Quick way to append multiple objects between files

Support Basics & Interface
1

Ok, so I’ve got file001.blend which contains elements of a model and I’ve also got file002.blend where I’m working on an animation that uses that model. And I want to append all the objects of the vehicle, lets say there are 100 different bits of mesh, rig and such in it, into another file.

I know I could use append from within file002 and go to find file001, then laboriously click on each and every one of the hundred objects, but is there a quicker way. I don’t see in the append “filw browser” any way to “select all” or to, as you can in a lot of file browsers, select the top thing, select the bottom thing and have everything inbetween selected as you dpo it. Is there any way to do this or am i doomed to have to click on every object that I want to append.

Also, further on the subject of appending, lets say I’ve made a pretty complex model and appended it once into a file. The lets say I want two copies of that model in the file. I could append the file once, then append it again, but often if things like constraints have been used this messes with them because of the way in which the names of objects get changed. (If the objects were main battle tank models and each had some constraint based rigging so you could move around an empty and the main gun and turret would turn and elevate to follow the empty, then the first one you appended might get objects gun.001, turret.001, hull.001 and be tracking empty.001 while the next to be appended has objects gun.002, hull.002 and turret.002 but despite empty.002 being imported it is also tracking empty.001.). This is also a problem if you have materials which are mapped to a particular object as well as constraints. Is there any way to append which automatically renames the objects, and redoes the names by a similar factor for and parts that they are constrained to or have materials mapped to? Could blender append a model but while doing so change every object name, and the names of anything referenced in materials/constriants applied to those objects, to have a particular prefix so that when multiple copies of the same model have been appended into a file it doesn’t end up with some of them have the constraints and materials controlled by objects belonging to the other copies of the model?

Yours appreciatively
Jackson

2

Shortcuts are (mostly) consistent within Blender’s interface - even in the filebrowser:
The A-key selects/deselects all files and Ctrl-Shift-click selects files inbetween.

3

Thanks for that, “ctrl”+“shift” didn’t work for me, might be to do with this being a laptop keyboard set up in the english fashion. But “A” goes perfectly to get all selected.

Can I also check, if I’m appending from a file with multiple layers is there any way to make sure that when I put them into the new file they stay split into layers. I’ve tried appending from files with many layers but they all end up piled into one layer when appended, which is a really ugly mess when one of those layers was full of empties and things for constraints.

P.S. My second question in the first post of mine, the one about making sure names change correctly, does NOT need answering, I seem to have figured out how to do it.

4

Also, Click and Drag selects multiple files.

There’s an option on the left “Active Layer”… Uncheck that to import to the layers the objects are currently on.

5

on windows

can Ctrl C in one file
then in other file just Ctrl-V

happy bl

1 Like
6

RickyBlender, thanks, I never realised that was possible.