Linking And Unlinking Geometry When Modeling Armor In Blender

When to Link vs Append vs Duplicate

When modeling armor in Blender, you may need to reuse geometric assets across multiple scenes or blend files. There are three main methods for reusing geometry: linking, appending, and duplicating.

Linking creates a reference to the data in the original file without making a full copy. This allows changes made to the original data to propagate across all files linking to it. Linking is useful when you want multiple scenes to share the same underlying geometry data without needing to duplicate it multiple times.

Appending makes a full copy of the data and appends it into the active blend file. This results in a independent copy of the geometry data that can be modified without affecting the original file. Appending is preferred when you want to reuse assets but also modify them for the specific needs of the current scene.

Duplicating creates a copy of the geometry within the same blend file. This allows modifying the duplicated data independently from the original while keeping the asset sharing and file referencing benefits of linking. Duplicating can be helpful when customizing armor pieces for variant characters that need tweaks to a base design.

Finding and Selecting Meshes to Link

When linking geometry into an armor modeling project, you first need to locate and select candidate assets. Blender provides various workflows for browsing for meshes such as the file browser, Blender kit library, and asset browsers.

It helps to organize your raw mesh assets in a dedicated library blend file. Structure this file with object groupings and descriptive names representing categories like “armor”, “weapons”, “accessories” etc. This allows quickly eye-balling related meshes when you need to link armor parts.

You can enable filters in the file browser using the shortcut “shift + F” to show only certain file types like .blend or asset categories. The search bar also allows quick text filtering on names to drill down candidate meshes.

Linking Meshes with Keyboard Shortcuts

Once you locate your desired mesh assets, linking them is simple using built-in keyboard shortcuts.

Select the target 3D view and press “shift + F1” to open the file browser in linking mode. Now select the source library blend file containing the meshes you identified earlier. The file browser switches into the data block browsing interface for picking data to link.

Browse the asset groups and select the ones you want. Confirm the linking operation to append the selected groups into the current scene.

By default linked groups appear at the world origin. Enable wireframe overlays (shortcut “Z”) when navigating to the origin to select and position them after linking.

Linking Meshes from File Browser

In addition to shortcuts, linking geometry can also be performed directly through the Blender file browser.

Open a file browser area from the top bar menus at File > New > File Browser. On the left switch from folders view to blender files using the icon at the top.

Now in the area on the right, locate the source blend file containing your mesh library. Select it with right-click and pick the option to link objects and groups rather than append or open normally.

This will activate an interface on the left for picking data blocks within the blend file similar to what the shortcuts open. Select your desired meshes and tap the link button on the top left.

Close the file browser when done to view the linked data in your current scene. The meshes will again appear at the world origin, ready for placement and further editing.

Editing Linked Meshes

A common workflow in armor modeling is linking base meshes from the library then refining them to fit your character or scene context better.

When you select a linked mesh, take note of the status at the bottom of the 3D view. It indicates whether updates to the data will affect the original blend file or only the current one.

With linked data you can perform mesh editing operations like scaling, deformation with proportional editing, vertex tweaking, edge extrusions etc. But adding or deleting geometry is not supported.

To make more complex changes, consider converting the object to a local copy using Object > Relations > Make Local. This allows full geometry modifications at the cost of losing the link to the library asset.

Applying Modifiers to Linked Meshes

In some cases, linking base meshes without modification is sufficient for kit-bashing new armor. But for added realism, you often need to add supporting elements like thickness, bevels and subsurf smoothing.

The modifier stack allows non-destructively adding these supporting elements to linked geometry. Select your linked mesh and add a Solidify modifier from the Properties panel > Modifiers tab.

Adjust thickness, edge creasing etc to build out the shape. Enable Auto Smooth under the object data properties to maintain shading cleanliness when smoothing faces.

Continue adding modifiers like Bevel, Subsurf and Array as needed to the linked mesh. Developing the asset in this non-destructive way retains easy editability.

Transferring Materials to Linked Meshes

When linking library meshes, they import only basic shading defaults rather than authored materials. Assigning realistic materials is essential for rendering and visualization.

With your linked mesh selected, open the Material Properties panel and click the Assign button. In the file browser locate the source library blend and choose the material you want. This automatically assigns it your linked object.

For bulk material transfers, enable the Materials checkbox in the file browser when initially linking data. This imports all materials in the source file and matches them to objects by name.

Review assignments after import and manually adjust mismatched slots. Tweak texture paths and other properties broken by the transfer as needed in the Shader Editor.

Unlinking Mesh Data

At later stages of modeling you may need to modify linked meshes more extensively requiring unlinking.

Select your linked mesh and pick Object > Relations > Make Local from the 3D view header. In the popup, choose the option to make only the object data local, leaving the object itself linked.

This preserves things like modifiers and material assignments on the object. But detaches the underlying mesh data so you can now edit geometry destructively.

Further down the line, directly linked assets can also be appended fully local with Object > Relations > Make Local. But for initial modeling, making only the data local strikes a good balance.

Performance Considerations with Linked Meshes

While linking enables flexible reuse of mesh assets, it can burden performance as scene complexity grows. Blender must traverse references across multiple files which has computational overhead during rendering and interacting with the viewport.

Aim to consolidate linked data into the same master library blends rather than spreading across disjoint files. Request only the subset of meshes needed for a particular shot or scene.

For final asset exports, fully append linked data to avoid external dependencies. Profile viewport speeds to quantify performance hits from linking. Optimized linking approaches prevent undue lag while enabling Blender’s powerful multi-scene workflows.

Example Code for Linking Mesh

bpy.ops.wm.link() 

This Python API links the selection inside a blend file into the active scene. Wrap it in custom logic to select specific groups or data blocks to link programmatically.