Purging "used" names that aren't actually in use any more

[EAlexander]

Hello!  I religiously name my 3d objects as they usually make their way into Cinema4d for rendering. 

 

Let's say I have an extrude that I've named Platform A.  Oops - I forgot to Fillet some edges, so I do that and now the "new" fillet object is un-named.  I go to rename this Platform A and I get the error message that "That name is already in use, reverting to....." 🤬

 

So - how can I "purge" a used name that isn't really being used?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-Evan

[Tom W.]

I think until you turn the Fillet into a Generic Solid the original name is being used (by the Extrude inside the Fillet).

[zoomer]

I also always have to fight with Names - already in use.

Like e.g. Render Materials vs Building Materials and such things.

 

I don't like that unique Naming requirement in general.

I think that is what UUIDs are for.

[Tom W.]

1 minute ago, zoomer said:

Like e.g. Render Materials vs Building Materials and such things.

 

I always use 'RT', 'MT', 'HF', 'GF' + 'TF' suffixes for my resources for this reason (like the stock VW resources).

[zoomer]

I thought about (prefixes) that too.

But all my Stiles and Materials Names already consist of such a row of abbreviations ....

And that makes it even harder to read.

 

Don't understand, why at least different Object Types, can't share a same name.

 

Imagine to try to baptist your child and the priest says, sorry we already have a

John Smith in New Jersey, please try another name.

[EAlexander]

3 hours ago, Tom W. said:

I think until you turn the Fillet into a Generic Solid the original name is being used (by the Extrude inside the Fillet).

Yes - I hadn't thought about it like that, but you're right - the parametric history still holds onto that name until you "flatten" it.  Still - annoying 🙂

[Tom W.]

The reason I compulsively convert everything to generic solids! The class of the internal objects - including the polygon inside an Extrude - can cause issues too. I even have a right-click menu command that converts every solid-with-history into a generic solid in one fell swoop! (not to be used lightly)

[Jesse Cogswell]

You could also use my Replace Name Text menu command to purge the old names, just enter the name in full in the Text field and make sure the Replace With field is empty.