Hello! I have this blend file with a lot of linked scenes, and a few layers inside each scene.
My problem is that when I create a new collection, this collection is automatically active in every scene and layer already present in the file and I have to go inside each scene and layer and manually deactivate the collection, which is really time consuming.
Is there a way to create a new collection as inactive upon creation, or even better to deactivate visibility for a specific collection for each render scene and layer at once?
this is a really interesting addon, however I donât see anything connected with collection in the description, so I am not sure it can do what I am asking for
Collections are data of scene.
All collections linked to scene will be present in all View Layers of the scene.
A View Layer is just a set-up of activation/deactivation, visibility, renderability of collections.
So, that is not possible to have a view layer of a scene, ignoring collections linked to scene.
In Filters of Outliner, it is possible to enable a restriction toggle (Screen) that may disable collection in all viewports for all View Layers. https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/scene_layout/view_layers/introduction.html#outliner
But a ccene may have a totally different set of active collections than another one.
You may link same collections in different scenes or use different ones for same objects or other objects.
I think I might have not explained what I meant correctly.
When you create a new collection, this collection is active in every linked scene and render layers contained in all of those linked scenes.
By active, I mean that the little tick below the cursor in the image is active, like this:
This tick is something that can be controlled in each render scene and layer individually, so that a certain collection is active in certain scenes/layers but not in others.
My problem is that if I have 20 render scenes and I create a new collection that I want to be active only in one of those 20 scenes, I need to go inside each of the other 19 scenes and deactivate the collection.
I think it would be cool to have a way to deactivate or activate collections in every render scene and layer, so that situations like this would be much easier to manage.
Hmm yes just remembered about âsome addonâ which does soem syncing⊠donât even kno if this is itâŠ
Anyway: i made a litle brain storming⊠micro re-search and of course came to stop⊠( )
I thought for a script / addon mostly something like this is needed:
detecting of the actual collection selected in the outliner⊠actualColection and then
iterating on the scenes and the collection checking equal name to actualColectionâŠand
set them all to exclude from viewlayer( or include)
(add this feature to the outliner context menue to make a full addon?)
So the detection is a bit weird because someone has to iterate over all areas to âfindâ any outliner:
âŠsome very non finished code snippetsâŠ
for win in bpy.context.window_manager.windows:
scr = win.screen
for ara in scr.areas:
if ara.type == "OUTLINER": # okay got an outliner
with bpy.context.temp_override(window=win, area=ara): # now collect all selected collections
cols = [scr for scr in bpy.context.selected_ids if scr.rna_type.name == "Collection"]
for c in cols:
print( c )
name = c.name
break # got one..stop searching
âŠand then iterate over the scenesâŠ
for s in bpy.data.scenes.items():
print(s[0])
for vlay in bpy.data.scenes[s[0]].view_layers:
print( vlay.name )
for item in vlay.layer_collection.children:
print(item.name)
# check if this is in the collected `cols`
# and if.. then set the `collection.exclude` flag to True
âŠbut just âusingâ any collection and trying to set colection.exclude( i donât know where i found this )
âŠjust doesn seem to work⊠complaining aboutâŠ
featurAttributeError: âCollectionâ object has no attribute âexcludeâ
âŠshould have noted my findings better âŠhave to re-search this again laterâŠ
( even wanted not to post this⊠but then maybe someone else can add sometingâŠ)
I hope that you mean 20 View Layers ; because a scene can only be linked once, in final blend file.
And solution is a lot simpler than duplicated copies of scenes or scene linked in multiple files.
In Filter of Outliner, for View Layer View, there is an All View Layers filter to enable.
That way all view layers of scene are visible at same time, in Outliner.
Then, you can restrict view to new collection in filter.
That way, you can deactivate collection in all layers, except one, in few click and drag.
In this case, that is content of scene (collections and objects) that are linked.
That is different that when scene is linked from one file to another.
Those linked copies can handled different collection sets.
They are copies that can be modified independently.
In that case, you can create collections that are proper to scene, and are different from linked collections.
Normally, if you create a new collection in such scene, it is not linked to copies by default.
You have to relink new collections in other scenes, if you moved an object to a new collection by using M shortcut.
But if you link an object (by pressing Ctrl while dragging its item in outliner) present in a collection to a new empty collection, created by using C in Outliner ; the new collection can be linked to one scene only, without messing up other scenes.
In that case, the object is present in two collections of same view layer.
As long as object is present in an activated collection, it is rendered.
You can unlink original collection, in scene copy, if it confusing.
It will not unlink collection in other scenes.
For instance, here, a linked copy scene is created.
Collection 3 and Collection 4 are created in new scene.
Each object of Collection 2 is linked to one of these new collections.
Then, Collection 2 is unlinked from linked copy scene.
Original scene stays unchanged.
