Components or blocks in blender like sketchup
like in sketchup one can make components inside a components inside a component and so on , and can turn that into unique if needed
the feature close to this in blender is duplicate linked which is a very important feature but u cannot another object inside that component
another feature close to this in blender is parent object , which is also a great feature but again it doesn't sketchup component feature
the advantage of sketchup component feature is for example
- You are creating a door , you make a outer frame and shutter and together with outer frame and shutter you create component/block and so a bounding box is created over these two objects
- Now you copy these door component/block all over the plan of the structure
the bounding box selects the shutter and frame automatically while coping or moving 3) Now if you want to edit the shutter , you can double click the bounding box and edit the shutter so all the shutter of the door copied will be edited automatically 4) Now if you forgot to put door handle , again open the bounding box and you can add the third object inside the component\block 5) You can even make component inside a component inside a component , so there will be a series of bounding box inside a bounding box
i am an architect and these feature is really really important in architecture modelling for doors , windows , railing , furniture and even for similar plans these feature is what the blender architecture community is missing and it will be just great if we see these feature in future
8 Comments
Blender actually has this. To use it, put everything that makes up the door inside a collection. Then, add an empty object. Then, make sure it's selected and go to Properties > Object > Instancing. Then, select the collection tab. Finally, select the collection you just created.
* @gbirdman * a can find "parent to empty" command without adding an empty to scene
* @gbirdman * thank you will try that out
* @gbirdman * Blender Instances use the world origin as the instances origin, so they all have to be modeled in the same place. Hiding and unhiding collections that all reside in the same place can be annoying because you're essentially constrained to a local view, rather than a world view. SketchUp allows you to edit each instance, but Blender only lets you edit the reference collection. I guess you could make a linked duplicate and vertex groups, but vertex groups have no hierarchy. So you can't have a vertex group in a vertex group, but Sketchup can have components in components.
* @BlenderSplendor * I definitely get that, but I'm just pointing out something it has. I feel like it could be made easier though.
* @gbirdman * You're right though, Blender already does have instancing, but yes... I agree it could be made easier.
I wish it were made easier too. Components are really powerful!
That's right, sketchup has a simple and practical solution without the need for an outliner...