Ability to change every object type into any other object type from the outliner
In the outliner, add a new right click option for objects: "Change Type". When this is clicked, the user is presented with a drop down that basically has the same options as the "Add" menu in the Object Mode. Selecting any of the option changes the originally selected object into the newly selected type.
e.g. Right clicking a ""Mesh" object in the outliner and - with this functionality - change it into an "Empty".
7 Comments
first off, you're not supposed to use screenshots of other programs for development (a certain automated table company has already tried to sue blender for using the cube direction widget)
but also what's the use of this? besides the obvious?
You can use screenshots in rcs I think. But not devtalk.
then why were people on me for doing it? hff... I still changed mine to a mockup anyway... in any case, I still can't imagine a use for this, or any advanced implementation that Blender doesn't already have.
We already have conversion operators, which will convert curves, meshes, grease pencil, etc, while keeping the geometry as close as possible. I think more is good, but it doesn't fit Blender to make it an option in the outliner. We keep all our operators in one place, so you never have to search for whatever area will trigger a menu that lets you find something.
This would be extremely useful for easily converting an animated object like a mesh into an empty or camera, without having to copy animation (especially if you want to use something with a different orientation). I ended up here looking for this functionality also.
the issue, is that the animation will be lost. only transforms will be maintained. you lose so much data, and you can also simply make an object, and copy the animation to that object, parent, or so on. The biggest issue here is that the various variables and animations do not properly translate from one object to another.
also, we can already do this with many object types, but it doesn't belong in the organizer and collection manager, but the actual 3D, object, and mesh editor.
I don't see why it matters that data would be lost. If I convert a camera into an empty, I know that I'm going to lose camera data. If I don't like it I can undo. If I want both, then I can make a copy before converting. The fact remains that sometimes transferring data is a huge nuisance and it would be great to be able to avoid this.
As a webGL dev this would be very useful. It is common to place everything in a scene then strip out everything but transforms/placeholder empties for various items that will be dynamically populated at run-time. Eg.. a configurator where a bunch of one item are swappable. It's much easier to place everything as actual models then swap them out for empties, than to try and eyeball where the empties should go.