Live File Linking to Standard but non-native Formats (Like Appending; through Asset Manager)
As Blender has become a powerhouse for Rendering and especially with the addition of Eevee; I would love to see the ability integrated to update a blender file based on objects updated from another software. Seeing that it would be a nightmare to try and support many different proprietary formats; my idea is to support several universal formats that are easy to find documentation for how the file structure works.
FBX would likely be one at the top of the list for many people,
OBJ as well.
STEP & IGES; This is my personal preference as these formats are industry standard for exchanging data between not only product design and engineering; but also including architecture as well. SAT is another possibility in this category.
BTW; this is only intended to support "3D Objects"; not things such as lights, materials, etc.
I know that it has been mentioned that there is coming support for NURBS data. I see this as an extension and benefit of that. I would prefer to not convert NURBS to Mesh if possible; but if I had to, it would be preferred to have the software look for a file, detect changes, and ask to propagate changes it detects from the linked file. (Perhaps giving the user a preview window with mesh resolution settings if it is converting something to mesh. And perhaps since its linking to a file that it is not overwriting; the resolutions can be changed at a later point if needed.)
Think about how powerful this would be to create renderings and animation during a project. Without it; you pretty much have to rework many things over and over again as the design data changes. (Lots of wasted time.) With this feature the ability to show renderings and animations at any point during the design process becomes a breeze.
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Something like the asset management of Unreal Engine, where FBX's get monitored and updated, or assets automatically updated when copied and imported - yes.
@ondraise15: I might suggest this feature keeping incremental save states; so that the user is notified of updates, & can update; or refuse updates if they desire.
Another aspect which I perhaps should have specified:
The linked data should update based on object names. So as long as my groups & object names stay the same in the software that created it; saving or overwriting the standard formats maintains the existing links. And if I want new versions of existing data; I could copy and paste it; and name it something different; so it comes in as a "new object" or at least gives me the option to link it if I desire.
Where did you hear that there is nurbs support coming? Is STEP support on the horizon?
@dpdpforlife: It was mentioned in passing by Ton Roosendaal at the announcement of 2.8 at the blender conference. It wasn't necessarily a big point of focus; but he did mention that future versions Blender should be able to open and work with CAD files, including NURBS. If I remember correctly he also talked about 3D printing at this point as well. I take it that this is not the focus of the "Code Quest" however . . .
@mcolinp: Ok. I'm working on getting STEP import going myself. I didn't want to repeat the work that they are doing, since I've realized I may have to pay an outside firm for a modification of their code to make it work. I'm waiting to hear back on what that price will be. If it is more than my company can shoulder, I will need to reach out to others to raise the funds. I would hate to do all of that work and have Blender 2.81 come out with it's own version of STEP support built in. I may need to reach out to blender foundation for more info on this.
@dpdpforlife: The mention I recall was very vague; so I would encourage you to reach out to the Blender foundation. I'm certain they would appreciate the help in tackling this, and may perhaps dedicate some resources to help you out. Please keep us updated if you need help testing anything. I myself am not a programmer; but would be happy to give input & or insight where it can be helpful.