[Bf-committers] Bring multiple objects to edit mode

[Chris Lee]

I like what Jeffrey is saying here. It is a good solution.
Admittedly my response earlier was not considering all possible situations,
but my own modelling workflow. I can see there are many things that can be
broken when objects are joined and separated.
Jeffrey's suggestion of selecting specific objects of the same type before
entering edit mode is a nice solution, but obviously all the data for these
objects would have to stay isolated from each other while editing.
Obviously you should not be able to join two objects together while in edit
mode. That should be handled in object mode, to define what modifiers etc
are retained and what are removed. As you cannot apply a modifier in edit
mode it should always be handled in object mode. There could be benefits to
modelling two meshes that intertwine, while keeping them separate, but
snapping verts to each object.

I am curious what experiences everyone has had, that would have been
improved by having the ability to edit two objects at once.

Kind Regards,
Chris "*Chips*" Lee
Mobile: 0410155111

Infin8eye <http://infin8eye.carbonmade.com/>
Knight of the DLF
IGDA Sydney founding member

On 19 February 2016 at 06:04, Jeffrey <italic.rendezvous at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have experience modeling in Maya as well as blender, and I prefer the
> blender way because of Maya's obnoxious automatic mode switching when
> you accidentally select another object. I think blender could definitely
> benefit from allowing multiple objects in edit mode, but it should only
> work on selected objects, not on the whole scene. If it acts on the
> whole scene, it opens up armature edit mode, curves, metaballs, etc. It
> should only act on selected objects of the same type as the active
> object. If a couple meshes and a metaball are selected, the metaball
> will not go into edit mode if a mesh is active.
>
> I do not think you should be allowed to add an object to edit mode if
> you are already in edit mode; you would switch back to object, select
> the other, then switch back to edit. This avoids automatic mode switching.
>
> Because edit mode ultimately modifies only the base mesh, modifiers are
> not an issue here. Likewise, shapekeys store vertex position on existing
> vertex indices, so adding geometry is already bad form when working with
> shapekeys. I'm less familiar with vcols, but I would imagine the data is
> stored similarly.
>
> Multiple object editing is no doubt beneficial, but it needs to be
> improved. This is my two cents after using both. I have not used XSI or
> Max for modeling, so I cannot vouch for their functionality.
>
> On 02/18/2016 09:55 AM, Doeke Wartena wrote:
> >>
> >> It is actually something that is better in Blender, to only be editing
> one
> >> object at a time, as it can cause errors in other programs where
> multiple
> >> objects are selected.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > ...you can just join them together but pressing
> >> Ctrl J.
> >
> >
> > I never had a error with Softimage when editing multiple objects at the
> > same time. For maya and max I can't remember cause it's way to long ago I
> > used those programs. And I think if something is prone for error then it
> is
> > the join thing, that doesn't work in so many cases (multiple objects
> being
> > animated for example).
> >
> >
> > I don't wan't to be rude, but saying that it's not necessary is clearly a
> >> lack of production experience with blender AND other software. It is
> >> absolutely necessary if blender wants to be on par or better with other
> >> software.
> >
> >
> > Amen!
> >
> > Also, it might be a few clicks more. But those few clicks really add up
> > sometimes. I had a simple task a few weeks ago that could have been done
> in
> > like 3 minutes but it took me around 20 minutes.
> >
> > Object separation and edit mode are very good design decisions, which
> >> actually are keeping things SIMPLE.
> >
> >
> > It is not about the separate modes. While those modes are good, they
> focus
> > to much on the active object and not the selection.
> > Blender could shine a lot in the workflow regarding multiple selections.
> > Both for edit mode and object mode. In my opinion stating otherwise
> > is truly a lack of vision regarding this matter.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 2016-02-18 16:03 GMT+01:00 David Fenner <d4vidfenner at gmail.com>:
> >
> >> I don't wan't to be rude, but saying that it's not necessary is clearly
> a
> >> lack of production experience with blender AND other software. It is
> >> absolutely necessary if blender wants to be on par or better with other
> >> software. You see, ptex isn't necessary because you have UVs, ik's
> aren't
> >> necessary since you can do fk, sculpting isn't necessary since you can
> >> paint displacement maps in photoshop, etc etc. So it's not about being
> >> necessary, is about how useful it is. Multiple object editing would be
> very
> >> useful, since basically joining stuff would kill thousands of different
> >> workflows that involve modifiers, vcol, shapekeys, any type of linking,
> >> animation, etc.  And having to edit objects one by one is too technical
> and
> >> old fashioned, any "modern" 3D artist needs to be able to be able to
> shape
> >> and work on the "whole thing" when he needs to.
> >>
> >> 2016-02-18 11:48 GMT-03:00 Daniel Salazar - patazstudio.com <
> >> zanqdo at gmail.com>:
> >>
> >>> It has nothing to do with instancing. Its about sculpting/editing a
> >>> compound shape without having to join it.
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>
> --
> Jeffrey "Italic_" Hoover
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