Object Browser

The 3D-immersive UI of SL is great for a lot of things. For editing objects it can be a real pain in the cursor. I'd like to see another editing tool to assist in finding, selecting and manipulating objects.

What I envision is a separate window that can be used on its own or along with the standard edit window. The Object Browser window would contain a list of objects and some controls for detecting them. Any detected object can be selected in the browser and those objects will also be selected in the 3D world view, and vice-versa of course.

The detection controls would allow the user to specify a 3D region of the world in which objects are detected, as well as other criteria such as owner, locked status, shape, material, physicality, and other object attributes. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to select all metal spheres between 25 and 35 meters high, or any object not owned by you above 50 meters, or any physical object on your land, whether or not you could see it or click on it?

The browswer would show a list of objects as shape icons with their names next to them, much like the inventory window. There could be other columns that show description, script state, script load PIN, omega, particle system or other attributes. Link groups would be displayed as the root prim with other prims listed as sub-objects. Link groups could be expanded and collapsed like folders in the inventory. Object inventories would also be browsable in a contents sub-folder, and sub-objects would also be browsable.

This tool would make my life as a builder so much more pleasant. It would also make finding lost or maliciously hidden objects easier. Potentially the window could be expanded to show things like amount of CPU time an object's scripts are using, size of textures, etc. This kind of info would make it possible to optimize builds for performance.

I know Philip loves the immersive experience, but there are some times when you need to be able to deal with things at a more abstract level.

/bump