3D Artist magazine just told me they want to feature my work in their Readers’ Gallery. Only problem is, they want a higher res image and I have messed up the .blend file so that I could 3D print it. I checked the auto saves and couldn’t find what I needed. Is there any way to recover the older .blend? I’d just make the scene again but it has fluid sim and stuff and it would be a huge pain.
Thanks!
Just to be clear, you don’t have a backup of the original file (before you messed it up for the 3D print), and the autosaves don’t have what you’re looking for? Are you thinking along the lines of blend files saving multiple versions of the same file within the file? I always save multiple versions of my work as i progress (and even then i usually copy stuff to multiple layers), and everything (at least the core blend files) is backed up on dropbox. So, while i’m not an expert on the subject, i doubt you can recover your work.
Yeah I only have 1 version, no backups. I don’t think it’s possible to recover. I’m re-making the scene at the moment.
Hi,
One last chance would be to try in the temp folder where blender does some auto backups.
On windows that would be c:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\Temp ( if you don’t see the “AppData” dir, enable “display hidden files & folders” in windows settings. )
it usually contains some blend files named numericaly where you might find an older version.
If nothing is there or you are using another architecture and/or OS, lookup in Blender > File > User Preferences (or Ctrl+Alt+U) > The “File” tab
That would show the different dirs Blender is using and amongst them the path of the Temp directory ( where autobackups are stored )
In the very worst case there are many re-topology tools, features & techniques to redo a low-res version in no time even from very complex meshes.
-EDIT- Also, an even faster method to find the folder containing the autobackup files, Research a file called “quit.blend” on your computer, the other backups would be in the same directory.
Omg this is an ancient thread, but you just saved my life!!!
All my animation was lost (no clue why…) and all the backups I made were (for some reason 
) made before I animated… But I found one file containing the animation in the temp folder!!! You’re my hero!! 
I literally just signed up to thank you xD
Thanks dude, much appreciated ! (This is an old account of mine.)
I just made an account to thank you as well. You saved my life tears steaming down face