Layer to Layer

First, decide which object you would like to move. Next, select that object and left-click and hold. Then move the mouse to hover over the layer which you wish to move the object to, and release the left mouse button.

Hiding Objects

Decide which objects you wish to stay visible. Then select them all and right-click. The following menu will appear:

•	Left-click the option “set view part” and everything but the objects you have selected will become invisible.

•	To return everything to normal, simply click the lightbulb icons next to the objects you wish to make visible again.

•	To hide the docked Orca3D Tree dialog box simply either click the toolbar icon, type the command, or navigate to it on the menu.

Understanding the Orca3D Tree

The objects that Orca3D creates and are visible in the Orca3D Tree include the hull surfaces, section curves, and lines drawing curves and objects. As you can see from above, the hull surfaces are placed into whatever the current layer is at their time of creation. On the other hand, the Orca3D sections and Lines Drawing curves and objects are placed into their own layers that are created by Orca3D.

The Add Section Dialog creates a new Orca3D Sections layer when it creates the sections. Within this layer are layers for each type of section such as buttock, station, etc. Then within each of these layers the individual section curve objects are placed. An example of how section curve objects are placed into layers is shown below:

Note: It is not possible to edit the section curves’ properties like display color and name here. These properties are controlled by Orca3D and can be edited in the Add Sections dialog.

The Orca3D Lines Drawing command uses a similar method that the Add Sections command uses. The Lines drawing creates a new layer called Lines Drawing [date] [time], where date and time are the current date and time at the creation of the lines drawing. Within this layer are three or four sub layers that all contain objects that correspond to their layer names. The actual section curves used in the lines drawing are stored in the top most parent layer. An example of the Lines Drawing layer in the Orca3D Tree is shown below: