Hi there,
Anyone knows a way to replace a linked object by a new one from another different file than the one already linked?
I’m not a noob but can’t figure out if this is possible or not? There are no options to “find missing link” or “replace” in the outliner… any help or trick would be nice.
Thanks in advance
LM
Why can’t you just link a new one and delete the old one if it is still in the scene?
That’s what I ended up doing but the thing is that it would be a neat feature if a linked object could be either replaced by another or just relinked to a different location. In this case I had a simple animation that I had to replicate to the new object but it would really be easier if I could just relink it, don’t you think? Does’t seem to be a hard feature… I don’t know why no one has ever think of it?!
In fact, it makes all the sense that this feature could be available. Let’s say that I have someone working on a animation scene using dummy objects and another one working the objects. When all done, it should be easy to point in the animated scene the objects to replace the dummys. As simple as that.
Thanks anyway.
LM
I’m looking for a solution to this too. I have one asset collection linked into many product shots. I want to change the product so I can generate a new set of product images. This would be a big time saver
Depending on if you are using the asset browser or direct linking isn’t it enough to either update the asset inside of the asset library or rename the new collection to the old collections name?
Hay. Thanks for the reply. My setup creates lots of studio style renders with different lighting setups per scene.
I have hundreds of products to create these same image sets for. Being able to swap the linked collection would be a nice quick way to do this.
The reason that the collection needs to be linked is that when the client changes the design or a detail on the product I can make the change and update all the images in one go.
I will look into creating a script to dynamically load a collection into the scene.
I am not sure if you need a script.
Lets say your assets collection is called collection_01 and is inside the assets.blend.
assets.blend is linked into RenderFile.blend
Now, your customer wants to see a different variation of your product.
You open assets.blend create your variation and call its collection “collection_01” and rename the old collection_01 to something else.
Now you open RenderFile.blend and everything should be fine.
Or do you need the swapping process to be automated because you want to render several variation in one go?
The following thread might be interesting for you:
Yes. I’ll give that a try.
A scenario where I can permanently specify which product to use would be good.
The products are things like hairdryers, food blenders :), room heaters…
I don’t understand. Why would that not work?
Another way, if your object is a single object, not a collection, is to type the name of a different mesh into the mesh field of your original object.
The link will always be looking for a collection called “product 1”. When I change the contents of “product 1” collection for the second product, I have broken my previous setup.
It will absolutely work but I was hoping for something a little more robust.
Really appreciate the input!!!
Don’t change the collections content. Change the collections name.
You have the collection “product_1” and “product_2”.
And a third collection named “product_render” which is linked to your render file.
Now your re-name “product_1” to “product_render” and render your scene.
After finishing the render you rename “product_render” back to “product_1” and rename “product_2” to “product_render”. And now you render again.
Nothing is lost. You just have to rename your collections.
Or do you need to have product_1 and product_2 in your render file at the same time? There are lots of solutions for all kinds of linking setups but it is a bit unclear what exactly you are trying to achieve.
I mean, above you wrote that you want to “permanently specify” which product to use but “permanently specifying” is the complete oposite of “changing the product” which was your stated goal in your fist post.
Yes I see the confusion. I’d like to set up a project that I can come back to at any time and access the render setup for any of the products I have created.
That’s what I meant by permanent.
Thanks for your explanation. I was looking for a specific feature but you’ve shown me that there are many ways to create different solutions that achieve the same goal. Many thanks
Ah, ok. In that case the following video is probably very useful for you:
Awesome! Will watch a few times.
One year later…you can also add link new object to your scene > select object one, then shift select object 2 > control + L (Link / Unlink “collection instance”).