[Bf-taskforce25] Elubie Asset Manager

[William Reynish]

Hi Elubie,

Hope you don't mind me posting this on the taskforce.

I've been looking over your proposal for a future asset manager space  
type, located here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BlenderDev/Blender2.5/AssetBrowser 
  I promised to give some feedback on this, so here are some comments.

The concept of such an area of Blender is a great one, and the  
functionality this provides is much needed. Currently it's quite hard  
to keep track of the linked data you're using, it's really hard to  
relink things, remove links, move things around between files. And one  
of the simplest things conceptually, deleting data, is sometimes all  
but impossible in Blender(!), because Blender can only remove data  
when it has no users, yet there is no easy way of seeing where data  
blocks are being used.

These problems cry for a solution - a better way to *manage* the data  
that we already have in Blender, and the data we reference from other  
files. An asset manager, replacing the all but useless databrowse, is  
therefor in good order.


Additionally, the prospect of being able to use presets is nice. Over  
the years some users have built library blend files with materials and  
textures, but the clunky Append workflow means this was never very  
efficient (You had to first import your data, then decide if it is  
useful, and then fight with the system to remove it again).

A better presets system also means we can keep the Blender install  
very lightweight, because we don't pack in a ton of data, yet still  
make it easy and fast to load items from a central library.

These are the two main use-cases I can think of for the asset manager:  
data management and presets.

Now for the actual UI you've proposed:

* I like the fact that you have the same basic structure of a source  
list on the left and a content area of the right, shared by other  
editors in Blender

* Previews will make it very easy, fast to recognize items. This is a  
no-brainer for materials and textures, but would be fantastic if this  
could work for any type of data - meshes, curves, even animation data?  
(Not easy!)

* I like the idea of auto-discovery by inputting just a path, and  
Blender then simply aggregates all the data from Blend files in that  
path. Could even eventually work for things on networks, online(?)  
Similarly that these library links are not saved in the individual  
blend files, but accessible from any file.

* I'm not sure, but judging on the mockups it seems there is no way of  
interacting with data that's already inside the current blend file?  
Perhaps you envisage this asset manager to only deal with linked data,  
or do I misinterpret? I think it would be quite vital to manage the  
data that's already in the file, for reusing assets from the same  
file, for deleting data - all the management stuff.

* I don't understand the Groups region. Is it for actual Blender  
groups, or is it more like a favorites list? It seems like it's a way  
to group library blends. If so, why have two source lists, one grouped  
and one not? IMO it'd be a little simpler, cleaner to just have one  
source list, where you can add folders (not folders in the file  
system) for grouping items if you wish.

* I think if you have that much data, from many many blend files in  
one list it's quickly going to get very long ;) Therefore the  
filtering options are important. The data type filter at the top makes  
it quick to see only materials, only textures etc (You almost always  
know what *type* of data you're looking for) but only if the buttons  
are mutually exclusive. Holding shift can always be used for enabling  
multiple data types if desired. Additionally, it'd be great to get a  
search field too (can be on top right, next to the filter). Hopefully  
this will get implemented in the Outliner too.

*Using the little arrow to move files into the Groups pane is a little  
clunky. Perhaps could use the new drag n drop API to move to folders?


I've edited your mockup slightly (hope you don't mind!) to clarify  
some of the points. Added a 'current file' item in the source list,  
search field, combined the source lists, added New Folder button:

http://www.reynish.com/files/blender25/asset_manager.png

Cheers,

-William