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I use Blender 2.75 on Win 7.

I some times create one blend file and a first scene.

Than I duplicate the scene (once or more times as I need) and I make some variations to consider more possibilities for the situation I have to study.

I frequently have the need to visually compare in real time the two (or more) scenes for various reasons. For achieve this I need to have two (or more) scenes of the same file showed on the computer screen simultaneously.

The menu view > Duplicate area into new window, allows me to look the same scene from different perspectives and observe the same scene from as many points of view as I need. But I can't do the same with two or more different scenes of the same file. The only thing I can do is to switch from one scene to another with the scene selector that switch the scene for all windows. This doesn't allow me to show two scenes simultaneously but just one at once from different points of view, in each window.

What I want, if it is possible, is to have two or more windows of the same file opened on different scenes. The problem is that acting on the scene drop down menu switches the scenes in ALL windows, even the separated ones.

I tried the solution proposed by iKlsR♦ in this page Is it possible to work on two or more files at the same time (or open multiple Blender instances?) but it doesn't work: the scene is switched on both opened windows.

Is there any solution or any option to solve this situation and allow me to show on screen simultaneously two different scenes of the same file?

Thanks in advance.

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    $\begingroup$ You can preview multiple scenes in 1 file if using Duplicate Area Into New Window option (it seems that's what was done in the answer you linked). Other than that I think your best bet will be to open two blender instances with that same file opened. $\endgroup$
    – Mr Zak
    Jun 24, 2016 at 11:52
  • $\begingroup$ @MrZak As I said in the main post the View > Duplicate area into new window, option allows me to look the same scene from different perspectives and observe the same scene from as many points of view as I need. But I can't do the same with two or more different scenes of the same file. $\endgroup$
    – willy wonka
    Jun 24, 2016 at 12:23
  • $\begingroup$ Using two Blender instances doesn't Allow to sync modifies to the scenes until the file is saved and the other is reloaded from disk manually, loosing of course the undo redo stack etc... I want to understand why using Duplicate Area Into New Window option by as done in the answer I linked works there but not in the Blender I use. Is that a version issue? $\endgroup$
    – willy wonka
    Jun 24, 2016 at 12:31
  • $\begingroup$ I believe there is an option in user preferences called "global scene" that enforces displayed data from all editors to belong to the same scene. If you disable it you can show data from different scenes in different editors. You might need to create multiple info windows to control which scene is displayed where. I'm not at my computer currently so I can't confirm this right now. $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Jun 24, 2016 at 12:32
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    $\begingroup$ @DuarteFarrajotaRamos "global scene" there it is!!! This solved the question. This is what I'm looking for. Thank you so much!!! $\endgroup$
    – willy wonka
    Jun 24, 2016 at 12:36

2 Answers 2

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Just for the sake of completeness here I'll leave a more proper answer.

Go to File > User Preferences > Interface > Display and uncheck the option Global Scene.

Global Scene

The Global Scene option enforces displayed data from all editors to belong to the same active scene. If you disable it you can show data from different scenes in different editors if they belong to different OS level Window. You will need to create an Info editor for each separate window to control which scene is displayed there.

For 2.8+ versions there no Global Scene option, you can assign a different scene to each window by default, just make sure you create main windows by going to the Window menu on the top left by default, and choose New Min Window, secondary windows will always follow the scene on the parent main window.

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  • $\begingroup$ Perfect. Just one more clarification: this works only on separate windows (View > Duplicate area into new window), but don't work if the same window shares two or more viewports. In this last case the scene menu behaves as if global scene option was still active $\endgroup$
    – willy wonka
    Jun 24, 2016 at 17:29
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    $\begingroup$ True thanks for the heads up, I'll update the answer above $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Jun 24, 2016 at 18:23
  • $\begingroup$ How do you do this in Blender 2.8 up, it's not there in the new interface $\endgroup$
    – Christos
    May 8, 2022 at 10:27
  • $\begingroup$ @Christos As far as I know for 2.8+ there is no Global Scene option any ore, you just need to create a Main Window from the Window menu $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    May 8, 2022 at 21:49
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Since Blender 2.8, you can have this functionality by opening a new Main Window: Window>New Main Window In this window you can open any scene and you are still working on one, the same file.

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