Instancing a collection with an object that has been Disabled in Viewport fails to correctly link in disabled objects breaking "Make Instances Real" operator #84306

New Issue

Richard Rose · 2021-01-01T12:02:37+01:00

Richard Rose commented

2021-01-01 12:02:37 +01:00

System Information
Operating system: Windows-10-10.0.19041-SP0 64 Bits
Graphics card: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 456.38

Blender Version
Broken: version: 2.91.0, branch: master, commit date: 2020-11-25 08:34, hash: 0f45cab862
Worked: (newest version of Blender that worked as expected)

Short description of error
Instancing a collection into a scene fails to properly link in objects that have been disabled in viewport (henceforth disabled object) using either the "Disable in Viewport" icon in the outliner or by setting obj.disable_viewport = True in a script or console. This bug doesn't appear when you hide an object using the H key or obj.hide_set(True)

This means that if you instance a collection and then "Make Instances Real" that the disabled objects will not be transformed with the parent object even if they have been parented to it in the original file and Keep Hierarchy is checked.

This is a problem because if you have used the disabled object as the operand in e.g. a boolean modifier then as soon as you make a collection real your collection breaks. This is doubly a problem since the default behaviour in the new asset browser is to instance collections into the scene rather than appending them. This bug also affects instancing a collection in the same scene as well as instancing in a collection from an external file.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Start from default file.
Add a second cube.
Transform second cube and place on corner of default cube.
Make second cube a child of default cube.
Add a boolean difference modifier to default cube.
Set second cube as Object in boolean modifier
Disable second cube in viewport in the outliner
Instance collection into scene by dragging and dropping collection from outliner somewhere which isn't the origin.
Everything appears as it should.
Select instanced collection
Select Object > Apply > Make Instances Real
While the none disabled cube has been made real the second cube hasn't and if we look in the modifier you can see that the boolean object is still set to the original second cube.

If instead of disabling the second cube we instead hide it and then instance the collection into the scene the second cube is linked in (although it's also unhidden which is annoying). If we the make this collection real everything works as it should (i.e. the second cube used as a boolean is also made real)
link bug.blend

**System Information** Operating system: Windows-10-10.0.19041-SP0 64 Bits Graphics card: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 456.38 **Blender Version** Broken: version: 2.91.0, branch: master, commit date: 2020-11-25 08:34, hash: `0f45cab862` Worked: (newest version of Blender that worked as expected) **Short description of error** Instancing a collection into a scene fails to properly link in objects that have been disabled in viewport (henceforth disabled object) using either the "Disable in Viewport" icon in the outliner or by setting obj.disable_viewport = True in a script or console. This bug doesn't appear when you hide an object using the H key or obj.hide_set(True) This means that if you instance a collection and then "Make Instances Real" that the disabled objects will not be transformed with the parent object even if they have been parented to it in the original file and Keep Hierarchy is checked. This is a problem because if you have used the disabled object as the operand in e.g. a boolean modifier then as soon as you make a collection real your collection breaks. This is doubly a problem since the default behaviour in the new asset browser is to instance collections into the scene rather than appending them. This bug also affects instancing a collection in the same scene as well as instancing in a collection from an external file. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Start from default file. Add a second cube. Transform second cube and place on corner of default cube. Make second cube a child of default cube. Add a boolean difference modifier to default cube. Set second cube as Object in boolean modifier Disable second cube in viewport in the outliner Instance collection into scene by dragging and dropping collection from outliner somewhere which isn't the origin. Everything appears as it should. Select instanced collection Select Object > Apply > Make Instances Real While the none disabled cube has been made real the second cube hasn't and if we look in the modifier you can see that the boolean object is still set to the original second cube. If instead of disabling the second cube we instead hide it and then instance the collection into the scene the second cube is linked in (although it's also unhidden which is annoying). If we the make this collection real everything works as it should (i.e. the second cube used as a boolean is also made real) [link bug.blend](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9545510/link_bug.blend)

Richard Rose commented

2021-01-01 12:02:37 +01:00

Added subscriber: @richeyrose

Richard Rose changed title from ~~Instancing a collection with an object that has been Disabled in Viewport fails to correctly in disabled objects breaking "Make Instances Real" operator~~ to Instancing a collection with an object that has been Disabled in Viewport fails to correctly link in disabled objects breaking "Make Instances Real" operator

2021-01-04 18:11:39 +01:00

Bastien Montagne commented

2021-01-05 15:01:06 +01:00

Added subscriber: @mont29

Bastien Montagne commented

2021-01-05 15:01:06 +01:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Bastien Montagne commented

2021-01-05 15:01:06 +01:00

Thanks for the report, but the make instances real is using evaluated depsgraph output for the instanced collections, which does not contain the object-level hidden objects (while when hidden at a view layer level, an object will still be included). Nothing to do here really, this is just an internal limitation currently, don't hide objects that way if you need them to behave properly in 'make instances real'.

Thanks for the report, but the `make instances real` is using evaluated depsgraph output for the instanced collections, which does not contain the object-level hidden objects (while when hidden at a view layer level, an object will still be included). Nothing to do here really, this is just an internal limitation currently, don't hide objects that way if you need them to behave properly in 'make instances real'.

Richard Rose commented

2021-01-07 18:14:53 +01:00

I think this highlights a problem with the way collections are being dealt with by the asset browser. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that if you make a collection in to an asset and then drag that asset into the scene from the asset browser that you are then able to modify all objects in that collection rather than excluding some. The way it is currently implemented this is simply not possible if the asset is saves in a separate file. At least give us the option to link or append collections from the asset browser rather than forcing the use of instancing. As it is the asset browser is broken by design for collections.

Richard Rose commented

2021-01-09 10:57:48 +01:00

Added subscriber: @JulianEisel

Richard Rose commented

2021-01-09 10:57:48 +01:00

@mont29 @JulianEisel I would really like a response to my concerns about the asset browser because as I say the way collections are handled is going to be broken by design from the start if the only way of getting a collection into the scene from the asset browser is by instancing it and instancing in a collection into a scene does not actually include all objects in a collection. That's a pretty fundamental design flaw.

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Instancing a collection with an object that has been Disabled in Viewport fails to correctly link in disabled objects breaking "Make Instances Real" operator #84306