Hello everyone,
First of wall, I’m not a Blender expert so I don’t know if this issue I’m introducing is a real one or there a way to tackle it.
My goal is to show in the Outliner only the Collections in the scene even if they are parented to filterd Objects.
In the image above (image on the left) I have in the scene several objects, each one with a child collection parented to (I highlighted an expanded one).
To get the result I wanted I tried to open the Filter drop down (image in the middle) and I uncheck the option Objects while keeping active the option Collections. I expected this to work but as you can see in the image on the right everything disappears.
I suppose this is due to the fact that when anything is parented and the parent’s visibility is disabled (it has been hidden) then also the child will hide.
If so, I understand the logic but I think it’s a bit limited, as my case shows. I think that there should an option to avoid that Children can be affected by the Visibility of the Parent. This way I can have the list of the Collections in the Outliner’s list even if they are parented to hidden objects.
I hope to have made clear my point 
If not, please, don’t esitate to ask.
Cheers.
2 Likes
Majorly outliner stuff / ideas are now going here, please check here if not know before. GSoC 2019: Outliner Improvements Ideas
Thank you very much. I certainly will 
Cheers.
Collections filter is relative to collection definition : objects grouping.
What you want is a filter for a certain type of objects that is not really a type of object.
Collection Instances are a way to visually duplicate collections by using an empty as a reference of duplication.
So, a collection instance is an empty.
By disabling all types of objects (Meshes, Lights, Cameras) , except Empties, you can limit outliner display Collection Instances & Empties.
Collection Instances are rendered by EEVEE or Cycles. Empties are not.
Empties can be rendered by Viewport Render.
By default, there is an Object State Filter set to All. It can be set to Visible but there is no Renderable state.
If there was one, it could be possible to see only Collection Instances.
But because of Viewport Render, maybe it is less problematic to simply add a filter for Collection Instances.
It makes me think that same problem exists for curves. They can be simple paths, profiles (used to extrude or bevel curves) that are not rendered.
But if a curve is extruded, beveled or a 2D closed and filled shape, it will be rendered as a solid object.
And there is absolutely no filter for curves although they are used a lot as paths, deformers or rendered geometry.
1 Like
Thank you very much for the explanation. Now it makes more sense. I agree with you that there can be some cases that the filters don’t cover. Regarding my case, what confused me is that Collection Instances in the Outliner still use the Collection icon (even if a little changed). But, since the are actually an Empty they should probably have a different icon.
Cheers.
