Splitting one model into two models...

[Capt Fuzzy]

I'm still trying to grasp using Blender, so this may have been answered elsewhere, but I was just not able to find it, for whatever reason.
I have a model that basically has two parts, but is compiled as one model.
What I would like to do is separate the parts and use one part as a bodygroup, so that the complete model is still available, but the second part can be removed if needed.

So my question is this: How do I pull this off?
I am trying to separate a hotdog model into the "dog" and bun, with the bun being bodygrouped so that it can still be used as a complete hotdog...

[Zenogias]

I guess you just need to use seperate ,just select the face that you want to be seperated and press P --> By Selection.

After that the model would be splitted into a new piece.

[Capt Fuzzy]

Originally posted by Zenogias:

I guess you just need to use seperate ,just select the face that you want to be seperated and press P --> By Selection.

After that the model would be splitted into a new piece.

That's a start, thank you, now.., how do I make the "split part" a selectable bodygroup?

[The Renderer]

There is no such thing as a "bodygroup" in Blender so I'm not sure what you actually want to do here.

[Capt Fuzzy]

Originally posted by The Renderer:

There is no such thing as a "bodygroup" in Blender so I'm not sure what you actually want to do here.

Well, this is in relation to using the model in SFM...
Some models in SFM (Source Filmmaker) have "bodygroups", items and/or parts of the model, that can be added or removed. These are not the same as the "TF2 Items" that can be added, these are existing parts of the whole model that can be enabled and disabled to change the appearance of the model without having to decompile it and add or remove them manually.
In essence, they work like skins, they can be changed from within SFM...

[The Renderer]

I don't know anything about SFM but my impression after googling a little is that you have to define the bodygroup in Source by telling it which models are bodygrouped. So you'd have to export your parts as two models and then do whatever needs to be done in SFM to define the bodygroup.

But, as I said, I don't know SFM, so I might be completely off. Maybe someone will come along who did something like that before and can tell you more.

[Mailer]

The way bodygroups are laid out in preparation for SFM, or Garry's Mod at the very least, is that you just hit ALT + G on all parts to return them to the position you are intending them to be, in relation to the rest of the model, then just name the bodygroup mesh as
"nameofthemodel_whatthebodygroupisresembling".
Respectively, the thumb rule for the main model itself, that almost everybody follows, is that they tend to name it as:
"nameofthemodel_reference".

Once you've named all parts and the model itself appropriately, you export everything in a scene export, then you specify in the qc. file, which you will be making before you compile everything into files that SFM can understand, what .smd files are considered bodygroups and what aren't.