Datasheet

Objects and Datablocks n 21

Although the mesh data is identical, the objects are still very

much independent. To see this, in Object mode, select the Cube

object. Press S, and scale the object to about twice its size. Now

you have a big cone and a small cone. This is because mesh edits

are made to the Mesh datablock, which is now shared between

the objects, whereas the overall scale is an object-level property.

Go back to the mesh drop-down menu on the Cube object and

look at the options.

In the drop-down menu, there are two options: Cone

and Cube. Select the Cube mesh from the drop-down menu.

Now your Cube object is again associated with a Cube mesh.

However, the cube is now twice the size that it was before

because the scaling you did in Object mode applied to the

object instead of the mesh.

Exploiting this distinction between Mesh objects and the

meshes themselves can be very useful for character animation

because it helps maintain a ﬂexible and modular workﬂow. An

armature modiﬁer, as you will see later in the book, operates

on a Mesh object, which means you can replace the mesh in the

middle of an animation simply by swapping a new Mesh data-

block in as the object data for the animated object.

You will learn more about these meshes in Chapter 2, so it is a good idea to save this

.blend ﬁle now so that you can return to it later.

Figure 1.15

The datablock name

drop-down menu

Figure 1.16

Editing the mesh

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