15.12 The Concept of Files

To save a file? What does this mean? It's easy to say, save a file, but what are you actually doing

when you save? The chapter started by discussing saving a file created in Windows Notepad.

This was a simple text file. A text file contains data which displays letters and words on your

screen i.e. Text. An image file contains data which displays a picture. A music file plays music.

Each file type uses a different application (App) or program to generate the display or, in the case

of a music file, play the music. Sure! You know all this but the point is; a Blender file contains a

combination of data organised into separate parts or elements.

When you save a Blender file you save all the elements.

To show you what this means in practical terms, open a new 2D Workspace. Click on File in the

Blender Screen Header then click on Append. The File Viewer opens. Navigate to the file you

previously saved named My_Blender_File.blend (Figure 15.14).

The Elements

Folders in the Blender File.

Strokes Drawn in the 2D

Viewport

Editor

are

considered to be Objects.

Figure 15.16

15.13 The Append or Link Command

You can insert Elements from one Blender (.blend) file into another Blender file (Chapter 6 –

6.5). To do this you select the Append or Link commands from the File pull-down menu in the

Blender Screen Header (Figure 15.15). An Element could be Strokes you have Drawn.

Append takes data from an existing file and adds it to the current file. Link allows you to use

data from an existing file in the current file but the data remains in the existing file. In the latter

case the data cannot be edited in the current file—if the data is changed in the existing file, the

changes show in the current file the next time it is opened.

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