Some more up-to-date information can also be found on the active tasks:
The bundle file is to be treated as read-only. But instead of packing it inside the Blender binary (e.g., as we do for the startup.blend) we have them in a folder as part of the Blender package or installation.
For example: blender-3.4.0-linux-x64/3.5/datafiles/assets
The files will all be accessible. Nothing is ever completely hidden. The concern behind this decision is purely to not lead users to accidentally destroy vital assets and having to reinstall Blender.
And âread-onlyâ usually refers to the way the assets are accessed in the Blender UI. Just like how the modifiers cannot be edited or deleted in the UI, the same should be true for assets that are essential for Blender to function.
call it a fallacy as you may, i call it : âThatâs what i want to hear so i will call it a fallacyâ
so what, would you like me to wait till it will be bloated as the versions go-by, come back and say âI told you so?â for it not to be a fallacy? who will it help.
as far as the update link to the current on-going project
You know, i was considering as a joke, to write âJust bundle it to the binary or make it a binary blobâ but you guys actually considered that? seriously?
and âread-onlyâ usually refers to the way the assets are accessed in the Blender UI. Just like how the modifiers cannot be edited or deleted in the UI, the same should be true for assets that are essential for Blender to function.
stop âDefending the user for his own sakeââŚ
Read-only is not a hidden directory flag, we both know that (I hope), read-only is acceptable.
Thank you, I do find some comfort knowing that blender developers take concern regarding online connectivity.
I hope that hidden folder part for the sake of hiding information (Not to be confused with config files stored in a shared folder for migration and upgrade reasons) is off the table.
I uploaded the teeth and the hand to a repo. Feel free to change anything you feel needs tweaking.
Ideally the hand/foot/mouth interior would be split off parts of the same basemesh. Iâd go as far as using the same basemesh for semi-stylized and realistic (seen that many times in production), but definitely between male and female.
I added a foot to the repo if itâs still needed. Same deal as with the hands, based on scans and a halfway mix between male and female. As with the other ones, Iâd say these are more fit for sculpting basemeshes (obviously everyone has different preferences) than for anim because of the grid like topology.
Also added an average eyeball (2.42cm). Usually requirements for these can differ a lot depending on shader setups (layered iris, double sided cornea, aqueous humour, etc.) but this should work well enough as a base, in terms of the geo. -
From left to right these would be male, female, neutral. These are based on scans, an equal mix of African, Asian and European heads to get fairly generic features.
What I think is important is setting expectations. Professionals have their own meshes anyhow, so bundled assets are more something for beginners or non modelers to play with, try sculpting tools or the new groom groups. With that being said, I can clean up the topo and UVs and add these in a couple days - feel free to use them if you think theyâre useful.
Regarding the idea of profesionals have their own base meshes, only specialized character modeling professionals have their own base meshes, in small studios that do a mixture and variety of projects we donât always have our own studied bases meshes, so even for small studios these are very useful
We just used the Snow base mesh to rapidly remodel one of our own characters, the model has nothing to do wiht Snow, neither the style, but having the base mesh allowed us to be super fast and be able to work with multires rather than having to do a full sculpt / retopo, so it accelerated the process quite a bit, Iâm very grateful for this, and I think having base meshes of different types in the bundle itâs a very very interesting thing and very very useful
Basemeshes with a super clean Topology and UVs are also very useful when being used as a quick reskin on top of other geometry. Or really just as is, really. No matter if youâre a professional or not. Over the last years I came to realize that the definition of what encompasses âprofessionalsâ can differ a lot from studio to studio or evn the persons working therein.
So yeah - clean basemeshes may not be useful to everybody or in any situation but I can asure you there will even be professionals who will use them once in a while and be thankful for them, then.
We are in the process of setting in stone what exactly should be allowed to be an âEssentialâ asset and therefore ship with Blender by default.
This could be for example only âutilitiesâ or âinstructionsâ for very basic assets like high level node groups, material setups and brush presets.
For the sake of growing this base mesh asset library into the best quality and range, we should offer it as an additional asset bundle on blender.org. Eventually there can also be an addon in Blender to directly download the assets within Blender.
@Tonatiuh This means we wouldnât need to be too harsh with file size and could even add multires levels if needed for some assets.
When offering this library as a _bundle.blend file, you even get the option to install the assets and add the bundle to an existing asset library. This is what we should do.
As an idea, for the additional official bundles, there can be a simple addon, like the ol dblender cloud addon, that can make easy to download the additional official bundles, that addon would not be enabled by default, but it could add a button in the asset browser to facilitate the download of the extended bundles.
A bit of background for this one - itâs a bit of a mix between a more technical topology geared towards facial shapes, and a sculpt friendly topology. I didnât make it a proper technical mesh to maintain a lowres - midres subdiv relation, and didnât make it âpurely for sculptingâ mesh because I donât think those are particularly good if one wants so make facial expressions.
Parts where this might differ from a more generic quad topo is brow, ocular and chin areas -
This way we donât have to sculpt against the flow when doing a browLowerer or a lipCornerDepressor.
Corrugator movement -
depressor labi -
That being said, I will make a sculpting friendly flow as well just for good measure. Itâs just about finding the time after the daily grind.
Next up would be making a generic female hopefully next week, and add a more grid like topo for this one as well.
Thatâs good to know! Iâm glad if theyâre useful. Itâs easy to get tunnel vision when in a specialized department. Basically everyone I know has their own basemeshes and super specialized preferences on where 5poles should be, where to cut UVs, how many loops are acceptable and where.
edit:
Added a version more geared towards sculpting. Not sure whatâs more practical for people.
Okey! so Iâm thinking in doing the planar meshes with the method we talk about and the ecorche with your realistic mesh and a multirres? For the realistic skull do you think it can go like it is or it is better to make a remesh and give it a multirres also?
The realistic full body mesh are you thinking in the one from charge, or do you want me to do one based on the ecorche but with fat and skin?
@dan2 Iâll add those to the repo
I think both are very useful.
@Tonatiuh That sounds good. For the skull it would be best if it is a low res base with mutlries subdivs.
Iâll eventually spend some extra time on the base mesh from Charge for extra subdiv levels and more detail. This is just with the aim to have a more realistic result with skin and all.
The models you were working on (planar and realistic ecorche) should also be included because they offer a different base mesh and anatomy reference. Feel free to use the current base meshes as topology and reproject your sculpt on them.
I updated the list in the description. We almost have all needed realistic and stylzied base meshes!
Thanks so much for the contributions. This will be an amazing free asset bundle that will help so many users
Any mesh analysis and 3D printing analysis done on those meshes before accepted?
to make sure you can also 3D print them or its not part of the goal?
adhering to 3D printing will complicate topology making by a lot, but if we want to do it right, maybe taking 3D printing into account for the asset bundle.
Mine have a mirror modifier but I donât know if Julien will apply it or not, if it is apply it should be manifold. and ready to print. The full body planar ecorche will be also.
you can test, as blender got a tool for 3D-printing analysis (2 tools actually), its not just about manifold but many other parameters, hence the part in which i wrote that it will make proper topology creation more difficult.
I use mesh analysis outside of 3D printing, mostly checking for âDistortionâ , the reason is for deformations (shape keys / rigging), if your topology is bad, animating it will cause artifacts and shading problems, regardless of 3D printing or not.
However, before we start tackling these issues, first , we need to be clear if 3D printing is a requirement for asset bundles or not.
Basically everyone I know has their own basemeshes and super specialized preferences on where 5poles should be, where to cut UVs, how many loops are acceptable and where.
