Option to unpack .blend file for Subversion pipeline
Curently, all blender files are saved as .blend (like a .zip file that can be compressed or uncompressed) that contain all blender files (images, meshes, etc...)
This method of saving is very convenient to keep all files in the same place, to duplicate all easily, and I think it should remain as the default way blender files behave.
But I think it would be important to allow users to save the .blend file differently.
A .blend file could still remain in the project directory, but all Actions, Brusyhes, Cameras, Collections, Curves, GreacePencil, Images, Lights, Line Styles, Materials, Meshes, NodeGroups, Objects, Palettes, Scenes, Screens, Texts, Windows Managers, Workspaces and Worlds could be saved in a .blendasset file inside a subfolder in the same directory of the project.
This would allow the use of SVN and reduce the time it takes to save with low transfer speed (HHD or NAS) as it would only write changed assets, and not all.
2 Comments
The actual solution if you want file versioning to work well with blend files is to have them written in plain text. Some fotwares have the option, i.e. maya can write either in binary .mb files (what blender does) or in ascii .ma files.
Also, ascii files are easier to recover.
It's been requested already, and discussed more in depth:
blender.community/c/rightclickselect/RJbbbc/
Writing each data block in a separate files doesn't really help, and it will surely make a mess for users to deal with.
Thanks for the explanation, and yes the files data structure might not be the best, I wasn't aware of those discussions, thanks !