Object/Edit mode for Collection Instances
In 2.79 I use and abuse an addon called Group Pro. It lets you treat groups/collections as a single object that you can instance around and choose to edit any instance wherever it is in the scene not just the original. i.gyazo.com/582aeb369917e06df6ba1c292d88c547.mp4
Currently in 2.8 you only seem to be able to edit the original collection which is a loose arrangement of objects, if you want to treat it like a single object for selection, moving, or inverting scale for mirroring, you need to create a collection instance which can't be edited directly.
For that you need to track down the original collection as it's the only one that can be edited. i.gyazo.com/5ce85fd5764901c8ff860b92857bf68c.mp4
Treating all Collections/Groups as objects with an edit mode is ingenius as far as I'm concerned. I think it's something everyone will benefit greatly from so I'd love to see it become a core part of Blender. The current workflow is far more cumbersome, restrictive, and harder to keep track of.
Personally this is the one addon that will be keeping me from moving to 2.8 until it's updated or similar functionality is default as I find it invaluable in my work.
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This is something native to SketchUp and a "feature" I greatly miss since moving to blender full time. In SketchUp, there's two ways you can make a compound object; with "groups" and "components" duplicated groups don't propagate changes to other instances while components do. Each has their own use. In my opinion, implementing something similar would greatly enhance modeling experience and ease transitions from different softwares.
A small plugin to edit collection instances 'in place'.
Plugin: hub.openingdesign.com/OpeningDesign/Utility_Apps/src/commit/5988e29ab94240dd1b3296ddd850bfdc97859996/Blender/addons/Edit%20Collection%20Instance%20in%20Place
video: community.osarch.org/discussion/3027/a-small-plugin-to-edit-collection-instances-in-place
Was googling for something. There is this addon now github.com/SuperFLEB/BlenderEditCollectionAddon Im adding features so it acts like "edit linked library" and it gets a panel
Yes this would be awesome! if someone knows ... how do I edit an instanced collection... that is local and can be added via file, but is nowhere in the blender file as a normal collection anymore?
in 2.8 you can set "select Grouped/Collection" to doubleClick. You can test it and also for edit mesh elements with this keymap: blenderartists.org/t/a-proper-keymap-for-blender-2-8/1145406