Save copy incremental
I like how "save copy" creates a new file and let you continue with your current file unchanged. I also like how "save incremental" creates a "checkpoint" of your file in just one click.
However i would prefer to be able to create a copy in one click, while still working on my file (with the name unchanged), and the copy would have the increment suffix added to it.
The benefit of this is that i just have one file name to remember when i work on a project (i don't have to look for the latest version number), and yet i know that i have many incrementally saved backups just in case something goes wrong with the current state of my file.
Also, it kind of makes sense to have your file name never changed, for instance "anim-in-hall", and know that you have backups when needed in "anim-in-hall.1", "anim-in-hall.2".
It makes perhaps even more sense if you are making a movie with multiple scenes and you already have a number in your filename, for instance "seq-heroe-2" (assuming the number 2 here refers to something in your storyboard), then it's arguably cleaner when you work on your scene 2 to find your file seq-heroe-2 instead of "seq-heroe-2.1" or "seq-heroe-2.2".
Because then what if your original name is "seq-heroe-2.1" (assuming an even bigger movie with subsequences named like this)?
Also, to make it perfect, i would suggest to actually put all those backups in a dedicated folder (ie not on the same level as the original filename), so that we don't have tons of backups files along with the original file.
So maybe the feature should be called "Save incremental backup", with the option to choose where those backups are saved, and which by default should automatically create a "backup-$" (with $ being replaced by the filename) folder at the same level as the file.
And of course, this folder name could be customized by the user (and using the $ wildcard would be possible).
A bit messy here, but hopefully this makes sense.
------update: one last benefit i can think of, having the save copy behaviour avoids having a big list of almost identical filenames in the blender splash screen, while in reality you were just editing one file and were doing some backups (so in a sense one might argue that seeing those created files as backups has more practical benefits vs seeing those created files as the newest version of your current work).
3 Comments
Ok, i actually coded a simple version of it.
For those interested it's there: github.com/lingtalfi/blender-save-incremental-backup
The incremental save from the File menu and from the Save File Pie menu does the "create a copy in one click, while still working on my file", but by changing the current file name.
To have the same behavior but having the incrementation done in the copy file instead of the current file, IMHO it's exactly what the " Save Versions " should do. Right now it increments the file extension, which makes it annoying because you have to register a default software for earch iteration (and redo that at each Blender update) and you have to rename your files to use them properly.
If that feature could instead just be an automatic increment while keeping the current open file name intact, it would be just what you ask, there would be no need for extra addons just to "publish".
Or if we really want to keep the two systems separate, then maybe have this proposal's paradigm as an option of the current incremental save system.
In the meantime, Save with Versioning — Blender Extensions is pretty useful too.
thanks, i tried it, but it does change the filename of the file i'm currently working on (i tried both options "Save Increment" and "Save Publish").
The point of my suggestion was to avoid this behaviour (ie continue working on the exact same file, just as "Save as Copy" currently does in 4.3, but having the incremental backup saved in the background, and all that in one click).