06 Blender Scenes and Collections

Hello and welcome to our sixth session! Today we’re exploring Blender’s Outliner window. For this session, I’ve provided a resource file—let’s download it first.

Open the YouTube video (or your LMS). In the description, click More and you’ll find a link to our Patreon page.

Click that link to open the Patreon page. Scroll down until you see the file rtx3090.blend. Click it and wait for the download to finish.

Once the download completes, click the folder icon in your browser’s download bar to open your Downloads folder. Right-click the rtx3090.blend file and choose Cut. Now navigate to your learning folder—for example: F:_yourname__blender_learning\Chapter 1 – Basics—right-click inside that folder and choose Paste.

Let’s open the file in Blender. Instead of double-clicking the .blend file like last time, we’ll do it from inside Blender. Click in the address bar at the top of the folder window, right-click and Copy the path.

Go to your Desktop or use the system search, type Blender, and open Blender 4.5. In the splash screen, click Open, or go to File → Open. In the file browser’s address bar, right-click, press Ctrl+V to paste the path, and press Enter. You’ll be taken to the folder where you saved the file. Select rtx3090.blend (if you see a numbered autosave like .blend5, open the main .blend), then click Open.

When the file loads, you’ll see the RTX 3090 card model—designed entirely in Blender. Using what you learned in the previous class, press and hold the middle mouse button to orbit around and view the card from every angle.

Now, let’s focus on the Outliner window on the right side. If that panel feels too small, you have two options:

Option 1 (switch the editor): In the top-left corner of the 3D Viewport, click the Editor Type dropdown and select Outliner to view it full-screen.

Option 2 (keep your 3D Viewport): Leave the 3D Viewport as is. Move your mouse over the Outliner, then press Ctrl+Space (or Spacebar if your keymap is set that way) to maximize that area. Press the same shortcut again to restore it. Click inside the Outliner to begin.

That’s it—your file is open, navigation is set, and the Outliner is front and center. Let’s dive in!

ou have a Back to Previous button to return to the original workspace. Move your mouse over the Outliner, press Ctrl + Spacebar to maximize it, and let’s explore—starting with Scenes.

 

Right now, by default, Blender has one Scene. Click the Scene selector and you’ll see there’s just one. Rename it by selecting the name and typing nvidia3090_master. I’ve added “master” to mark it as the primary scene.

 

Next, click the double-page icon (the Scene add menu). You’ll see four options: New, Copy Settings, Linked Copy, and Full Copy.

 

Click New. A completely new scene is created; name it new_scene and press Enter.

 

Click Back to Previous to return, and switch to the new_scene you just made. You’ll notice no objects appear here yet. Don’t worry—your model isn’t lost.

 

Open the Scene drop-down again and switch back to nvidia3090_master. You’re back in the original scene with everything intact.

 

This is how you can create multiple scenes in Blender. Now, move your mouse over the Outliner again and press Ctrl + Spacebar to make it full screen.

 

Let’s look at Copy Settings: choosing this will create a new scene that copies the current scene’s settings (render settings, units, etc.) into the new one.

 

You also have Linked Copy and Full Copy. Let’s try Linked Copy:

 

Choose Linked Copy and name the scene nvidia3090_linked, then press Enter.

 

Click Back to Previous and ensure you’re in nvidia3090_linked.

 

Select a component—for example, the fan. Press Tab to switch from Object Mode to Edit Mode (shortcut: Tab).

 

Press A to select all of the fan’s geometry, then press S, then Z to scale along Z and scale the fan up.

 

Switch back to nvidia3090_master. You’ll see the fan is modified here as well. That’s because a Linked Copy shares the underlying data.

 

You don’t want that change to affect the master. In nvidia3090_master, go to Edit → Undo three times to step back to the original state. Press Tab if needed to return to Object Mode. Now the fan is back to original in both nvidia3090_linked and nvidia3090_master.

 

Return to nvidia3090_master. Click the double-page icon again, but this time choose Full Copy. Name it full_copy and press Enter.

 

In full_copy, select the same fan.

 

Press Tab to go to Edit Mode, press A to select everything, then S, then Z to scale it up along Z.

 

Press Tab to exit Edit Mode, and switch back to nvidia3090_master.

 

Now notice: the master is not affected, while the change exists only in full_copy. That’s the key difference—Linked Copy shares data; Full Copy duplicates it.

 

Back in the Outliner, we’re in NVDR3090_master, and you can see the Scene Collection. Move your mouse over this panel and press Ctrl + Spacebar to make it full screen. Inside Scene Collection, you’ll find all segments of the NVDR3090 card.

