Subject: Re: Cloning objects
From: David Warner <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 22:40:49 -0500

Here's another message that was rejected by ListServ....
------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 08:57 PM 12/7/95 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi all!
>
>I have an object with several 'children': objects and lights.
>I want to clone this object. Is there any way to clone it with ALL it's
>'childrens'?! It's really annoying to clone/add every light and object
>again :(
>
>(Yes, it is my (in)famous laser object :-) )
>
>  __ _ _
> /_ /|/|
>/  /   | [email-masked]
>

Load From Scene should accomplish exactly what you want.

1) Save out a scene containing only the object in question, its child
objects, and lights.

2) In your master scene, use the Load From Scene button (in the Objects
panel). You can do this as many times as you need, which is in effect
cloning everything, including motions and envelopes.

The alternative is a lot more messy. You COULD save seperate motion files
and envelopes for every object and light, then clone them all a given number
of times, then re-load all the motion files and envelopes for each and every
cloned element. But then, that's what we did before LW had a Load From Scene
button.

Technical difference between the two methods: With true cloning, LW loads an
object just once and then clones it in RAM. This is faster than multiple
loads off of disk, but that's normally not a problem. (Although for
ScreamerNet users, it can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to
send scenes over ethernet. It sends an object just once, instead of 10 times
or whatever.)

Happy to provide another long answer to a relatively simple question!

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   * Andy Hofman       |    LumaQuest Productions *            
   * [email-masked]  |             3D Animation *
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