[Bf-funboard] file format: all data in separate files

Janek Kozicki bf-funboard@blender.org
Sat, 29 May 2004 00:33:05 +0200


hello,

what would you say about an idea of storing blender data not in a single
file, but in directories and separate files? Before flames start off
please give me a chance ;)

on this page you can see Bruno's Postle working proof of concept,
written in perl.

http://bugbear.blackfish.org.uk/~bruno/draft/

you can download it and try yourself :)


main advantages of such file format:

- infinite undo, even between blender sessions (all data is stored in
  separate text files, which can be automatically handled by version
  control system, like rcs)
- multiple separate instances of blender can work on the same file.
- or on separate parts of a big file (eg. a single object which is 
  a part of a very big scene)
- very fast save of data (only modified things are saved, so only 
  few files are changed upon each change in the mdoel)

possible disadvantages
- bigger amount of space used than regular .blend file
- more to appear after other people replies... ;)


As far as I know from my experience with blender I can see that blender
uses directory-based format inside .blend files, so maybe not that much
modifications would be required to implement this feature..


PS: I'm a programmer with C exp of circa 10years, and C++ 5 years. I
haven't hacked blender yet (still too much work around), but during
summer I want to start doing that. I'd be interested in implmenting this
little thing - blender support for alternate file format.

-- 
Janek Kozicki                                                         |