I have a single object that is composed of three separate meshes, but I have found the need to have them all three separate objects.
I know how to join several meshes into one object, but can I separate several meshes of the same object into several meshes of different objects?
Hi - just select the vertices you would like to separate and the press ‘P’ (separate) - ‘Selected’.
that should work…
Ah. Before I checked for a response, I [Shift]+[D]ed the object into three different objects, deleted the duplicate meshes I didn’t need, then realigned the new objects with the original.
Long way around, but it worked.
Then I checked for the response, didn’t think I would get one that quick. LOL
[P]>>“Selected” worked just fine for meshes that are separate, but I found it murdered any Subsurfed Meshes I tried to make two out of one. LOL
Thanks for the help. Know I can save some time without all the duplicating.
also, did you know if you press ALT+DKEY it will duplicate the mesh and link the materials?
try it 
and you can also press ctrl+l --> mesh data to have one mesh edit another
… and there are a whole bunch of shortcuts that aren’t really obvious too… (for instance, the VKEY in edit mode separates edges )
anyways…
Alt+D makes a linked duplicate of your object. It links the meshdatablocks of your object so if you edit any of the instances you will edit the others as well.