Hi, I think this question belongs here in modeling.
I created a test.blend with a cube in it.
I would like to add this cube to another .blend file that is the main scene file.
If I go back and update the test.blend, I would like it to automatically be updated in the main scene file also.
How can I set this up?
The clue is in your subject line. Open the file containing your main scene, then in object mode, select “link” from the “files” menu. Select the file you’ve named “test.blend” in the file browser, and under object, select the cube you want to link.
ns
Ok, that got the object loaded but it is frozen. What do I need to do to make the object editable after it’s linked?
Linking brings a instance of the object from the original file into the working file. You cannot edit the object in your working file, but you can edit it in the original file, and the edits will be reflected in your working file the next time you load it.
On the other hand, if you want to be able to edit the object in your working file, you “append” instead of “link” it. Appending adds an editable copy, but the edits in your working file will not be transferred automatically to the original file you appended the object from.
Depending upon what exactly you want to accomplish, there are two workarounds to what you want to do. In both cases, open two instances of Blender, one with the working file, and the other with the file containing the original item. If you choose the link option, make your changes in the original file, and refresh the instance of Blender containing the working file, so your changes will show. The other option is to append the object from your working file, and make you edits there, and then go to the original file in which the object lives, and append the edited version back into the original file.
ns
I found out what needs to be done. After I link the object as mentioned earlier, I needed to make a Proxy object. To do this on Windows, you hit ctrl-alt-P. Then the objects rotation and scale can be edited. Other datablocks for the object remain restricted and you have to allow them in the original file if you want to change them. Otherwise for simplicity in the case of materials, you can just add new materials instead of editing the linked material.