My workflow include working always inside a âmotherâ collection, so that all the collection are automatically linked among all my linked scenes.
Now this is the scenario: I create a new linked copy scene, and then I create a new collection (inside of the mother collection, so it will be shared among the other scenes as well). I want this new collection to be active (ticked on) only in the new scene, not in all the previous scenes. However blender makes new collection active by default everywhere. Is there a way to automatically deactivate this newly created collection in all the scenes? Because at the moment I have to go manually inside every scene and every layer and deactivate that collection manually. You can imagine that when you have 6 scenes x 4 view layers, it becomes quite time consuming
The operator to create new collection has no option to create it deactivated.
The default workflow was thought linear. User creates collections. Then, he can create Blank View Layers, having all collections deactivated.
I am not a python expert, at all. But in theory, that should be possible to create a macro that creates collection and then deactivate it in other scenes, like @Okidoki tried.
But my demonstration shows, that if you renounce to put new collection in âmotherâ collection, you donât have to browse other scenes to modify them.
You can simply link it in scenes that need it.
Iâm not sure about this⊠because the âexclude from view layerâ option seems to be not an attribute of the collection itself⊠but of the viewlayer âŠ?? So you can en/disable it on every viewlayer⊠but then also on every different sceneâŠ
I still do not understand the full structure of thisâŠ
âŠalso because i didnât used them at all yet
( I also have to investigate more the difference between viewlayer and sceneâŠsoâŠitâs very interesting⊠)
So far:
Scene: âmainâ structure; can have for example different units (for example rendersize⊠or gravity)
View Layer: almost a sub-scene; individually renderable but same units⊠almost a âmeta-collectionâ
Collection: structure to make even overlapping groups; but in contrast to âclassic groupsâ can for example not be âpositionedâ⊠(this has to be done by parenting to a âparent objectâ, e.g. an empty; maybe named the same as the collectionâŠ)
âŠso i think i understand the wish for an âexclude from every other view layerâ or even some more sophisticated viewlayer managementâŠ
( âŠjust thinking⊠the Collection Manager addon offers something to enable the rendering of a collection on the viewlayer⊠this maybe would be nice to be âexpandedâ to viewlayers itslef and so the general exclusion⊠but this might be just wishfull thinkingâŠ)
always share all the collections of the scene it exists in
you can decide which collections to render and to use options such as indirect only or holdout for the collections on a layer basis
you have limited editing capabilities, with render passes, AOVs, overwriting samples or material (for every object visible)
Scene
it can be completely independent, as if it was another blend file
it can keep all the collection âin syncâ among scenes with the copy linked option
in the above mentioned case it works similar to a view layer, but on top of the editing capabilities of the layer, you get full control on anything: render engine, render settings, world, camera, output, compositing
Collections are just groups you can use for objects that allows you to leverage the above mentioned capabilities plus other stuff such as geo nodes, simulations and rigs
What I simply meant is, if the collection is not linked to the scene, you donât have to deactivate it.
So, If you create a not nested collection in a scene, it will not be linked to the others : you donât have to tweak the others.
No. View Layer is a representation of scene. It can show totality or a portion of scene.
But each property of scene modified is still relative to scene, not to view layer.
So, if you modify collection or object, it is modified for scene, not just inside active View Layer.
That would not be the case if View Layer was a sub-scene. Everything in it, would relative to it.
No. That is not the copy linked option that does that.
That is the fact that copied scene contains same collections linked than in original scene.
The Full Copy option creates a duplicate of scene, containing copies of collections and objects.
But, whatever is the option used to create the scene, you can still unlink or link collections or objects in any type of scene.
That is the link that determines the syncing. And nesting objects in collections or collections in collections is propagating the initial link to scene to what is nested.
But I agree.
That could make sense to have an option for collection creation, to create it deactivated, or an operator to deactivate same collections in all view layers of scene or all view layers of scenes, it is linked to.
yes you are correct, the linking happens only with the collections already present at the moment you copy linked the scene and all the collections contained within those already present collections.
If I create a new collection in the root of the scene I can still âlinkâ it to the old scene by instancing it from the outliner
Hi!
I have exactly the same issue. Iâm working on an interior design project, with 5 different versions of a hotel room, sharing the same collections with linked scenes.
For example : I have a main collection called WALLS. In that collection, I have other collections called Wall V1, Wall V2, Wall V3, etc. The object data for the wall in each collection is the same, I just change the material at the object level instead of data level.
That way, I can see all my different versions of the wall in the main collection and simply disable the version I donât want to see in a particular scene.
Same issue, if I create a new version of the wall, by linked duplicating the sub-collection Wall V5, to create Wall V6, I need to go back to every other scene and viewlayers, to disable it.
)
âŠhave to re-search this again laterâŠ
