- If the group object of an open group is clicked then the whole group should be selected (as Max does it).
Hmm as Max does it? Single click selects group bracket only in this case, double click selects bracket + child objects (=group content, internally handled as links afaik). But maybe you are on 2017 and it´s different there or it´s configurable (haven´t installed it yet). But as already confirmed it´s more about what happens at render time.
@Nik: Yes, agree, this was the reason for making a difference between "container" objects and hierarchy in my
first post. It is to expect that if I have a "container" like object in some list that it´s content is also affected. This leads to no confusion imho and you benefit from dynamic updating if you add something to a group or change your scattered objects. So instead of
this is okay only for Groups, not for all hierarchical systems in 3dsmax :)
I would slightly change it to "this is okay and a nice feature for Container like objects, but not for all hierarchical systems in 3dsmax."
That old problem how to handle ForestObjects (and CoronaScatter!) in masks can be considered just the same way. Because it´s a container for scattered objects:
1. Selecting the ForestObject/CoronaScatter (Container ) results in a mask with all what´s in the container (all scattered objects)
2. Selecting a single source object would mask only instances inside the ForestObject/CoronaScatter of exactly that object
Good Luck