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Organizing your model

Names, tags, visibility toggles, and the Outliner keep a growing model legible and searchable.

Once a model outgrows a dozen objects, you stop finding things by orbiting around looking for them. The right-hand tray is the answer: the Outliner shows everything, Object Info names and tags the selected thing, and Tags toggles whole categories on and off.

A named group with a tag: Object Info shows the name and tag chip, the Outliner shows the group row, and the Tags panel shows the tag tree with counts

The Outliner

The Outliner (Window ▸ Model Info, ⇧⌘I / Ctrl+Shift+I) lists the document tree: every object, group (expandable), component instance, and free-standing sketch.

  • Click a row to select it, Shift/⌘/Ctrl-click for multi-select.
  • Double-click a row to enter that item’s editing context, exactly like double-clicking it in the viewport. The breadcrumb at the top shows your current context and steps you back out.
  • The dot at the row’s right edge toggles visibility: ● shown, ○ hidden. Hiding a group hides everything inside it.
  • Icons carry meaning: a cube is an object (drawn with a dashed outline if the object is leaky), a folder is a group, a hexagon is a component instance, a pen curve is a sketch.

Object Info: names and tags

Object Info (Window ▸ Object Info, ⇧⌘O / Ctrl+Shift+O) shows the single selected item:

  • Name: type a new one and press Enter. Clear the field to fall back to the automatic label (“Object 1”, “Group 2”, …). Sketches can’t be renamed.
  • Type: Object, Group, Component, or Sketch.
  • Geometry, for objects: Solid (green) or Leaky (red). Core concepts explains why this matters.
  • Tags: the item’s tag chips. Click + to add a tag; click a chip’s × to remove it.

With several things selected, Object Info shows just the count; select one item to edit its details.

Tags

Tags are labels for slicing a model into toggleable categories — Structure, Hardware, Reference, whatever fits your project. Unlike groups, tags don’t affect the model tree; an object can carry any number of tags no matter where it lives.

  • Add a tag in Object Info with the + button. Use / to nest: typing Structure/Roof creates (or reuses) a Structure parent with a Roof child.
  • The Tags panel (Window ▸ Tags, ⇧⌘T / Ctrl+Shift+T) shows the resulting tree, with a count of tagged items on each row and an eye toggle that hides everything tagged at or under that path.
  • Tag visibility composes with Outliner visibility — an item hidden by either stays hidden until both show it again.
  • Tags import from SketchUp files, so a tagged SketchUp model arrives pre-organized. They’re saved in your .hew file and searchable in the command palette.

Practical conventions

  • Name objects as soon as a model has more than a few — future you (and the command palette, which searches model names) will thank you.
  • Prefer groups for things that move together, tags for things that show/hide together, and components for repeated parts (Groups and components).
  • The watertightness badge in the status bar tells you whether something is leaky; the Outliner’s dashed icons and Object Info tell you what.