How to Unlink Objects in Blender 3D

The ability to have linked objects in Blender is great for many reasons. But at times, we need to unlink objects which share data. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to unlink objects and object data in Blender.

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What are Linked Objects in Blender?

Linked objects in Blender are objects which share some type of data. There are different ways an object can be linked. Objects can share their data, materials, animation values and more with other linked objects.

Here’s an entire article on how to create linked objects in Blender but continue here to learn how to unlink.

When data is shared between objects, the objects are “linked objects.”

Linked objects reduce memory usage and file size in Blender. There are many reasons why linking objects is useful. There are also reasons why we may want to unlink objects which were previously linked.

The most common reason is we want to change one object without changing its linked object.

How to Unlink Linked Objects in Blender?

Say we have objects that are “linked” and we want to unlink them. Here’s how.

1. Select the object you want to unlink.
2. From the Object Menu, choose Relations – Make Single User
3. Choose the type of “single user” you want to create. In most cases, this will be “Object and Data.”

Method 2: Search for “Make Single User”

Alternatively, you can press F3 on the keyboard to search for commands in Blender. If you type in “Make Single User” you’ll see the options available for how to unlink data just as you would with the first method.

What are Single Users in Blender?

Why does Blender call this “Make Single User?” It’s because when two objects have linked geometry, materials or other data properties, they are considered shared users of that data.

In order to unlink them, we are making them “single users” of data rather than sharers of data. Here’s a quick lesson on how Blender data works.

Types of Data to Unlink

Make Single User: Object

This is the first option and I honestly can’t figure out what it does or in what scenario it would be useful. It sounds like the option you’d want to choose, but in most cases you want the next one.

Make Single User: Object & Data

This option unlinks the object’s data from whatever other objects it shares data with. When two objects share data, changes made to one will affect the other. This option unlinks that data and allows us to edit an object’s geometry independently.

Make Single User: Object & Data & Materials

This adds materials to what you are separating between the objects. The “Objects and Data” selection will leave them sharing the same materials. So even though we can edit geometry of one object independently, changing the material on one object will still affect the other linked objects.

Choose “Object & Data & Materials” when you want the new object to have its own (unlinked) geometry and separate materials than the original object.

Make Single User: Materials

Choosing this option will create separate materials for the selected object but will leave their data (meaning their geometry) linked.

Make Single User: Object Animation

By default, animating linked objects will animate both of them and this can cause serious issues. Choosing to unlink only the “Object Animation” will leave the geometry and materials linked. It will unlink the animation data but assign any keyframes already in place to the current objects. Only changes to the animation going forward will be different.

Make Single User: Object Data Animation

This sounds like the previous option but refers to animations for the object’s data. For example, if you had shape keys applied to the object and wanted to have different animation values for those shape keys, you’d use this.

By choosing only this option, the object’s animations will still be linked. It appears there are other similar “data animations” that may be affected by this.

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