Does Blender have something resembling Groups in 3d max?

A way to make an assembly of different objects behave as a single object I could apply curve deform for example ? Maybe with linked collections or something?

No. A Linked collection would made the object behave as if it is a single object, but you can’t apply modifiers to it.
But geometry nodes might give you that ability, I am almost sure they do, but not entirely.
You should try that out.

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I would duplicate the objects, join (ctrl+J) them together, and hide the originals. After that, I’d add a modifier such as the Curve deform.

Just be mindful of the Origin and Scale of the now-joined object, as that would affect how the modifier is resolved.

Yeah, it’s what I usually do but then I sometimes need t rethink the assembly , change the scale of something etc. And have to do again ctrl+J and re-linking .

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Well it works!
with this simple setup:

I added a simple plane and replaced its geometry with geometry nodes (collection info), then I hid the original geometry. You can bend the whole collection (well the one made of geonode instances) with the simple deform modifier!
The geo node tree disappears from the editor when you add the modifier but it works and bends the collection.

Edit:
One small problem was that the “geo-node instance” was stuck at the position of the tender collection. So I had to add a translation node to be able to move it.
It is a bit annoying that I had to delete the “simple deform modifier” to be able to see the geo-node, then put it back afterwards.

you can now move, rotate and scale the “geo-node instance” with the translation inputs of the geo-node.

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It should re-appear as soon as you select the geonode modifier in the stack again.

Is this a bug in 2.93.1? In 2.93.5 I can simply change the position of the overall object (including all modifiers) as I would any other object. I do get this issue when setting the Collection Info node to “Relative”.

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Modifiers are selectable now, you just need to select the geonodes modifier for it to appear in the node editor

You should be able to select “relative” in the collection info node to be able to move it like any other object. Edit wait no, that’s actually original you have to select

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Thanks a lot. It actually works

You can actually get the location of an empty via object info, and use that to transform the collection instance. That way, you can dynamically transform it in the viewport.

Edit: Or, you can just set the collection info node to relative mode, so it uses local coordinates instead of global ones.

Yes things are changing a lot with geonodes, I downloaded 3.1.alpha and the setup was a little different, I had to add a “realize” instances node for the modifier to work and the geometry can now be moved, rotated and scaled with the normal way. I can also select the geo node and edit the nodes (in 2.93.1 I could not)
It now looks like this:

Sorry to go off topic, but I was horrified to find a line of useless information taking up my precious screen space in the node editor (shader node editor as well).
Does anyone know how to get rid of it? !!!
If there is no way there should be!

Actualy in 3.1.alpha when I set to relative I loose the ability to move the instance.
I think things are moving fast and there will be more changes soon.

Useless information ? This is giving you context on which objet and modifier you are editing. It’s a godsend !

Well I already know I selected the plane and its geometry node!
The text is taking up a large portion of the editor, is is in my work space.
There should at least be a way to turn it off as with other overlays that obscure your view.

Of course I agree there should be a way to turn it off. But calling this useless information seems absurd to me
Anyway it doesn’t matter

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Ok, lets say “this information” :slight_smile:

Maybe breadcrumbs should be in the overlay tab, to toggle them on or off. That way, people can decide weather or not this is useful to them.

Yes hopefully they will end up there (it was the first place I looked), I do realise this is an experimental version :slight_smile:

Does anyone know how to make it work properly with instanced geo? Say the wheels of that car are instanced on a polygon face. When I do it with geo node as collection I see no more instanced any more… Also no materials any more too?

Maybe @HooglyBoogly could explain why it is not an overlay.