← All ideas
  • Published 5 Jun 2025

Automate or make user-friendly the exchange of Marked Assets between Blend files belonging to Asset Library|Browser system

Hello, folks;

Although I haven't come up with an ideal technical solution, this proposition reinforces the existence of a handicap in the current state of the Asset Library|Browser system when it comes to a more user-friendly Workflow.

The main Workflow problem is this one:

  1. Imagine I'm working on a project and it has two Blend files: the first one (named "Big Scene") for a complete scene that will be Rendered as the final project, and a second one (named "Furniture") serving as a Source file for sharing plenty of Linked Assets .

  2. Now, consider I want to make a new Table Asset for the "Big Scene". My wish, is to be able to create it entirely in the "Big Scene" Blend file itself, and then immediately have it 'registered' (that is, Mark it as an Asset for the Asset Browser) in the "Furniture" Blend file. Alas, THIS, is not possible currently; but I believe it should be implemented. There is a (not so simple) workaround, but, I'm sorry, it is literally very stupid: it consists of Asset-Marking the Table Asset created in the "Big Scene" Blend file, Saving the file, then Opening the other "Furniture" Blend file, inside of which we'll be Linking (from the Asset Browser itself), that Table Asset, and then we'll RE-Mark it as Asset, EXCEPT now FOR the correct Blend file ("Furniture"), THEN (very badly) we will end up having temporarily DOUBLE ASSET-MARKED ASSET (2 of the same Assets) in the Asset Browser... but now we're gonna solve that, so we need to Save the new Source ("Furniture") Blend file, Close it, then Re-Open (or just go back) to the "Big Scene" Blend file, and inside it UNCHECK its own Asset-Marked Table Asset...... and then, finally, it should be solved...!!!!! *EXCEPT that now there might still exist another little issue: that is, we might have to MANUALLY replace/substitute, any Table Object/Instance that remains inside "Big Scene" file, for that 'corrected' version of it, which is the Table Asset Linked version FROM the Asset Browser coming FROM the correct ("Furniture") Source Blend file as expected for the project.


EDIT: *Actually, such potentially extra, managerial step the user might have to employ working from the "Big Scene" Blend file in the very end, would correspond to a secondary issue. However, that related issue, might be solved by an extra Operator/Option (Adjust Last Operation Region?), something that would be: 'Refresh/Substitute/Replace the just Exchanged Marked-Asset Asset/Collection/Object/Instances...) by the Marked Asset from the Source Blend file ("Furniture")'. In this way, at the same time that the Marked-Asset is 'Exchanged' between the Destination & Source Blend files, we can also command Blender to automatically make Links for the Table 'Asset'... because if we just make the Marked as Asset 'Exchange', the Table 'Asset' (in the "Big Scene" opened file in this example), it will just throw away its own Asset-Marked Property, hence it cannot be called an "Asset" anymore: it just became a simple Object (or Instance) that has no relation to the Asset Browser; but, as it is about throw away its Asset-Marked Property, we may still exchange what it is, by its own Exchanging pair: the newly Asset-Marked Table from the Source "Furniture" Blend file in the Asset Browser|Library system. This might be almost unreadable... but I intend to record a video reference in this post to make everything clearer.


So, why not just have an Operator or Option, that would Automate ALL of those tedious tasks?

Fundamentally: something that would allow to: 'Exchange a Marked Asset between different Blend files belonging to a same Asset Library|Browser system' (in principle, in my example, take it away from the Table Asset in the Currently Open Blend file ["Big Scene"], and grant it to the Table Asset but in another Blend file ["Furniture"]. I supect that might also mean Auto-Generating the Table Asset in tha "Furniture" Blend file, but FROM the Current "Big Scene" Blend file, right? Would Blender not have permission to do this? If so, why? If it those are just Blend files, in the same computer, and more than that, in the same Asset Browser|Library system?

so we don't have to do all those frustrating and complicated steps (very complicated to new users, as it took me months just to get in touch with the problem).


EXTRA CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION FOR ASSET LIBRARY|LIBRARY WORKFLOWS (in my creative experience):

Note that, for designing purposes, I do not want to originally create that Table Asset directly in the "Furniture" Blend file, which would make the technical aspect (of the Asset Library|Browser system) much more straighforward to handle, but, artistically, that would be a depriving creative experience, as I wouldn't have the environemental reference of the scene already existing in "Big Scene" Blend file.

Similarly, it would be quite inadequate to have to Link, to the "Furniture" Blend file (as sort of a weird, 'bakward' workaround), the environmental scene of "Big Scene", just in order to be able to create the Table Asset directly inside the "Furniture" Blend file, but this time having the available reference of that environmental scene while creating it in the Source file ("Furniture", which, ideally, should be deprived of those complete scene stuff, as its original purpose IS to be analytical, and not an entire scene, to start with).

I hope this can provide some insight. Thanks for your attention. I think the Asset Library system is a fantastic feature in Blender, and I would like to see it even better in the near future.

0%

Development Status: Open

Upvote 0 Downvote 0
pxy-gnomes
5 Jun 2025

1 Comment

jakey1947

This is waaay too much text, try to nail down exactly what the feature or process you're pitching looks like, break it into steps, make some drawings and make short 1 or two sentence statements guiding us through it

I've read half the first paragraph and my guess is :

you'd like the ability to

  • model something in one project,
  • press a "Store Asset" button which will move it into an asset library file of your choice.
  • have all references to the old asset be pointed to the new location automatically

is that correct?

first two steps, I can see that being done and it'd be great. the third on the other hand, it'd require either:

  • blender has a database of all your assets with a UUID system rather than paths - totally doable but not portable which is a huge downside
  • blender has a database of all your projects and goes back to update them all when you move the asset - technically possible but horrendously slow if you have a lot of projects