Material Library
I think that Blender should have a small material library. It would be fairly easy to add this feature and maybe there could be a "community call" like with the matcaps but this time for materials. In the material tab under the "New" button could be a "Material Library" button to access the material library and if you select and add a material it just behaves like a normal material. And you should be able to add your own materials to the material library so that you can easily access your custom materials in all your other projects without the need to append/link a material from a specific project. Of course the materials should work in Cycles and in Eevee but this shoudn't be a problem. Since the material node editor is not that easy especially for beginners it would be a nice feature without that much effort.
13 Comments
This has been requested a lot over the years. As an artist, you can start this now by creating your own library of materials. Then you can submit that to the development team for inclusion with Blender.
Developers have been working on the underpinnings for a asset library for a while... but it won't do any good without having actual assets to populate that library. Get started now.
* @Jason van Gumster * ah ok there...
* @Jason van Gumster * this is exactly what I told. but about assets it could be exactly like the addons tab is working. then you check uncheck. and maybe just an option in materials to see extend materials when you are choosing them. and maybe another entry in shift A of the nodes
it's on the radar already...
* @ Lsscpp * where exactly ?
* @Orphydian * 2.81...
* @zgorg2004 * where can i get the info on this ? there are many thigns left for 2.81 but there are far from priorities
* @Orphydian * pablo told it in one of his last blender today vids. you can find them on YT.
Theirs the Asset Manager addon. It's really nice
* @othoap * thats freemium
* @othoap * this is not the same idea
i.imgur.com/t2Qvaed.jpg Will an Asset Manager for 2.81 have this functionality? If I understand correctly - no. I need a manager of the materials used in the scene. With the possibility of organizing materials in the collection. With the ability to delete unused materials, delete duplicates with the same properties, delete duplicates with the same names (001, 002...).
We have a window for managing objects - Outliner. But we do not have a window for material management.
I erased my request because of this existing one, it was: If you are looking the tab addon in Blender. you can find a "communauty" and "testing" tab. so why not the same about materials? and maybe a system of links to not increase the size of Blender. so very close but I think the idea of links is a good one, and the parallel with the way addons are working too