

The Isolate tool temporarily hides all objects except those you're working on. Hidden objects, while not displayed, continue to exist as part of the geometry of your scene but cannot be selected. By hiding all categories, your scene appears empty. For example, you can hide all lights in your scene at one time, or all shapes, or any combination of categories. You can hide objects by category, the basic types of objects. Hiding and Unhiding Objects by Category.You can also filter the list contents by category, so only hidden objects of a certain type are listed.

You can then unhide all objects at once or by individual object name. They disappear from view, making it easier to select remaining objects. You can hide any selection of individual objects in your scene.

Track View provides sophisticated methods to edit your animation tracks. You can also create combinations of filters to add to the list. By default, all categories can be selected, but you can set the Selection Filter so that only one category, such as lights, can be selected. You can use the Selection Filter list on the main toolbar to deactivate selection for all but a specific category of object. You can assign a name to the current selection, and then later reselect those objects by choosing their selection name from a list. The Select By Name command opens the Select From Scene dialog, which lets you select objects by their assigned names without having to click in the viewports. The region-selection tools let you use the mouse to select one or more objects by defining an outline or area. The most basic selection techniques use either the mouse, or the mouse in conjunction with a keystroke. This is known as a noun-verb interface, because you first select the object (the noun) and then select the command (the verb). Because each object can respond to a different set of commands, you apply commands by first selecting the object and then selecting the command. These instructions vary with the type of object. This means that each object in the 3D scene carries instructions that tell 3ds Max what you can do with it.
