How to do Modifier instantiation, NOT copy.

Example:
I have two character models, I apply subdivision to one of the character, I want the other character to share the same subdiv instantiation, meaning I only have to mind one subdiv, if I change the smooth ilteration of one, it will be applied to both.

Control + L copy data is MERELY doing a copy, I want modifier instantiation like what 3DS Max have.

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One way to do that would be to assign the original to a group. Ctrl G or do it in Object Properties. Then Shift A/Group instance and add the group as an object in the scene. You can move the group instance around. Put it in a different location. But keep the original at 0 and don’t move it. You can make as many instances as you want of the original. It will not eat up ram either. The draw back to this is that everything you do to the original, materials, all modifiers. rigging and animation as well as transforms on the original are all copied. Real cool feature if this is what you are looking for. Horrible if it is not.

Thank you Richard Culver for taking the time to explain.
The objects are different, they are not the same, two different models with completely different design.

It would seem from your explanation there is no way to instantiate modifier :frowning:

I was hoping they could all share the same subdiv/meshsmooth modifier.

Modifiers are object attributes not the other way around. Objects cannot share a modifier.

how about you simply do Alt-D for a same mesh data for the objects instead of an independent object !

copy this copy the mesh data including the modifiers
but then you cannot modify each instance !

happy bl

3DS Max can instantiate modifier no problem. But thanks for the clarity that Blender just can’t do it.

It’s very convenient, I can adjust one turbosmooth/meshsmooth/subdiv and ALL the models/ships/everything that shares the same modifier instantly get the same amount of subdiv ilteration.

Guess I will have to do that object by object in Blender.

Hello RickyBlender,

The models are not instances of each other, they are different objects, humans, tanks, stuff :slight_smile:

You can select all objects, hold Alt and change a setting to propagate it to every object. It’s not instancing, but the Alt trick works for virtually any setting in Blender including modifiers, as long as the objects already have the modifier on them.

Even when the modifier are not instantiated ?
What Magic is this !!!

What if…there are TWO of the same modifier applied to one of the objects ? Which one will be affected ? EXPERIMENT TIME !

Thank you iceythe !

Edit:
Experiment Result:
If you applied a second subdiv to one of the model and alt+click on the ilteration, the second subdiv will NOT affect the other meshes let alone the subdiv above the stack(visually above in the GUI).

Even AFTER you remove the previous subdiv modifier, any attempt to Alt+Click the new subdiv modifier will also NOT affect the rest of the selected meshes.

The only way to reset it all is to remove even that subdiv modifier altogether and add a new one again, then alt+click will set all meshes again.

Great trick. But it does not work if you have “Emulate 3 Button Mouse” turned on, which I always have on. But great trick just the same. Is there another bit I am missing?

I am not following your experiment though Bracer, it seems to work fine here. Just remember that the active object is the one that will be used if you have a different number of modifiers.

And the stack goes down not up, just to clarify so nothing you do would affect the modifier visually above. Also I think the alt trick is intended to be used between two objects not within an object. So from my experiment it does not matter how many modifiers I have. It will always affect the same in the order as long as the stack is the same on each object.

But anyway, does this seem like the answer you were looking for?

Richard Culver, you have raised an even more POWERFUL question…
After you have set the parents forming a deep hierarchy, and inside it contains SOME, not all…SOME objects that have the subdiv modifier…how do you achieve something like the Alt+Click thing then ? I tried it, doesn’t work.
Very good question Richard !

Well, that works for me too. So I am not sure what you are referring to. You might want to post some screen caps of your set up or record a video and from there we can maybe sort out some details.

By the way iceythe… great tip man. Love it when I learn something completely new. 10 years with Blender and I never knew that one!