Scene vs Scene Subset

Costello

I got some good answers for how to handle large scenes in a recent thread but am a little unclear about one thing. One can merge one scene into another (which would help to combine elements in a large scene), so what extra utility does saving something as a Scene Subset give you? In what situations would you use one versus the other? 

Toonces

I wasn't aware you could merge scenes. Interesting.

Still I'd use a subset since that's what it's designed for (saving a subset and merging later). Plus it's more specific. You pick exactly what you want in the subset.

With a scene, it saves everything, including render settings. Often when I merge, I don't want the render settings to get altered.

Finally if you are viewing it in smart content or content library, double clicking on a scene will load it by default (not merge). Double clicking on a set will merge it into the current scene by default.

nicstt

You can pretty much merge anything, or so it looks like; you'll get told if something can't be done.

Although, sometimes part of a merge just won't happen.

If you save a full scene and merge it than the items in the scene will be merged, but certain aspects related to render settings (i've noticed) do not.

Richard Haseltine

The main difference for loading is the default behaviour - double-click a Scene and it loads inplace of the current scene, asking if you wish to save any changes, double-click a Scene Subset and it merges.

Silent Winter

When saving a scene-subset, can't you choose which parts to save?  So if you've got a busy scene and want to save just part of it out for use elsewhere, you could save it as a subset without having to delete bits.

Toonces

Correct. You can check which objects you want to save.

I also like it for saving created figures. I suppose there is always saving as 'character preset', but subset is so generic, you can use it for lots of purposes.