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An AssetFetch client for Blender

License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Python 99.32% PowerShell 0.38% Shell 0.30%

assetfetch-blender's Introduction

AssetFetch for Blender

This addon is a client for the AssetFetch protocol, an open system for 3D asset discovery and automated imports.

Installation

Visit the Releases page
Choose the latest version and click on "Assets" below the informative text
Download af_blender_X_Y_Z.zip from this page (not "Source code")
Go into Blender and select Edit -> Preferences -> Addons.
Then click on the Install button in the top right corner and navigate to the ZIP file (no need to unpack it).
The AssetFetch panel will be added in the right-side menu in the 3D-window.

Development Setup

This is the setup for developing the addon.

Create a symlink in your filesystem that connects the /src folder in this repository with blender's addon directory, for example on Windows this would be C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.0\scripts\addons\src.
Download the required python-dependencies:

# Make sure that you are in the root of this repository (same directory as this readme file)
# Download the required packages into the src/lib directory
pip install --target ./src/lib/ -r ./requirements.txt

Download the JSON-Schema for AssetFetch

# Download the latest json schema version for AssetFetch
# Change the -b parameter to use a different branch/tag
mkdir ./tmp
git -C ./tmp/ clone -b '0.2' --single-branch https://github.com/AssetFetch/spec.git 
cp -r ./tmp/spec/json-schema/ ./src/
rm -rf ./tmp

I recommend developing in VS Code with the Blender Development Extension by Jacques Lucke

Code overview

The addon is split into multiple modules:

operator contains all the bpy operators, meaning all the distinct actions this addon can perform.
property contains all the bpy properties that are used to store and handle the incoming data from the provider. AF stores all its data in bpy.context.window_manager.af.
ui contains the code for the individual panels, all of which are in the VIEW_3D section (meaning the window that you get by opening the right-side panel in the 3D view).
util is for miscellaneous functionality.

Every module's __init__.py imports all relevant classes and stores them in a registration_targets array from where the register() and unregister() functions read them when the addon is (un)loaded inside Blender.

The global __init__.py for the entire addon does the same pattern again by loading the registration functions from all the other modules.

Required dependencies are loaded from the /src/lib directory.

YAPF style

The following YAPF style configuration is recommended:

{based_on_style: pep8, indent_width:4, continuation_indent_width:4, continuation_align_style = fixed, column_limit: 180, use_tabs: true}

When using VSCode you can install the YAPF extension (eeyore.yapf) and add the following to your settings.json:

"yapf.args": ["--style", "{based_on_style: pep8, indent_width:4, continuation_indent_width:4, continuation_align_style = fixed, column_limit: 180, use_tabs: true}"]

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assetfetch-blender's Issues

Maintain same implementation settings when switching between assets (if possible)

When switching between different asset, the addon currently resets the implementations settings back to their default value.
This is because implementation settings might be different between assets and are therefore reloaded entirely.
However, a lot of the time they aren't actually different which makes this constant return to default values very annoying.
It would be better to store the preferred values somewhere (for example addon prefs) and apply them, if the name of the parameter is the same.

HDRI/Environment support

The plugin can't handle the loose_environment_* datablocks at all.
In order to load raw .exr or .hdr files without any surrounding supportfiles, this datablock needs to be handled.

Proper arrangement of shader nodes when importing loose materials

Currently, when importing loose materials from a loose_material_apply datablock, all material nodes get placed at (0,0) which creates a working, completely unreadable graph. Some algorithm for neatly placing all the shader nodes needs to be found and implemented.

Checkbox parameter type not yet supported

The spec allows the types text, boolean, select and fixed for parameters of variable queries.
Out of those, the boolean one is not yet supported, meaning that it does not get drawn in the GUI.

Insufficient `local_path` parsing to protect agains back-references (`../`)

The addon does not yet filter out back-references, which is an important security feature to avoid providers leaving their designated implementation directory (See "Security" section in the AF spec).

Add proper User-Agent header

The spec demands proper user agent headers on all requests, but the Plugin currently does not send them. The http.py module needs to be extended for compliance with the spec.

Properly display import progress

There is currently no way to check the progress of an ongoing import without checking the system console.
One solution to this would be to display which steps have been completed in the "Implementation Details" section of the addon.

Thumbnail handling is extremely slow and blocking the main thread

Currently, when an asset query is run the addon pull all thumbnails for all assets in advance and then loads them to be displayed in blender.

This method has several huge issues:

Thumbnails get reloaded constantly, there is no caching
Loading a large asset list with high-res thumbnails has the potential to freeze the GUI for MINUTES

A better approach would be to load the images dynamically once they get used in the GUI, maybe on another thread if that's doable.
In addition, some kind of caching should be introduced.

Respect texture aspect ratio when importing loose materials

The addon currently assumes that all maps in loose materials have a square ratio, which is not always correct.
Additional code needs to be added to check the resolution of the images and adjust the material graph accordingly.

Unable to locate JSON Schema after installing new version

At the moment it is necessary to close Blender and restart it after installing a new version because the addon seems to struggle to find the SCHEMA_PATH for JSON schema validation. This requires further inspection.

Thumbnail grid instead of single-thumbnail preview

Currently, only one thumbnail is shown at a time:

Displaying a full grid of thumbnails that the user can take it at once would make finding new assets a lot faster and easier.

Save current connection as bookmark

It would be great if it were possible to save the current connection (including credentials) as a bookmark with one button-press.

Better loading indicator for long HTTP queries

Searching for an asset or for implementations currently freezes the entire GUI until the server has responed or the request has timed out. This is obviously annoying when interacting with slow providers.

Embed Asset Fetch Spec Repository as Git Submodule

"Linking" the official Asset Fetch Spec Repository as a git submodule within this repo could make the installation a bit easier.

Display a "None of these" option for non-mandatory select parameters

When an AF-provider returns a select type parameter for a variable query that is marked as mandatory=false, then the addon must allow the user to make no selection.

Add support for `.blend` files

The addon, rather ironically, does not support .blend files at this point. This is an obvious problem for a blender addon.

Failure to parse asset implementation causes previous implementation to remain in UI

If an implementation turns out to be invalid, the plugin does not show a message to indicate that and instead simply leaves the previous implementation visible, which can be very confusing.

Bookmarks for provider initialization URLs and headers

At the moment, the provider URL and any credentials need to be typed in manually after every restart of Blender.
It would be much better to move this configuration to the addon preferences and have a proper bookmarking system with the option to also store the credentials.

Add option to automatically apply a loose_material or mtlx material to the currently selected object if it doesn't have a defined use.

If a loose material or mtlx material with no defined use is detected, the addon should offer the user to apply it to the currently selected object, if applicable.

The same thing should happen with HDRIs, for which the logic is a lot easier because they are always "unreferenced" because there is only one per scene.

Changeable & dynamic download directory for assets

At the moment, all assets get downloaded into the user's home directory (~/AssetFetch).
This path should be adjustable and it should also be possible to set it in relation to the curently opened file (if applicable).