MultiEdit version 1.0: Multiple Objects Editing

(antoni4040) #1

The MultiEdit addon allows you to very easily edit multiple objects in a non destructive way.
This alpha version keeps the names, the materials, the vertex groups, the shape keys and the origin points(and I still could be forgetting something :D)
Download link:


GitHub link:

Old video:

New video, with new features, thanks to Kilon:
(The video is not that great, I had problems with my video editing software. Also I tend to move in the 3D space very quickly, sorry for the headaches…)

Please test it and give feedback and suggestions.
I hope you find it useful :slight_smile:

(spirit) #2

well, I like it very much, the idea is great, but the fact that it doesent deal with the modifiers and constraints is really a bad downside and it really restricts the usability of the addon.
Having said that, I think that this problem is easy to solve. Maybe something like this:

  • create a list of the original objects,
  • then duplicate them and add them to another list of duplicated objects
  • hide the original objects
  • join the duplicated objects in one object, but dont apply modifiers or constraints, if there are multiple subsurf modifiers inherited from many objects, keep only the first one and delete the others
  • make vert groups for the different geometry in the new object with the name of the original object and prefix ME_, where they come from
    after th user finishes the editing of the object he pushes the “multiedit exit” button
    what multiedit exit does is:
  • unhide the original objects
  • for every vertex group, if it has the prefix ME_:
    this means that this group has a name that corresponds to some of the original objects, so search for an object with the same name and replace its data with the vertex group from the edited object
    after the loop is completed, delete the object that was used for editing
    the result is the original objects, but with the edited data, with untouched modifiers, constraints or other relationships.
    hope this helps, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
(Spirou4D) #3

Hi Antoni4040,
Nice add-on but I have one question: Why change the position of the center of the objects after? For me it’s an other feature to add in the parameters but not automatically.
Thanks a lot for sharing it.
Bye bye
Spirou4D

(antoni4040) #4

I lost you a bit, to tell you the truth… Anyway, my strategy is this:
The script duplicates the objects and puts them in the last layer in order to get the materials in the end, I suppose it’s going to be easy to actually give the modifiers and constraints as well…
Don’t worry, everything will get fixed during the week!

(antoni4040) #5

Thanks Spiroy4D, but what do you mean? I’m thinking of putting an option about the pivot point like this:
-Set to Geometry
-Set back to original
I don’t know if that answers your question…

(Nein01) #6

Great addon! I’m really impressed by how fast you got this working and an alpha released. The enter/exit idea is nice and intuitive, and it seems to be functioning in all modes as well: weight/texture/vertex painting and sculpt mode.

However, it sometimes crashes Blender when more than about 30,000 vertices are involved. I don’t think that is a large amount. What do you think the reason for that is? I was hoping to be able to sculpt around 150,000 at a time, but it always crashes. On my laptop, I am normally able to sculpt over a million verts on a single object before Blender starts to slow down. Maybe that issue can be worked out this week with the improvements you plan to make.

(by the way, your english is really good)

(antoni4040) #7

I’m really glad you use it already… I’ll have to do some tests myself and see. Maybe it’s not the complexity, but something else that your models are not the same. Could you please check if there are any modifiers/constraints etc?
But anyway, I’ll have to look at speed improvements as well at some point…
Unfortunately, I have lots of exams this month, all this was in my spare time, but I’ll try and make the best out of it…
Edit: I didn’t notice that it worked in other modes as well, but I suppose it’s logical… But again, nice :smiley:

(Nein01) #8

I didn’t test it in my game project file yet. I opened a fresh new blend file and then started testing your addon, so there were no modifiers or other constraints. I just added 9 planes in a 3x3 grid and tested to see how many subdivisions I could apply and still be able to sculpt over them at the same time with your addon. I think after 5 or 6 subdivisions it started crashing regularly (but not always) when entering multi edit mode to sculpt the planes. It seems to crash more often when more vertices are involved, but maybe it’s not directly related to that…

Again, I really appreciate all the work you did. When I made that thread a few days ago, I never expected anything like what you have done to happen, especially not within one week! That just goes to show how amazing this community is, and I am extremely grateful for it. I hope you do well on your exams.

(MmAaXx) #9

this is really promising!
I’m waiting and addon like this from the day one 8)

thanks!

(Jakasan) #10

Cool! I need this…

(antoni4040) #11

Alpha 2 coming soon! I seem to have found a way to restore modifiers and constraints, but there are a few bugs, so, hold on there! :slight_smile:

(actimelvanille) #12

great addon antoni.
zbrush tells me something from “mismatch points order” but morphtargets still work :slight_smile:
many thanks!

(antoni4040) #13

No idea about your problem, I’m covering just Blender for now :smiley:

(Jakasan) #14

After one test - what I can say (sorry for bad my english) I test it with bone modifier and with two objects (with the same material) and after Multiple edit enter I can’t go to exit… And my object was as joint…

(antoni4040) #15

This is an alpha version. Modifiers are not supported yet… Or rigging, now that I’m thinking of it…

(Michael Knubben) #16

Antoni: Actimel’s problem is probably related to this addon changing the vertex index. If that’s the case, any way around that?

(antoni4040) #17

I’ll see… For the time being, I just have too many exams, I should get started again by the 24th or something…
Anyway, thanks, what you say sounds reasonable.

(antoni4040) #18

In case you started thinking that I betrayed you, I want you to know that I’m working on it. For now it can copy modifiers and constraints ok, plus it has a checkbox in case you don’t want to change the origin point.
TODO:
Keep vertex groups if any exist(tough one).
Keep shape keys(no idea yet, should be simple)

(Nein01) #19

I kept myself busy modeling other in-game objects. Looking forward to your update.

(MacroManJr) #20

Simple and wonderful! I look forward to your further development, but for right now, this much works great!