Help: Combining Two or More Objects Into One

How do you combine two or more objects into one so they both count as one object?

It's called linking prims and you can find instructions here:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Copy_and_Link_a_prim

Start editing one of them. Push and hold your shift key and select the second one. Now you have both selected. Under the Tools menu at the top of your screen, choose to link them together (if memory serves me correctly the keyboard shortcut for it is control L).

Note that the last object you select before linking them becomes what is known as the "root prim." The name of the final linked object will be the same as the name of that particular "root" object, and the actual location of the entire linked object will be the location of the root prim.

Hope this helps you.

Just to clarify...they won't "count" as one prim, even after you link them. It'll be one object consisting of two prims.

One more thing - supposing you link , say, a washbasin, bath and toilet and a floor as a single bathroom module, there's no easy way to unlink the separate complete objects - you'd have to unlink all the prims and then re-link them into the separate objects.

One thing this is used a lot with is necklaces. So here is a detailed example of how to link several into one object.

You need to be somewhere that allows ressing objects and has plenty of prims left for ressing because necklaces can easily have 100 or more prims. This is a good time to mention that 255 prims is the maximum any single object can have. If you have two necklaces each with 150 prims, they will not link. The resulting object will have too many prims.

Getting started, res a pose stand and hop on. Next, res one of the necklaces on the ground. Go to edit mode and position it over your avatar as if you were wearing it. Res the next necklace and do the same again.
Finally, res a cube. Set the cube's dimensions to 0.05, 0.05, 0.05. Change it into a sphere. Move it so that it completely hidden in the center of your neck and nestled in with the other necklaces.

Stand up now and pick up the pose stand. This will leave the two necklaces and a small ball hanging in the air. Edit the ball and change the name to what you want the final object to be called. Once all that is done you are ready to link the final build.

Edit one of the necklaces. Hold down shift and click on the other necklace. Then, while holding shift, click on the ball. Whatever is the last prim you select will become the root prim. This will give name of the object along with a few other points, like showing who is the object creator; in this case, you. Once everything is selected, go to the top menu and click Tool > Link. That's it. The act of linking is simple. Understanding what all happens when you link something is the long part.

This technique can be used with more than necklaces.

If your hair comes in two parts, bangs and a main hair object, you can link the two together. Or you can add a hat or a hair ornament to your hair, without using up another attachment point.

Linked objects have dangers. I have inadvertently changed every texture in a large linked house, when I only meant to change the textures on one of its prims.

Linking prims into a single object also gives that object a single sit target. This can be a problem with, for example, a couch...where you want several avatars to sit on the cushions, not one avatar sitting on the arm or the back of the furniture.

Besides the 255 prim linking limit, there is a distance limit. Objects whose centers are more than 30 m apart generally will not link. (This distance appears to be less, if the objects themselves are small).

I think that would be an issue if you're just using the standard click sit action on a linked build , but you could still use a scripted sit target to have sits on individual prims and still have it all linked.

As an aside, all great tips from the forums but I'm sure we've thoroughly confused the OP with all this extraneous info lol.

You can also pick up unrelated objects all at once, keeping them in the same distance, by right clicking one, choose edit. Then while holding down the shift key, right click each other thing you want to pick up with it, and choose edit also. When done, WHILE keeping the edit open, right click the whole thing and choose "TAKE."

If you want things permanently linked, like pieces of a chair you are making, then right click/edit, hold down shift and click/edit, then when you have clicked them all, hold down CTRL and hit L key.

Should be done. The last thing you clicked will be your 'root prim.' Sometimes that matters, sometimes not.

Well this isn't totally accurate, it's fairly simple to unlink just the washbasin prims from the bath and toilet and a floor, leaving those linked and just one action to link the washbasin.

This.......I have done this when tired ,many times ,and the first time I didn't make a back up.
Now I back up my stuff frequently as I build,