Hi,
Is there a way I can “link” an FBX/OBJ rather than importing?
When importing the FBX, if I override the FBX file with a new version, the blender does not get updated.
I would just like to “link” it. So that when I override the FBX file, the blender gets updated.
That is not possible except for cache formats like Alembic (ABC), MDD and PC
Most probably it’s not possible:
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/119957/link-obj-files-into-blender
How can this be used? Is it possible for Blender?
It is most likely possible with an addon or using Animation Nodes or Sverchok, however they wont be well optimized for large scale data. An add-on that is implemented in a simple fashion can delete an existing setup and reimport the FBX files either on demand or on frame change. Blender API provides some hooks for those.
Alembic reads the cache data from the disk, if the cache is updated Blender will load the new cache in the next update (like frame change) If the vertex counts of the mesh does not change per frame or the object keeps the same topology over time MDD works well too.
Trying it out is easy. Make a simple animation then export the scene as .abc. Open a new scene and import the Alembic file you just have exported out.
Oh, I see, importing Alembic adds a transform cache constraint and references the file:
However it doesn’t update automatically, I needed to click refresh button. Also seems like it only updates the animation and nothing else (mesh, material changes etc.). Is this a limitation of Alembic or Blender implementation lacks?
It is a cache format so it only streams the differing data between frames. You can try the “sequence” flag, that is more for bringing in simulation caches from Realflow or Houdini although Blender does not export as sequence I believe.
Sorcar node add-on also has an import fbx node, that should work for simple fbx stuff I believe. However expecting this to work like Houdini’s geometry reader nodes would be unreasonable.
Hi, i recently wrote this add-on (paid) which provides ability to link fbx and obj files. https://gum.co/VdfWk It’s still under development, there are some bugs to be fixed and features to be added. As kkar said, it won’t perform smooth on heavy meshes but you can selectively disable automatic synchronization for specific models. I’m also working on some more advanced geometry stream solutions in order to make it faster.
it is just waste of money. Objets are imported just a single object (combined). You can’t arrange layers. It syncs but it is not useful at all. There arent any options to arrange it.