Chapter 12: Hierarchy View

lesson 12: Hierarchy View

In this lesson we look briefly, very briefly, at the Hierarchy View. It is essentially a list.

Fig. 12.1 shows the Hierarchy View.

Whereas the Project View stores everything that has the potential to be in our game, the “Hierarchy View” lists everything that is currently in our Scene (level). Newly created GameObjects appear in the Hierarchy View. We’ve examined some of its abilities already; it allows for the convenient selection of GameObjects and the creation of parent/child relationships. Primarily, however, it serves as a textual list to facilitate easy GameObject selection.

Fig. 12.2 shows the Hierarchy View Control Bar.

Like the Project View, the Hierarchy View comes with a Create button. This button re-Creates most of the GameObject drop-down menu. These and additional options are, however, more easily accessed by right-clicking in the Hierarchy View. Also like the Project View, Hierarchy has a View panel list icon and search bar.

Unlike the Project View, folder creation is conspicuously absent. An ad hoc folder system can be created by creating an Empty GameObject and making it the parent of its intended contents. The Empty GameObject should then be renamed according to the following convention: nameFolder. The Empty GameObject parent can be collapsed in much the same way a folder is closed to tidy up. This hack comes with a caveat however; as the parent, the Empty GameObject’s Trasform coordinates reign supreme. Make sure any ad hoc folder (parent) shares the same Tranform values as its primary constituent (its most important child).

This lesson, in proportion to the options provided by the Hierarchy View, was short. The Hierarchy View provides the most useful way for creating and manipulating Parent/Child relationships but primarily it is a selection list. Scene View is next!

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