[ QUOTE ] is about 3 steps in Maya [/ QUOTE ] Or one step if you copy the echoed code from the script editor, strip it of any unique identifiers (or code it to rename unique objects) and assign it to a button. Then forever and ever its 1 step. But I think you would need a bit of coding knowledge to setup the isolate…
So basically you don't like Max's interface? With regards to Outliner being better than Select By Name, they fixed this in Max 2008 with the Scene Explorer, which is way more powerful than both. It has collapsible groups like Outliner, and a bunch of filtering options, and easy toggles for freezing/hiding/setting render…