Folder Structure

[philnolan3d]

I'm brainstorming here. I wonder if it would be useful to have a Content Directory for your 3DC project like LightWave does. Suppose I'm a game studio i could have a content directory for my "town" environment. In there I have folders for 3DC files, maybe one for objects to import, images, and other stuff like exported curves. In the images folder I could have all of the Materials for my "town" environment, like bricks, wooden planks, etc. Then I could have another Content Directory for my "forest" environment that my have an Images folder where I keep materials for tree bark, rocks, dirt, and the like. And when I switched Content Directories 3DC would automatically load up those materials. or when I want to load a curve that I like using form trees the file requester would automatically start in the correct folder.

Any thoughts?

[polyxo]

I'm brainstorming here. I wonder if it would be useful to have a Content Directory for your 3DC project like LightWave does. Suppose I'm a game studio i could have a content directory for my "town" environment. In there I have folders for 3DC files, maybe one for objects to import, images, and other stuff like exported curves. In the images folder I could have all of the Materials for my "town" environment, like bricks, wooden planks, etc. Then I could have another Content Directory for my "forest" environment that my have an Images folder where I keep materials for tree bark, rocks, dirt, and the like. And when I switched Content Directories 3DC would automatically load up those materials. or when I want to load a curve that I like using form trees the file requester would automatically start in the correct folder.

Any thoughts?

I would not like something like this.

Usually I find a programs assumption about typical workflows and convinient data storage

not very matching with my needs. An option to set default search paths could help though.

[philnolan3d]

Well it could be fairly generic. Like for example, LightWave uses folders called Objects, Scenes, Images, and then you can set others but I just make a folder called Other and it seems to always find everything in there.

[Iaian7]

I would definitely appreciate something similar to Lightwave (which, incidentally, lets you completely customize your folder naming conventions if you want). Right now I'm still fighting with file saving in 3DC, and finding the lack of even a default project directory setting very... taxing!

[ifxs]

I use lightwave(10+ years) and blender(1-2 years) as my main 3D packages for non-sculpting work. I appreciate LightWave's folder structure, however, IMO I feel its unnecessary as it is arbitrary and cumbersome compared to my own style of folder/project structures(always have felt so). Such a specific file structure teaches/forces discipline, but doesn't often encompass the dynamic aspects of many pipelines/workflows(especially non-local workflows with teams working on different assets). In fact the default lightwave structure is quite a bother when the preferences need to be updated or reset(sometimes after an upgrade), or worse you have to move or split your content directories up across multiple drives, then you have to reset the file pointers in the prefs, and start creating shortcuts/aliases to point to directories on multiple drives or on NAS storage systems for interoffice LAN pipellines. Thus my folder structure when working alone or with a team on a particular project does not lend itself to the arbitrary folder-structure choices of a particular developer...

That said, I have a specific style of folder structure I used for my 3D Coat work, one of which I change/evolve when need be, one I've created and can easily create/repeat for each new project.

Project Folder:

"3B files":

"Textures":

"Source Material References":

"Exported versions(for other apps)":

"etc, etc, etc..."

IMO for NAS based team work on larger projects, and most all of my current projects, I am finding FAR SUPERIOR Blender's style of linking/appending in external files/meshes/images/animations/etc from local AND non-local files into the main scene you are working on. It's like being able to refresh the scene file you are working on in and SVN style manner with all external elements that are instanced/linked in the current scene updated to reflect any changes(rigs/materials/meshes/node composite groups) made to the linked local and non-local ".blend" files.

This style of workflow, similar to that of the higher-end nodal compositing apps(fusion/foundry-nke/etc) is a more modern approach to working with multi-asset pipelines than that of "old school" styles similar to those of Lightwave.

Speaking of lightwave, I wouldn't be surprised if CORE comes close to the instanced/linked-asset style non-linear workflow I'm speaking of, I feel you can see hints of this as the last round of additions to lightwave 9.6 finally brought to it's users the ability to dynamically import CERTAIN/more elements from other scenes without the need for exporting. I'm not a CORE beta tester, as it's very unimpressive at this point IMO, it looks more like a mashup of Silo & Blender for a ton more $$$, we'll see though. Again, I've no disrespect for LightWave, but if you know anything about the issues NewTek has had, and that the main developers of LightWave left to create a certain other piece of cool software, then you might have a hint of what I'm saying.

[Digital777]

Thoughts would be yes it would be great to have something like this. Most of what i have right now with 3DC is not that organized and i think having a main location in My Documents with all main resources in folders than can also have sub folders would be a good thing to do. Having things mixed in with program folders is not good and organized browsing would be very useful and great for workflow. Also if you could have folders for brushes etc and it automatically loads them and refreshes the listings when things change this would be good. I recently suggested favorite folders and a built in previewer for models here -

http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5061

This would also be nice because you could quickly find things when importing and view them to decide if you want to load them or not.