[Bf-committers] Materials Library for Blender

[Brecht Van Lommel]

Hi,

I don't know if Blender should include a material library in the
download, will leave that to others to discuss. But perhaps it makes
sense to support loading from an online library really well? With
local caching so that it's quick. Then you don't have to worry about
download size and can extend this to other types of assets too.

But regarding the implementation, I strongly suggest to do this .blend
file based. With XML file formats you have to keep them in sync to
support all Blender features, and when the data structures change you
would need to do conversion, etc. But it also makes sense to design
this in a way that it can be extended to a generic asset system that
can also handle meshes, worlds, brushes, textures, lamps, .. in the
future.

Maybe it will need some extra work at the start since you already have
a working XML system, but I think that in the long run a .blend based
system will be easier to maintain. We have a file format to store
Blender data, so we should use that instead of inventing new ones.

Brecht.

On Sat, Jun 15, 2013 at 2:45 PM, Brendon Murphy
<meta.androcto1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I would like to propose a materials library in Blender, initially this
> would be for Cycles but could be extended to include BI.
> To this end, I would ask the Blender developers if they want a materials
> library in Blender? & how best to go about it?
>
> Currently:
> The materials library UI would be done in py.
> We can read write cycles materials including osl in xml format, similar to
> themes.
> We could then use the scripts addon directory for testing & move to the
> presets folder if in Blender.
> It is also possible to use a file append system & pack a .blend full of
> mats with fake user & append by name. (not as nice imo)
> What would be the preferred method for the Blender development team to
> include a materials library in Blender Release?
>
> There may be some small work by Blender dev's, mainly api considerations
> which can easily be solved with mutual co-operation. File size can be kept
> down, the matlib would be 2 - 3 meg extra to Blender at most. Larger
> matlibs & individual mats could be easily distributed between Blender end
> users as they are now with xml theme's & .blend material libs.
> One of the best example so far is the online matlib in contrib. We know it
> needs some repairs & are working towards this.
>
> The goal is to provide Blender with a system to load & save materials & to
> provide users with decent starting point with materials types from within
> Blender.
> What 'We' (Peter Cassetta, Myself, Blendswap & any other interested coders,
> consultants, sponsors) can offer is a smallish material library in Blender,
> with load & save settings & the option to browse a larger lib online from a
> trusted source, be it b.org or blendswap or other.
>
> We are asking this 'Proposal' because to undertake this takes many
> manhours, some of which will be sponsored, If it's agreed on methods for
> Release status, Blender devs will only be asked to let the mat lib devs
> know before any major api changes so we can be prepared in advance to
> repair & avoid 'Release' breakages well before they happen., or to do as
> ideasman does & fix, where possible, the breakages caused by new api/c
> code. (which is wonderful & much appreciated.)
> Let's get a materials Library in Blender for 2.70
> What do you think?
>
> Thanks :)
> Brendon Murphy (meta-androcto)
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