(13) How to … Link and Embed Thortspace spheres
Thortspace supports two kinds of linking between spheres: The first we call “Linked spheres” …
… the second we call “Embedded spheres”.
To create a linked-sphere, drag a sphere from the sphere list …
… and drop it onto the current sphere. This will link the spheres together.
Side note: If this kind of drag-and-drop (as shown above) does not work on your device, you can alternatively use the “Add Link to Sphere” menu item on the sphere drop-down on the sphere search list, as shown in the graphic below.~ Many thanks to Kim Bunning for pointing this out.
To navigate to a linked-sphere click or tap the sphere you want to go to.
The sphere will become your current sphere.
Linking spheres together in this way allows you to develop sphere networks and keep related information ready-to-hand.
To create an embedded-sphere, drag a sphere from the sphere list and drop it on a thort.
The Embedded sphere will appear embedded in the thort you drop it on.
To navigate to an embedded-sphere, click on the centre of the thort, or on touchscreens, long press.
Note: To return to the “parent” sphere that you came from prior to navigating to the embedded sphere you can simply zoom-out. In Present mode you can also use the “Previous Sphere” navigation button to go back in order through each sphere that you have visited in the reverse order to the order that you visited those spheres in.
Embedding spheres is a useful technique when you are wanting to organise and manage groups of related spheres.
When you zoom out from a complex network, Thortspace automatically creates a default parent sphere.
The spheres in the network appear as embedded spheres on this default parent.
The default parent can be turned into an editable sphere by choosing “Copy Sphere” from the sphere menu.
I’ll go the copy of the default parent. It has been added to the top of the sphere list.
Now I can edit the sphere, just like any other Thortspace sphere.
The steps above are demonstrated in the video below:
Here is an example done on an Apple iMac:
Related articles
(1) This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of using either linked spheres or embedded spheres:
(2) Linked below is another article about linking spheres in Thortspace — this one is to answer a feedback question about making a Tetrahedral network of spheres in Thortspace:
(3) Another article, linked below, describes how you can create multiple alternative networks of spheres (your own as well as publically shared spheres) by using path steps on a Parent Sphere.