I’m going to continue modeling—adding the motherboard, chipsets, and other components. I don’t want my NVDR parts and motherboard parts to get mixed up, so I’ll organize them—just like using folders in Windows Explorer.

In Blender, we organize with Collections. At the root is Scene Collection. I can create additional collections under it. For example, I want a collection named NVDR3090 to hold all current components. On the right corner, click the New Collection icon. You’ll see Collection 1 created under Scene Collection. Double-click it, rename it NVDR3090, and press Enter.

Now I’ll move the existing components into NVDR3090. I’ll select the objects—from the top of the list down to Steel Cage—then drag them into NVDR3090. Inside NVDR3090, I’ll organize further: I want all air ducts grouped together. Right-click NVDR3090, choose New Collection, double-click the new collection, name it air_ducts, then drag Air Duct 1 and Air Duct 2 into air_ducts. Release the mouse—both are now inside the air_ducts collection.

Return to NVDR3090, click Back to Previous to go to the 3D Viewport, and create a fans collection to group all fans. In the viewport, select a fan, press M (Move to Collection), choose New Collection, name it fans, and click Create. In the Outliner, you’ll see fans now contains that fan. It currently sits under Scene Collection; I want it under NVDR3090. Select fans and drag it onto NVDR3090 so the fans collection lives inside it.

Orbit the view (middle-mouse). There’s another fan. Select it, press M, and move it to NVDR3090 → fans.

Next, I’ll create a chassis collection. In NVDR3090, right-click → New Collection, rename it chassis. Back in the 3D Viewport, select the chassis main body (Steel Cage), press M, then move it to NVDR3090 → chassis.

I want to verify what else belongs to chassis. Some items are organized; others aren’t. To check, I’ll temporarily hide collections using the checkmark/visibility toggle in the Outliner: click it for air_ducts—all air ducts hide. Do the same for fans and chassis.

Now, I’ll add the side panel to chassis: select the side panel, press M, move it to NVDR3090 → chassis. It hides immediately because the chassis collection is hidden. Apart from these two, both belong under chassis.

I have a component named Fan Holder 2; with Shift pressed, also select Fan Holder 1. Press M and move both into fans. Then select Coolant Pipes, press M, and move them into air_ducts.

Create a chipsets collection: NVDR3090 → right-click → New Collection, rename it chipsets. Select the main motherboard, press M, move it to chipsets, and switch off (hide) chipsets. Select the main chipset, press M, and move it into chipsets as well.

Create a ports collection: NVDR3090 → right-click → New, name it ports. Select Port Sockets, press M, move them to ports, and switch off (hide) ports. Select the second component named Sockets, right-click (or just press M) and move it into ports. There’s one more related component; it also belongs with sockets, so I’ll move it into ports.

Now there are three GUI elements. With Shift, select 1, 2, 3, right-click (or press M) and move them into a new collection named granite_body, then click Create. Drag granite_body into NVDR3090 and switch it off.

Finally, I have text objects NVDR RTX and RTX 3090 name. Select both, right-click → New Collection, name it labels. Drag labels into NVDR3090. Now you’ll see: labels, granite_body, ports, chipsets, chassis, fans, and air_ducts—all clearly organized. Collapse chassis, chipsets, and ports to keep things tidy.

This is how we organize and maintain complex models: with collections, it’s easy to select and isolate what you need. For example, if you want to work only on the fans, just switch off (hide) all other collections so only fans remains visible.

Now switch everything back on. With that, we’ve learned how to organize our objects into collections in the Outliner.

 

Here’s a crisp recap:

• Opened rtx3090.blend, used Ctrl+Space to maximize panels and Back to Previous to return; oriented to the Outliner as the project’s hierarchy hub.
• Scenes: Renamed the default to NVDR3090_master. Explored New, Copy Settings, Linked Copy (shared data—edits propagate), and Full Copy (independent—edits don’t propagate). Demonstrated with the fan scaling example.
• Collections: Built a clean structure under NVDR3090: air_ducts, fans, chassis, chipsets, ports, granite_body, labels. Moved items via drag-and-drop or M → Move to Collection from the 3D Viewport.
• Visibility & isolation: Toggled collection checkmarks to hide/show groups and focus work (e.g., work only on fans).
• Outcome: A tidy, scalable Outliner that speeds selection, isolation, and variation testing across scenes.

Next session: we’ll master Blender’s data structure (data-blocks, links vs. copies), Outliner filters (search & restrict toggles), and display modes (View Layer, Blender File, Orphan Data, Data API).