WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.000
In this video, we're going to explain collections in Blender.

2
00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.000
To do that, we're going to try and separate our scene into two groups,

3
00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:12.000
one for characters and one for background objects.

4
00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.000
Collections are similar to what you might call layers or groups in other software.

5
00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:20.000
Each collection in your scene can hold objects of any kind

6
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.000
for the purposes of organization and or rendering.

7
00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.000
You can also have collections within collections for further organization.

8
00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:33.000
In fact, that's what's already being done as the scene collection acts as the parent collection

9
00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.000
for all collections in a scene, as you can see here.

10
00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:41.000
Now, to start us off, let's make a scene that makes sense for our purposes.

11
00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:46.000
What we want to do is separate our scene into character objects and background objects.

12
00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:50.000
I'm going to go ahead and scale this cube up until we're inside of it.

13
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.000
This will be our environment or background.

14
00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.000
Then I'm going to add a new object, Monkey.

15
00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.000
This monkey, also known as Suzanne, will act as our character.

16
00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.000
If you take a look at the outliner, you can see that our monkey has already been added to our existing collection.

17
00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.000
Whenever you add objects in the 3D viewport,

18
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.000
keep in mind that they will be added to whatever collection you have selected at the time.

19
00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000
In case you can't see any objects in your outliner,

20
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000
your collection may be collapsed down to a single line.

21
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.000
This is done by clicking this arrow on the left of the collection name.

22
00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000
Simply click this arrow again to expand it.

23
00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:32.000
For hotkey users, you can press the plus and minus keys on the number pad.

24
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.000
So let's try and move our character into a character collection.

25
00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.000
Well, for that, there are a few ways to do it.

26
00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:45.000
But one of the quickest ways is to simply select the object and right-click for a context menu.

27
00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.000
Under this menu, you'll see the Move to Collection option.

28
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.000
If you click that, you'll be presented with a few choices.

29
00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:58.000
If we choose Scene Collection, this will bring our monkey out of its current collection.

30
00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.000
This is not what we want,

31
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.000
and the only existing collection we see in this list is the one the monkey is already in.

32
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000
What we want is the New Collection option.

33
00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.000
So let's go ahead and click that and name our new collection Character.

34
00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.000
Quick tip, to confirm the name after typing, simply hit enter twice.

35
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:25.000
Now, if you look at our outliner, you can see that our monkey is in our character collection.

36
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:31.000
For hotkey users, you can press M, as in move, to bring the same Move to Collection menu

37
00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.000
for whatever object or objects you have selected.

38
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:40.000
Another way you can add an object to a new collection is to create an empty collection first.

39
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.000
To do this, simply right-click any empty space in the outliner and click New.

40
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.000
This will create a new collection within the Scene Collection.

41
00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.000
If, instead of empty space, you right-click a collection name,

42
00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.000
it will create a new collection within the collection you right-clicked.

43
00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:03.000
For hotkey users, you can simply hover over the outliner and press C to create a new collection in the Scene Collection.

44
00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:10.000
And if you happen to have a collection already selected, your new collection will appear under the selected collection.

45
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.000
Fun fact, you can create as many collections as you like.

46
00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:21.000
You can rename collections at any time by double-clicking or control-clicking their names in the outliner.

47
00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:26.000
So let's go ahead and rename our new collection as BG, or Background.

48
00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:32.000
We can then move our cube, which is our background object, to our background collection in the viewport

49
00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.000
with the same Move to Collection menu, or the M hotkey,

50
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.000
and then selecting the now-existing background collection from the menu.

51
00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:48.000
Or we can use the outliner and simply left-click drag the object to the background collection.

52
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:53.000
Now that we have our character object and background object in their respective collections,

53
00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:57.000
you can check and uncheck each collection to toggle their visibility.

54
00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:02.000
This will turn them off during render as well for the view layer you have selected.

55
00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.000
To quickly show you how view layers work with collections, I will create a new view layer up here.

56
00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:14.000
As you can see, the checked or unchecked state of each collection is unique to each view layer.

57
00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000
But what about our light and camera objects?

58
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.000
Let's say we want to have these objects in both the background and character collections

59
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.000
so that they are visible whenever we isolate either one.

60
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:30.000
However, when we try to move our objects to more than one collection, it doesn't work.

61
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:37.000
While it is possible to link objects to more than one collection using the Shift M hotkey,

62
00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.000
a preferable way is to use collections within collections.

63
00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.000
Let's take a look at how that might work.

64
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:51.000
First thing I'm going to do is rename our collection to Car slash BG, car being short for character.

65
00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:56.000
If we were to simply drag the character and BG collections into our Car slash BG collection,

66
00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:03.000
we can now toggle all collections within our Car slash BG collection off or on with one check mark.

67
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000
But also keep the light and camera objects on while toggling the other two.

68
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000
Functionally, this achieves the same thing as adding the light and camera objects to both character and background collections,

69
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.000
as you can keep the main collection enabled while toggling off the sub-collections you don't want to include.

70
00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:28.000
If you do happen to use Shift M to link objects to multiple collections, however, it becomes a bit harder to keep track of,

71
00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.000
as there will be duplicates in your outliner even though they represent the same object.

72
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000
However, if you do link an object to multiple collections like this,

73
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:43.000
just know that you can remove the object from a collection by right clicking it in the outliner and selecting unlink.

74
00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:47.000
Now that we have all of our objects in their proper collections,

75
00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:52.000
I want to explain a quick tip for when collapsing and expanding your collections.

76
00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:58.000
In case your outliner ever gets too busy, collapsing your collections can be very helpful.

77
00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:03.000
What's especially great is you'll notice a few icons next to the collection names.

78
00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:08.000
These icons represent what type of objects exist within each collection.

79
00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.000
For example, right now our character collection has only one object.

80
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:18.000
But if you collapse the Car slash BG collection, you'll see that it contains two collections,

81
00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.000
two meshes, one light, and one camera.

82
00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:29.000
This is very helpful for seeing at a glance what objects are within each collection in case you need a reminder.

83
00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:34.000
Now, let's say for whatever reason I want to delete this Car slash BG collection.

84
00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.000
Deleting a collection does not delete the objects within the collection.

85
00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:44.000
For example, if we select the Car slash BG collection in our outliner and hit the delete key,

86
00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:50.000
the collection is deleted, but the objects within the collection are moved outside of that collection.

87
00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:57.000
As a final tip, in the outliner, you can press the eyeball icon to toggle on and off viewport visibility.

88
00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:03.000
This will not affect your renders, but will allow you to hide objects and collections while you work.

89
00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:11.000
For similar options, you can click this dropdown menu in the top right hand corner to enable selectability toggles and more.

90
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000
And that's it for our collection overview.

91
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.000
Collections are very powerful and the foundation of object organization in Blender.