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  • Published 21 Nov 2024

Blender file save as ascii

Save a blender file as Ascii instead of binary format

Why: there has been multiple times something has corrupted a save file and its predecessor saves and its unrecoverable. But supporting ascii format, we can at least get the opportunity to rectify the issue, A great example of this is maya. I have recovered many projects that are unable to open or function simply by opening it up in vscode or other text editors and finding the issue and fixing it / removing the bug. not always can all data be saved but a lot can be. (i am aware maya and blender are 2 very different software, this is just for reference of what im talking about so you can easily refer to a working already functioning idea)

The short term will take people a while to figure out how, but long term this makes blender far more robust than it is now, because blend files are not simply "throw away" if it gets bugged. no reason not to keep both, typically in mayas case ascii is bigger file size and less performant (unoticeable) but is recoverable and then users often resave to binary later when they want to stop working saving a lot of space.

this could benefit every one in the long run.

if you are looking for reasoning to implement this auto desk has a great case to follow. it works and its generally a good way to work..

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Development Status: Open

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Maize
21 Nov 2024

1 Comment

douglas.silvestre

Just because I'm curious, why ASCII instead of a XML code like .OBJ or .SVG?

And another doubt, create a atomic write to file process with a COW (copy on write) like BTRFS file system, wouldn't be a better solution?

For example: if a modifier is used on a cube, only the line of the code related to the modifier will will be written to a temp location inside of the file or same directory and them, after confirm the integrity of the new file, change the original?

I'm not a developer, so I might be very wrong, but a atomic write with COW can save some time while saving minor changes, or I'm wrong?

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