4
$\begingroup$

I'm a long-time 3DS Max user recently converted to Blender (refugee from the monopoly and now financial oppression practiced by Autodesk). So far, I love many of the features in Blender more than Max - not to mention the pace of new development. One struggle I currently have, however, is the lack of Groups/Grouping in Blender 2.8. Does anyone know why they chose to eliminate such a useful and ubiquitous feature of all CAD programs?

I've tried using collections, but I can't simply click on a collection and then move/rotate/scale it as if one single group/object. I know you can parent objects to achieve this effect, but it's like using "Link" in 3DS Max and not very effective (because you always have to remember which object is the parent). The Join feature could also be an option, but it's more like simply attaching an element to a mesh in 3DS Max and also not practical for this reason (can't then easily transform/rotate a "joined" object within the larger object). Am I missing something? Has anyone found a practical work-around? Any idea if they'll bring back groups in an upcoming Blender release?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ blender.stackexchange.com/questions/47295 $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 17:24
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You could always start each collection with an empty, and parent it to all objects in the collection. That way, you could rotate/scale the empty, and all the objects will follow. $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 19:26
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks. Good suggestion. I'm going to use this as my other trick to get around this awkwardness in Blender for now. Still not ideal but at least it's a crutch until they bring Groups back so it works correctly. $\endgroup$
    – L3DCG
    Commented Jun 19, 2020 at 5:45

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4
$\begingroup$

To achieve what you want to do, simply right click on a collection and press "Select Objects", effectively selecting every single object in said collection, then transform however you like.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
6
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I see where that works in the Outliner. But is there a way to do that directly in the 3D Viewport? i.e. so you don't have to go find that collection name in the outliner but instead just select one of the objects of the group in the 3D viewport and quickly expand that selection to include all objects of the group? $\endgroup$
    – L3DCG
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 18:01
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think so. $\endgroup$
    – Eric Xue
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 18:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ That is messed up. I sure hope they change it and bring back actual groups. Way too cumbersome this way. $\endgroup$
    – L3DCG
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 19:20
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thanks for the feedback, btw. Having an object that could belong to multiple "collections" would be nice if those were actually layers, but they need something that acts like Groups again. Seems like a near-fatal flaw to get rid of groups because nobody wants to always have to parent-child all their objects. It gets messy really fast. Layers and Groups has always been just the intuitive way to work with lots of objects and assemblies. $\endgroup$
    – L3DCG
    Commented Jun 17, 2020 at 19:23
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ you can select any object of a collection in a viewport and then press Shift+G -> Collection. $\endgroup$
    – Vii
    Commented Jun 18, 2020 at 11:46
2
$\begingroup$

Although this doesn't work for motion and rotation, for matertials and UVs you can select the objects (and select the object you want to copy from last), then press command-L (on Mac). There are several options that you can select for different things to copy to all the objects. I hope this helps!

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .