I have taken on a project that will require a rather large overall scene and I would now like to game out how I will combine everything. Here are my typical steps/workflow:
I have built out multiple blend files with each discrete item (and its set dressing elements). Any mesh/item that will be used more than once is instanced from the Asset Browser in the following manner:
In a collection called INSTANCES (disabled from current view layer), I create a subfolder with the title of the asset. I then import my mesh from the asset library as a LINK. This places it at the world center. I then move the imported mesh into the new folder (which is, again, hidden from the view layer).
Then, in my set dressing collection, I add the collection to my scene as an instance and orient/size and repeat as needed. In this way, I ensure that all asset-based meshes always come from the asset browser.
But now that I have multiple blend files with multiple instanced assets, I have run into problems. Mainly that now I can't link a separate blend because that assumes a .blend file that isn't filled with hidden collections (as those render out automatically).
My main question is this: Is it wiser to build one really large blend file (with all my instanced asset browser references) and just hide the parts I'm not working on? Or is there a workflow that would allow me to break up my work like this?
I'm sure I'm not the only person who deals with this, but I haven't stumbled across the correct concoction of keywords to find my way. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.