How can you join objects without merging vertex groups? (2.79b) everyone. I am using Blender 2.79b, and I am running into trouble. I have a character mesh that I created, and then selectively separated into multiple objects for easy editing (outer skin, teeth, claws, mouth, etc). I created a vertex group for each object, with the same name as the object. Now that I have finished tweaking things, I am attempting to recombine all of the objects as one using Ctrl+J. However, when I do this, all of my vertex groups seem to merge into one, which is screwing with my textures, my UVs, all of it. Is there a way to join objects without actually merging vertex groups? I have searched on Google, asked in FB groups, and looked at the suggested posts on this site for my question title (didn't find anything that actually matched there). Any help at all would be appreciated.
You need to give them different names. If you have two objects with the same vertex group's names they will merge into one vertex group. If you have objects with different vertex group's names they will stay separated as before.
I hope it helps.