Copying and pasting object properties
When you are working on a complex project that contains a large number of objects, you
might want to ensure that multiple objects have identical settings for certain
properties. For example, you might want to use the same list of RTPCs or Stingers in
multiple SFX objects or Music Tracks, perhaps to reflect common environmental effects in
a game. You can use the Paste Properties view to propagate a set of properties across
objects efficiently.
There are two types of information that you can copy and paste through the Paste
Properties view, and each appears in a separate pane:
Properties, which are configuration settings that correspond to the
various options available in the Property Editor, such as Output Bus,
Loudness Normalization, and so on.
List Elements, which are a type of object that you can add to other
objects as lists. The Paste Properties view supports the following Lists:
RTPCs
Stingers
Metadata
Music Cues
The following image shows the Paste Properties view with some sample data:
At the top of the view, you select the source and target objects. The source and
target objects can be different types (SFX Objects and Music Tracks, for example),
although you would typically copy Properties and List Elements between objects of the
same type. In this example, there is a source SFX object and two target SFX
objects.
The Properties pane displays a partial comparison between the source and target object
properties. The list shows the properties that exist in the source. However, it does not
display any properties that exist in the target but not in the source.
The List Element pane displays the List Elements that are unique to the source or
whose values differ from the target's values. This section, like the Properties pane,
does not display extra items that exist in the target but not the source, although it
indirectly indicates whether such items exist in the Objs with Removed column, as
explained in the Paste mode section later in this
topic.
The number of target objects are indicated in the Objs Changed on Paste column in
the Properties pane and in the Objs with Added, Objs with Replaced, and Objs with
Removed columns in the List Element pane. However, the columns don't indicate
exactly which objects will be affected. If you are working with a large number of
objects, though, these details might be important to you.
You can see the names of the affected objects in a tooltip if you hover over the
number in any of the relevant columns:
As you can see, the tooltip contains the object names. For more information, you
can follow the tooltip's suggestion: right-click the number and then click Show Changed in List View to open the List View, which displays the objects that will be changed when you
paste the properties. Be aware that this option is different than the Show in List View menu option, which also opens the List
View but displays all target objects.
The appearance of the data in the Objs with Replaced and Objs with Removed columns
changes depending on the Paste Mode, which determines the effect of the paste
operation on the target objects. If nothing will be replaced or removed, then the
numbers in the corresponding columns change to dashes, which indicates that the
column data isn't relevant for the selected Paste Mode.
The following example shows the List Element pane when the Paste Mode is Replace
Entire List. If you paste properties with this mode, you delete the Lists that exist
in the targets and replace them with the selected List Elements from the source.
If the Paste Mode is Add New, Replace Existing, then you don't remove extra List
Elements from targets so the numbers in the Objs with Removed column are replaced by dashes:
Finally, if you select Add New, Keep Existing as the Paste Mode, then you paste
new List Elements to target objects but don't replace any existing elements or
remove extra elements:
Pasting object properties
You can copy and paste properties from a source object to one or more target objects
through the Paste Properties view. You can therefore ensure that a set of objects has
exactly the same settings for selected properties and list elements (RTPCs, Stingers,
Music Cues, and Metadata).
To paste properties:
Click Views > Utilities > Paste
Properties. The Paste Properties window opens.
Select the source object that contains the properties you want to copy in
one of the following ways:
Drag an object from the Project Explorer to the Copy from Object
selection box.
Click Follow Clipboard, then copy
an object in the Project Explorer either through the shortcut menu
or with the Ctrl+C keyboard
shortcut.
Click the browse button (…) and
select an object from the Project Explorer-Browser.
Select one or more target objects in one of the following ways:
Select one or more objects in the Project Explorer and drag them
to the Paste to Object(s) selection box.
Click Follow Selection, then
select one or more objects in the Project Explorer.
The Properties pane in the top half of the view lists the object
properties in the source object. Similarly, the List Element pane displays
any RTPCs, Metadata, Stingers, or Music Cues in the source object. The
columns at the right of each pane display the number of objects that will
change when you click Paste.
Review the lists to ensure that all desired Properties and List Elements
are selected. To exclude certain properties or list objects, clear the
corresponding check boxes.
Select the Paste Mode from the menu in the upper-right corner of the List
Element pane:
Replace Entire List.
Completely removes the target object List Elements and copies
the selected List Elements from the source to the
targets.
Add New, Replace Existing.
Pastes all List Elements from the source to the targets and
replaces any List Elements that are already present in the
targets, but does not remove any extra List Elements from the
targets.
Add New, Keep Existing.
Pastes any List Elements that exist in the source and not the
targets, but does not replace or remove any List Elements that
exist in the targets already.
Click Paste. The selected Properties and
List Elements are pasted to the target objects.
If you need to revert the changes you made when you pasted properties, perhaps after
testing or just to review the details, you can undo an entire paste command. Although
paste operations follow the standard Wwise undo and redo guidelines (see Undoing and redoing actions in Wwise), be aware that there is no way to
selectively undo specific parts of the original paste, such as a single RTPC or all
changes to one of multiple target objects.
To undo a Paste Properties command: