Merger - Your Tool for Simplifying Complex Blender Scenes

Andrew Luzhetskyi in Modeling

Simplify complex models
in a few clicks.

For models with hundreds or thousands of objects and deeply nested hierarchies. Merge whole assemblies into one mesh or one per group, link identical copies, and find the separate parts inside a single mesh.

Voron 2.4 3D printer after Find All Twins and Link All Twins: each group of copies in its own color

Merge

Whole hierarchies into one mesh, or one mesh per group.

Twins Finder

Identical copies found by shape and linked to one mesh.

Parts Finder

The separate parts inside one mesh, found and colored.

Pictured: the Voron 2.4 after Find All Twins and Link All Twins. Each group of copies shares one mesh and one color.

Merge

Merge whole assemblies
at once.

Select an Empty or a collection, and Merger joins the meshes under it, however deep the hierarchy goes.

Merge into One

Everything under the selected Empty becomes one mesh, named after it and placed where it was.

Merge into One turns the whole assembly into one mesh

Color each part

One mesh, and each original part keeps its own material, so you can still select or texture it. Identical and nearly identical parts share one.

Merge into One with Color each part: one mesh, parts in their own colors

Merge by Group

Each sub-assembly becomes its own mesh, so the model stays easy to move and edit.

Merge by Group makes one mesh per sub-assembly

Deepest groups only

Only the lowest groups merge. The hierarchy above them stays, so every sub-assembly still moves on its own.

Deepest groups only merges the lowest groups and keeps the hierarchy above
The imported Voron, every part a separate mesh
→
The Merge card: Target Selected, 1 Empty selected, Merge by Group clicked with Deepest groups only and Color each part on
→
After Merge by Group: one mesh per lowest group, every original part in its own color
Before
1,191 meshes
Click
Merge by Group, Deepest groups only, Color each part
After
530 meshes, every part its own color

Voron 2.4 with its clear enclosure panels removed.

Every Merge option, in the panel

The Merge section of the panel, labeled: Merge into One, Merge by Group, Deepest groups only, Color each part, Merge by Material
Merge by Material. One mesh per material, ready for texturing or export.
Empties or a collection. Target switches between the selected Empties and a collection.

Twins Finder

Turn identical meshes
into linked copies.

Merger finds copies by their shape, never by their names. Linked copies share one mesh, so you edit or texture one and every copy updates.

Find Twins

Select one mesh and click Find Twins. Its copies are selected, and Link Object Data makes them share its mesh.

Find Twins finds the copy of a selected screw, then Link Object Data links it

Almost identical

Also finds copies that were exported at a different angle or with slightly different geometry. You set the tolerance.

With Almost identical on, Find Twins finds 18 copies of the screw across the machine, and Link Object Data links all 19

Keep twins in place

Copies modeled at another spot or angle would jump when linked. With this on, each keeps its position and rotation.

Linking with Keep twins in place off makes copies jump; with it on they stay

Find All Twins, then Link All Twins

Find All Twins groups every mesh that has copies, in the scene, a collection or under one Empty, and changes nothing. Link All Twins then links every group after one confirmation.

Find All Twins finds 146 twin groups, then Link All Twins with Color each group on links and colors them
The Voron before Link All Twins
→
The Twins card: Almost identical at 2%, Find All Twins clicked (146 twin groups found), then Link All Twins clicked with Color each group and Keep twins in place on
→
After Link All Twins: 146 groups linked, each in its own color
Before
1,364 meshes
Click
Find All Twins, then Link All Twins
After
288 meshes, 146 groups colored

The GIFs above had already linked 30 of the 1,394 meshes. Clear enclosure panels hidden.

Every Twins option, in the panel

The Twins section of the panel, labeled: Almost identical, Find All Twins, Link All Twins, Color each group, Keep twins in place
Exact mode is mirror-proof. A left part never links to its mirrored right part.
Never links from an old scan. Changed the scene after scanning? Merger scans again first.
Asks first. Link All and Merge All show what will happen before they run.
Merge Twins joins a group of copies into one mesh instead of linking them.

Parts Finder

Find the parts
inside a single mesh.

An import that arrives as one big mesh gets each part its own material, so you can select and texture parts again.

Identify Parts

Each separate piece of the mesh gets its own material, replacing the old ones. Group identical parts is on by default, so copies share one.

Identify Parts colors 24 separate parts of one merged mesh

Smart part detection

Splits parts that were fused together on export, where they meet at a sharp inner edge. Here: 24 parts become 85.

Smart part detection splits the same mesh into 85 parts
A display imported as one connected mesh
→
The Parts card: Identify Parts clicked with Group identical parts and Smart part detection on
→
The same display after Identify Parts with Smart part detection
Before
One mesh
Click
Identify Parts
After
71 part types

A different model from the GIFs above: a display imported as one connected mesh.

Every Parts option, in the panel

The Parts section of the panel, labeled: Identify Parts, Group identical parts, Smart part detection, Welding
Welds first, keeps your shading. Unwelded imports are welded before parts are found (you can turn it off), and the normals are kept.
Grab a part whole. In Edit Mode, select a part by its material.

Cleanup

Delete Childless Empties

Delete the parts you don't need, and their Empties stay behind in the Outliner. One click deletes every Empty in the scene with nothing under it, including Empties that only held other empty ones. One Ctrl+Z brings them back.

The Outliner after the front doors' parts were deleted: their 12 Empties are still there, highlighted
→
The Delete Childless Empties button
→
The same Outliner after Delete Childless Empties: the 12 Empties are gone
Before
12 Empties with no parts under them
Click
Delete Childless Empties
After
12 Empties deleted

Made for CAD. Just as handy for any heavy model.

Marketplace models
Hundreds of loose objects and nested Empties, cleaned up in a few clicks.
One mesh for instancing
Merge a whole model into one mesh, then scatter or duplicate it.
Lighter files
Linked copies share one mesh instead of each storing its own.

"I import CAD models into Blender every day, and every project started with hours of organizing thousands of parts. Merger began as a small tool for my own work. Now that cleanup takes a few clicks, and I hope Merger saves you the same hours."

Andrew Luzhetskyi, author

A note from me. Merger is a one-person project. I test every release myself, but I'm not a professional developer, so I may have missed something. If you find a bug or there's a feature you'd like, please send me a message from this page. I have a full-time job, but I read every message and do my best to reply quickly and work on what you ask for.

Spend your time on the creative work, not the cleanup.

Every merge, link and color action is one Ctrl+Z. Full documentation and FAQ are in the tabs above.

Demo model: Voron 2.4 by the Voron Design team, GPL-3.0.

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Details
Blender Extension Compatible Yes
Sales 80+
Rating
11 ratings
Dev Fund Contributor
Published over 1 year ago
Blender Version 4.5 - 5.2
Extension Type Add-on
License GPL

Andrew Luzhetskyi

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