Importing Local Models

When you import a model locally instead of as a referenced model, its data becomes part of your scene. It is as if the model was created directly in the scene — there is no live link to the external file. You can make any changes you want to the model and its children.

You can import .emdl files, as well as dotXSI and Collada (.dae or .xml) files, as local models.

NoteIf you import a model and then undo, the model is deleted but any associated materials and image clips remain in the scene. If you redo (Ctrl+Y), the model is restored and the materials and image clips are reconnected.

To import a model

Choose File Import Model from the main menu.
In the Import Model browser, open the folder containing the model you wish to import.
Select the model file name and click OK.

The model is placed just below the Scene_Root in your scene hierarchy.

To import a recent model

Select it from the File Recent Models menu. This menu lists the last few models you imported into a scene.

To import a model by dragging and dropping

Drag an external model file from a browser or a link on a Netview page and drop it onto the background of a 3D view. On Windows, you can also drag a file from a folder window.

Image Clips and Imported Models

When you import a local model using File Import Model, the default is to share image clips. This means that if any image clips (for example, textures) on the model are the same as clips that are already in the scene, then the existing clips are automatically reused. This prevents unnecessary image clips from accumulating in your scene.

Two clips are considered to be the same if they share the same image source and the same parameter values. Animated parameters are ignored, so be careful if you have animated clip settings such as cropping or clip FX.

Local models will not share clips that are already used by, and therefore locked by, referenced models. Image sources are always shared.

In some situations, you might not want to automatically share image clips. For example, you might have animated the clip parameters differently and you want to keep the different animations. In these cases, you can use the ImportModel command in the script editor to specify False for the ShareImageClips parameter. For example:

ImportModel filename.emdl, , , , , False

Incremental numbers are appended to duplicate clip names to keep names unique.

For more information about this command, see ImportModel in the SDK Guide.

For more information about image clips and sources, see Managing Image Sources & Clips.